In Mike Davenport's sermon 'Are You of the Nine?', he explores the story from Luke 17 where Jesus heals ten lepers, but only one—a Samaritan—returns to give thanks. Davenport uses this narrative to emphasize the importance of gratitude and warns against taking God's gifts for granted. Through an illustration, he highlights how repeated blessings can lead to a sense of entitlement, urging listeners to focus on the giver rather than the gifts. The sermon is structured around four key points: a desperate cry for mercy, a miraculous healing, a changed course of gratitude, and a sobering count of those who failed to return thanks. Davenport challenges the audience to examine whether they are like the one grateful leper or among the nine who did not return to express gratitude. He emphasizes the need for genuine faith and obedience, suggesting that true blessings come through a heart of thankfulness and recognition of God's mercy.

Now it happened as he, Jesus, went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as he entered a certain village, there met him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. 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.

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned and with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at his feet giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, Were not ten cleansed, but where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, arise, go your way, your faith has made you well.

And Father, as we explore and examine this text, may you prepare our hearts and may your spirit speak clearly through Mike as he divines the word of God to us. We commit this time to you in Jesus' name, amen. Let me say what a delight it is to be here among you. I bring you greetings from your sister church from far away. But it is truly a delight to see you, see new faces among you since I've been last here.

And I bring you greetings. What a delight as well that we have many things that we serve together in. And we long for that more. And we desire that God would bless all of these things that our hands are engaged in together. And we've been in prayer for your pastor Jason as he's been away.

I've had the privilege to be there in Malawi with Jason and part of my heart still there. I do love that place and the people and I always look with anticipation to see what God's doing with our brethren as they go and visit this place. May God richly bless their endeavors. Well, with the text here of Luke 17 before us, I'd like to begin with an illustration. I want you to imagine that tomorrow morning, you wake up thinking the day is going to be as it always has, and the day goes along as normal, but then about 6 o'clock, you hear a knock at the door.

And you go and answer the door. There's a gentleman there you've never seen before in your life. And he reaches into his pocket. And he pulls out $1, 000. And he simply hands it to you and goes away.

You're not really sure what's going on. You're you're you're dumbfounded. You say thank you. And then he disappears. He goes away.

And you think well, that was really strange. Well, then the next Monday, six o'clock, you're doing your normal thing that you do at six o'clock. Another knock at the door, you open it, it's the same man. And he reaches in his pocket and he gives you another $1, 000. And you're thank you, thank you.

And you close the door and get about to your business. The following Monday, six o'clock rolls around. You're not doing the same thing you have in the past. You're kind of, you know, you might be doing it, but you've got one eye kind of looking out the window. And sure enough, there comes the car pulling up in the drive.

Fourth week, you're standing in the doorway and you're looking waiting. Just waiting for that six o'clock time to roll around. Sure enough, there he is. And you've got the door open before he even gets out of his car to walk up there. And imagine this happens for months.

Then that Monday comes where you're staring out the window waiting for that car to drive up. And you see that car go by. And it pulls up into your neighbor's driveway. And you go to the door, and you open the door, sir. I would have thought that this many times you would have recognized my driveway.

You missed my house." And he says, no, I didn't miss your house. He said, I've come to visit your neighbor. What do you mean you've come to visit my neighbor? He said I've come to give him $1, 000 to give him my $1, 000. You wait a minute.

I thought we that man owed nothing That man owed nothing to you. And yet, you can get to the place where it's commonplace. You expect it. And when it doesn't come to you, what is yours is being withheld. And dear ones, this can be us.

We can so enjoy the good gifts of our God that we grow to love the gifts more than the one who is giving them. And we can get to a point where we think we deserve it. That these marvelous gifts are actually ours. We do these things. Well the title of the message this morning is, Are You Among the Nine?

Are You Among the Nine? And this morning I would like to open up this text before us under the following four headings. A desperate cry. A desperate cry. But then, a miraculous healing.

A miraculous healing or cleansing. Then third, a changed course. A changed course and then fourth, a sobering count. A sobering count. So first in the text we have here a desperate cry, a desperate cry, verses 11 to 13.

Now what happened as Jesus went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as he entered a certain village, there met him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. Now Jesus we know is on his way to Jerusalem. Luke has already made this clear back in chapter 9 verse 51.

