This morning we will consider Luke 17 verses 11 through 19. Let's read it together now. On the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten leopards 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 priest.' 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 ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give prays to God, except this foreigner. And he said to him, rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father God, we thank you for your word. As we read it, as we consider its truth together, we pray that you would illumine our minds give us understanding, but also we pray God that you would give us hearts to receive the truth that we understand with our minds. God that you would bring down any barriers or stumbling blocks to us fully receiving your word, feeling conviction where necessary, conviction of perhaps ingratitude this morning, We pray that you would help us to change and to grow from one degree of Christ's likeness to another, and that you would get the glory and be glorified in us this morning as we pray to you in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen. We are, without a doubt, extraordinarily blessed. If we put our lives in global and historical context and compare our lives to the lives of others around the world and throughout time, it becomes undeniable. We have many advantages, many comforts, many reasons to give thanks. And when John goes to Ecuador, and occasionally when I go with him, It's one thing that just is made vivid and an inescapable reality that we have much to be thankful for. When you see how others live in places where they're not the same degrees of material comforts or just even things like health care or the law and order that we take for granted. And there are many reasons to give thanks for all of these things that are not the norm. Even just around the world today, throughout time again, they're not the norm. And when we consider them, we put what we go through, what we experience into its context in this way, our complaints, our being disgruntled and unhappy, it becomes really pretty silly and quite foolish. And mostly we're talking about temporal or earthly blessings right now. And yet these gifts are also from God who is our creator and our provider as much as those spiritual blessings which come to us from God as our Redeemer. And so for everything, not just for our salvation, but for everything, this is why that we give thanks before meals and we ought to. And there's some, I've got some old books that are sort of instruction manuals for prayers or collections of prayers meant to teach Christians how they ought to pray. And oftentimes there are prayers, not just before meals, but after meals. People were praying, you know, a couple hundred years ago, people were praying before and after every meal. And they would pray before a journey and after coming home from a journey. And there were all of these prayers that were offered in sincerity for just the earthly and temporal benefits and blessings which we recognize, which is safety and nutrition and all of these good things. And they come to us from God. He made us and he also gives us day by day life and breath and everything so that every good gift, and not just those that are spiritual in nature, but every good gift comes from above, from God. And so all men ought to give thanks to God continually as they count their blessings. And yet, this is not what we find to be the case. It's really quite striking that modern man, for all of his incredible advantages, is not filled with gratitude. Even among those who acknowledge that the good things they enjoy come from God, There is not overwhelming thankfulness and a drive to make some return to him for all he's done for us. And people are content with the gifts and can hardly be bothered to consider the giver. And there's very little interest in tracing back the origin the gift and considering what that says to us and how that speaks to us of the one who's given us these gifts. I don't know about you, but if I get something as a gift that I don't know who gave that to me, that's happy before in small ways and in big ways. Anonymous gifts of money just to bless Lauren and I, you know, and I think I've got to know who's done this. It will drive me nuts because I want to give thanks and I want to know who has been so kind and so generous. One time someone, this is not quite the same, but someone snuck a refrigerator magnet on our refrigerator. To this day we still don't know who did it. I'll show it. It's still in our refrigerator. I'll show it to you sometime. But we just come home from a trip and there's a refrigerator magnet that neither Lauren or I purchased or know where it came from. And it's got some kind of funny saying on it. And to this day, no one has fessed up. And so this is your chance to come clean. You know, if you did this, you need to talk to me after service because I haven't been able to stop thinking about it for five years. But, you know, when someone gives us something, I mean, it's sort of natural for us to want to know who gave me this gift. And I want to thank them and I want to know who is so kind, who is so generous, who is so benevolent. But so often we just take