Where are they?

Wednesday, 06 May 2009 16:18

On this day we will examine one of the miracles of Jesus which contains a message of utmost importance. I warn you now that the message today is not only paramount, but it may be that many are quite strong. I say this because today we are talking about a common sin in the lives of many believers. However, when speaking of sin, just think of all the ten commandments. We believe in the laws established by God to show us our faults, right?

But I would say a sin that goes unnoticed in the people of God often is ingratitude. I say this because when we analyze our lives, I think all we can say that God has done and is doing great things. This is something we should be always giving thanks to God, but the fact of the matter is that most Christians do not take time to pray and give thanks for food before eating. Ingratitude is a very serious problem, and that's why in this day we will learn a lesson that every Christian has to learn. Today we will learn about the need to give thanks. We now turn to the Word of God and study our lesson.

Luke 17:11-19 - Jesus Going to Jerusalem, passing between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And when entering a village, met him ten men were lepers, which stood afar off 13 and raised their voices, saying! Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! 14 When he saw them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned, glorifying God with a loud voice, 16 He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering, said: "There are ten who were cleaned? The other nine, where are they? 18 What was not to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? 19 And they said, Arise, go thy faith hath made thee whole.

I'm sure everyone here has heard of leprosy that we read the verses in the Bible that talk about the devastating grief, but I'm sure most of us but everyone know the magnitude of this disease. The reason for this is because this disease is very common nowadays. But to achieve a better understanding of what is happening here, we need to understand the magnitude of this disease, so we'll have a brief review of history. When talking about leprosy is that speaking of the most dreaded disease in those days. Contracting the disease was worse than receiving a death sentence, since the patient was completely rejected by society, this is something that we can find well reflected in Numbers 5:1-3 we read "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Command the children of Israel that they put out the camp every leper, and all who suffer semen flow, and all contaminated with dead. 3 Thus men and women echaréis; outside the camp's echaréis, not to pollute the camp of those among whom I dwell. "With this we can see that the patient not only suffer physical pain associated with this terrible disease, but would also have to suffer the rejection by all around him, including the rejection of their own loved ones and family. In other words the patient would have to suffer long, agonizing death in every sense of the word. But what is the disease itself? For them to have a better understanding of the suffering that I speak, let me illustrate how this disease develops in the body.

The disease begins with small growths on the eyelids and the palms. Then gradually watered throughout the body, fading hair to be white, and they begin to flake out on affected body parts that create painful sores and inflammation. Mind you if it is bad that the disease begins in the skin causing sores and inflammation, but does not stop there. The infection is eating the skin and flesh to the bone, so the whole body is rotting limb from limb. That's why in the later stages of the disease is not uncommon to see members of the body is literally falling. The Jews saw this disease as a punishment from God, so that only God could heal people with this affliction. This is something that we find well expressed in 2 Kings 5:7 we read "And when the king of Israel read the letter, he rent his clothes, and said:" Am I God, to kill and make alive, he sent to me to heal a man of his leprosy? Consider now, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. " The leper was considered a dirty person physically and spiritually. That's why the Jews had very strict laws about people suffering from it, this is something that can be found in Chapters 13 and 14 of Leviticus. The leper could not be closer to other people, and had to maintain a distance of at least six feet from others at all times. As I said previously, the leper could not dwell within the walls of any city. The leper was banished and utterly rejected and despised by all. With these things in mind let us now examine the verses of the day.

Here we have Jesus on their way to Jerusalem and we see that these people are suffering from this terrible affliction. We're talking about people who were completely desperate and with great suffering. But we see that they made a clamor to Him One very important thing to note here is that they showed great humility, the Word tells us "stood afar off." They respected the law which demanded to be maintained at least six feet away. And here we see reflected his humility, I say this because many times people afflicted with various diseases do not respect the law, most were running toward Jesus. So the distance to save them, Jesus noticed her humility.

If we make a contrast between these ten men and we believe that we will soon find that we are not very different. Some may think that this can not be the case because none of us here suffer from leprosy, but I say that when we got to the ways of Jesus, we were suffering from an affliction as large or worse than theirs. We were completely filled with painful blisters that disables us in every way. I'm not talking about physical wounds, but of spiritual wounds. Then just like them, we humble ourselves before God. We recognized that we were not worthy and that we were in a condition that only he could solve and cry his name. In other words, as these ten men came to the ways of the Lord and ask for mercy. We got to the ways of the Lord and asked Him to heal the wounds, and restore our spirit. And as he did with these people, He showed us his love and mercy and we are healed. This gap in our life was filled completely. He poured his holy spirit upon us, our homes, and everything that surrounds us, and we began to receive the blessings. The shed His grace and mercy on us and receive the healing that much longed for. But unfortunately, this is where the problem begins for many people.

