Transcription
Luke alone records the incident of the 10 lepers. And that seems exceedingly strange because the emphasis in the Gospel of Luke is upon the parables. You'll find that Dr. Luke records the parables that are not found anywhere else. But he does not record miracles as a point of emphasis that other writers do not record. But may I say to you that this is the exception. Here is the record of a miracle and Luke alone gives us that record that immediately calls our attention to it in a special way. And then Luke's scrupulous about putting down details. So much so that when Sir William Ramsay was a student in Oxford, he was a skeptic. He felt like if he could disprove some of the facts of the Bible that he would have a good clear case against the word of God. And so he set as his goal to take Luke's account in the book of Acts of the missionary journeys of Paul and to go along over that same ground himself and to find discrepancies in the account of Luke. May I say to you that after he made a careful and close examination, this man who had been a skeptic became a believer and an ardent supporter of the word of God and a defender of the faith. And he made this statement that the greatest historian that he'd ever read anything after was Dr. Luke. But may I say to you, Dr. Luke falls short in this record. He doesn't even give us the name of the village that Jesus was entering when he met these lepers. And that's unlike him. Fact of the matter is, as I go through this account, I notice several glaring omissions. And it makes this record rather unsatisfactory. And it's so unlike Dr. Luke. But my beloved, we find that he did this with a very definite purpose in view. In fact, of the matter is he says very little this morning. We're going to find about the lepers. We know very little about them. Mystery shrouds this entire incident. And therefore, we can bring it up to date and say this is the case of the missing leper. And will you notice this morning that record? Now, the omissions that are here, I trust will not trouble you. I have learned over a period of time that the omissions in the word of God are as eloquent as the written word itself. Fact of the matter is many times the very reticence of the Holy Spirit to record certain things is a shout of inspiration and reveal that we're talking about the word of God. Let me give you an incident. The raising of any dead man is without doubt unheard of. If any man had been the writer and the Holy Spirit had not superintended it, having said so much, could any man have said so little? I don't think so. I want to tell you if I had read anywhere or had seen anywhere about the resurrection of any man from the dead, I'd give you a volume on it, my brother. But you have in the word of God a reverent reticence that in and of itself is eloquent proof that it is the word of God.
Now, let's come to this incident here. And it came to pass. And you'll notice that Luke certainly uses this expression and it came to pass here. Came to pass a couple of times. The colored brother was in a Thanksgiving meeting was asked what his favorite verse of scripture was and he got up and he says, "My favorite verse of scripture is it came to pass." And the congregation looked a little puzzled. And finally the preacher said to him says, "Brother, why in the world is that your favorite verse of scripture? It came to pass." He says, "When I gets into trouble, I always turn to where it says it came to pass. Then I thank the Lord that the trouble came to pass. It didn't come to stay and I know I'll soon be out of it." Well, my beloved, that may be twisting scripture just a little, but may I say that scripturally that is accurate. It came to pass. It came to pass as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. The literal here is so much better because our translation gives the impression as I thought for a long time that when he went through the midst of Samaria and Galilee, it went right down through the middle of both of these territories. Actually, the literal is he went between the borders of Samaria and Galilee. Our Lord is now on the way to Jerusalem. As he went to Jerusalem, Luke tells us here, this is his final trip to Jerusalem. He had left a few months earlier from Cesarea Philippi. And Luke again recorded back in the ninth chapter, the 51st verse. It came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go up to Jerusalem. And you will find that from that very moment from chapter 9 all the way to the cross, our Lord is moving definitely and directly to that cross. He's going up to Jerusalem. And as he moves, he studiously avoids the crowd. That's the reason he's between the borders here. He doesn't want to get into Galilee with the crowds following. He doesn't want in Samaria with the crowds following him. He's going down the border so that he can go surreptitiously unknown, unrecognized as he's moving now toward Jerusalem