Why did only one of ten healed men come back?

In Luke 17, ten lepers are cleansed, but only one returns to give thanks.

Questions this sermon answers:

1. What did Jesus do for the ten? He healed all ten of a disease that left them broken and outcast — an astonishing mercy.

2. Why does it matter that only one returned? Because nine received the gift and forgot the Giver. Ingratitude is a deeper sickness than leprosy.

3. What does this teach us? To examine our own thankfulness, and to return to Christ with grateful hearts for all He has done.

"So Jesus answered and said, 'Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?'" — Luke 17:17-18 (NKJV)

Speaker: In this sermon, Dr. Toby Holt examines this account of mercy received and gratitude forgotten — and what it reveals about our own hearts.

If you got everything that you ever wanted today, would you be as quick to pray to God tomorrow?

The God of the Bible is not a genie. He's not a cosmic vending machine that exists to give us whatever we want.

He's a relational being that desires a relationship with those that He has made.

But is that what we want of Him?

Two men stood on the edge of town. They were broken. They were desperate.

And then the most amazing thing happened.

They saw Christ and He healed them.

But what happened next? How did they respond?

Stay tuned for the answer in this study from Luke 17.

Ten lepers were healed. That's what we see in today's text.

However, only one returned to praise his healer.

When times are tough, people are far more inclined to seek out their God, their Maker, their King, their Savior,

than those times when everything seems to be going great in their lives.

You see, when everything is going great, the inclination we have to look to an external source of help really isn't there so much.

When things are going wonderfully, our tendency to look outside of ourselves for a source of help really isn't there.

However, when things are going terribly for us, when a crisis hits, a calamity hits, there's a diagnosis we don't want,

guess what our instinct is to do at those moments? To look up.

Our tendency, when heartache enters in, is to turn to God.

Even as Christians, we look to God far more often when things are going rough than when things are

going great. This has always been the case. This is not new. People tend to run to God,

run to a source of external help when they encounter a problem that they can't fix on

their own. Well, in Christ's public ministry, he was doing things that no one else had ever done.

In Christ's ministry, it's not just the things he said, which were on their own amazing. The

things that he said, no one else had ever said. He spoke wisdom no one else had ever heard,

but it wasn't just that that appealed to people.

Honestly, what appealed to people even more was the miracles he was doing.

Everywhere that he went, it was a blaze of miracles that followed.

A blaze of miracles followed him wherever he went.

And so he was pursued by crowds.

This is a guy who goes up on a hillside and thousands come to sit alongside him.

He was pursued by crowds everywhere he went.

But here's the thing.

Consider the motivation of those who were pursuing him.

They weren't pursuing him because life was going great.

In today's text, ten men from this village are going to run to the edge and yell out to Jesus the moment that they see him.

These are the ten most broken, hurting, desperate people in the entire region.

They're the ones who came looking for Jesus.

It was not the wealthy, rich aristocrats.

It wasn't those whose lives were going fabulously who just ran to the edge and just had to thank somebody.

It was those who were hurting.

However, once Jesus helped people, whether it was thousands on a hillside or ten people here, there's a cruel irony.

People ran to him for his help, and when he helped them, the vast majority of them were never seen from again.

We all need help, but when we get that help, what's our response after having received it?

Well, numerically, statistically, 90% of those in this story, they might have had gratitude in their heart.

I'm sure they were grateful, but they didn't demonstrate that gratefulness, that thanksgiving, in any specific way to the one who had assisted him.

They were long gone.

This morning, that's what we're going to look at.

