And please do turn in your copies of God's Word to Luke chapter 17. Luke chapter 17, and we're picking up in verse 11. Again, this is God's Word. On the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. When he saw them, he said to them, go and show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, were not 10 cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well. So ends the reading of God's word. Let's pray and ask the Lord's blessing upon his word. Oh Lord, we thank you for the great privilege we have as believers to gather, to worship you, to sit under your holy word as it's preached to us. Lord, we ask that you would work in our hearts that our faith might be like the one man who returns to you in worship, who returns to you the praise and gratitude and thanks that you are due. So Lord, even as we hear your word, help us, Lord, to have hearts of praise and thankfulness and gratitude, that in faith we might also hear those same words, rise, go on your way, your faith has made you well. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Well, it seems that we're in that time of year again where there are so many seasonal illnesses and perhaps even although we thought we were through that through, you know, getting past December, it seems that those seasonal illnesses are still among us and affecting us. They're still making their rounds. You've been sick yourselves recently with a sniffly nose or maybe something worse, a stomach bug or the flu or something terrible like that. And maybe because of that, you've had to miss church on occasion or maybe you've had to miss some time at school or maybe even worse again, you've had to miss Thanksgiving dinner or maybe Christmas time playing with presents. Well, nobody ever likes being sick, and certainly nobody ever enjoys being removed from the ordinary things of life. No one likes being separated from other people. Now, out of kindness, when we're sick, we might stay home on a Sunday, as some are this morning, or we might stay home from work so that we don't contaminate other people with our germs. Or if we have something milder, maybe we'll say, you know, sorry brother, I've got a cold, I won't shake your hand today. But thankfully these, you know, and most illnesses don't isolate us from other people for too long. But imagine having a sickness so serious that it required you to live completely separate from everyone else for months or even years, maybe even the rest of your life. That means no hugs, no handshakes, no meeting up for dinner or coffee, just isolation. Well, in our passage, we meet a group of people for whom that was their existence, that was their life. They suffered from a variety of skin diseases that not only made them very itchy and uncomfortable, but it also meant that they were cut off from their community. However, the worst thing about their condition was that it made them ritually unclean. Being ritually unclean meant that they couldn't attend worship, they couldn't go to the temple, they couldn't offer sacrifices, they couldn't commune with God and with their brothers and sisters in that way. It also meant they had to stay away from other people, they had to keep their distance, otherwise they would infect others with their ritual uncleanness. And so this skin disease really was a curse. It was a curse that barred someone from fellowship with God or with God's people. And leprosy of the skin is, of course, a very vivid illustration that scripture uses to illustrate the leprosy of soul that every one of us has. called sin. Sin infects not only, or not even perhaps, our external bodies, but chiefly it affects our souls. The lepers here in this passage are a walking picture of our plight as fallen men and women. We're not merely sick with external skin diseases, but with an internal sickness of the soul. We're born in Adam, corrupted in our nature. And our sin also separates us from God. It's what makes us unworthy to come before his presence. And in fact, what we deserve because of our sin is to be kept away. Just as Adam and Eve were barred entry from the garden, they were cast out of the garden because of their sin. So likewise, our sin removes us from the presence of God. We deserve, because of our sin and in our sin, to be cursed like these lepers. But this passage also shows us something extraordinary. It shows us, yet again, another glimpse of the rich compassion of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose grace extends even to the most unclean of people. We see in our passage a beautiful picture of how Jesus cleanses sinners, cleansing them, saving them, and restoring them. And this story doesn't just highlight what Christ does. This passage primarily teaches us how we respond to Christ and to his grace, to the salvation that he offers and he applies to us. We see in this Samaritan in particular a model for our faith. We see his faith in how he recognizes his need for Christ, in how he rests and trusts in Christ, and then how he responds with grateful worship. And so let's consider this passage together as we learn more about what it means to have saving faith in this savior of sinners. First, how faith recognizes our need for Christ. Second, how faith rests in Christ. And then third, how faith responds in worship to Christ. Well, first, faith recognizes our need for Christ. This next section opens with the statement that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, and he's currently passing along the border between Samaria and Galilee. And as we know, Luke, the great doctor and historian, never wastes space in his manuscripts. He never tells us superfluous details. And likewise, these details about where Jesus is are not just, you know, cursory