for the last time. On this trip, he has, I think, the most interesting interviews of his entire ministry. It's when he met those two blind men. It's also when he pulled a little fellow out of a sycamore tree by the name of Zacchaeus. It's on his way to Jerusalem for the final visit, if you please. So, he's between the borders of Galilee and Samaria, studiously avoiding the crowds. And as he proceeds, we find that he's moving slowly, deliberately, directly, but slowly. It's in this period that he also gave those parables that stand out today. The parable of the Good Samaritan, the parable that we call the Prodigal Son. Also, it's when he told them about Lazarus and the rich man dying. It's in this period that now he's moving toward Jerusalem and he's between the borders now and he's going toward the Jordan River. In other words, he's moving now away from the crowds. He's going to take the outward route down to Jerusalem and come in at Jericho. That's his purpose. And we're told here, "And as he entered into a certain village, that's so unlike Dr. Luke." Dr. Luke says that it was in the days of Caesar Augustus. He even tells us who was the local authority. He tells us about Nazareth and he tells us about Bethlehem. And in the book of Acts, he will pinpoint on the map every place. Why didn't he do that here? Because our Lord is traveling incognito. And he's still traveling incognito on this trip. You don't know where he went. Your guess is as good as mine. And both of us are wrong. We don't know the name of the village on the way down to Jerusalem. He's now approaching an unknown village as he entered into a certain village. And we'll just let it stand like that because that village is not important for us today at all. There met him 10 men that were lepers, which stood a far off.
Now it becomes absolutely essential to know the details. And will you notice them? We are told that as he entered a certain village, you name it. And you're wrong. And now the all-important consideration, 10 men meet him. May I say to you, these 10 men that met him were men. First of all, they were men that had descended from Adam. They were men that God had created. They were a member of a human family that God had created and put on this earth. They were man. Bobby Burns says, "And a man's a man for all that." These were men. These were men for whom Christ died. You see that man yonder that's this morning drunk or getting over last night. You see that man that is engaging in sin today. That's not God's intention. God created him a man. And when that man sinned, he's the one for whom Christ died. These 10 men were not just men, they were lepers. What a wealth of meaning that you have there. Because they were lepers, they could not enter that village. They didn't dare enter that village. They were lepers. They stood a far off. Dr. Luke says they stood a far off. Why did they stand a far off? Because the Mosaic law kept them at arms length from society. I go back to Leviticus the 13th chapter. I read the 46th verse speaking of the leper. "All the days wherein the plague shall be in him, he shall be defiled. He's unclean. He shall dwell alone without the camp shall his habitation be." A leper could not come inside the camp. He couldn't come inside the city. He couldn't mix with other folk. He had to go out yonder and dwell alone. I hope you see the picture now. A certain village. Oh, I don't know the name of it. I don't think it makes any difference. Our Lord is between the borders of Samaria to the south, Galilee to the north, studiously avoiding the crowd. But as he's entering a certain village, there stands a motley mob, 10 men. There are 12 men with him. What a contrast. What a difference. Those that were with him were eager, happy men. Those that were yonder ahead of him. Oh, they were a sorry lot. How terrible they were. I personally think this morning, and you can accept it, we know that they were supposed to be 100 paces away. That was the distance. 100 paces would put them about the length of a football field. The next time you go to a game, go stand down at one goalpost and look down at the other goalpost. That's how close those lepers were to our Lord and his disciples. I submit to you this morning that they were the most forlorn, hopeless, homeless, helpless, repulsive group that you find in the word of God. That 10 lepers. Dr. Thompson, who spent years in that land and was an authority in his day on it, in one of his very interesting accounts of his experiences there tells us this. Will you listen to him now for I'm quoting from him: "Sauntering down the Jaffa Road on my approach to the holy city in a kind of a dreamy maze with, as I remember, scarcely one distinct idea in my head. I was startled out of my reverie by the sudden apparition of a crowd of beggars without eyes, nose, or hair. They held up to me their handless arms. Unearthly sounds gurgled through throats without