This Thanksgiving week, we're reminded that God has done so much for us. He's blessed us in more

ways than we can possibly count. The question is, is our heart filled with thanksgiving for what he

has done? Now, before we look at verses 11 and 12 and dive through our text, let me mention

something I'm thankful for. That is not something you would expect that anyone would ever be

thankful for. Praise God for leprosy. Praise God for cancer. Praise God for hardships. What do I

mean by that? Sometimes the things that we want the least are the things that have the capacity

to do our spiritual self the most good. In order for these 10 men to seek out Jesus, they needed

a reason. And there's nothing that motivates us more in the pursuit of our God than when our lives

are falling apart. There's nothing that motivates us more to pursue God than we have desperate

heartache, terrible diseases, hardship. These are what God uses. There's more people who have turned

to Christ because of those things today. There's more people that are walking with Christ

as a result of having those things in times past than as a result of all the

gold and wealth in the world combined. There's more people following Jesus.

There's more people running to Jesus. There's more people praying to Jesus. There's more people in church this

morning on the basis of some heartache they've encountered in times past or

present than all the riches and gold of this world combined.

Ten men ran out to meet Jesus and they ran out to seek Him because

they were hurting. Those who were doing fine left him alone. Praise God for those things that we

would never call down upon ourselves, but he and his wisdom knows can be used to cultivate

our spiritual self. Let's build on this point as we look at verses 11 and 12 and work our way

through the text. Verse 11, now it happened as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst

of Samaria and Galilee. Then as he entered a certain village there met with him 10 men who

were lepers who stood afar off. All right, at the outset of these verses, we see that Christ is

traveling to Jerusalem. Now, if we just stand back from the text and don't fit it in its context,

that won't mean a whole lot. He went to Jerusalem at various intervals in his life. Well, here,

this is towards his Passion Week. He's heading towards Jerusalem. His face is set like flint

because he knows what fate awaits him. And yet, as he heads towards Jerusalem in Luke chapter 17,

as he does so, he takes a curious route.

He takes a route that others don't take.

He took a route that would lead him right through the midst of a region called Samaria.

Now, Samaria and Samaritans were not held in high regard with the Jewish community.

This is a place of paganism and syncretism.

This is a place that was considered by those in Jerusalem and elsewhere as being forbidden.

You stayed away from Samaritans and Samaria.

It's not a route, if you were a Pharisee, that you ever would have taken.

What happened if you were a Pharisee, if you wanted to go from Galilee and you wanted to go down towards Jerusalem,

you took a route that went out towards the Jordan River, out towards the desert.

You went a great way, out of your way, to avoid going here, where Jesus deliberately went.

Now, when he arrives at this village, that must be small enough that it's not even named here in the text.

At this point, he's met by ten lepers.

Now, when we say he was met by the ten lepers, a better way to say it is that ten lepers,

they stood far off on the edge of town and yelled to him, Jesus, Master.

Now, as lepers, these individuals were ceremonially unclean.

They were physically unclean.

These were folks with a contagious condition, and they needed to be kept outside of the community

lest this were to be spread.

Now, leprosy is not, in our day and age, something we're that familiar with.

However, we've seen Ben-Hur.

We know that leprosy is not something that you necessarily want.

And in the case of these ten individuals, there was rules that they had to follow.

And one of those rules was this, that you could not approach someone like Jesus unless he was to approach you first.

Now let me restate that, otherwise we'll miss the point.

Unclean people could not ever hope to approach Christ unless Christ was to approach them first.

So you have these lepers, you have these ten unclean men.

And one question we might ask as we consider them on the outskirts of town

is how did they know even to be standing there in order to greet Jesus?

Well, here's the thing.

As we said a few moments ago, Jesus' narrative at this point,

as he's heading towards Jerusalem, his narrative was very well known.

This was an individual.

This was a man who was doing things that no one had ever done.

This was a man who was doing things that no one had ever seen,

that were miraculous upon miraculous.

And somehow, these ten individuals who had a condition that meant that no one could really come too near to them,

even they had heard about this Jesus.

I don't know if someone had yelled to them or what have you.

You know, back then they didn't have the cell phones.

They didn't have the Twitler and the interwebs and so forth.

They didn't have all these things.

Someone must have told them somehow, be on the lookout for this one.

Well, whatever happened, rumors had spread, word had gotten to them.

Maybe the Spirit nudged their hearts.

