This morning, we continue our series, “The Miracles of Jesus.”
Before we get into the miracle, let’s look at the foundational scripture I will share be sharing with you all year.
(Psalm 126:4 TPT)
Now, Lord, do it again! Restore us to our former glory! May streams of your refreshing flow over us until our dry hearts are drenched again.
This is a season of refreshing and restoring for us. I pray you get refreshed and restored as we study each miracle.
(Luke 17:17-19 TPT)
17 “So where are the other nine?” Jesus asked. “Weren’t there ten who were healed?
18 They all refused to return to give thanks and give glory to God except you, a foreigner from Samaria?”
19 Then Jesus said to the healed man lying at his feet, “Arise and go. It was your faith that brought you salvation and made you whole.”
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
Setting the stage:
In Luke 17, we find Jesus traveling on the border between Samaria and Galilee. He came into a village where ten lepers came out to meet Him. I shared with you earlier in this series about leprosy. It is an infectious disease that attacks the skin and central nervous system. People with leprosy often do not have the sensation of pain to identify cuts and bruises; hence they frequently injure themselves without knowing. Leprosy also causes multiple lesions on the skin that cause a terrible smell. Under Jewish law, lepers could not contact the general population. They were resigned to living their lives as outcasts in leper colonies.
Only a Priest had the authority to pronounce them clean and restore them to society (see Lev 14). So, for obvious reasons, they stood at a distance as they called for Jesus to have mercy on them. Jesus saw them, heard their cry, understood the Law, and unlike the leper whom He touched before He healed him, in this case, Jesus just SPOKE healing. He said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” Jesus said that as if to indicate that they were already healed. The men received what Jesus said in faith, and they set out as directed.
As they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. One of them, however, could not contain himself and was overflowing with gratitude. He came back praising God with a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.
Here are some things we can take away from this miracle:
1. The power of faith.
The 10 lepers stood a distance from Jesus as they asked Him to have mercy on them. Jesus spoke their healing from afar. He just said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” Jesus was basically saying, “Go, you are already healed of leprosy.” Amazingly enough, the men believed what Jesus said and set out to present themselves to the priests so they could be reintegrated into society.
— Jesus had the faith to SPEAK their healing out loud in front of His disciples and everyone else. If we identify with Jesus in the text, we recognize that there will be times when God leads us to SAY, OUT LOUD, something He wants us to believe. And when He leads us to SAY IT, it may require us to do so in front of others. When we do, we take our personal relationship with God PUBLIC, and God loves us. God loves when we have the audacity and the courage to say what He is leading us to say, even when it seems crazy, at the risk of looking foolish. Jesus did not give two thoughts to what the Holy Spirit led Him to say. He just said it, in faith, out loud, without a doubt, and the Father manifested what He spoke!
— The lepers had the faith to believe what Jesus spoke. They took Jesus’ words at face value, without any sense-realm evidence to support what He said, and they just launched out in faith, fully believing that what Jesus said would come to pass. This is how God wants us to believe and receive the things He speaks over us.
— The lepers were dealing with a disease that had ruined their lives, and a man, from a distance, spoke six words, “Go, show yourselves to the priests,” and just like that, they believed it. They believed that their condition was gone. Do you have the faith to believe God like that?
2. Faith is an action word.
— Not only did the 10 lepers believe what Jesus said in faith, but they took off immediately.
— Jesus told them to go, and they went. They did not debate it. They did not contemplate it. They did not try to figure it out. Jesus said “go,” and they responded without hesitation. This is the type of faith God is looking for from us!
— Delayed obedience is disobedience.
— Notice that they were healed AS THEY WENT! You may be waiting on God to do something BEFORE YOU MOVE. But He may be waiting for you to GO like He told you to GO! Becuase you will receive it AS YOU GO!
— I’ve learned that God can do more with you AFTER you get started!
3. There is power in gratitude.
10 lepers were healed. But only one returned to give thanks and praise to Jesus!
— This reminds us of the importance of being grateful for the blessings that God has given us. This gratitude not only pleases God but also helps us cultivate a heart of thankfulness.
— It is important to develop an attitude of gratitude. Before you do anything in the morning, you should think of a few things you are thankful for. Thank God for those things before you start your day. You will be amazed at what an attitude of gratitude will do for your day!
— The one leper who came back to give God praise for what He had done did not just get his healing. He received salvation, the text says. He received a blessing on a different level.
— Yesterday, while I was preaching, I was making the point about how WORK and WORSHIP are both necessary in the Kingdom. And how dangerous it is to be someone who is always WORKING for God but then fails to WORSHIP God. I said, “Your worship can touch God and cause Him to move in ways your work never will.” When Jesus wept in John 11, it was because Mary was worshipping Him in the middle of her pain.
— This leper came back to worship Jesus and he received something the other nine did not.
— I also need to point out that the text says this man was a Samaritan. This is an indication that the other nine were Jews. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Why was this foreigner the only one who came back to thank God?” Then He said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you whole.” People like this man, and like me, like my wife, people who were seemingly born on the “wrong” side of the tracks, are people who are thankful for everything because we don’t feel entitled! A sense of entitlement will keep you from praising God the way He wants you to go.
— You should feel entitled to nothing and thankful for everything!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, this is a season of refreshing and restoring for me!
I declare that I will worship You all the days of my life.
I do not simply come to You when I want something. I give You glory with my life and living daily.
You are my center and circumference, my base and my boundary, my balance and my beauty. You are my all.
I thank You for washing me, but I also thank You for making me whole.
I have been redeemed from sickness, strife, death, disease, destruction, and the hand of the enemy.
I am completely and totally saved. And I will never cease to praise You for so great a salvation!
I live my life with an attitude of gratitude, and I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