palate. In a word, I was horrified." That's Dr. Thompson's account of leprosy in that land. I think that's an apt description of these 10 that were down there ahead of our Lord. They said, "Unclean, unclean, unclean! Don't come near us. You can't come near us." Isn't it interesting that in the book in the Bible on worship, which a great many scholars say is the most important book in the Bible, and I want to confess something this morning. And I can't accept that. I just can't see it. But there have been a great many outstanding men down through the years that have had the spiritual perspicacity. The book of Leviticus is the most important book in the Bible. Now I don't agree with that, and the reason is I just haven't come up yet to that level. In the heart of the book of Leviticus, which is a book of worship, chapters 13, 14, 15, all have to do with leprosy. What does leprosy have to do with worship? Leprosy, and the word of God, is a picture of sin. And God wanted man to know one thing, that in sin you do not worship Him, and that no man can come to Him unless the sin question has been settled. So chapters 13, 14, and 15 in the heart of the book of Leviticus is saying to you and me today that without holiness no man shall see God. And you and I don't have any ourselves. And this morning, if you recognize that you don't have any, I can tell you where you can get some. It's where I got mine. That is, the Lord Jesus has been made unto us redemption, but He's also been made unto us sanctification. And if I have any standing before God today, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you have any standing, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I cannot stand in His presence. And you and I cannot worship Him as sinners. The sin question must be settled. It has to be settled. Leprosy is a picture of sin.
Now, will you look at these 10 lepers with me again for just a moment? I said at the beginning I can't know very much about them, and I must continue to say that, but I can know something about them. I know this, that one of them was a Samaritan. And the very first question that I ask is, how in the world did that Samaritan get in there? Isn't it true that the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans, and the Samaritans have no dealings with the Jews? Oh yes, that's true. Well, how'd he get in there? I'll tell you how he got in there. There's an old bromide that we have: Misery loves company. And when you become a leper, you'd be surprised what little difference it makes whether you're a Jew or a Samaritan. You'll get together. Do you know today what's wrong with the church in America? Oh, there are many things. But will you listen to this? The prophet said, "Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked." That's our trouble today. We're fat, and that's the reason we're criticizing, complaining all the time. You just let persecution set in, which I think it will. And when it sets in, you're going to be surprised at the fellow you don't like today as a believer, how attractive he's going to be when you start hiding out with him. You're going to be amazed at what a wonderful person he is. Jeshurun, waxed fat, and kicked. And these old lepers, they met one day this Samaritan. He's a leper. And he says, "I'm a Samaritan." They said, "I know, but you're a leper. We're lepers. Come on. We forget about this business of being Samaritans and Jews. We're lepers." Oh, if we only knew that today. Paul said, writing the epistles to the Romans, "What then? Are we Jews better than they Gentiles? Knowing no wise: for we have before concluded both, and Jews and Gentiles, they're all under sin." And actually, the colonel's laid in Juda sisters under the skin. And today, we're all sinners in God's sight. And you'd be surprised how all of this today that men are putting up as objections to someone else, how all that's rubbed out today in God's sight. And we all stand as sinners before God. These 10 lepers. We're all lepers. And we are all sinners in one class. And recognizing their need, will you notice what they did? They lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." In that sad world of lepers, word had percolated. Word had been passed on to them that one by the name of Jesus was healing lepers. Oh, there were several cases back up at Capernaum at the very first year. There had come that leper to him and said, "If thou wilt, thou can make me whole." And the Lord Jesus said, "I will." And he touched him and he sent him to the priest. The priest said, "You're clean." And these other lepers had about at least 10 miserable fellows that were out on the fringe of things. Every wall of partition broken down between them. They're just all lepers. They said, "If we ever get an opportunity, oh, we want to we want to get to Jesus. We we have a need and we will appeal to Him on the basis of mercy. Have mercy on us." And my friend, that's