Amen. Let's turn to Luke's Gospel chapter 17. This evening we welcome you in the Savior's name. Thank you for joining with us. Luke chapter 17. Those who are joining online, we trust that the Lord's presence will be known among you. We're praying that that will be experienced even among us this evening. And if you are isolating, if you're unwell, we trust that the Lord will raise you up. If you're well and you're able to come to the prayer meeting, We encourage you to come into God's house and do not be staying at home. We do need you and your presence here. But we're glad that you're here, those who are out in the car park. We welcome them in the Savior's name as well. Luke chapter 17, let's come in to the chapter, the verse number 11. And so Luke 17 and the verse 11, and it says, 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 far off. And they lifted up their voice 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. 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, were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? They are not found. that return to give glory to God. Save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Amen, and we'll just break there, our reading at the verse number 19. Tonight I want to speak to you on the subject matter of gratitude. Gratitude. And I want us to do so in light of what God has done for us. in recent weeks and in recent days, just at the conclusion of the gospel mission just over a week ago. Gratitude comes from a Latin term. The Latin term is gratias, which means pleasing or thankful. and really that's what gratitude is it is the giving of thanks or the emotion or the expression of thanks it is the feeling appreciation by an individual because another person has shown kindness they have given gifts they have helped they've shown them favor they've in some form of generosity has been given to another person. And as a result, gratitude is the emotion that the individual feels. And I believe, brethren and sisters, that it would be wrong for us as a fellowship, not to take this opportunity, just to return thanks to the Lord for His goodness to us over the gospel mission. Before the mission commenced, we publicly said that we would return and give thanks to God for His goodness and His mercy for, and give Him glory for what He would do among us. And we want to do that. this evening. I know that you probably did that last Wednesday night. This is the message prepared for last Wednesday night. I want to preach it this evening. I want to ascribe all the praise and all the glory and all the honor to the Lord, because anything that has been accomplished by the mission and in the mission, whether we have seen that with our eyes or whether we haven't seen it, must never be ascribed to others, must never be ascribed to evangelists must never be ascribed to ourselves, but rather everything we must give thanks to the Lord. Because whether it's regeneration, whether it's restoration, or whether it's revival, each find their source in God. It is God who regenerates the dead and soul of the sinner and imparts new life to that sinner. And so all glory must be ascribed to him if any kind of work of regeneration has occurred. It is the Lord who restores the backslidden from a sickly spiritual state into a healthy spiritual state. This is what God does. He restoreth my soul, the psalmist said. It's God who revives the work of God. It is God who revives the hearts of God's people, stirs us up to serve Him with a greater enthusiasm than we ever had before. It is the Lord who stirs and revives the church of Jesus Christ. And so whatever has happened, and I'm convinced that more has happened than we know about, but whatever has happened, all glory and all thanksgiving must be ascribed to God alone. And therefore, that being the case, it is our duty to show our gratitude and express our thankfulness to God for all that He has done for us. Now I don't need to tell you that gratitude is something that is missing within our society today. Thank you are two words that you rarely find in the lips of people these days. There is a privileged mentality that has developed in recent times that leads people to think that they are deserving. of everything that comes their way. And therefore they have no thought of ever thanking God from whom all blessings flow, from whom all good and perfect gifts come from. There is no thought by the individual to thank God for such things. Rather they think themselves to be deserving of it. They have this privileged mentality to think, I deserve all the good that comes to me. But brethren and sisters, we who are of faith, we who belong to the family of God must believe and must ascribe that all that we receive, all the good eye, and all that which we deem not to be good, but God knows it is for our good, we must ascribe all our praise and our glory to the Lord." Now, this theme, this thought, this emotion of unthankfulness, this trend of ingratitude, this trend of unthankfulness in our society, a trend that has developed and increased over recent times and grown over recent days, must not come as a surprise to us as the children of God. We're reminded by the Apostle Paul, that before the return of Jesus Christ, society will be populated by people who are unthankful. This know also, 2 Timothy 3, 1 and 2, that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Gratitude is something