geographical notes. Now, these are details rich in theological significance. Luke is, of course, reminding us of the overarching narrative of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem. It started all the way back in chapter nine when Jesus was up on the Mount of Transfiguration and he was speaking to Moses and Elijah about the exodus that he would undergo and how he would go to Jerusalem and there accomplish his exodus. And from that point, from that Mount of Transfiguration in chapter nine, Jesus has set his face like flint to go to Jerusalem where he will suffer, he will be betrayed, He'll be handed over and he will die, but not in vain and not as a sad martyr for some forlorn cause, but rather as the savior of sinners, as the one who will bear the sins of his people, even as the animals in the Old Covenant would bear and atone for the sins of the people. Jesus would do it truly, fully, and finally upon the cross. And every step that he takes along this path brings him one step closer to accomplishing the mission that he has been sent upon by the Father. And so as Jesus is traveling towards Jerusalem, he is along the border between Samaria and Galilee, and he enters a village. And as he enters the village, he's hailed by a group of lepers who keep their distance. And Luke notes how the lepers are very careful to keep their distance. And that's because the law required lepers to stay away from other people. Now, when we read of this leprosy here, it's not simply a reference to what we think of leprosy, what we call Hansen's disease. Rather, the word leprosy in this context was a reference, was a kind of a catch-all reference to many different kinds of skin diseases and ailments, some minor, some more serious. So it's kind of a catch-all word But as I said, the worst part about having these skin diseases wasn't the itchiness or pain. If you've ever had the chickenpox, children, you know how dreadful that can feel, and you have to be away from other people. But as bad as some of those skin diseases are and uncomfortable, it wasn't the physical dimension that was the real bother, but it was the social and spiritual dimension. According to the book of Leviticus, which falls under the old covenant, a leprous person was ritually unclean. Leviticus chapter 13 verses 45 to 46 describes this. The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, unclean, unclean. He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside of the camp." That's an important note. He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. You see, under the Mosaic Covenant, there were all sorts of things that would make you ritually unclean, such as if you had a baby, you'd become ritually unclean, or if you were even in the same room as a dead body, you'd be ritually unclean. But then all you had to do was go through the proper procedures, sacrifice the right animal, go through the washings and cleansings, and then you'd be clean again, no big deal. But the problem with these skin diseases is that you could not be made ritually clean until the disease itself was removed. So if you had a skin condition, you couldn't go to the temple and say, hey, make me clean. No, the disease had to be removed first, and then you could be made clean after the priest recognizes that the disease is removed. And what that meant is that for the leprous person, they were completely removed from society. They had to live alone outside of the town in a desolate place. And for obvious reasons, they often bandage together these lepers, as we see in the case here with these lepers, these 10, because they obviously can't defile each other any further. And what's also significant is how under the Old Covenant, leprosy was considered a curse from God. Again, that's one of the reasons why you couldn't just remove it. God himself had to remove the leprosy. This can be seen as illustrated in 2 Kings chapter five. When the Syrian general Naaman gets leprosy, he sends a letter to the king of Israel asking the king to cleanse him and cure him of this disease. When the king of Israel reads Naaman's letter, he tears his clothes and he cries out, am I God to kill and to make alive that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? And so the point is that only God can remove this leprosy, and thus you do not ask a man to do something that only God can do. Look, all that was important background for this cry of the lepers. The lepers stand at a distance and they call out, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Notice how they address Jesus by name. So they've obviously heard of him. They know something about him, and they recognize his authority. They call him master, and they ask him to do something that only God can do. And so their request shows both desperation, but also a degree of hope. They know they need mercy, and they believe that Jesus can provide it. And as we'll see, Jesus doesn't disappoint, but he responds with compassion and power, healing, their condition. Now as we look at the initial cry of these 10 lepers, it's a good response. Here they are, they see their need, and they call out to the one who can help them. And the cry of the 10 lepers teaches us something important about faith. Faith begins by recognizing our need for mercy. You know, these lepers saw their need and they didn't then try to minimize their condition. They didn't make excuses for their condition. They didn't try to fix it themselves or pretend that it wasn't, sorry. They didn't try to pretend that it wasn't there or that they could do something about it themselves. And their condition is a mirror of our own state outside of Christ. Spiritually speaking, we are all born into this life as