He says that when the time had come for Jesus to be received up, that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. You see all of his life, all of his ministry, it's been focused on this journey. All of the old covenant symbolism of going up to the Holy City for the sacrifice, it was now being fulfilled by our Lord, except he himself was to be that sacrifice. He himself would be that high priest that would offer up that sacrifice to his heavenly father. And as he journeyed, we read that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

And then coming up upon the entrance into some village in that region, Jesus is met there by ten men, all of them lepers. They had evidently received word that Jesus was on his way by. He was coming nearby their city and No doubt the news of his mighty acts of healing in other regions of the country had reached their own ears and They be they become as it were the welcoming committee And they stand there by the entrance into this village and they see Jesus coming. Now they were however observing the law of Moses. They were standing off at a distance due to the fact of their leprosy.

You see, they were unclean. They were cut off from the general population. Anyone looking upon them could see the state of their condition. But you know what? They also were aware of the state of their own condition.

They knew it. They knew it. There were no doubts among them as to their condition as well as their need. And it was such knowledge that gave reason to their desperate cry to Jesus that He would have mercy upon them. They lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

Now the Scriptures specifically tell us, as it does many of those who encountered Jesus in these days they lifted up their voices They were not content to go unnoticed. They wanted to make sure they were heard. They wanted to make sure that they got the attention of this one of whom they had heard so many great things. They would not let Jesus pass by unaddressed. If He were to pass them by, it would be due to His own will and not the lack of their being heard.

Well leprosy in the scriptures often comes to us as a stark picture of the condition of the sinner before a thrice holy God. Indeed, it is right that we stand afar off and cry aloud as they did throughout all the Old Covenant even up until this time. Unclean! Unclean! And how right it is as well that we cry out to the Savior, Jesus, Master, have mercy on me.

Do you know anything of the leprosy of the sin of your own heart? Have you ever acknowledged your own sinfulness, your own misery, the state, the condition that you find yourself in? Have you sensed the desperateness of your own condition? And have you ever, like these ten lepers, cried out to this wonderful, merciful Savior? Have you?

Have you shown such a desperateness to place yourself purposefully in the way, in the path of the Savior. To be alert to the time of His drawing near. And to lift up your own voice with all your passion and all your might, all your vigor. You see, they exhibited in heart the stance of Jacob that wrestled with God and said, I will not let you go until you bless me. But Jesus is passing by this morning.

We read in the book of Revelation that He comes in the midst of His gathered people. He's here. He's passing by. If you've not cried out to him before, know that he's in this place and his ear is not deaf, nor his arm too short, that he cannot have mercy upon you. You see, These men did not deny the desperateness of their case.

But I would have you note that the desperateness of their own circumstances, that wasn't the only thing that they were convinced of. They were also convinced of the mercifulness of Jesus Christ. They were convinced of that. That this was one who could and would have mercy. They were convinced that He had the power to change their circumstances.

They were convinced that what they had heard regarding this mercy He had shown to others, the compassion that He had had on the multitudes, that if He willed, He would show it to them. And their cry was that of the hymn writer, Oh Lord, while on others you are calling, do not pass me by. Are you convinced of the power of Jesus Christ to address the desperateness of your own condition? Are you convinced of His willingness to shower you with His mercy? And so we have here their desperate, desperate cry.

But secondly, our text says before us a miraculous cleansing. It's a miraculous cleansing. Verse 14, so when he saw them, He said to them, Go, show yourselves to the priests. And so it was as they went. They were cleansed.

Jesus hears the desperate cry of these lepers. There, please reach his ear. And, and as I mentioned before, Jesus demonstrates the fact of what we read in the book of Isaiah in Isaiah 59 one that his ear is not heavy that it cannot hear. And having heard he stops and he addresses them. Now interestingly he does not heal them immediately.

Rather he directs them to go show themselves to the priests. Now, the law concerning the cleansing of a leper can be found in Leviticus 14. And it declared that on the day of this one's cleansing, the leper was to appear before the priest and be examined by the priest for confirmation of the cleansing in order to begin the ceremonial process of the declaration of His cleansing, which was concluded by a sacrifice. And so we read that the priest shall make atonement for the one cleansed before the Lord, and he shall be declared cleansed. Now what we should be impressed with here with these men is the fact that they are beginning to make their way to the priests to receive a declaration of cleanliness of a disease which still covered them from head to toe.

There is nothing in themselves, No change of condition to give them any confidence That they should be going to the priest at this time Will it be worth their while? One commentator Linsky has stated this Quote Jesus healed in different ways according to the condition of the sick persons. These men as yet believed only in his healing power. Jesus desired to advance that faith to something better. So he acted as he did.