We don't know, but they stood on the edge and they yelled out for Jesus to assist him. Now, let me

share something else about leprosy. We tend to think of leprosy like cancer or like a cold or

what have you. We tend to think of these things as just physical ailments. If someone has a particular

diagnosis, we view it just as a physical ailment. That's not how the Jewish community would have

viewed leprosy. You see, if someone was a leper, it wasn't just that they had this unfortunate

physical condition. But their understanding was that if you contracted leprosy, it was because

of something you did. That this leprosy was a sign of God that you were guilty of something.

Instead of just realizing we live in a fallen world where fallen things happen, where there's

sickness and bugs and the like, they had an approach that says, hey, if Joe or Bob or Stu

or Fred, if he gets leprosy, it's because of something he did. And that meant that if you

were a leper. You weren't just physically unclean. When your peers in the community of the village up

the hill, when they looked at you, it wasn't just that you were sick. Oh, poor Stu, he's sick. It

wasn't just that. They looked at him and said, he's guilty. And this is God's heavy hand upon him.

Now, there is biblical precedent for that. If you remember the story of Miriam, Miriam was who?

Was Moses' sister. You know, there's a time she accuses Moses. She's jealous. She's envious of

but Moses, her pride gets the best of her, and she was stricken by the hand of God with leprosy for seven days.

There are occasions in Scripture where leprosy is a sign of God's judgment.

But the thing is, the Israelites assumed that was always the case.

So if Stu or Bob or Fred or Fran had leprosy, again, it was because of something they had done.

They were both unclean and guilty.

The last sort of people that the religious elite would ever have sought out,

the last sort of people that a Pharisee would ever engage in any discourse with was the very ones that Jesus sought out.

Because this was not an accidental encounter here.

Jesus sought these individuals out every bit as much as they sought him out, even more.

And he brought healing in his wings.

Let's look at verse 13.

And they lifted up their voices and they said,

Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

When people come to the end of themselves,

it's typically then that they start looking for help from someone outside themselves.

It's those moments when we realize, I can't fix this.

I don't know how. I am unable that we reach to those outside of us.

Well, that's what we see in verse 13.

They ran to the edge of town, they lifted up their voices,

which is another way to say they screamed and they yelled.

They said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

They didn't appeal to anything they had done.

They didn't say, we're so great, we're so wonderful.

They threw themselves down and said,

the only reason we have any hope to receive any help from you

is based on the merciful condition of your character,

not because we've earned it or deserved it or what have you.

In any case, their bad circumstances prompted this.

They sought out Jesus in a way that they otherwise wouldn't have

if everything was going fine.

Now, again, when you picture this, there was no one else there.

There's 10 dudes. There's 10 guys.

It doesn't say there's 11 or 12.

It doesn't say half the town came out.

It said those who are in most desperate condition.

There's no sign that the rich or the healthy or the powerful lined up to meet Jesus as these others did.

They sought him out because they were hurting.

There are people in our own lives who are going through hardships right now.

And out of God's love for them, he will use difficulty to put a spotlight on their need for him.

That they otherwise would never notice if everything's going fine.

When everything's going fine, again, we don't seek out Jesus.

I've never, never, never had a moment or a case

when anyone's called me up or come into my office,

said, Pastor, just got to talk.

I say, okay, what's going on?

And they say, well, you know, Pastor, everything's just going so great.

I just want to sit here and visit with you about it.

Now, maybe if I do this another, you know, 40 years, maybe it'll happen.

But it hasn't happened yet.

On the other hand, the multitude of times when someone has called me up

or texted or we've met in the hallways or we've met in my office, done home visitation or hospice

visitation or what have you, because things are going terribly. It's 101. There's not even a scale

to measure. With that said, if that's true just of me, one pastor in Gulfport, Mississippi, then

undoubtedly it's true globally. The amount of people who pick this up because they're desperate,

the amount of people who walk through church doors because they're hurting, the amount of people who

lift up their voice to pray and they don't even have the words to do it based on heartbreak a

hundred to one million to one compared to those who everything is going wonderful here we see

broken individual shout out Jesus master have mercy upon us and again there's no claim that

He owes them anything no claim that this guy was better than that guy was better than that guy they

weren't jostling for position and saying we should really help me because I'm so great and because

before leprosy struck, I was just the nicest, best guy in town, did all manner of things.

