I'm reading from the English Standard Version, which is the newest member of the King James family tree. This is God's word. Luke 17, beginning in verse 11. On the way to Jerusalem, he, Jesus, 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, we're 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. Thus far we read in God's holy word. May God bless it to all who hear, believe and obey it. Amen, amen. The sermon today is called A Telltale Sign. And I checked, telltale can be spelled one of two ways, with a hyphen in the middle or without a hyphen in the middle. And it's my understanding that if you spell it without a hyphen, it typically is that adjective or even a noun for one who bears tails. One who tells secrets or who passes along news, a telltale, and that's an archaic use. With this hyphenated use, that is commonly found in the recreational industry of sailing. Didn't know if you knew that. I would profess to be a sailor, although it's been a few years since I helmed a sailboat. I did take a course, sailed on Lake Michigan, 17, 18 foot lightning class, wool hull boats, racing boats, and since then I've caught a bug and would love, can we get a sailboat someday? Anyways, back to sailing, a telltale. What does a telltale have to do with sailing? Well, you know, sailing is about capturing the wind. And if you want to sail towards the wind, that's challenging. You're burying into the wind. Or if you're on a broad reach, you're sailing away from the wind. Can you see the wind? Not exactly. So sailboats, large and small, usually on one of the shrouds or stays, have a little ribbon or a little piece of yarn called a telltale, 12, 15 inches long, usually a bright color, and that tells you the direction of the wind in relationship to the sail. So if you're bearing up on a close haul and you're pointing a little bit too high into the wind, your sails will luff, but if you're not at the sweet spot, that little telltale can luff and spin. It gives you a sense, if you're at the tiller, how you're doing. If you're getting the most of the wind in the direction you're going, if you're using the wind correctly. It's a telltale, it tells you something maybe you can't otherwise see. So I thought of that when I read this passage. This man who has a changed heart and is filled with praise and thanks and falls at the feet of Jesus, that's a telltale right there that he's been changed, that he's been saved. There's something different about him and we should know what it is that puts us right with Jesus. And we'll get there. We'll talk about this miracle and the response to it. We'll talk about what he does and how it shows us saving faith. So it could be very helpful. Because frankly, as a pastor, when I meet people, you know I'm looking for telltales, not about the wind, but telltale signs in you, in those I meet. Is there evidence of a heart that's right with God? So let's take a look at this passage and may the Lord give us eyes to see and hearts to believe. We start first with the sad characters at the start of the story, these 10 lepers and their cry for cleansing, their cry for cleansing. The fact that there are 10 of them, that's a pretty big group. And it's a mixed group, as we see. There's people of different neighborhoods and nationalities and backgrounds all gathered in their own little community. They are lonely and they are miserable. We say lonely because in the ancient world, if you had leprosy, you lived a life of isolation. You could not remain with your family in your home. What is leprosy? Well, it's one of any number of skin diseases, including what we say modern leprosies is Hansen's disease. Many of the Bible cases were not Hansen's disease, but other conditions of the skin, white rashes or raw exposed flesh that might be oozing or contagious. It manifests itself not only on human skin, but in clothing. Articles that you would handle, it can even be found in your home on the walls. So if someone had this, they're out. Outside the camp, outside the village. Leave your family, your loved ones, your friends, and your workplace and live in isolation. All of these health statuses would be determined by a priest. He would declare you ritually clean or unclean. If you had this, you were ritually unclean, meaning that you couldn't gather for worship. You couldn't be with God's people. You could not draw near. There are two rather long chapters in the book of Leviticus, chapter 13 and chapter 14, that go into all the details. A couple of verses from chapter 13 tell us this, verses 45 and 46. The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip, usually with his hand, and cry out, unclean, unclean, unclean. He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone in his dwelling. His dwelling shall be outside the camp, meaning alone away from family. He could be with other lepers, and that's where we find these gathered lepers. They're at the edge of town. As Jesus is approaching or entering or inside of this village, that's where the leper colony would be. And as he passed by, they shouted to him. They cry out to Jesus as he traveled by. Somehow, someway, these men had heard something of Jesus. And when they heard that guy on the main road was him, they, at a distance, started shouting, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. They couldn't come close. They're at a distance, so they shout. And there were others around Jesus, others clamoring for his attention. So one commentator thinks they