When we read what happened here, we see that ten who were healed only one returned to thank him. Not only that, but the only one returned to thank him was a man who was perhaps the most reprehensible of all, this man was a Samaritan. This is where a lesson too big for any person who claims to be Christian. Brothers in this action of grace there is a great lesson we all have to learn. Take heed, all lepers in this passage were blessed and had to be thankful. All had to return to Him and thank Him for the blessing, give thanks for His mercy. All were blessed by Christ, but not all returned to him only one returned, the other nine went their way and forgot what God had done for them. Actually what happened here is not very different from what happens today. Let me illustrate otherwise.

Consider the role that the church develops. When we analyze what is the church, I think everyone here will agree when I say that the church is more or less like a hospital. How so? Easy, consider the function of a hospital. I'm sure none of us here have admitted to a hospital without an affliction. I'm sure none of us here without admission to hospital to be suffering from a disease that weakens us to the point of needing immediate assistance and medical care. I'm sure none of us admitted to hospital here because we like the food they serve, right?

So if we had to enter was not without reason, but because we were in need of medical intervention. Once at the hospital began to receive the medical care needed and what happens when you receive treatment? Needless to say that with treatment, and care we receive, we begin to feel better. With each passing day we are recovering the forces, or we are healed until the day finally arrives that we discharged, the hospital and we're on our way. We are healthy so I do not think most of the doctors or those who labored so hard for us to be healed. Can you see where I'm headed with this? Can you see the similarity between the hospital and the church now? I tell them there is not much difference.

As all patients who were admitted to hospitals, we enter the church because we were seriously ill. I say this because in most cases, people come to church like me to hospital. They come to church because this is their last resort. Most people come to church because they are weak and depressed. Most people come to church after having tried other solutions to their needs which only served to disappoint, and let them fall into a worse state. Most people arrive at the feet of God because they are in situations they can not solve.

Then come to the ways of the Lord as these ten men, they come full of sores and deep wounds.

They come to God's ways as these ten men, crying mercy and asking to be healed.

They arrive at the feet of the Lord for deliverance from suffering. What happens then? What happens is that as men in these verses, the person receives specific instructions on what you have to do to receive the healing that so desired. I say this because these men were given specific instructions on what to do to be healed when Jesus said "Go, show yourselves to the priests."

To receive the health they had to do something, Jesus sent them to follow the law and to show that they were priests. And just as they had to do what Jesus commanded them, anyone who comes to the ways of the Lord also receives specific instructions of what to do. Any person who comes to the ways of the Lord is called to change completely, any person who comes to the ways of the Lord's call to lead a life of holiness as found in 1 Peter 1:16 we read "it is written, Be holy for I am holy. " Brothers, this is something that when people do, then the person can see the power, majesty, and mercy of God in their lives.

The obedience of these ten men caused them to be healed in a moment, watch closely as he tells us the Word of God here, "And as they went, they were cleansed." Praise God! The Lord in His great mercy to these men sound of their disease. They were blessed greatly and were released from this terrible affliction, but the sad part of all this is that here we begin to see the man's ingratitude. Ten were healed, the ten were blessed, but only one returned to thank him. Back to recognize only one, only one gave thanks to God. That is why Jesus said "the other nine, where are they?" There was to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? "And he said, Arise, go thy faith hath made thee whole." Brothers, this is something we all have to take into account, we can not be persons of low memory. I say this because this is what you see very often in the church. We see people arriving destroyed, full of sorrows come, they come asking for divine mercy of our King and Savior, but each time they receive it, once they recover, then as in the hospital, he sees more. We're talking about people who did not realize there were deacons, ministers, and brothers who were praying to the Lord for mercy. We're talking about all these people to receive the blessings that have made as did nine in this passage. They did not return to give thanks to God, acknowledging that one did not return for His work received the blessing and grace. Sad to say, but just look around at this time we can realize that the ingratitude of man to God is a reality and that is very evident from all the empty seats around us. Brothers, if man were truly grateful to God for all he has done and continues doing outside of churches have large lines or queues waiting to enter the cult. Because Christ healthy at that time the lepers and other sick both physically and spiritually is the same as today, according to his mercy in power and glory is present among us to free ourselves and heal our wounds.

To conclude. The faithful Christian must always keep these verses in mind. We must always keep in mind these verses because we can not be such as the nine in this story. We must always remember that we receive specific instructions to follow. We must remember that we were instructed to be different, that we were called to lead a holy life. We must remember that only God could give the rest you were looking for, that only God could heal our wounds. We can not show our gratitude to our King and Savior. How can we show our gratitude? We do as did the man in this story. What we gathered together to praise and bless his holy name. Do not let the influences of this life separate you from God's presence. As faithful Christians, we can not allow ourselves to think it says "where are they?"

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