the only way you'll get through to God today is by mercy. That's the only way any of us. If you think this morning you've got something to bring to God that He wants, you're wrong. Oh, you're wrong. But if you want mercy today and you see you're a sinner today and you stand in His presence seeing your need, there's mercy for you. That's the thing God's bestowing on men today is mercy. And these fellows, oh, they had an advantage over us today because there's so many listening to me today that think that you are already acceptable in heaven and you're not. You think today that because of who you are and what you do that God will accept you. I say today that you are a moral spiritual leper in heaven, then you need mercy. And they came to the Lord Jesus and they asked for mercy. That was the only bright word in the dark for these fellows. Jesus heals lepers, and He does it on one basis: when they ask for mercy. And these fellows all were in agreement. We're going to ask for mercy. And yonder they stand the length of a football field. I don't think that you could hear all of them. Their palate gone gurgling. Poor fellows. "Have mercy. Have mercy on us." You notice what our Lord did when men asked for mercy. And if anybody here today is saved and you think you're saved on any other basis except the mercy of God, may I say to you, you're not saved on just that basis and that basis alone. Mercy. Paul, you remember, made it very clear. They say Paul and Peter in disagreement. They were not in disagreement. And they sure did agree on this. Paul writing to a young preacher said, "Howbeit for this cause I obtain mercy." Paul says, "The way that I, a proud Pharisee, got saved was, I obtain mercy." Peter writing, who was a meticulous law abider, said, "Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." If you've been saved, you've obtained mercy. That's the only way God saves. These lepers said, "Have mercy on us." And I want you to notice what our Lord did when He saw them. He said unto them, "Go show yourselves unto the priests." And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. I think that's one of the most amazing incidents in the word of God. They said, "Have mercy on us." One leper came to Him at the beginning up in Capernaum and said, "If thou wilt, thou can make me clean." And the Lord Jesus reached forth His hand, touched him. As far as I can tell here, He never got any closer than the length of a football field to these 10. Fact of the matter is, He said to them, "Turn, leave me, go ahead." He said, "You go now, show yourself to the priest." And if they had been like some folk I know today in this 20th century, they'd have looked at their hands and said, "Show myself to the priest with all this leprosy? Of course not. I'm a leper. And He says, 'Go show myself to the priest. I got more sense than that. I'm an intelligent person.'" But you see, when you're desperate like this, and they believed, they'd heard He healed lepers. They said He can heal. He says, "Go show yourself to the priest." And maybe some skeptic along said, "Look, babe, you're still lepers." Said, He said, "Go show ourselves to the priest. We believe Him, not you." And they started, and as they went, they were healed. Don't you see, my beloved, that He's talking to them about faith? Oh, you say, "I think faith is a sort of a theoretical thing." No, it's not. It's something you put in action. Every time it's used in the scripture relative to salvation, there's always a preposition with it. Believe upon or believe into (epi or eis) or in. Every time in the Greek, you've got to have a preposition. Why? Because you just don't nod with your head. You believe. And the faith that saves is a faith that produces action. Calvin said, "Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone. It produces something. It demonstrates something." And may I say to you, these men as they went, they were healed. The only response they made was an act of faith. Have you ever noticed the lepers in the scripture have always asked to do something like that? You remember those lepers outside the city when the Assyrian army was destroyed and there was the famine in the land. They were starving to death and they went into the camp of the Assyrians and found all that food. "Why sit we here till we die?" They said, "We're going to move out." The tragedy of men today that are moral lepers, sinful lepers in God's sight, and they just sit still and do nothing about it. "Why sit we here till we die?" There was a cure for leprosy. Scripture never said leprosy was incurable. Will you listen to what Leviticus says? "The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, this is Leviticus the 14th chapter, first verse, this shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought unto the priest, and the priest shall go forth out of the camp, and the priest shall look, and behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper." They