might not have been heard right away, but they persisted. Before we move on, I would be remiss if I didn't show you what a wonderful and helpful picture this is of men separated from God by their sin. Not every medical condition is related to sin at all. That's not what I'm saying. But this picture, this way of living physically is a picture of our spiritual separation from God. It's kind of sobering, isn't it? Isaiah tells us something in Isaiah 59. He begins writing, behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear dull that it cannot hear, but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God. Your sins have hidden his face so that he does not hear. If you are not feeling the presence of God, if you are feeling instead your guilt, your isolation, your lack of hope or direction, this is on you. It's not on God. His arm is not too short. What a true thing. And his ear is not dull. The problem is your sin. Isaiah 59 goes on to describe this in the language, although it's archaic, shows us how devastating it is. The isolation of sin is, verse eight, the way of peace they do not know. There is no justice in their paths. They have made their roads crooked and no one who treads on them knows peace. Therefore, justice is far from us and righteousness does not overtake us. We hope for light, but behold darkness, for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope for the wall like the blind. We grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at noon as in the twilight. Among those in full vigor, we are like dead men. That's our sinful condition when we're on our own. And that concept of being dead in trespasses and sins is absolutely correct. It's not like, oh, you've got some tidying up to do, you've got some spring cleaning. You are dead in your trespasses and sins. And your sin, whether great or small, any sin separates you from God. So the picture of these lepers is the plight of a lost soul. But I point that out to share this, that their cry is also a picture of, you've heard this, the sinner's prayer, the foxhole prayer. Oh, I'm in danger. Oh God, if you get me out of this foxhole. Oh Lord, save me from death. Oh Lord, have mercy on me. It's the sinner's prayer. And many times as we see here, God answers with a blessing, with deliverance. Let me tell you, not every foxhole prayer survivor was right with God. Just because God got you out of that foxhole, just because God got you out of the ICU, just because God got you through that dark dreaded day, does not mean you're right with him in a saving way. We'll see that illustrated by the nine lepers with unchanged hearts. There's a telltale right there. They had received a blessing, they'd received mercy, but their hearts were far from him. So let's not confuse the two. This picture gives us a clear picture. It gives us a little hope that the sinner's prayer might be heard by our Savior, but that's but one step. of God's saving work. Let's move on and just see thirdly here, the compassionate cleansing. In this instance, unlike a previous encounter with lepers, Jesus doesn't go over and touch them. He does that in Matthew chapter eight, right after the Sermon on the Mount, he came down and he touched some lepers, not to get infected, but to pass on healing and to show his mission to seek and to save. In this instance, he doesn't draw near. He looks at them and he doesn't even pronounce a healing. What does he do? He directs them to the priest. Well, why would they go to the priest if they're not healed? He directs them, they obey, and it says, as they go, they are physically healed. Going to the priest, why go to the priest? Well, Leviticus will tell you, as you may already know, the priests regulated many things in the village life, in the life of the people of God. And in one sense, they were the health inspectors here. Is it okay? Is it better? Can I go to worship? Well, check with the priest. That process and the ceremonial rituals for being cleansed from such a thing would take eight days. Jesus healed them and pointed them in that direction. But the account that Luke is writing slows down and zooms in on one of those 10 who had only taken a few steps and he turned around. As a pastor, I know the pulpit isn't just for teaching. We're here to press God's word into our hearts and minds, but let me just tell you that when you're reading narrative passages of scripture and the one who's inspired to write them gives you extra details or moves on quickly from one part and then spends three verses talking about this one man and what he did, that's an indication that this is important for us. So let's take a look. at this man with the thankful heart. It is gratitude that brings one back. Let's notice that in verse 15. Gratitude that brings one back. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, he probably felt it and his feelings prompted him to pull back the cloth and look or open his shirt and gaze upon healthy skin. or to have others, look, look at my scalp, I'm healed. As he realized that, as he saw that he was healed, he turned back, praising God with a loud voice. And he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. This is a man who feels immediately grateful and thankful to God. Let's notice three particular details of his gratitude. Number one, he praises God. The Greek word for giving praise is doxazo, which is related perhaps to our English word, which comes from the Greek doxology. We could sing it, praise God from whom all blessings flow. This man was praising, worshiping God. He was magnifying, adoring, and glorifying God. Yippee, hallelujah! Those are two different expressions. It was loud, it was praise. I can't believe it, praise God. It's one thing to get excited when your sports team does something good and you jump right out of your seat. You would know that if you're a Packer fan, but this man is praising God, Jehovah, the one true and living God. and he also draws near to Jesus. Is that what the text tells us? They were at a distance and most of them turned around and headed away into town to look for the priest. But this one, when he saw that he was healed, he turned back, praising God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet. Well, how does he get from there to here? He hustled right along. with new vigor and strength, and he falls at the feet of Jesus in praise. Indeed, many believe in worship of Jesus. Jesus, if he were but only a good Jewish rabbi, would not accept praise. That's the context of what's happening. Praise Jehovah, hallelujah, and then he comes and lavishes that same on Jesus. Jesus accepted worship on several occasions. If anyone doubts that Jesus believed himself and was the son of God, himself divine, passages like this, or passages when Doubting Thomas praises and worships him, that tells us he is God, and he knows it, and he accepted worship. But I'm just pointing out that when this man has a right heart towards Jesus, he draws close to Jesus and he gives thanks to Jesus. He worships this Lord. The account slows down to show us this man's response as opposed to the nine. They're off the scene. We don't know what happens to them. They may be later on having dinner with their family home and saying, oh, I love what you did with the place while I was gone. And daddy, how come you're well? Well, this man healed me and it's great. I'm just going to stay here with you. There may be an appreciation of health. but there was no return, praise, or orientation towards the healer. The proper response to a blessing from God is to give thanks, to acknowledge the giver of the gift. But as we're looking at this thankful man, there's a surprising detail that Luke slips in like a bombshell. Remember Luke's original audience, Jesus and his disciples are gathered around, they're going to Jerusalem, they're passing by Samaria. We're not gonna work that out geographically, just take what it says. And one of those lepers, the one who responded was a Samaritan. Luke just says it plainly at the end of verse 16. It's a shocker. As one reference says, we're also told strikingly that the one who returned to give thanks was a Samaritan, a despised outsider to the Jews. Here, as all through Luke, we see the upside down reversal that the gospel often brings. The kingdom of God inverts the world's values and welcomes anyone if, They will simply repent and believe the good news, relying on Jesus alone for a new and eternal life. It's a shocker to those who hear these words and recognize, hey, you're a Samaritan. Really? Him? God's blessings? Yes. God's blessings come to all. And this man was thankful and he turned to Jesus, this Samaritan. I read an interesting story this week in this context about the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, and that's pretty far northwest area of Scotland. Until recent decades, it was really a high percentage of wonderful Christian people and a beautiful expression of Christian community. It was a lovely place. Back in the day, some of the true believers there were praying for revival on the island, and when it eventually started, in the mainline church in town, they really couldn't believe it. Lord, you're answering our prayers and it's those guys in the mainline church that are now drawing close to you? Really? How often we have our preconceptions at how God's grace can work. how often we see who's likely and who's less likely to be touched by the grace of God. Oh, that such blinders and restrictions would fall from our eyes and from our efforts and from our thinking that we should understand the gospel is for whosoever should believe. So it comes from an unexpected source. This man who was thankful, he turned to Jesus. Jesus came with grace for all lost sinners, sinners from every tribe and tongue. But in the midst of this, thankful heart and this gratitude, I wanted to talk a little bit about ingratitude because that is also highlighted in a couple of verses. The narrative, the account we're given in Holy Scripture not only highlights this good man and his praise and reconnecting with Jesus, but in verse 17 and 18, we have several questions from Jesus, a couple of very sad questions. revealing his grief over ingratitude. Weren't there 10? Where are the other nine? Jesus comes right out and asks. I think the scholar who sees here an expression of grief is spot on. I think Jesus has a heavy heart over this. that those who were healed miraculously, a blessing to have physical health, it didn't matter so much. They didn't come to give thanks to him or to God. Dale Ralph Davis reminds us, the problem is not national identity here, but gratitude. By his response, the Samaritan showed that he was more taken with the healer than with the healing. And Jesus, what's his grief all about? I agree with William Hendrickson who says, Jesus is deeply concerned about the fact that his father in heaven did not receive the praise due to him. Do you see the wording of Jesus in verse 17? Were