that we see expressed here by one leper. in our Bible reading in Luke chapter 17. Having seen that he had been healed from his leprosy, this leper turned back and with a loud voice glorified God, falling on his face at the Savior's feet and gave thanks to the one who had healed him. The other nine lepers, who were companions of this leper and who experienced the same physical healing as he experienced, returned not to give glory to God, And God the Son asked, where are the nine? We could ask that. We could ask that at times. Even among God's people, where are the nine? Where are the nine? Where are the nine? The nine who have been healed, those who have been touched by God, where are the nine? Sadly, only one returned. And we want to think about the example of this grateful leper before us tonight. A number of things that I want you to think about regarding this matter of gratitude from the example of this man. I want you to notice, first of all, the reason for his gratitude. The reason for his gratitude. With respect to this leper in Luke chapter 17, the reason for his gratitude is obvious. This man had been healed. of his disease. This man who contracted a disease had been touched by God and had been healed by the mighty power of God. This disease would have ended in the termination of his life. No cure for leprosy during Bible times, the ultimate end, the end objective or the end goal or the end result of this leprosy would have been that eventually the man's body would have been consumed by the leprosy and eventually his life would have terminated, his life would have been no more. He would have died as a result of this leprosy. And so it's little wonder that this man, who had been touched by God, now returns to the one who had healed him and who had touched him, the Lord Jesus Christ. He had understood his plight. He understood his leprosy and the disease. He understood what the ultimate end of that leprosy would be. And having been touched by God and healed by God, he could do nothing else but return to the Son of God to thank Him for the mercy that God had shown to him. I'm sure that nobody here has ever contracted leprosy. I don't think so, and I don't believe so. I don't believe that anyone has been miraculously cured by God of leprosy this evening, but I can tell you that each and every one of us have been touched by God. Each and every one of us have had a more serious disease than leprosy that has been inflicted upon us, the disease of sin. We have all contracted it. At birth, we were born in sin and shaped in iniquity. That disease of sin would not only result in our physical death, but also in our spiritual and in our eternal death. And in that moment of salvation, The mighty power of God touched these souls of ours. And this disease that coursed through every member of our being and every part of our constitution was eradicated by the blood of Jesus Christ. It was dealt with by God and by the Son of God upon the cross of Calvary. Christ took my sin. He imputed, or my sin was imputed, reckoned to the Son of God. And as a result, as the hymn writer said, my sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to his cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. And it is from the disease of sin that all who savingly know Christ as Savior have been delivered, and beloved, That is the ground upon which we can be thankful to the Lord this evening. You know, nine times in the book of Psalms we read these words, We have been the recipients of mercy. And recipients of mercy are those who ought to give thanks unto the Lord. To be a redeemed child of God, to be reconciled to God, is grounds enough for us to give thanks tonight. Whatever happens in the work of God, we are to rejoice in the fact that our sins no longer are to our account. We ought to rejoice of His mercy, mercy towards us. William Nicholson said, a review of the divine mercies will always produce gratitude. His mercies are new every morning. Yes, we thank God for His mercy and salvation, but His mercy to us today, that we were able to rise from our bed. put on our clothes, dress ourselves, sound mind, able to go to the cupboard and find it full of food and produce, and into the fridge and find there what we needed to partake of. And then the ability to go to work, to go to school, and to converse and to talk with people, to be able to use language, to communicate, And all of the mercies that we've received throughout today, as the hymn writer said, count your many blessings. Name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Another preacher said, the constant tenor and spirit of our lives. should be adoring gratitude, love, reverence, and thanksgiving to the Most High. Mercies received from God are good enough for our gratitude tonight. Now, you're maybe here tonight and you're maybe thinking to yourself, well, what have I to be thankful or grateful to the Lord for? Life's difficult. You don't understand my circumstances. You don't know the situation that I've come out of just this evening. You don't understand where I was today and the troubles that I went through and the difficulties of my life. You don't understand, preacher, all that's happening in my present life. You may be saying here tonight, I'm concerned about the present. I'm anxious about the future. And really, there's not an awful amount to be thankful to the Lord for tonight. Well, let