so many good things in our lives, so many blessings and comforts and material advantages for granted and we don't, we're not really interested. We can't be bothered to know what this says to us about the giver. Why are so many people this way despite more reasons than ever to praise God for all the good that he's done for us? Jesus is concerned with a similar point in our text, in which 10 men are miraculously healed of an awful disease. It's said here in verse 12 that these were 10 lepers. In modern medical terminology, leprosy is what we call Hansen's disease. It's sort of limited to that one specific condition and disease. In biblical times, if you go back into the book of Leviticus, there's a lengthy section that describes the many conditions, skin diseases and impurities that would be grouped together under the category of leprosy. It could be eczema could be what we call Hansen's disease, could be something else. There are many things and the downside of this was that these were not known to be curable. In many cases this would be a lifelong affliction and would separate somebody from their community. And so when they were determined to be leprous they would have to present themselves to the priest and if he made this determination then they would have to isolate themselves into a leper colony in the wilderness and they would not any longer and they would lose their job, their livelihood, they'd lose their family connections and their relationships with not only friends and neighbors but their own family was an awful and again sometimes lifelong miserable condition and so we get the point here that these men were in this village Jesus and by the way we see that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem and and he entered this village well the reality is that what he's done is he's he's entered a leper colony He has intentionally come near. He is passing along between Samaria and Galilee, intentionally drawing near to these people who are in this great physical, bodily misery and in great need. And so as he draws near, as he enters the village, he's met by these 10 lepers. And it says here that they stood at a distance. as they by law were required to do, isolating themselves even from Christ. And they lifted up their voices saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. They had a desperate awareness of their miserable condition, and yet Jesus miraculously heals them of this awful These awful diseases and conditions which strip them of their health, but also their jobs and their families. But only one of these 10 returned to Jesus and seemed to be affected by this life-changing blessing. And so Jesus asked him, here in verse 17, where are the nine? Where are the nine? Where are those who take stock of their lives and who count their blessings and who consider the benevolent giver of every gift as one traces a sunbeam up to its source in the sun which gives light and warmth to all those in its embrace? Where are those who look at all of the gifts that we receive that fill our lives with warmth and with goodness and trace the blessings to the one who gives all good things. And I would have you ask yourself this morning, is it possible that I am among the nine? Where is my heart? And what is my response in light of everything which God has done for me? This morning we'll consider this idea as we open up our text and see how our gratitude, like the one here, and unlike the nine, how our gratitude is shaped by several things. by our conviction about our neediness, by our confidence in the Lord Jesus, and by our concern with the worship of God in Christ. And let's begin with the first of these, our conviction of need. Our conviction of need. We see this in verses 12 and 13, first of all. As we've just read, these 10 men, they were under a sense of desperation. You know, for many people, it takes a lot to ask somebody else for help. And some of you are worse. I say worse because it gets to the point where I want to scold you and rebuke you. You know, you need to be willing to receive help from others. You need to let me know as your pastor what's going on so I can pray for you. So I can care for you. But there are some people who say, well, I don't want to bother other people, my pastor, even my family with these things. And so you only ever let people know about your condition, your need, whatever it might be, financial or health or something else, only after you sort of worked it out or you have clarity on. on the issue, and therefore you go through this in isolation, a lot of the uncertainty and the anxiety. And I hate this, I wish that this weren't so, but this is part of human nature, I suppose, that it does take a lot for us to, we want to feel self-sufficient. And we want to be able to do for others. We don't want to have to rely on others constantly. And so there's something that keeps us from seeking others' help and just expressing our need. But these men, they cry out for mercy. And so these are men that are possibly badly disfigured and scarred from the condition of leprosy that they have. and they bear the marks in their own body of their miserable condition, and they're obviously in need, and for them, there's no escaping it. There's no denying