not 10 cleansed? Where are the nine? Verse 18, was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? there were many professing Jews who were out of step with their God. We might even say superficial, nominal religious Jews. I think that can be a real moment for us here in the United States, where so many sitting in churches even this morning, perhaps here, are but nominal Christians. You've been blessed in some way by God and you're comfortable being near God, but you do not draw close with praise and thanks and in humility worship the God you love. Nominalism, ingratitude is a sign of it. Indeed, ingratitude is a great sin. Hear me, not being thankful, being ungrateful is a great sin. I'm gonna spend a minute on it so we don't miss the point. You may be familiar with Romans chapter one after it announces the gospel, it delves in to how sinful men are experiencing the wrath of God. Romans one verse 21 tells us about how bad off these sinful men are. It says in verse 21, for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. In one of the lead passages about the sinful nature, the second thing it says is they did not give thanks to him. Boys and girls saying thank you to other people is important, it's polite, it's good. But the Bible says giving thanks to God is necessary. It's a duty. And to not give thanks to God, to not give him the honor to do his name is a sin. So if someone professes to be a Christian but never goes to worship, that sounds pretty dangerous to me. Further New Testament verse in 2 Timothy 3, Paul is telling Timothy about the last days. That's kind of a buzzword in the Bible, isn't it? It's when things get really bad, when things are near the end. And we're living in the last days. We don't have to have a chart or be hyper about the end of time. We're living in these last days. Paul wrote to Timothy and said this in 2 Timothy 3, but understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. That's understatement. Verse 2, for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, and it goes on. What makes the list for life? that gets so bad in the last days, ungrateful living. Not just lovers of self, that's a big one in our day, don't you think? And I'm not saying that everyone who takes a selfie is in love with themselves, but I think a lot of Americans love themselves. Ooh, so very much. It's a sign of the end times when it gets to a sinful level. In the last days, ingratitude. Why is it such a big sin? Well, it's the beginning of unraveling of your understanding that you're a creature, God is God. Or as Oz Guinness says, I don't know if you know this fellow. He's an older author, big in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. His books are very insightful. Oz, O-S, Guinness. He said this, rebellion against God does not begin with the clenched fist of atheism, but with the self-satisfied heart of one for whom thank you is redundant. That's where rebellion begins. If they're a full-blown atheist and raising their fist at God, that's not the beginning. That's well along, but it begins with ingratitude. Phil Reichen says, ingratitude is a way of saying that God owes us whatever he gives us, and we owe him nothing in return. Can you see the incipient, defamatory nature of ingratitude? God who sends the rain on the just and the unjust, who gives us good things to eat from out of the earth, who restrains his judgment and his forbearing, if we do not thank him, that's a huge telltale sign of a selfish, sinful heart. He can see it. My friends, we as Christians need to be different. Let me encourage you before we move on, the Heidelberg Catechism is a useful tool. I don't know if you've read it, heard it, you can Google it. It's something that was put together back at the heels of the Reformation to help God's people understand how good we've got it. I love the first question and answer of that catechism. It asks, what is your only comfort in life and death? The answer, just the beginning, says, my only comfort in life and death is that I am not my own, but I belong, body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm not my own. I belong to him. And it goes on, it's a beautiful little paragraph of an answer to the first Heidelberg Catechism question. But the second question fits today's lesson. The second question says, what do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort? How do you really know? And the answer to question number two is three parts, very short. It says, first, you need to know how great my sins and misery are. Second, how I am delivered from all my sins and miseries in Christ. And third, just the third thing you really need to know, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance. The writers of the Heidelberg Catechism understood Luke 17, that gratitude is the telltale sign of a new and right heart. How do you respond to God's kindness? Do you have a new heart? Look for this presence of thankfulness as a sign of your deliverance. Well, now we come to the third heading this morning. We've looked at the misery and the cry for cleansing, and we've looked at the compassionate response and the gratitude of the one who came. That ingratitude is a sin. Let's close by looking at what Jesus says here at the end. He had asked those questions. They really went unanswered. Where are the nine? Is it only this man? And Jesus, I'm sure, took a deep breath and looked down at the man and gave him this word of assurance, rise and go your way, your faith