would go to the priest. And our Lord's asking them now to follow the Mosaic law. And they then are to do something for their cure. And I want you to see this. This is the most beautiful offering in the Bible as far as I'm concerned. Listen to it. It's the way the leper was cleansed. Listen to this. Leviticus 14:4: "Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedarwood, and scarlet, and hyssop. And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedarwood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field." Two birds were taken. Will you notice this? This was for the cleansing of the leper. Two birds were taken. One bird was killed in an earthen vessel over running water. Ain't that strange? In an earthen vessel over running water. The hyssop was taken, and then the living bird was taken. It was put down in the blood of the first bird, and then it was released and flew away. What did it all mean? May I say to you, you have no more beautiful picture in the scripture for the healing of leprosy, the leprosy of sin, than you have here in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Will you follow me for just a moment? Our Lord came down to this earth, took upon Himself humanity, an earthen vessel, if you please. The scripture is very careful to say He was put to death in the flesh. Put to death in the flesh. I'm not sure I go along with that poem that says God died last night. No, He didn't, my beloved. He was put to death in the flesh. Then we're told something else. "Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself to God over running water." That running water speaks of the Holy Spirit. He offered Himself by the eternal Spirit to God in an earthen vessel. Oh, it was carried out to the very letter to each minute detail. You've got to have another bird for resurrection. Though the other bird's taken to identify him with the first bird slain, he's put down in the blood of the first bird. Then he flies away. Resurrection. You have the death, the burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world. And that's the way leprosy was healed in the Old Testament. And the day God forgives sinners just the same way through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now I come to the crux of the entire matter. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, fell down on his face at his feet giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. One of the lepers came back to thank our Lord. I can't help but love this fellow. He's a Samaritan. And he comes back and he absolutely goes down on his face before the Lord Jesus to worship Him and to thank Him for healing him. One came back. What happened to the other nine? Would you tell me why didn't Luke tell us what happened to the other nine? Well, you have here the case of the missing leper. And you can call in the FBI if you want to on this case. They won't help you. I can tell you now. You can ask Scotland Yard. They won't help you. Or you can ask any of these private eyes that never miss on TV. They won't help you. Or you can ask wide and that prowly gang of cowboys that ride across your screen every week. They won't help you. They solve other problems, but they won't solve this one. There were 10 little Indians. No. 10 little lepers. There were 10 little lepers and only one of them came back. What happened to nine lepers? Nine little lepers. Where are you? I want this morning, if you don't mind, to uh hand in an excuse for them. I don't know whether you'll accept their excuse or not, but I'm going to hand it in. You'll find some of them have good scriptural excuses. Nine little lepers, faceless fellows. Leprosy eaten them away, and I know nothing about them. Nine little lepers. Nine little lepers. Nine. You come here and tell us why you didn't go back. Well, he said, "I I've always been a family man. And one day, the priest told me after I had been put up in quarantine, he told me I had leprosy. From that day on, I was never permitted to move in among my family. And I was a family man. Oh, I have watched them at a distance, and I never could get to them. And the minute I saw I was clean and I no longer had leprosy, do you know where I went? I went home. I put them first. We had a glorious reunion. And I said, 'Well, sometime when it's convenient, I'm going to thank Jesus for healing me.'" He was wrong. Our Lord had already said, "And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." Does that mean you're to repudiate your family? Oh no. It just means you put Him first. And if that man had had real thanksgiving, although he would have wanted to go to that family so bad he could taste it, he would have gone to the Lord Jesus first. He didn't. That's the first man. Eight little lepers. Number eight. Would you come and tell us why you didn't go back? Well, I want to say I'd been engaged before I had leprosy. And one day I had Mr. Legalist. The law didn't cure you. The law condemns you and said that you were a leper. Jesus healed you. Why didn't you go and thank Him? My friend, you have never yet met a legalist who was thankful. I never met a legalist in my life that was thankful. He always gave himself credit. The fellow said, "I follow the law and I did all that the law required. I went and showed myself to the priest, and that's all the law said do. Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin." Mr. Legalist, today I'm sorry you're not grateful. And I know you're not. You can't be because you're so delighted with the fact you keep the law. Oh, to forget the law and go throw yourself at Jesus' feet and thank Him that He healed you. Five little lepers, come here. Number five, tell us why you didn't. Well, he said, "I I went back to the priest also and showed myself, and and one of those fellows talked me out of returning." He said to me, he says, "We pronounced you clean. Therefore, you ought to join us. Don't go back to Jesus. Come to us. Follow our little ritual. Go through our little ceremony." And that's all you have to do. My friend, today that's the grave danger of the present hour of people putting religion in the place of the Lord Jesus Christ. And many people are not grateful with thanksgiving because they've got religion in the place of the Lord Jesus. Oh, to come to Him, gratitude for what He's done for you. Four little lepers. Number four, would you come here and tell us why you didn't go back? Well, he said, "I don't think I ought to say anything." Why not? "My name is Demas." Oh, yeah. Yeah, we read about you. "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved the present world." Oh boy, did I love the world. And as a leper, you know, I couldn't get involved in the world. I used to go by and watch those places of pleasure that I used to frequent. And I thought, "Oh boy, if I could just get back there." And when I saw it clean, boy, I made for the first watering hole. I called on the first bar stool. And my friend, today when you get involved in the world, there's no thanksgiving in your heart. You know why? You can't love the world and love the Lord Jesus at the same time. No man can serve two masters. Today there are multitudes of professing believers that are involved in the world today, and they can't be thankful. It's impossible for you to be thankful. Three little lepers. Number three, would you come here and tell us why you didn't? Well, I want you to know I'm a pretty proud fellow. Oh, you're the man of the flesh. I guess that's what you call me. I'm a man of the flesh. Scripture writes about you. "Neither were thankful." Unthankful, Paul said. Selfish and proud nature, never a happy person, but unthankful. Not thankful today. Josephine Prentiss, in her inimitable way, put it like this: "I knew a man, his name was Herr, who used to live in Grummel Corner. Grummel Corner in Cross Patch Town. And he never was seen without a frown. And many a discontented mourner is spending his days in Grummel Corner bower, and sad whom I long to entreat to take a house in Thanksgiving Street." Oh, the flesh today keeps a great many from being thankful. Two little lepers, we got them down now to two. Number two, would you come here and tell us why you are not thankful? "I didn't know you were supposed to be thankful." You. In other words, you're just crude and ignorant. He just didn't know any better. That's all. Mother didn't teach him to take off his cap when he came in the house, and never taught him to say yes ma'am and no sir. One of these rebellious teenagers, you were. Yeah. A member of a juvenile delinquent. Yeah. That's it. And you're not thankful. No, I'm not thankful. I didn't know you were supposed to be thankful. There is a finger pointing at us today that are fundamentalists. I'm not ashamed to be called a fundamentalist today. But I do want to say I'm ashamed of some fundamentalists. They say we lack culture. A man said to me the other day, he's a businessman in Los Angeles. He says, "Dr. McGee, the world is more polite than the crowd we run with." Oh, a crude fellow. Why don't you go back and get on your knees before the Lord Jesus and thank Him? Just didn't know. Oh, I condemn him more than any other. I've got him down now to one. One little leper. Would you come up now and tell us why you're not thankful? Well, he says, "You know, at this time there were a lot of people against Jesus, and word had come to us because we had contact with the criminal element in the underworld that up in Jerusalem there was a plot to put Him to death. And, to tell the truth, I just didn't want to get mixed up with Him." In other words, last little leper, you're a moral coward. Well, I don't like you put it like that, but I guess that's what I am. Jesus, my friend, was not popular at this time. There was a gathering storm. It was dangerous to identify yourself with Him. In