lepers, spiritually. As J.C. Ryle comments, we have in this wonderful history a lively emblem of Christ's power to heal our souls. What are we all but lepers spiritually in the sight of God? Sin is the deadly disease by which we are all affected. It has eaten into our constitution. It has infected all our faculties, heart, conscience, mind, and will. All are disordered by sin. from the sole of her foot to the crown of her head. There is no soundness about us, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. The theological terms to describe this are original sin and total depravity. Because of original sin, we are born into this life sinful, and totally depraved. And that means that sin has affected every single part of us. Sin is a sickness that affects the very core of who we are, right down to the faculties of our will, our mind, our affections. And no moral reform or good works can cure it. Children, what that means is that when you do something that you know is wrong, while it isn't only the wrong thing that you do that is sin, But it's even your desire to do the wrong thing that's sin. You see, the problem isn't only that we do bad things, and only if we bottled everything up and we never acted out our desires, well then everything would be fine. No, the problem is not just that we do bad things. It's that we will to do those bad things. It's that we like to do those bad things. We desire that which is evil. Children, maybe there was something you did. Maybe at some time in your life you've taken something that wasn't yours. Maybe you stole something that your parents told you not to take. Or maybe you were in a store or a friend's house and you took something that wasn't yours. Well, your action of stealing, of taking the thing that was not yours, that was wrong, yes. But ever before you took that thing, You thought about it in your mind, you planned it, and you decided that, yes, this is something I want. You desired it in your affections and your emotions, you want it, and then in your will, you decided to take action, and you took something that was not yours. You see, sin is far more than simply our outward behavior, our actions, the things that we do, but our sin infects us to the very core of our being. It's not simply that we do sin. We are sinful. Sin is a leprosy of the soul. And as with the lepers, this is not a condition we can cure ourselves of. To a certain extent, even the unbeliever can manage external behavior. But ultimately, no one apart from Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit can change the heart of man. perform that kind of spiritual heart surgery upon ourselves. No, what we need is another to change and to cleanse our hearts. And like the lepers, the worst thing about our sin isn't even the consequences we may face in this life. You might be afraid of stealing something. You might want to steal something, but you may not steal that thing because you're afraid of being caught, and that those consequences might keep you from taking the thing. But even those consequences are not the worst part about sin. Rather, sin is something that separates us from God. It's filthy. It's defiling. It keeps us from a holy God. Friend, is that how you see your sin? Is that how you see yourself apart from Christ? Well, you must, for it is only as you first see the depths of your sin that you will see your need for Christ. Like these lepers, we must recognize that we are beyond self-help. We are beyond the help of others. We cannot heal ourselves. We cannot change our hearts. All of these fail and fall short. What we need is to do what the lepers do and to cry out, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. We don't need justice. What we need is mercy. So faith first recognizes our need for Christ, but faith doesn't stop there. Secondly, faith rests in Christ. Well, the cry of these lepers for mercy does not go unanswered. They shout to Jesus for mercy, and Jesus shouts back to them in verse 14, go and show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. Now, Jesus' instructions here are intentional and deliberate. As we read earlier in Leviticus chapter 14, there are very detailed procedures for how one is cleansed in the temple. And so after these lepers have been healed, they're to go to the temple to be examined by the priest, and then to undergo that, from our perspective, somewhat tedious list of washings and sacrifices that lasts eight days. Now to be clear, the Old Testament priest wasn't the one doing the healing. They were simply the ones observing that healing had taken place and then helping the healed person undergo all of these ceremonial procedures. So the healing was performed by God alone. Christ therefore is doing something that only God can do. Christ's healing demonstrates his divine power. So Jesus has granted healing from their skin conditions and Jesus has directed these 10 lepers to go to the temple to be inspected and to go through those procedures. But surprisingly, one of the 10 disobeys. He doesn't go to the temple, but instead he returns to Jesus. As we read in verse 15, then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. So this one man turns back to Jesus and he offers thanks. In other words, he recognizes that his healing, that only God can perform, has come from Jesus. And thus Jesus is no mere teacher or healer or prophet or king, because kings can't heal, but he is the Lord God who is worthy of worship. In scripture, whenever someone falls at someone else's feet, it's always an act of worship. Think of Acts 10, where Cornelius falls at Peter's feet. What does Peter say? Oh yeah, thanks, no. He says, no, get up, you must not do that. I'm just a man like you. In Revelation, John