me suggest to you that you should be grateful for a number of things. I've already mentioned some of them. But let me encourage you, child of God, with this thought. You should be grateful tonight that you're not in hell. And you should be thankful that you'll never be in hell. Never be in hell. never to experience the separation from God, never to experience the blackness of darkness forever, never to hear the wailing and the gnashing of teeth, never to experience that falling into the bottomless pit in which there is no ground for standing, never to experience the flame, never to experience the thirst of hell, If nothing else, be thankful tonight that you're not in hell and be thankful tonight that you'll never be in hell. You should be grateful that God set his love upon you in eternity past. He chose you out of all who populate this earth at this present moment of time, that God in his mercy He set His electing love upon you and He chose you to be His own. You should be thankful tonight that you came in contact with the gospel. Think of it. Think of the millions, the billions who live in this world and they never once come in contact with a Bible, with a gospel tract, with a gospel open air, with a gospel preacher. You should be thankful that you came in contact with the gospel. Grateful that you came in contact with the truth of the gospel. You should be grateful that the Son of God was willing to take the responsibility of your sins. to take the responsibility of dying for your sins on the cross of Calvary. You should be grateful that God has justified you. You should be grateful that God has adopted you. You should be grateful that God the Holy Spirit has come to live within you, to help you to live the Christian life. You should be grateful that you're at peace with God. You should be grateful that heaven awaits you at the end of life's journey. And that's just a few things that you ought to be grateful for. And so, brother, sister, whatever you've been through today, lift your heart in gratitude and say, thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. You know, as we take stock of the meetings that we have just concluded, how thankful we are How thankful we are of those who have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's something to give thanks for. How thankful we are of those of our loved ones who actually came through the door, our friends who came along and into whose heart good seed has been sown. Good seed is there. God has something to work on now. You may think, well, they came and they went and really, itch, they didn't appear to. Take anything in. I tell you, good seed has been sown into the heart. And so let's pray that that seed will germinate. How thankful we are of God's leading to God's servants as they preach the word. We could give thanks to the Lord for that. We could give thanks for the stirring and the reviving of our own hearts. How we are glad. How glad I was on certain nights. How glad I was that Christ had saved me. As God's servant spoke of the judgment of God, and the wrath of God, and the missing of the opportunity, how thankful I was that I was on the right side of the cross. And you ought to have been thankful. But I say any token of God's mercy to us in recent times, or in any times, demands our gratitude and our thanksgiving. And as I've said, if he did nothing, We still would have grounds to thank him for. William Ward, he asked, God gave the gift of 86,400 seconds today. He asked this question, have you used one to say thank you? Did you? Did I? Well, let's take time to do that tonight. The reason, he had been healed. Thank God we had been healed. We've been healed of the disease of sin. The second place, in the second place, think with me about the manner of our gratitude. There are a number of things about the manner of this man's gratitude that are noteworthy. I want you to note in the first place that it was public. It was public. The leper in this account expressed his gratitude to the Son of God in a very public way, in a very public manner. Look there at the verses 15 and 16. 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. all that were there that day witnessed this very public demonstration of this man's thankfulness to the Son of God. Unashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who had miraculously healed him, this man now falls before the Son of God and announces his thankfulness to God the Son. It was very public. this Thanksgiving. And tonight in prayer, we come to publicly thank the Lord. You've maybe done it in private, but we come to publicly thank the Lord. The calves of our lips, this is language of scripture, the calves of our lips ought to be ready to offer to God the sacrifice of praise. Our tongues should need to be restrained. when we come to rehearse all of God's goodness and mercy towards us. It shouldn't be that we should be silent and wonder, what could I pray for? It should be that we would need to say, hold back. Others need to pray. Such is the amount, such are the means, or the many ways in which we could thank the Lord for His goodness towards us. Public mercy. And that's what that man experienced. Public mercy demands public thanksgiving. Public mercy demands public thanksgiving. There are other ways in which we can publicly thank the Lord, in which we can express our gratitude to the Lord for all of His benefits towards us. You know, we can sing as praise. That's a way in which we can offer thanksgiving. Psalm 147, verse 7. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving. Sing praise upon the harp unto our God. As one preacher said, thanksgiving is the soul of all acceptable singing. Thanksgiving is the soul of all acceptable singing, and that's what we were trying to do in that opening praise. To God be the glory, great things He has done. We were offering Thanksgiving to Him, even in public praise. We give our substance to the Lord. As we give back to the Lord what is already His, we come to publicly say, thank you. Thank you for all your blessings. you have given to me." We publicly identify with Christ as we gather around the table of remembrance and we partake in the Lord's Supper. We'll do that, God willing, this particular Sunday. And in that very act, what are we doing? We're showing our gratitude to the one who suffered and bled and died and rose again for us. We own the Lord by and publicly give thanks to the Lord for his mercies. We can do that through believers' baptism. There will be those who'll do that in coming days when we associate with the cause of Christ. membership we do that when we seek to do his will in our lives no better way can we thank the lord by doing the will of god what god has willed for us in our lives and in these ways and in many others we can publicly express our thanks to the lord for what he has done for us and so this was a very public manifestation this is the manner of his thanksgiving it was public notice in the second place it was prompt It was prompt. This man didn't hesitate when he came to express his thanks and his gratitude to the Son of God. He didn't leave it a week. He didn't leave it a month and then find out the Savior and then offer Him thanksgiving. Notice what it says. It says, And when he saw, and when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God. On seeing his healing, he immediately turns to the Lord Jesus Christ, returns to Him, and thanks Him for the miracle that Christ, He had performed on him as a leper. as soon as it was humanly possible, we could put it like that, as soon as it was humanly possible for this man, he got to Christ and thanked God for His mercy. That is how we should respond when we are recipients of God's mercy, immediately, promptly, without hesitation, without holding back. We ought to return to God when prayers are answered, when deliverance is granted, when mercy is received. We ought to be before God and thank Him, thank Him for His mercy. There ought to be no dragging off our heels. it comes to thanking God because everything we receive comes from Him. And so, let's not be slow in giving thanks to God. Let us be prompt in our thanksgiving. There's a third thing to note about the manner of this man's gratitude. It was potent, potent. Notice the phrase, loud voice. It says in the end of the verse 15, and one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and with a loud voice glorified God. This man, he didn't whisper his praises under his breath, thank you, Lord. He didn't offer his thanksgiving in hushed tones, but rather he lifts up his voice The loud voice, not just with the voice, but with the loud voice, he glorifies God. Everybody could hear it. Everybody could hear it. Considering some of the people converted in the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, Mr. Spurgeon made this remark to his congregation in one of his sermons. He said this, some of our converts are very wild at times. They grow extravagant. Do not blame them. Why not indulge them, he said. It will not hurt you. We are all of us so very proper and orderly that we can afford to have an extravagant one among us now and then. Oh, that God, he said, would send more of that sort to wake the church up and that we also might all begin to praise God with heart and voice, with soul and substance, with might and mean. And then he said, hallelujah, hallelujah. Oh, for men and women on fire for God and stirred up, excited to be saved, excited to be redeemed. Oh, for men and women to be a little extravagant among us. He cried with a loud voice. He cared not who heard him. He was just so glad, so glad that he had been delivered from his diseases. Are you not glad? You're not glad that you're a Christian. You're not glad that you're saved. You're not glad that you're redeemed. You're not glad that you're on your way to heaven and glory. You're not glad that you're part of the family of God. You ought to be child of God. You know, whenever we take a collective view of our mercies, we have cause to offer to God thanksgiving of this very kind, public, prompt, potent. When we ponder what we deserve, when we think about what we deserve. And yet when we think about what God has given us instead, we have every reason to give to God this kind of thankfulness, this kind of gratitude that we're speaking about tonight. One last thought. Very quickly, the reward of our gratitude. The Savior's words in the verse number 19 to this man arise. Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. It indicates to me that he was rewarded by the Lord in a manner, in a way, that the other nine lepers were not. You see, while the other nine lepers were healed in their bodies, I believe that this leper was healed in body and soul. Body and soul. Thy faith hath made the whole now they were whole physically but christ is speaking here on a different level he's speaking here now about the spiritual level and he says thy faith faith in me has made thee whole has made thee whole this man as i said received a spiritual healing alongside the physical healing that was the reward of that man's faith and his gratitude Whenever we return to thank the Lord for his mercies, I believe that God gives us more than we ever expected. Did that man expect to be justified? Did that man ever expect his soul to be healed? I don't believe so. But you know, whenever we come to him and whenever we return and thank God for his mercies. I believe God will always give us more than we ever expected. You know, on a human level, we find ourselves reluctant to give to a person who never says thank you or expresses gratitude for the things that we do for them. Well, if that's the way that they're going to repay my kindness, it might be a while. It might be a while before they may experience my kindness again. That's what we say, isn't it? Never say thank you. You'd hardly think of helping that person out again, would you? Not for a while. That's how we would think. Well, why would it be any different from God? Why would he send us more mercy if we haven't thanked him for past mercy? Why would he do that? He would say they are ungrateful children, ungrateful. But we're not ungrateful. We're very thankful, very thankful for His mercy towards us. And may God, in seeing our thankfulness, may He send us greater mercy. For what are these among so many? Amongst so many, a town still in sin, a county still in the gall of bitterness and iniquity, a nation still hostile and anti-God. What are these amongst so many? When I consider, you know, this account, I noticed that the 10 lepers, they were quick to pray. Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. They were quick to pray, but they were slow to praise, slow to praise. In actual fact, only one, only one ever came back swift to pray, but slow to praise. But before we criticize the nine lepers, Look at our own conduct. How many times have we not prayed? God has stepped in. God has intervened. We fail to even thank Him. On such occasions, God would say, where are the nine? Where are the nine? As J.C. Ryle put it, the best of us are far too like the nine lepers. We are more ready to pray than to praise. The more disposed to ask God for what we have not then. We have not then to thank him for what we have. Oh, let's not be wanting in our thanksgiving. What do we need to do then to remedy this ailment of unthankfulness and gratitude that so often exists in our lives? Well, we need to pray that God will give us a thankful heart, thankful spirit. As I've said, you may say, well, preacher, my present circumstances are difficult and I just don't think that I have much in me to be thankful for. Well, let me ask you, are your circumstances any more difficult than the Apostle Paul's? I don't think they are. And yet the Apostle Paul was eminently a thankful man. 47 times in his letters we find him offering thanks to God. Thanks to God. I believe that we learn from this account that we ought to be earnest in our thanksgivings, just as earnest as we are in our praying. That's the thought, that's the truth that Christ would bring to our hearts. Just as earnest as you were in praying, be as earnest in thanksgiving. May that be so. Let's find something to thank God for tonight. And then let's go to the throne of grace. Let's express our gratitude and our thankfulness to God there. Thank you, Lord. Just thank you. I'm not here to ask for anything tonight. I'm just here to say thank you. Thank you, Lord. May God help us to be like the one and not like the nine. For Christ's sake. Amen. Let's bow our heads in prayer, please. Our loving Father, We come to Thee to thank Thee. We want to thank Thee for saving our souls. We want to thank Thee for sending Thy Son. We want to thank Thee that He was willing to come and to die and to bear my sin to the tree. We want to thank Thee tonight that Christ not only lived for me, That He not only died for me, that He not only rose for me, but I want to thank Thee tonight that He is living and praying for me. I want to thank Thee that I'm being kept by the power of God. I want to thank Thee, dear God, that Thou has given me a work to do. I want to thank Thee, dear God, that You've given to me Thy great salvation. And Lord, I want to thank Thee that tonight I'm on the way to heaven. And I want to thank Thee that I'm going to see Thee someday. I want to thank Thee, Lord, that I'm not in the pub tonight. I want to thank Thee, Lord, that I'm not in the bookies tonight. I want to thank Thee, Lord, that I'm not stuck living in Edinburgh tonight, living a life of sin and debauchery, a life of godlessness, A life with no hope. I want to thank thee tonight that I'm a child of the King and I'm a member of the household of faith. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for all that thou hast done for me. Oh, help us to be a grateful people. We realize that this account is given to us, not for us to simply look at it and say, lovely, nice message. It is for us to put into practice. Oh, may every mercy, may every mercy received be reciprocated with thankfulness on our part. Help us, Lord, we pray. and we'll give thee all now praise for it. We offer prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.