No one, no one here out of these 10 makes any case for themselves. All they do is throw themselves

down and ask for mercy. So let's see what Jesus does. Let's see his response to them in verse 14.

So when he saw them, he said to them, go, show yourselves to the priests. And so it was that as

they went, they were cleansed. Now this, this is fascinating. It's also even a little unusual.

Jesus, as we know, people had requests of him. I mean, he could snap his fingers. He could touch

a little mud on their eyelids. He could do all manner of different things in order to affect

their healing. Well, here he does something a little bit different. He says, go and show

yourselves to the priest. The suggestion here is that there was an answer, a solution to their

problem coming, but that solution would be a little further down the road. If these lepers

were to be healed, then that healing would come by doing what he told them to do, to faithfully

respond to his words. And so in verse 14, we see that that's what they did. They went, and as they

went, they were cleansed. He told them to go, this comes from Leviticus, he told them to go and meet

with the priest because that's what you did. Jesus came to fulfill the law, he didn't break the law,

so he tells them, go and do it. And as they did it, as they were faithful, we find that they were

healed. Those nerves, that skin, the sores, the nerve damage that occurred began to

remarkably, miraculously heal, even as they were on the road. You know, God can, and even to this

day, does miraculous things. God can do, is inclined to do, and even now does that which is

miraculous, with the word of his power. Any number of wonderful things can and do occur in the world

around us. We usually don't recognize them for what they are, and yet this is something that he

can do. But in my own experience, my own experience, when I brought God a request, when something has

weighed heavy on my heart, when God has affirmatively answered my own prayers, you know, the vast

majority of those prayers didn't see a real significant fruit until I'd taken some faithful

response, some faithful action in accordance with what I had prayed. Let me give you examples of

that. Let's say you've got a neighbor, and your neighbor is all manner of trouble. Your neighbor

lets the dogs run all over your property, lets the kids egg your house, all manner of things are

going on. The grass is too high, he paints his house pink, all manner of things. And as a good

believer, you know, you pray for this individual, and you know that unless God changes this

individual's heart, he's going to continue to be kind of a jerk and treat you as such. Now, as you

pray for this individual, does it not make sense that you would yoke your prayers for his salvation

to some effort on your behalf to see that he gets saved? Does it not make sense that if you pray

for something that you would lend your own labors to take a step in faithful response

and the direction of that which you have prayed for. If you pray for the growth and well-being

of our church, as an example, it does not make sense that you take some sort of action to

deliberately help strengthen it and build it. You see, it does not take any faith to just throw

trial balloons up to heaven and see what happens. That is not faith. Throwing trial balloons up to

heaven with that which you're not willing to engage yourself with, that's not God-glorifying

prayer. It doesn't take faith to throw trial balloons up to heaven for those things that we

are disengaged from or unwilling to act upon ourselves and just hope that He will. And that

describes a lot of our prayer life. A lot of people that we pray God would heal. A lot of people we

pray that God would save. We're not that engaged in actually being the human instrumentation by

which that salvation is effected. Well, there's so many things we pray about that are just wispy

trial balloons. We say it, throw it up, and then we go on our way. Well, in this case, the people

had a petition, a request of Jesus. Jesus, will you do blank? Will you help us out here? And his

response is, go, go, show yourself to the priest. He says, I want you to take steps that are in

accordance, faithful accordance with that which you have asked me. I want the response of your feet

to be in line with the words on your lips. I want you to act in a way, a faithful way,

that is in concert with that which is most heavy upon your heart, and that which you have come to