has made you well. That's the ESV translation. If you have an ESV Bible, you'll see that there's a footnote to that, and it tells you the alternate translation, which I prefer, that the Greek verb here should be translated, your faith has saved you. The Greek verb sozo, it can be defined as made well, but it is often, especially in the New Testament, pointing towards salvation. And in this context, for me, what tips the scale is the fact that the fellow had already been made physically well. In verse 14, he had been cleansed. In verse 15, he realized that he had been healed. Two different terms, clearly medical, physical terms. What does this verse add? that not only the physical, but now the spiritual is yours because of your faith. It fits the pattern of Jesus, seeing faith and pronouncing salvation. That's what he does for this man. He says, I see that you're not only thankful, but I see now that your heart has an esteem, a respect, a belief in me that I am sent from the Father. As you praise the Father, you praise and thank me. That's faith, and your faith has saved you. This is saving faith that Jesus commends. And we have seen physically it was saving faith that draws near Jesus. That's what this man did. He was now free from his encumbrance, his affliction, his uncleanness. So he draws near to Jesus. Come to Jesus is not simply a slang or a throwaway line. It's literally what faith does. And it doesn't mean you have to come to the front of the room after a sermon or in a revival tent across the sawdust trail, but it means you see and believe the Lord Jesus, who he is, what he offers, and you place your hope and trust in him. This leper who is now cleansed falls at the feet of Jesus. I worship you, I've come to you. I want this relationship with you. It wasn't his family he thought of first, or even the religious duties which were incumbent upon him. He responds rightly to the mercy of God with faith in the Savior, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As Doug Milne points out, as we can all see when we read our Bible, only Jesus can cure the deeper malady of sin and Jesus can wash it away. Isn't that a miracle? to be cleansed by Jesus, to have that guilt lifted. Some of us have a testimony that is really night and day. I remember being on the floor in my bedroom as a brand new 18 year old, just weeping over my sin and I couldn't do a thing about it. I could do nothing. I was driven to just cry out to the Lord. Make me a Christian. Take away my sin and guilt, my shame, for I can do nothing. My version of the sinner's prayer. And that moment, I was born again. Within minutes, I could perceive the healing. I could breathe and not feel guilt, but feel hope and help. And my theological understanding was about this big. I'd only read maybe a couple pages of the Bible. But I had met Jesus and he had met me. His grace changed my heart and I knew it. It's like the new baby when they're born. And the air fills their lung, they respond hopefully with that cry. and I can translate it, it means I'm alive, praise God. And that reminds me, I gotta check for a text from John and Caitlin, no, no news. Yesterday was their due date. Saving faith draws near Jesus. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to his cross I cling. This leper had no works to offer Jesus, no religious resume. He just comes to a merciful God who's been kind to him. And the kindness of God leads us to repentance, leads us to faith. And he had faith. Jesus points it out. He points it out for our benefit. And we can see in this changed, grateful heart the telltale sign of faith. That's our point here. We can see it, the telltale sign. As one commentary says, the story emphasizes that faith in Jesus results in powerful change and produces a humble, worshipful response to Jesus. Jesus back in verses five and six of this chapter had talked about faith, how powerful a thing it is. And here we see the difference between one leper and the nine, the one who had faith. They'd all asked for mercy, but only one was shown to have saving faith. So let me be clear. I believe the Bible teaches that those nine were no longer leprous, but they were not saved. And if that sounds odd to your ears, you've misunderstood the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, when God brought his people out of Egypt by his mighty hand, he subdued Pharaoh and brought all of those slaves into the wilderness. They were not all each and every one saved or converted. They were recipients of God's mercy. And many of their hearts were not right with the Lord. Many of them fell away and pine for the leeks and onions of Egypt. But in the midst of them, there were believers who were saved by faith, not simply by where their feet had trod. That's the story of the Old Testament. If you belong to Father Abraham, it doesn't mean you're right with God unless you also have faith in God. That's the message of the Bible. And Jesus is consistent with that. You can receive the blessings of God, a wonderful spouse, a great job, a medical deliverance, a happy life. But unless your heart is thankful and trusting in Christ, you are not his. You need the relationship with God, not simply the blessings of God. And let me say this with trembling. To those whom much is given, much is required. If you've received many blessings of God, If you've been loved and helped, if you've been healthy, if God's given you many years, you had better give him praise. You had better give him