falls at the feet of an angel, and the angel says, no, no, no, you must not do that. Don't worship me, you must worship God. But here, this man falls at the feet of Jesus, and it's right. Christ can receive the worship of mankind because Christ is God. He is divine, he is worthy of the praise and the worship of man. And so Christ receives this man's worship. There's no rebuke for this man. There's no reprimand. There's no redirect to worship God instead. No, because Christ is God. Christ fittingly receives the worship that is due alone to the triune God. And thus Jesus speaks words of comfort to him. He says, rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well. Jesus' words are interesting here. The word for being made well is different from the previous word used to describe how the 10 were cleansed. This word for being made well can be used in different contexts, sometimes in reference to healing, being made well, but it's actually the same word that describes salvation. So we could translate this verse as your faith has saved you. Because note that Luke says that the 10 lepers were cleansed, but only this one leper is said to be made well or saved. And so here, Jesus is saying something to this one man that is different and more significant and other than what has been said of the other nine. This man has had a cleansing. beyond a bodily skin disease, but his soul has been saved. He has been saved by faith. Luke's gospel consistently emphasizes that faith is the means by which we are saved. Faith is the vehicle by which we receive salvation. But how does faith save us? Well, faith saves us because it connects us to Christ. Faith is not the cause of our salvation. God does not look at us and see what a wonderfully strong faith we have and say, wow, look at their faith, I must save them, how could I not? God doesn't look down the corridors of time, as is sometimes said, and he sees this wondrous faith in us and he saves us on that behalf, on behalf of that. No, we're not saved by our faith as a cause of our salvation. Rather, faith is simply the instrument by which we receive the salvation that Christ has earned for us. Chapter 14 of our Confession of Faith has an entire chapter on saving faith, and it puts it this way. It says, the principal acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ. accepting, receiving, and resting upon him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace. So faith rests, receives Christ, it accepts Christ alone. Faith, we might say, is like the empty bowl of the beggar. The beggar goes maybe to the soup kitchen with the empty bowl, hoping, longing to have that bowl filled. Likewise, with our faith, we are simply the beggars who come with the empty hands, the empty bowl of faith, longing to be filled with the riches of God's grace. And that's what the Samaritan did. By faith, he recognized his need. And by faith, he trusts and rests in Christ alone. And Jesus tells him that he is saved. His soul has been made well. Not only is he cleansed of a skin condition, but he's justified. He's treated as if he never sinned in God's eyes. He's also reconciled. Notice Luke's literary masterfulness in how he demonstrates this reconciliation with the use of space. The man began calling at a distance to Jesus. He couldn't come near Jesus. His defilement separated him from Jesus. But now the passage ends and he's here at Jesus' feet, touching his feet, worshiping him, praising him with a loud voice. But while Jesus comforts the Samaritan with words of salvation, notice how he does issue a warning and a rebuke to the other nine, who aren't there, of course. But nonetheless, he says, we're not ten cleansed. Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? Unlike the one man, the other nine fail to give thanks to Christ for healing them. Although there was an initial cry to Christ in their moment of need, they do not show a saving faith that rests in Christ for the healing of their souls. All 10 are said to be physically healed. The nine lepers got what they came for and they left. Only one man turns back to Christ. Only one man falls at Jesus' feet in worship. Only one man gives thanks. Only one man is said to be saved by faith. What does this teach us? It teaches us the very sobering truth that it's possible to have some knowledge of Christ and even some experience of the external blessings of Christ and of his kingdom and yet not possess genuine and true saving faith. And this is a theme, however uncomfortable, it is a theme that Luke's gospel consistently warns us about. It warns us of having a superficial or a temporary faith, which is to say no faith at all. For example, in the parable of the soils in Luke chapter eight, Jesus describes the seed that falls on rocky ground. He describes how it represents those who initially receive the word with joy, but during times of testing, fall away because there's no root. It wasn't genuine. Well, the nine lepers exemplify this kind of crisis faith. They cry out to Jesus in their desperation, but as soon as their problem is solved, they have no further need for Jesus. Jesus is a helpful healer. He's good to have around when times are tough or when you're scared about death or when maybe a family member dies. It's nice to have heaven as a concept at those times, but I don't need that stuff for my day-to-day life. This kind of temporary faith is so common. How often do people cry out to God in a moment of distress, maybe when they first learn of a terminal illness, or maybe there's an unexpected death of a loved one, or perhaps even during severe turbulence on a flight, and people cry out to God for help. As the saying goes, there are no atheists in foxholes. But the question is, what