a few days, He's to be arrested. His disciples will be scattered as sheep. And He'd already said, "If the world hate you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. Therefore, the world will love its own. You are not of the world, therefore the world will hate you." There is right now in certain groups a studied effort to make Christianity popular and palatable with the natural man. And I say to you this morning, you cannot do that. It just can't be done. I know a great many people say, "Well, you know, I" and this applies to Christian businessmen. "I I want to join a church that's sort of on the fence, 'cause I want to try to reach some people and I don't want to come out with the fundamentalists. I want to be where there's a preacher that's weak, like a cat on a hot tin roof, trying to please everybody. And therefore, I want to work from that position." My friend, you're a moral coward for not coming out and standing with God's people today. How many men today are moral cowards? That's the reason they won't step out to say, "We thank You. We join God's people in thanking You for salvation, for Your mercy, for Your goodness, for Your grace." It is on Lake Sebastia in the first century. Lake Sebastia, up in the Balkans. It was out on the frontier of the Roman Empire. Word had come from Rome, "We are going to stamp out these Christians. We understand that there are many in the army that had become Christians." And in this little fortress up on Lake Sebasty, they found out that there were 40 in that garrison that were Christians. The commander called them up before him and he said, "We're going to give you an opportunity to deny Jesus. Tonight we're putting you out in the lake. It's freezing and it'll freeze over before morning. We'll strip you, put you in the water to your neck. A big fire built on the shore, and you can leave the water anytime you want to if you deny Jesus." It was 40 went into the water that evening at sundown. That big fire burning there. Big, burly Roman soldiers on guard not to let them come out of the water. These 40 men began to sing. Finally, after about an hour, one man cried out, said, "I can't stand it any longer." And he came out to the fire, started putting on his clothes. One of those big, burly Roman soldiers standing there took off his tunic, dropped it, began to take off his uniform. Said, "I'll become a Christian. I'll take Christ as my Savior. I'm not ashamed of Him." He stepped into the water. One head after another went under until 40 men went to their death. I don't know today just where we are spiritually, how grateful we really are. This is the case of the missing leper. Are you in that crowd today? Our Lord says, "There are not found that return to give glory to God, save this stranger." And I want to say that that to me is one of the most revealing things that you'll find in the entire word of God. Christ values gratitude, and He misses it when it's not expressed. Where's the nine? Weren't 10 lepers healed? And this fellow here, thank God for him. But where are the nine? Where are the nine? I don't know. I don't know, but they're missing. What about you today? Have you ever come as a sinner to Him and then asked for mercy? Have you? If you have, you're thankful today. Oh, you're thankful. Or are you? Are you thankful for the mercy He extended to you when He saved you? Shall we pray? Where are the nine? Where are the nine? Our Lord said to this man, "Thy faith hath healed thee." Did the other nine get saved? I think so. I think they were saved. You say to me, "How do you know it?" I don't know it. I just think it. But I'm prepared to say this morning that that Samaritan who was a leper and was healed was saved. And the way I know it, he'd obtained mercy and he came back to thank Jesus for it. As we bow our heads this morning in prayer, I'm wondering if you've come here today. I don't know that we even touched your case or not. Maybe you have another reason for not being thankful today. But this morning, may I say that you can be thankful and have a reason for being thankful if you come to Him for mercy. And that's the only way in the world you can approach Him today. You and I are lepers, sinners. All have sinned. No exception. All today need mercy. I don't know who you are listening in today or out yonder today in this congregation. You need mercy. And He's prepared to extend mercy to you. Would you like to lift your hand today and say, "Preacher, pray for me. I need the mercy of God. I want to be grateful today. I want to be thankful, and I need the mercy of God. I want to turn to this One who was put to death in the flesh for me, offered Himself by the eternal Spirit, buried and raised from the dead in order that I might come and have mercy. And I want to avail myself of that this morning that I might be given today a grateful heart, that I might have gratitude in my soul today for this wonderful saint."