thanks. If he has given you to hear many a sermon and many a preacher pleading with you to put your faith in Christ, If you've had all those blessings from the preaching of the gospel, but go your own way, woe to you on that final day when Jesus comes and says, I don't know you. Is there a grateful heart? It's a wonderful telltale sign. If you still come to worship, I think I do, with just a joy of praising God, I'm caught up in all these hymns, even the old choruses, the new ones, it stirs my heart. I love to praise my God. I begin early in the day. And that helps me be encouraged. It wouldn't come natural if God wasn't at work in us. grateful heart. I also read a story about Charles Spurgeon, really short. Charles Spurgeon, the happy, loquacious preacher, one of the best preachers in the English language. If you've never read a Spurgeon sermon, why not? It's like one of the great preachers of all time in our own language. He was once working with a woman to share the gospel with her. I don't know the occasion and the setting, but she was called the talkative woman. In fact, the preacher couldn't get in a word in edgewise at first, but eventually he put the gospel in front of her and eventually she was pondering that and she was ready to believe. But then she said, oh, Mr. Spurgeon, if Christ saves me, he will never hear the end of it. She was already bursting with joy at the prospect of what God might do for her. That's like this Samaritan. That's like those who are genuinely converted. Let me close and just remind you of a couple of things. Very simply, number one, Jesus hears the sinners cry. That's made plain in many places. You don't have to be the son of a preacher. You don't even have to own a Bible. But you've heard about Jesus and you cry out. What about that thief on the cross? What did he know of Jesus? Maybe it was just what he was learning in those hours of death. And he says, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. The sinners cry, the foxhole prayer, God hears. but he calls you to repent and believe in him, not just to receive his mercies. A beautiful picture here of Jesus. It tells you much about his compassion. And it's all throughout the New Testament. Second closing exhortation is that saving faith is the faith that looks to Jesus. It's not just that, oh, God's been merciful to me, that's good. But if you wanna be right with God, have a hope of heaven, you need faith in Jesus. And the world will just say, oh, it's OK to just be people of faith in some nebulous way. People of faith? That's not going to get you anywhere. You need faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is the grasping. And what are you grasping? Nothing? Or is it just your ability to grasp you think saves you? No, you need to put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the waters, who calmed the seas, who raises the dead. Faith looks to Jesus, faith draws near to Jesus. And if you want help to do that, I am your man, I will help. We can do it today. We can talk. We can pray. I will kneel with you in the front of this room if there's any doubt about who you're trusting. Or if you're watching now or later on a video, find me. Find a Christian pastor and pray and come to Christ. Don't grieve God. Respond to his mercy with faith. Finally, this is for all of us, it is vital to get and to guard a grateful heart. We need to get and to guard a grateful heart, not just when we're saved and be thankful for that. Some of us don't know the date we were saved. We can't celebrate it like a spiritual birthday. We just remember the reality. I am saved, so come and worship. But whenever God does something good for you, give him thanks and praise. If someone sets a meal before you or you find a meal while you're driving through a drive-thru, give thanks for the food God has put in front of you. that you're going to chew and sustain yourself. When you wake up, thank God for the gift of a new day. You don't know what it'll bring forth, so also pray. Give thanks. You wake up and you see a beautiful day. The sun is shining. Give thanks to the maker of the sun, the sky, the world that he has put you in. Be a thankful and grateful person. It's the first and greatest response to the gospel. but we should give thanks in all things. John Calvin says, we have short memories in magnifying God's grace. Every blessing God confers upon us perishes through our carelessness if we are not prompt and active in giving thanks. Prompt and active in giving thanks. That is a great takeaway. For those who know the Lord, love the Lord, our telltale signs are in the right place. Keep them there. Steer the steady course. walk by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. With thankful hearts, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you this day for your goodness to us. I thank you that this room is filled with some who know that severe misery that those lepers portrayed, but you changed all that. And Father, there are some in this room who know you and have saving faith, but our life still has its afflictions. But even in these, like the Apostle Paul, we have learned to give thanks and be content in every circumstance. Father, make us thankful people. And Father, any who have heard your word and the offer of the gospel, the kindness and mercy of Jesus, may they come to him by faith without delay. and begin a new life of joy in the Lord. Father, we pray your blessing upon your word and all who hear it. In Jesus' name, amen.