it. I mean, they're at rock bottom. They have great need, and so they cry out for mercy. Have mercy on us. And so I wonder for you, if you're aware of your need, This is why, Sunday by Sunday, one of the main reasons why we read the law of God is to shape our conscience, which is oftentimes dull because of the world, our exposure to worldliness, which sort of desensitizes our conscience, and it dulls the sharp edge. of our conscience and so we bring it back to the whetstone of the law of God and we sharpen our conscience. We need that because we need to remind ourselves of who we really and truly are. so that we don't become self-righteous, so that we are humble before God and acknowledge our unworthiness and our utter dependence and our sinful condition and even the remaining and indwelling sin and corruptions that plague us. We need this, but I wonder for maybe some of you this morning whether or not your conscience has grown dull despite our efforts to sharpen this and to remind ourselves of our unworthiness. And we can become not aware of our unworthiness, but we can become deluded and self-deceiving to thinking that perhaps we are worthy. by and large, and that perhaps we don't need so greatly as others need anything. We are pretty self, and we can have enough money in the bank, and we can cherish good health, and we can have what we feel like is a good job, and some measure of job security, and there can be a number of indicators in our lives that help us to think, I think I'm good, you know? I mean, we give lip service. Of course, everyone needs God, but we don't feel that need. These men felt it. and they cried out for mercy. This is one thing that will prevent us from showing gratitude, and it contributes to this spirit of ingratitude, is a lack of awareness of our needs. Well, these men, they recognize their need, but even they, they did not make a return to Jesus to express gratitude to him, and Jesus wonders about this. Where are the nine? Verse 18, was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? But perhaps this is because they, even for them, their sense of need was superficial and insufficient. What apparently they sensed was a temporal need, an earthly need, a bodily need. They could look at their own body and see their need. They knew and they were aware of their miserable condition, but just externally, in terms of this body and in this life. And so as soon as Jesus had addressed that need and they were healed, they kept on going. no longer feeling that pressing sense of need, but the one, the one, as soon as he was healed and realized, as he was on his way, he realized, this Jesus, if he can meet the needs of this body and this life, then perhaps he can meet the needs of my soul. Perhaps he can meet the needs that pertain to the life that is to come. And I think we can see that this was motivating him by verse 19 where Jesus says to him, what caused this man to bow down before Jesus and to give thanks and to praise, but what caused him to bow down? Well, I think it was exactly what Jesus says as he commands him to rise up. He says in verse 19, rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well. Well, that just sounds like what he's saying is that your faith has healed your body. But if that were the case, then the same thing could be said of the other men, the nine that didn't return to Jesus. But obviously Jesus is doing something for him here. He's pronouncing something over him. that's beyond what the other men enjoyed because they didn't have a sense of their spiritual condition and their spiritual need, but this man did. And so if you notice in your Bible, there may be a footnote there, verse 19, and in mine it says, alternatively, this might be translated, or I think probably better translated, has saved you. Rise and go your way, your faith has saved you. This man knew he was in need, but he knew once his physical, earthly, bodily, temporal needs were met, I have a greater need. That is, a need for the salvation of my soul. If our conviction of our needs pertain to this life only, our gratitude will be limited. Or maybe nonexistent, as these men showed little to no gratitude. But if we are humbled under an awareness of our eternal spiritual need for salvation, that is what will fuel, shape our gratitude and really fuel our praise to God. And so I pray that you also will see and sense your great spiritual need. So first of all, there is our conviction of need is what shapes our gratitude, our conviction of need. Secondly, there is our confidence in Jesus, our confidence in Jesus. Something that some of our young people have talked about in our youth Bible study is a big question for any of us, especially those who are outside of the faith is, who is Jesus? We have to answer that question for ourselves. And even Jesus poses this question. We see this in Mark's gospel at an important turning point. Jesus asks his disciples, who do people, who do other people say that I am? And they say, well, some people say this, some people say that. But then he poses the question to them. Who do you say that I am? And you see, every one of us has to answer that question for ourselves. Who do I say that Jesus is? Who is he to me? What do I believe? about