me with. Faith is not simply this wispy thing that floats around in the inner chambers of our heart,

or that goes up as a trial balloon to heaven, but it's routinely married to action, and that's what

we see here. Go. Demonstrate that you believe my words by going to the priest who otherwise

wouldn't let you within a country mile of himself. You go right up to that guy. You pat him on the

back and you say, check me out, I am healed. That's what he was telling them to do. He says, go. By the

time you get there, all's going to be good. Now, I suppose they didn't have much to lose, and yet,

and yet, there was a certain measure of discomfort that came with the journey and risk that came with

being further ostracized by the population and yet they went they demonstrated this faith by

going towards the priest let's look at verses 15 and 16 verse 15 one of them one of them when he

saw that he was healed one of them as he went and the sores started to resolve on his skin his joints

felt stronger and his nerves could suddenly have feeling they didn't previously have one of them

when he saw when he looked at himself saw that he was healed he returned and with a loud voice

glorified God. He was yelling and screaming about his enthusiasm and his excitement for God every

bit as much as he was asking for help a few verses earlier. With a loud voice, he glorifies God and

He fell down on his face at his feet. He could now come near. Healing had occurred. The man was

healed and now he could approach. He could approach his Savior. He fell down on his feet and he gave

Him thanks. Verse 16 concludes with this statement, and he was a Samaritan. All right, the previous

verses up to verse 15. They said, all right, 10 guys, we've got 10 of them. 10 men had originally

petitioned Jesus and he healed them all. Just like he fed all the thousands on the hills. In fact,

there's no picture we have of Jesus kind of indiscriminately not healing people. If they came

up to him, if they asked for help, if they were blind, if they yelled up to him, if they even

touched his robe, they were healed. Well, here's what that same thing happens. Those who seek him

out, they receive healing. But after having been healed, only one of them, only one of them had a

response to go back and give thanks. Now, I'm sure all of them were grateful. Don't get me wrong. I'm

sure all of them were like, hey, this is great. Woo. I can now go back to my family. I can go

back to my job. I can have my life back. But they were all grateful. But they weren't all thankful.

See the difference? The world around us, we all know we got all sorts of blessings. Blessing upon

blessing upon blessing. In our hearts, generally speaking, we're grateful. We don't always take

that gratefulness, though, and give thanks to one who blessed us. This guy did. That was his

response. And as wonderful as that is, the thing that stands out in this text is not so much that

He came back, although that's wonderful and amazing. What stands out in this text is who this

guy was. Verse 16 says, he was a Samaritan. There is not an epithet you could have used in this day

that is stronger than to say that man is a Samaritan. Whatever foul language you can apply

to someone you don't like. Multiply times 10, and this is what you get. And to prove that, you know

what the Pharisees, when they wanted to insult Jesus more than they could possibly insult him,

do you know what the Pharisees said of Jesus in John 8? What they call him? A Samaritan. There's

no stronger thing to say, no stronger insult than to call someone a Samaritan. And the very one

of who this insult held true, the very one from this community that was ostracized and hated to

the degree that people just went around, they didn't even set foot in their land, the very one

who came back to Jesus was the least likely one to. He was a Samaritan. Samaritans were considered

the worst of the worst. They were people with a mixed religious background. This stems from the

exile and the return. A mixed religious background. They were thought of being outside of God's

covenant. The worst of the worst. And because of that is true, it is ironic, for lack of a better

Word, but it's ironic that it's a Samaritan who is the one who returned. You know, Jesus once said,

I came to my own, and my own received me not.

He came to his people, the fulfillment of centuries and centuries of prophecies

that said that this guy would come, and he'd do the exact things that he did.

And when he showed up and did the things the Scripture said he would do,

my own received me not.

Now, while that's a sad observation, it's an encouragement to see that while some rejected him, not all did.