Leprous as they were, these men were to go to their priests like clean men to be pronounced clean. That required stronger faith than ever in Jesus' healing power. The way in which to increase even such faith is to feed it with the Word. Jesus gave these men His Word. That too moved them to act.

They would have been fools not to act on that Word, to stand around only to debate and to rationalize about it. In only one way could they find out whether that word had power in it, the power of which they had heard so much, they must trust that word and go to the priests. That would show just what power was in that word." Now I imagine these men were not expecting this particular response from Christ. They had asked for mercy, and Christ had pointed them to the law. I propose to you that Jesus desired them to see clearly the place they were in, to see clearly what the law declared about them in that state to see clearly that the only hope was to be declared clean by the priest after the sacrificial offering.

In requiring these things, Christ was showing them that the way to be reconciled with God in regard to even the leprosy of the heart is through this one sacrifice and to be declared clean by the priest himself. Well, these men cling, they cling to the command of Christ when it was all they had to cling to and It was enough for them that Jesus told them what they must do Is the word of Christ enough for you Is it enough Is it enough for you to know that this is what the Lord has said? That this is what the Lord has commanded? Or do you need more to spur you onto obedience? Well, what do we see in the text?

As they went, as they went, they were cleansed. It's a miraculous healing. No less miraculous than if he had just touched them or spoken a word to them for their immediate cleansing. But as they went in obedience to Christ, the cleansing came about. We don't know how maybe each step brought more receding of those sores and the disappearance of those sores as they walked with each step.

Or perhaps they got a certain distance. And then we're just made clean all at once. We do not know. We're not told how. But J.C.

Ryle would have us note that it is just in the path of unhesitating obedience that Christ will meet us and bless us. In that kind of path. Unhesitating obedience. Can I ask you a question? Are you expecting a blessing from Christ without any obedience?

You see, it's easy for us to have a disposition that we will obey once God gives us what we want or need, even when God has already made His will very clear what we are to do. Christ had given them a command, go show yourselves to the priests. Could it be you are still without the meeting of your need simply because You are not walking in obedience to Christ. Could it be that you are not seeing anything different because you are not in that state of as you went? A desperate cry, a miraculous cleansing or healing, and now thirdly, a changed course.

A changed course, verses 15 and 16. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. Well, having focused our attention on these 10 lepers, Luke now narrows his focus down to just one, just this one, one of the 10. This one we read, once he saw that he was healed, he returned to the city he had left.

He returned to the one who had sent him on his way. There was a change in direction. There was a change in course. Having been on the way to the priest in obedience, this one turns around to go back. In the words of the doxology, this cleansed leper, he deemed it appropriate to praise Him from whom all blessings flowed.

The blessing had flowed from this one and He indeed wanted to go back and by means of praise to worship this one. Those other nine, they had received what they wanted. They received what they wanted. Their healing, their dignity, their social status, their homes, their families. But this one, he wanted more.

He wanted more. To have all of these things and to have them without Christ, it would have been to this cleansed leper a hell on earth. He must have Jesus. He must glorify Jesus. Is that you?

Is that you, my friend? Can you say like the Apostle Paul that for you to live is Jesus Christ? Can you say like Him that what things were gained to me, these I have counted lost for Christ? Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish why that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is from the law but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Linsky writes, The decision to return was due to something inward.

In the heart of the one out of the faith that had made him to cry to Jesus for mercy and out of the word of Jesus that had healed him, something was born that was not born in the hearts of the others, something that drew him back to Jesus in spite of the decision of the nine to go on, something that could not draw the others because it was not born in them, because they grasped only at the healing and not also at the healer. My friend does that Does that describe you? Are you one that grasps for the healing, but not for the healer? That grasps for the gifts, but does not grasp for the giver? You see, we're confronted here by this question What is Christ to you What is he to you who is he to you if you could have your church You could have your family if you could have the pleasantness of that sweet family life, if you could have the American dream, if you could have heaven itself, but yet have these things without Christ, would it satisfy you?

Would it? Would it? Well, this one, he has a change of course. He returns and as soon as he finds Jesus, he glorifies God with the same loudness of voice that was exercised in his earlier supplication. You see, he wasn't simply loud in regard to voicing his need.

He also lifted up his voice to glorify God. This begs a question for each of us to grapple with. Are we as ready to glorify God as we are to ask Him for His favor? Are we? How often have we asked God to supply some greater, even small need, and yet when He has answered, we fail to glorify Him with thankful hearts for hearing our cry and having mercy.

