Where are the nine
Luke 17:11-19
I want to talk to you about Scripture that we all are familiar with and that is the text found in Luke 17:11-19. You find in that text that Jesus heals 10 lepers. There is nothing unusual about Jesus healing people because we know though out the New Testament we see Jesus healing people with terminal diseases because He is the mighty physician.
Here in our text we find 10 men who are held together only for the disease they have. In that day leprosy could not be healed. When someone had this dreadful and deadly disease, it only meant one thing and that was that death was sure. It meant that when someone had this disease he was moved away from his friends and family into a valley that housed only lepers. The only thing that he witnessed in that valley is pain and watching others die of the same disease that he had. He would be there just waiting his time to die.
But one day Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem and passed through Samaria and was met with ten lepers crying to Him and asking for healing. They wanted healing from a sure death. They wanted healing that they could go back and be with their families. Jesus said to them to go and show their selves to the priest and while they were on their way they all were healed of this dreadful and deadly disease. One of the ten when he realized he was healed went back and through himself at the feet of Jesus and glorified God for his healing. Then we have one of the saddest questions asked by Jesus, maybe in the entire Bible and that is, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?”
It isn’t only the saddest question found in the Bible but also one of the most surprising questions asked in the Bible. Haven’t you ever wondered what happened to the nine that went their own way never thanking Jesus for their cleansing?
I have thought about that often. I don’t think I have ever read this text without wondering what happened to the nine. I wonder if we can find them somewhere else in the Scriptures. But listen, the New Testament word leprosy is symbolic to sin in ones life. So, everyone that knows Jesus as his Savior has been healed of that dreadful and deadly disease leprosy or sin.
Can you imagine how thrilled theses lepers were when Jesus delivered them from the deadly disease of leprosy? That meant that they got to go back home and be with their loved ones. That meant that they no longer had to stay in the camp of the dying. It meant that they did not have to keep their faces covered and shout unclean whenever someone got within 50 feet of them. They were healed of their disease by the mighty work of Jesus and yet 90% went their way and never gave thanks to the Lord.
Do you know people who have been saved and their sins forgiven and yet by their lifestyle no one would ever know it? We must say that 90% of the lepers were selfish and self-centered thinking only of themselves. Would it surprise you to find out that many who have been forgiven of their sins and on their way to heaven never give Jesus thanks? Doesn’t it bother you in the least to know that many of those who have been forgiven of their sins and on their way to heaven don’t follow Jesus at all? Where are the nine?
I want to tell you we have many today who say they are saved but you could not tell it by the way they give thanks to God using their time. I appreciate it so much you being here this morning but there are hundreds of folks on many church roles who never darken the door of their church on the Lord’s Day. You could ask them isn’t the church important in the world and most of them would say it certainly is but on most Sunday’s they vote to close the doors as far as their attendance. I want to tell you something friends there is something wrong when a person says he is a Christian and he doesn’t want to assemble with other Christians on Sunday morning. There is something wrong when the so-called Christian has more fellowship with those of the world than he does his brothers and sisters in Jesus. Where are the nine?
We not only have many who say they are on their way to heaven and you would not know it by the way they use their time but also the way they use their talent. Some of you the Lord have given you a talent of singing and you ought to be using it in the ministry of the choir. But many of you don’t because it calls for commitment. It means practice. It means giving God your best in life and you want to use it for yourself and give God the peelings of life.
There are some of you who ought to be in the business of soul-winning but you don’t because it calls for commitment. So there are many in Sandy Ridge who will die and go to hell because you are not committed to the commitment of soul-winning. We ought to have people in this church every Sunday that you have taken time to invite and encourage to come to the house of God. They know where the church is preacher and they will come when they want to. Most come when they don’t want to and that is when they are rolled in here by the funeral directors. Many of them are your kin, many of them are your neighbor and many of them are your brothers and sisters and if they heard about Jesus it wasn’t from you. Where are the nine?
Finally, we have many who say they are on their way to heaven and you would not know it by the way they spend their tithe. They never give God thanks by giving God His tithe. We, on any given day have more thieves in the churches than they do in most prisons. We have people who still from God and never give the tithe. I call them the UFO; the uncommitted freeloading on looker. God’s church should never have to beg His children for money to carry on the ministries of the church. Where are the nine?