happens when they get out of those foxholes? As soon as the trial passes, their seeming dependence on God fades away, revealing that their faith was never there at all. No true faith doesn't merely trust in deliverance, but rather trusts and rests in the deliverer, whether in hard times or good times. Well, likewise, True faith doesn't merely trust in the giving of blessings, but it also trusts in the giver of blessings. Boys and girls, you have the tremendous blessing of being brought to church each week by your parents. You have the tremendous blessing of having Christian parents who desire to lead you and grow you in the grace of the Lord and to teach you spiritual things from the Word. It's good that you have Christian parents. It's good that you attend church. But merely having those things, merely having those external blessings, merely sitting under those things will not save you. Only Jesus can save you. Only trusting in Him will save your soul. And the good news for boys and girls and for everyone in this room is that we have a willing Savior. And so in faith, recognize your need for Him. And in true faith, cry out to Him for mercy. Yes, go to him in your moments of fear and distress in the face of death. But go to him at all times, confessing your need for him, confessing your sin, saying to him, my soul is like the leper's skin. I am defiled. I am devoured by sin. Take away that love of sinning. I am a rebel against you. I am a sinner in need of your mercy. For through his sacrifice, Jesus offers mercy. He suffered in the place of sinners so that you could be forgiven. He was cast out of the city, so you who through your sin was separated from him, now in Christ you can be brought near even to his very feet in worship. And so the question is, are you trusting in him? Is your faith in Christ alone? Are you resting in him? not merely as a form of cultural Christianity, but are you trusting him with your very soul and for the cleansing of your soul? Is Jesus the anchor of your life? Let us all, like the Samaritan, turn back to Jesus, fall at his feet, for he alone can save sinners like us. Faith recognizes our need for Christ. Faith rests in Christ. And third, faith responds by worshiping Christ. A true and living faith responds to Christ's gift of salvation with thankfulness and with expressions of gratitude and praise for all that he has done for us. And yet if we're honest, even as believers, we confess that gratitude doesn't always flow so easily from our lips. It's not the first impulse of our hearts. What often flows most freely is ingratitude. When we see the cup that is half filled with water, we're inclined, instead of praising God for the half-filled glass, we are inclined to see what's missing and what's lacking and what we think we deserve, we ought to have. This passage, however, gives us a vivid picture of the gratitude that should mark the hearts of true believers. Now, one striking twist in this story is that the one man who turns back to worship Jesus is a no-good, dirty Samaritan. Luke has carefully noted for us that Jesus is traveling along the border between Galilee and Samaria. And some of the important background of that text is that the Jews and the Samaritans did not get along. They hated each other. They did not like each other, and the Jews especially looked down on the Samaritans. They were the scum of the earth to the Jews. But one of the key points of contention was the place of true worship. You see, the Samaritans had rejected Jerusalem as the place of worship and the temple there. And instead, they had set up their own place of worship on Mount Gerizim. And that was a major point of conflict between the Jews and the Samaritans. And notice how Jesus deliberately highlights this man's ethnicity as a Samaritan. And then Jesus says, was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? Certainly Jesus here is showing up the failure of the Jews who, though they knew the law, did not follow the law. This foreigner, this outsider, shows true faith and worship unlike the other nine. But actually there's more to this word foreigner. This word for foreigner is a loaded word. I think we might even say that it's a derogatory word. This word foreigner appears nowhere else in the New Testament. This is the only place you find it in the New Testament. However, there is one very famous place where it was on full display, and that was in the Temple of Jerusalem. On top of the temple gates, it was written, no foreigner can enter. This inscription barred entry of any foreigner into the temple to worship, to offer sacrifices, to partake of the covenant life of Israel, including any Samaritan. But consider what Jesus has just asked the Samaritan to do. Jesus has asked the Samaritan, ordered him in fact, to go to the temple in Jerusalem to be seen by a priest and to go through all of the cleansing rituals. Jesus has asked him to do something that he's not able to do as, as Jesus notes, he is a foreigner. And foreigners have been barred from the temple. So what is he to do? What does he do? He goes to Jesus. goes to Jesus. Jesus says, go to the temple for cleansing, for sacrifice, to be restored. And his response is to turn back and fall at Jesus' feet. This Samaritan, unable to go to the temple, in Jerusalem at least, finds the true temple in Jesus himself. And Jesus receives his worship. He doesn't say, no, no, no, you misheard me when I was shouting at you. You're supposed to go to the temple. No, Jesus welcomes him and receives his worship and then sends him on his way. Jesus and this man's faith demonstrate that Jesus is the ultimate meeting place between God and man. As one commentator says, Here, Luke's Christology reaches