And that some of the least likely to seek him out and show gratitude and thanksgiving

and even love and affection for him for those who are from outside of this covenant community which

is why God ushers in through Christ a new covenant which includes people from every tribe and every

tongue and that's what's being anticipated here the expansion of the kingdom to every tribe and

tongue and nation on earth all right let's look at verse 17 18 so Jesus answered and said were

there not 10 cleansed but where are the nine were there not any found who are turning of glory to

God except for this foreigner. As we said before, when things are going well for folks, their

perceived need for God decreases accordingly. I've shared this story before, but when we were in

wyoming, we were there for about five and a half years with a church plant beginning in about 2008.

And when we were there, I served for a period of that time in a hospital chaplaincy. I had the

privilege and the opportunity to be with folks who were going through a crisis, either themselves

based on their own health conditions, or more often, on behalf of loved ones and family and the like.

I had a lot of opportunities to meet with folks in the ER and the ICUs.

And what I found was, again, in those moments, even the most hardened Marlboro man of Wyoming

will happily talk to the pastor when their son's ATV is rolled over on them,

when some terrible thing has happened and they need help.

I met with all sorts of people in that environment who, in that moment, would absolutely accept prayer

and would absolutely talk about God and would absolutely talk about matters of faith.

But I'm sad to report that these same folks don't necessarily respond thereafter

by running out and praising God for what God has done to answer their particular prayers

after their discharge or after their health improves.

It does happen at times, but I would say the ratio is probably not much different

than what we see in today's text, maybe something around 10%.

Even as Christians, even we as Christians, sometimes we can act in a way that's ungrateful to God for all that He has done.

If we were to analyze our own prayer lives, you know, we have an acronym.

It's called ACTS.

If you've been with us on Wednesday night, sometimes we use that in our prayer time.

ACTS.

The first A in ACTS is what?

Adoration.

So when we pray, we're supposed to give adoration to God.

That's part of a healthy prayer life.

What's the C?

Confession.

We confess our sins.

So we adore God for who He is and for what He's done, and we confess our sins.

What's the T?

Thanksgiving we give thanks we say God I presented this issue to you and you have redressed it you've

healed it what's s this is the tricky one supplication fancy way of saying this is when

we ask God for things supplication as we say God I have this issue my aunt has this issue my brother

has this issue my child has this issue would you please help now if you were to analyze your own

prayer life the overwhelming bulk generally speaking of our prayers although theoretically

they should be broken down. And in a perfect world, we do a lot of adoration, confession,

thanksgiving. The reality is that our prayer life is overwhelmingly geared towards supplication.

We typically go to God when we need something. We typically go to God when we're looking for

assistance. In that sense, we're not unlike the 10 lepers who lined up for Christ's help here.

But the thing is, after we receive that assistance, many times, again, we just move on

and keep God behind the glass in an emergency break,

we keep him behind the glass until the next crisis strikes.

If that's your tendency, it's a tendency you need to break.

If it's your tendency to keep God at arm's length

except in those times when crisis strikes,

again, this is unhealthy.

Where are the nine, Christ asked.

And we weren't there, so we don't know the look on his face,

but I got to think it was a sigh in his heart.

He knows what he's just done.

He knows what's just occurred.

Ten lepers were healed of the most hideous disease at that time

that you could have. At least it was treated as the most hideous by the community around them.

And he gave them their lives back. He gave them their lives back. He gave them everything. It's

not just that he healed their body. He gave them the ability to go and hug a spouse. He gave them

the ability to go be with their children again. He gave them the ability to go pursue their vacation.