Jesus and his identity. And we see, I think, different ideas here in verse 14. We see that when Jesus saw them, these 10 lepers, he said to them, go and show yourselves to the priest. Now, what would this have communicated to them? Well, he hadn't healed them yet. He hadn't even promised to heal them. He just gave them a command to go and to present themselves to the priest. Well, that's what had gotten them into this mess to begin with. They stood before the priest and the priest had declared them leprous and they were then outcast. Were they just to go back to add insult to injury, only to be sent once again to the leper colony? And so you can see how this wasn't exactly the answer that they may have been seeking, at least not at first glance. And yet, what did they do? He says for them to go, and we read in verse 14 that they went. And as they went, they were cleansed. So there is some trust, some confidence in Jesus. I think it's altogether likely that they'd heard of Jesus' miracles and his healings, and even how he had healed lepers. And so as they cried out to him, they cried out in the confidence that Jesus, Master, you can heal us if you're willing. And so when he tells them to go, there's some degree of confidence that he at least is a miracle worker. And if he says go, then we go. If he says jump, we say how high. We're gonna do what he asks us to do because we have some confidence in his ability to work wonders, to bring healing. They have a faith in Jesus as healer. But, I mean, this can inspire some confidence. When we see the things that Jesus can do, we might be grateful. And there are some people who, on the balance, even if they don't believe in Jesus, are thankful for... I even saw this recently where this notorious militant atheist, is it Richard Dawkins is his name? He recently sort of went on record in a video and said that he was glad to be a part of a Christian civilization. one that was shaped by these Christian values and by the teaching of Scripture. That's like, blow you away for someone like this who has in the past been so militantly anti-Christian and atheistic to say, and he's kind of talking about in contrast to Muslim. He's saying basically, I would much rather live in a Christian nation than a Muslim nation because the justice and the that the human flourishing and everything that goes along, even if we just don't believe in God, but the benefits of Christianity to society are great. Well, you know, for someone like this, there's kind of a basic gratitude for Christianity, but it's only for the things that Christianity can do to benefit me in this life, in the here and now, temporally, earthly benefits and blessings. That seems to be the case with these nine men, and yet the one goes beyond this gratitude, this confidence in Jesus as healer. In verses 15 and 16 we see this, that then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, he turned back. I want you to understand the importance of this because this is This is more than just him being polite, like his mama told him to always write thank you notes and yes ma'am, yes sir, that kind of thing. This is more than that. He's not just turning back because it's the right thing to do. This is personally, this is costly for him, personally. Because by turning back and not going immediately to the priest, he is delaying the full inclusion in society. They're going to have to go to the priest and however long that journey is going to take and then once they are declared to be clean then there's going to have to be a one week quarantine. It's not over. And yet what this man says is I'm not going to wait until everything is working out for me until I am not only healed but coming into the full blessing of being included again in society to then You know, eventually I'll find Jesus and I'll give him thanks. But he immediately returns to Jesus. He sees it's a higher priority for him. He's realized something. If Jesus can do this, if he can heal my body, If he can exercise powers which, properly speaking, are divine, only God can do the things that Jesus is doing. So these wonders that he's working, these miracles, they're proving something about Jesus' identity. And so he's having this realization, it's dawning on him. And you can imagine the ten of them, they're healed, they're looking at their bodies, they're no longer disfigured, scarred, they're leaping for joy. I'm sure that they were exuberant. And they're sort of practically skipping along the way. And they're jumping, and they're running, and they're hooping, and they're hollering. And this man is joining, he's beginning to become silent. It's dawning on him. And he starts walking slower and slower, and the men are getting more distant from him. And he realizes, I need to go back. I'm not all the way healed. Jesus can heal me with this perfect healing. He can heal me body and soul. He's not just a great healer. He's not just a great man. He is God. And we see this in verses 15 and 16, I think, because when he returns, he turns back praising God with a loud voice. He's praising God. But then in verse 16, he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. I believe what's implied here by this is that there's a dawning realization