impressive heights as he presents Jesus in the role of the temple as one in whom the powerful and merciful presence of God is realized and before whom the God of the temple can be worshiped. Well, this teaches us a number of things, doesn't it? It teaches us about the place of our worship, and it teaches us about the manner of our worship. The place of our worship, is Christ. Remember the contention between the Jews and the Samaritans was in which place God was to be worshiped. Was it Mount Gerizim or was it Jerusalem? Well here, the Samaritan's faith observes that worship is in neither place. It's no longer tied to a particular locale. It's no longer tied to a particular temple on a mountain? No, Jesus is the place of true worship. And this certainly fits with what Jesus himself teaches and preaches. In John 4, he teaches how true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and on truth, not on this mountain or that mountain, but they worship in spirit. For us today, as new covenant believers, This means that our worship is not dependent upon the kind of building we have, or even if we have a building at all. We don't need a grand cathedral with vaulted ceilings and pillars, nor is our worship enhanced by those things, nor is our worship lacking because we don't have those things. Whether we gather in a traditional church building like this, or in a barn, or in a basement, or yes, even in someone's living room, The place of our worship is where we as a body are gathered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. For Jesus has promised us that wherever two or three are gathered in his name, he is present by the Holy Spirit. That's one more reason, among many, why we partake of the Lord's Supper each week, because in the Supper, the Lord promises his presence. The Supper is a mark that this is the place that Christ is, and that here, Christ is worshiped. The place of our worship isn't on a street corner or in a building. No, the place of our worship is Christ and being gathered in his name. Next, the manner of our worship. The manner of our worship is gratitude. Gratitude and thanksgiving. Here, the Samaritan models this kind of gratitude as he returns to Jesus, praising God with a loud voice. I like that Luke just adds that detail, that he comes back, not just praising God, but praising with a loud voice. You know, he may have been singing completely out of tune, doesn't matter, he's praising with a loud voice. and falling at Jesus' feet in worship. Well, as forgiven and redeemed people, our lives should overflow with gratitude for what Christ has done for us. We ought to be praising God with a loud voice. And yet, how often do we live as thankless people? Instead of marveling at Christ's grace, We subtly boast in our own merits, our own accomplishments, the things we've done, the things that we think earned credit before God or other people. Or perhaps we look at all of the blessings Christ has given us, or I should say we overlook those things and we grumble about the things we don't have. It's never enough for us. We take and we take and we take. We receive, we receive, we receive from the grace of Christ. We fail to give thanks. Like the nine lepers, we take from Christ and we leave without ever giving him praise and gratitude. Calvin aptly warns us and comments on this shortfalling. He says, we have short memories in magnifying God's grace. Instead, every blessing that God confers upon us perishes through our carelessness if we are not prompt and active in giving thanks. Calvin says that as we receive good things, we ought to have a knee-jerk reaction. The broader Christian tradition would call that a virtue. We respond in virtue. When we receive from Christ, we respond quickly, and it is our response to thank God, to praise him, rather than with the short memories we have to allow those thanksgivings perish through carelessness. Ingratitude is a spiritual infection, a vice that can blind us to God's grace. But true faith fixes our gaze upon Christ, and then true faith responds with deep thankfulness. And so in faith, let us remember Christ's sacrifice. Let us remember his death for our sins and his victory over death. And let that knowledge fill your heart with praise and thanksgiving and love. Let us live as the Samaritan did, bowing at Christ's feet in worship, thanking him for all that he has done. For in Christ, we have been redeemed from death. by his death, we have been cleansed by his blood, and we have been brought near to God through his separation. May our lives be marked by this gratitude, gratitude in every circumstance, whether we experience times of rich blessing or whether we're in times of sorrow, whether we're in times of abundance or times of trial. Let us give glory, all glory, to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. And by faith, let us remember the words of our Lord, that great benediction that he spoke to the Samaritan. And now, beloved, he speaks to you. Rise and go on your way. Your faith has made you well. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the riches of grace that we have received through Christ. We thank you even for the blessing that it is to sit under your word. And Lord, in response to these blessings, our hearts are filled with praise, with gratitude, and with thanks for who you are. We thank you that even now we can partake of the Lord's Supper and be reminded that the wall of separation and hostility has been removed and that we have unimpeded access through the merits of Christ and by the Holy Spirit to commune with you Lord, help us to be a thankful people, a grateful people. And in our gratitude, may you be glorified. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.