The decibel level of his praise portrays a heart of humility in Thanksgiving. Have you even stopped to consider the level of your exuberance when you walked through those doors this morning? What was your level of exuberance? It might be an indicator of your heart attitude before this great God of mercy and grace. Whatever receives our greatest attention, whatever receives the exuberance of our being, whatever moves and excites us, whatever that thing is, we can be sure that it holds our heart.

Is that which has a hold of your heart is it Christ is it Christ if it be so our lives like this man our response like this man will demonstrate that Christ has our hearts But not only does his heart in returning loosen his tongue to praise, his heart also brings his body into a posture of humility. He falls down on his face at the feet of Christ and there at his feet he pours out the sweet incense of thankfulness from an overflowing heart. Where the mouth is silent and the body disengaged there is no reservoir of thankfulness. It's empty. It's empty.

The heart is, the mouth is an overflow of our hearts. You see, this man's response is that of the psalmist in Psalm 116. I love the Lord because he has heard my voice in my supplications, because he has inclined his ear to me. Therefore I will call upon him as long as I live. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me.

I will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Oh Lord, truly I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer it to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord.

Well, the greatest shock comes with Luke's admission that this one who returned was a Samaritan. He was a Samaritan. Do you children, do you remember what we learned in the Bible about Samaritans? In bringing this to our attention, we're left with no other possible understanding that the other nine were Jews. And the Bible is drawing our attention to this.

Maybe the fact that they the 10 were all lepers that it bound them together in a way that minimized the distraction of their family ties. Jews and Samaritans did not get along too well. But yet here are these ten men altogether. But Luke does not hesitate to point out to us that this one was a Samaritan. As we think of that distinction, you children, think about Christ when he was traveling with his disciples and they were outside the Samaritan village and the Samaritan woman met him at the well.

We should also remember the unlikeliness of the Samaritan in the story of the Good Samaritan. The unlikeliness that He would be the one that would show mercy to this Jew who had fell among thieves. You see, speaking merely in earthly terms of the ten, this one was the most unlikely to return to give God thanks. But isn't that just another picture of the marvelous and yet mysterious workings of the mercy of our Lord? God turns Judas, a disciple of his own son, he turns him over to the desires of his own heart, and then he releases to his freedom the murdering thief, Morabbas.

God blinds the eyes of the chief priests at Jesus trial, and yet gives spiritual insight to the Roman centurion who has overseen Christ's death. There were many lepers in Israel at the time of Elisha, and yet God had mercy on the Syrian name and healed him of his leprosy. There were many, many widows in Israel. Also during the time of Elijah, but he was sent to the widow of Zarephath, who God had mercy on, and there was no lack of oil in the jar. Dear brothers and sisters, are you still overwhelmed by the grace and mercy that God has showered upon you?

Does it overwhelm you? Or has your soul forgotten all of his benefits for you? Has his mercy and his grace, have these become commonplace? Have you grown to simply expect it as in the example at the beginning of the message? Do you look as it were out the window of your soul just yet?

The Lord's going to be bringing it. All of these mercies and grace. I'm deserving. Where is it? It shouldn't be poured out upon my neighbor.

It should be poured out upon me. Well, may your reply be like the psalmist and like the Samaritan that had received mercy. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me?" Well, we have considered desperate cry, a miraculous cleansing, and a changed course. Lastly, we see in this text a sobering count, a sobering count, Verses 17 and 19. 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. And he said to that man, that one, arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well. Now the questions of Christ should be seen as rhetorical.

Jesus, by asking questions, as He often did, He's not seeking some verbal response, but rather He has as His purpose the causing of the minds of all who hear to mentally take note of the point that he is trying to make here and to answer these obvious questions in their own hearts. You children, here we have math at work. You thought I wouldn't say anything about math because you're not doing homeschool today. You're not in school. But this is the blessings of math right here.

We see it at work in God's Word. How many lepers were there begging Jesus for mercy? How many were How many returned to give God thanks? How many? One.

Ten minus one. It's nine. It's nine. Where are the nine? Where are the nine?

Were there not ten cleansed? You see, the question we should ask is, how many should there have been giving thanks to Christ? All ten should have returned. They should have followed their one companion, but they didn't. And Jesus responded like this, Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?

Our attention again is drawn to the fact that this one leper, he was a Samaritan. He was a foreigner. Can I speak a few moments to you young people? You who come to church each week with your parents. What has been your response to the goodness of God in your life?

What's been your response to the goodness of God in your life? What have you rendered to the Lord? Are all of His benefits toward you? The nine other lepers, they grew up with benefits that that one did not. They had benefits.