and a recognition of Jesus' divine nature. He's realizing at the very least that Jesus is Messiah and that God's power is on him and is with him and God is working through him and he has this need to come and to bow before Jesus. It's hard to see this any other way than an act of worship. He gives him thanks and he praises God at Jesus' feet. So this confidence in Jesus goes beyond just a gratefulness for the earthly blessings, for the material comforts and good things that God can give to us, but it's now a growing confidence in Jesus' divine nature. that his trust in Him is one of entrusting himself to Jesus as the one who can deliver not only the body but the soul. And in verse 19, again, we see here Jesus says to him, rise and go away, go your way, your faith has made you well. So this bowing before Jesus and praising God is described by Jesus as faith, true biblical saving faith of the sort that we've talked about for a couple of weeks now. And I wonder if your confidence in Jesus extends to this kind of faith in him, not only to give you a pretty good life in the here and now, but to save your soul so that your hope goes beyond just this life. In fact, you can suffer the loss of all things in this life because your hope is a heavenly one, and you look forward to the life that is to come, and your confidence is such that you appreciate the gift, but you're far more concerned with the giver, and you know that if he's given you these gifts, it's revealed to you the benevolence of the giver, and your concern is not to come into the full enjoyment of the gifts as these other nine were to immediately go and to continue enjoying these things that pertain to their earthly life but is to return to the giver so that you might possess not so much the earthly joys and blessings but that you might possess Him And only this will shape your gratitude such that you have a true Christian thanks. So our conviction of need, the right sort of spiritual need, shapes our gratitude. Our confidence in Jesus, the right kind of confidence, true saving faith, shapes our gratitude. Finally, we see here our concern with worship. shapes our gratitude so that we have true Christian thanks. In verses 15 through 18, when this one saw that he was healed and turned back, he praised God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. And then Jesus, he asked the question in verse 17, we're not 10 cleansed, we're the nine. Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? And so we see the appropriateness of worship. And if we're not worshiping God as Christians, then how can we say that we have anywhere or anything like a Christian thanksgiving in our hearts, a Christian sense of gratitude if we are refusing to worship him. I'm sure if you were to track down those nine men and ask them, are you thankful for the things that Jesus has done for you and in your life, they would say, sure, yeah, of course. I'm very thankful for this, but where was their worship? Where was their sense of, this compels me, I must go to the place of worship, which for him is the feet of Jesus. And I must praise God for the things that he's done. And if we're going to have a Christian gratitude, then our thankfulness for the things that God has done must culminate in our worship. We must go to the place where Jesus is present. where two or three are gathered, where the church comes together on the Lord's Day, on the Christian Sabbath, to raise its voice in prayers and praise and to worship our God. And so we are convicted of our need. We're confident in Jesus. We're concerned with worship. These are marks of Christian gratitude. These are marks of a Christian whose heart is filled with true thanksgiving. And I pray this morning these would be marks of our hearts. That when Jesus calls out, where are the nine? He wouldn't be saying this in reference to us. But that we might be like the one who comes and falls on our faces at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks and praising God as we pray together. Father God, we thank you for the things that you've done for us. God, it seems like a trite expression to say that we ought to count our blessings. It's good to count our blessings, but God, it's a spiritual discipline that many of us are sadly negligent in. Help us to count our blessings and bring to mind the benefits of your salvation. of what Paul refers to in Ephesians 1.3 as every spiritual blessing that is in the heavenly places. Blessings which are ours in Christ Jesus. Help us to number them, to count them. And God, we pray that all of these things would be true of us, that we might be overwhelmingly grateful to you. God, that we would be so far from grumbling and from complaining, as your word often reminds us and warns us against and reminds us to do all things without grumbling or complaining, that rather we would do all things for your glory, all things with joy in our hearts, because no matter what, we are called to endure in this life. God, we do it. God, knowing the far surpassing blessings and joys of the life that is to come, and if you're fatherly, care for us, your tender mercies. And so God, give us a heart of thanksgiving always. We pray all of this in Christ's name and for your glory, amen.