He gave them their life back. Not just their health, but their very life. And in that moment,

when you were going to expect 10 men to rush across the field, it wasn't that far. It's not

like this was go 10, 20, 30 miles. It wasn't that far. He would have expected 10 men whose joints

now worked, whose feet could now run, to rush across the field and fall at his feet. Only one

did. And so undoubtedly, with a sigh, he says, where are the other nine? If you got everything

that you ever wanted today, would you be as quick to pray to God tomorrow? The God of the Bible is

not a genie. He's not a cosmic vending machine that exists to give us whatever we want. He's a

relational being that desires a relationship with those that he has made. And he desires that we

would always be at his feet. But is that what we want of him? My suggestion to you is don't let

yourself ever be counted among the nine, but commit yourself to being the one who consistently returns

through prayer, through scripturing, through devotionals, through church activities and the

like, who consistently runs to the feet of he who has saved you. All right, let's look at the final

verse now as we wrap up verse 19 verse 19 and he said to him arise go your way your faith has made

you well you know throughout the Bible time and time and time again Christ would help people and

heal them and then he would say this fascinating thing he would tell them upon healing them he

would say your faith has made you well. Now why these words what's this statement mean why did he

consistently yoke the people's faith as the predicate clause for their healing why did he do

this when he had the woman who had the health concern for many years and she seeks him out in

the crowd she just touches his robe seeking a power and the healing that would come from that

in Matthew 9 why did Jesus turn talk to her smile and tell her this your faith has made you well

why, when a blind man cried out Luke 18 cried out to Jesus blind man knows he's going by cries

out for his embrace. Cries after he would just stop and talk to heal him. Why did Jesus do so

and then respond with these same words? Your faith has made you well. Why did this single leper who

returned in today's reading be greeted with those same words? Your faith has made you well. Why?

What's the relationship here? Why did Jesus keep emphasizing faith? He could have said,

my power has made you well. And he'd be right. Certainly that's true. I have made you well. Go.

I have made you well.

My power has made you well.

Why, although all those statements would be true,

does he draw out some acknowledgement

that the faith in the individual

played a part in their healing?

Well, the short answer to that,

we don't have time to explore this at great length,

but the short answer to that is this.

It wasn't because their faith was that strong.

It wasn't because they'd done all sorts of different things

or because they prayed a little harder

or cried out a little louder.

It wasn't that.

Rather, it was because of the object that their faith was vested in.

You see, we can have faith in any manner of different things.

If you have an issue, if you have a health concern, and you see a cow up on a hill,

you could run up to that cow and ask for help, right?

What will happen?

You'll have a moving experience.

So you go up to the cow on the hill, and the cow, of course, does nothing.

The cow can do nothing.

The cow won't assist you in any way, shape, or form.

What's the problem?

The problem is this.

If you put your faith in a cow, in a wreath, in a plant, in a chair, in a piano, in a God of stone and marble,

you put your faith in anything else in the entire created realm other than the Creator,

you will receive not a word back, because your faith is vested in the wrong thing.

You can have faith in all manner of different things.

There are people this very day in the world around us who have faith in pagan false gods,

of stone and marble.

That faith is not yoked to the proper object of faith.

Here, the people in this context, despite all the noise and confusion in their society

and all the different sources they could have gone looking for help,

all the different people who were telling them to just apply this or just do that or what have you,

they went to the one source capable of effecting a miraculous cure.

And they trusted and believed that he could do it.

More than that, they trusted and believed that he would do it.

That's faith.

Not simply trusting that God is powerful enough to help you,

but trusting because you're a son or daughter of God that he has the desire to,

that he has an inclination to.

And it's those sorts of people that he looks out upon

and says, your faith has made you well.

Too many people are looking for healing or hope,

even this Christmas time, for the wrong source.

Too many people are in desperate need of healing or hope.

They're looking to the wrong physician.

Still others don't even realize the scope of their need.

If some people are going to the wrong source,

then the other problem that some have

is they don't even understand how broken they are.

Some are lepers, spiritually speaking,

and don't even know that they're lepers.

Well, to those in that state of confusion,

I'll say this as we close.

This morning, you're sicker than you know.

This morning, you're more broken than you know.

And in time, you'll discover that.

And in that moment, when you need a physician for your soul, where will you turn?

This morning, Christ's arms are open.

He is seeking you out.

His invitation is this, turn to me.

Whether you're a new believer, whether you're a seasoned saint,

take whatever hurts on your heart, receive the healing that you need.

Let's pray.