They grew up knowing Jehovah, worshipping Jehovah the way God wanted them to worship Him. Salvation was of the Jews. They had the oracles of God. And yet, it was the foreigner who returned. It was the foreigner that was moved to praise.

It was the foreigner whose heart was full of thanksgiving. How is it with you? Are you young people here today? Are you here today to render praise to the Lord, to give thanks for His wonderful works to you? Or Are you among the nine?

Will you leave this place with marvelous spiritual bounty yet again and go your way without returning to render thanksgiving to Christ? Hear the words of Christ given to Jews who drew near to hearing them. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For If the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you." And I couldn't help but stand under that gazebo, listening to the music of the world, playing out there, and people gathering for fun today. And you children gathered under the gazebo, hearing your dads, hearing other men pray to the God of heaven and earth.

Dear ones, it will be more tolerable for those people to go into eternity not knowing the things that you know and that you have heard in this place. It will be more tolerable for them unless you repent, unless you see your leprosy, unless you turn to Christ, you turn to give Him thanks and to render all glory to God. But here we have but one, but one, a Samaritan, a foreigner. And we read of him that Jesus said to him, arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.

This man says Linsky was healed by trusting Jesus and by trustfully crying out to him. So indeed were the nine. But their faith produced nothing but that cry, then faded out even as they were now, far from Jesus and remained away from Him. But this man's trust remained, brought the fruit of gratitude as described, and was thus on the way. His faith was on the way to still more.

And he says this, that is why Jesus reminds this man of his faith. It is as though Jesus told him, see what thy faith in me and my power has done for thee. Keep that faith and see what it will yet do for thee." As of yet, it seemed this man's faith was in Jesus as the healer of his body. And Jesus says, don't let go of that faith. As weak as it might be, I will not break a bruised reed.

I will not quench a smoking flax. That faith, let it reside in me and see what it will do. See what it will do. Not only for your body, but for your soul. Well as we draw this to a conclusion, I have this one question that I would like for you to consider.

Who for you to consider. Who are you in this text? Who are you in this text? Are you the one? Are you that one?

Boys and girls I'm asking you that question too. Are you that one? Or are you among the nine? Or are you among the nine? As you entered this building this morning, as you came into the presence of the Lord of Hosts, the giver of every good gift, the God of all mercy and grace, did you enter into His gates with thanksgiving?

Did you come into His courts with praise upon your lips? You see, by virtue of his attributes, his character, and by virtue of his dealings with us, in other words, by virtue of who he is and by virtue of what he has done, we should be thankful to him and bless his holy name for the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting and his truth endures for all generations. Dear ones, the ungodly mentioned in Romans chapter 1, that long list that we shrink back from as he ends that section of Romans 1. They are first marked by an unthankful spirit. They refuse to acknowledge God as He has revealed Himself to be and are Unthankful.

They're unthankful. Are you a thankful man? Are you a thankful woman? Are you a thankful boy? Thankful girl?

Are you one filled with exuberance for worship of our immutable God who is the giver of every perfect gift? Are you that one? Or are you among the nine? The application of Ryle, I am afraid, hits too close to home. And I close with this.

He writes this. The lesson before us is humbling, heart-searching, and deeply instructive. The best, the best of us are far too like the nine lepers. We are more ready to pray than to praise, and more disposed to ask God for what we have not, than to thank Him for what we have. Murmurings and complainings and discontent abound on every side of us.

Few indeed are to be found who are not continually hiding their mercies under a bushel and setting their wants and trials on a hill. These things ought not so to be. But all who know the church and the word, all that know the church and the world, they must confess that these things are true. The widespread thanklessness of Christians is the disgrace of our day. It is a plain proof of our little humility.

Well may God make it so among you, dear brothers and sisters, to be like that one. To be like that one. And so we ask all of these things in the grace of God. Let's look to Him as we pray. O gracious God, to whom shall we go?

You indeed have the words of life. We come to Christ and we thank You, oh God, for all that He's done for sinners like us. Oh Lord, we pray that we would come and return to You all thanks that You are deserving of. That we would come to You and with exuberance that we would glorify you, the giver of all good gifts. And Lord, the greatest gift that you have given to us is Jesus Christ your Son.

And Lord, you have told us in Romans 8 that will you not freely with Him give us all things. And so we come marveling in the glory of Jesus Christ and His great love for us. And we pray, O God, that You would fill us with thanksgiving. Forgive us, O Lord. Forgive us for having thankless hearts and for just with such small and low voices, returning thanks when you're deserving of so much more.

Help us, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.