Sermon Tone Analysis

Your help in on the way

.

And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:

13.

And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

14.

And 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.

15.

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,

16.

And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

17.

And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed?

but where are the nine?

18.

There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.-

KJV

Help is on the way!

I came back to say thank you!

Introduction:

We have become professional actors learning how to smile through pain and acting as if we have no problems.

It is not that we want to deceive people, it is that when you have a certain level of problems your problems are so personal, that you feel like whom can I talk to about what I am going through.

I am not trying to deceive anybody but my problems are so complicated that even if I had somebody to talk to I don’t have the words to express what I am going through right now.

Have you ever had a problem that you couldn’t explain yourself!

You didn’t even know what to tell somebody you needed; you know you need something but you not even sure what you need.

Have you ever had a dilemma that was so overwhelming that your prayer life got halted because you didn’t even know what to ask for and you find yourself just sitting and staring blankly into space.

Unresolved problems will drive you away from people, alienate you, and put you way off on an island by yourself.

If you can relate to this or you no someone that is just barely holding on for dear life touch them and tell them help is on the way!

I needed that word for today, because sometimes life can take such a toll on your strength, attitude, finances, and relationships that sometimes we feel like throwing in the towel, quitting and giving up because of the frustrations of living life that has been marked by pain and disappointment.

Add the fact the people make certain assumptions about you based on what you are dealing with; and question your integrity, your faith and your relationship with God.

However the reason that I haven’t given up or given in is because someway or somehow I still believe the My help is on the way!

Have you ever been in pain?

Have you ever been at the end of what you thought you could stand?

But you held on because of the promise of relief?

As long as I know that my help is coming I have hope!

And when I have hope I hold on!

And the reason that I am holding on is because I know that even when I don’t see it; I can expect it!

(NKJV)

1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills—From whence comes my help?

2 My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

Tell your I’m holding on!

And I won’t let go of my faith!

In the text today we see Jesus who is on his way to Jerusalem.

He will be betrayed, tortured, abandoned and murdered.

He’s going willingly, in the full knowledge of what will happen to him.

Yet, instead of being paralyzed by fear, despair or anger at the unfairness of it all, he continues move with purpose and power and despite the impending misery He is still doing ministry!

What you are going through does not excuse you from doing what God has called/gifted you to do!

This is an interesting little story told only by Luke.

For such a simple story, it is filled with significance.

There are at least ten lessons we can draw from these lepers:

In other words their help is on the way!

1st Lesson is that Your dilemma has a deadline!

The reason I know that your dilemma has a deadline is because of verse 11…

(NKJV) — 11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

The scriptures takes the time to tell when the incident happens!

Jesus is on his way to the cross!

The Lord is showing us that you have to do ministry in spite of misery!

You and I don’t get a pass from doing ministry when were having a bad day!

Also…

Jesus did not allow the racist bigotry of his day to hinder him from doing the will of God!

Why did the Jews hate the Samaritans so much?

The nation of Israel was divided into two nations in the days of Rehoboam ().

Israel was composed of the ten tribes to the north, and Judah was made up of Judah and Benjamin.

The animosity between the Jews (inhabitants of the Judah, the southern kingdom) and Israelites began immediately after the division, as Samaria was the capital city of the northern kingdom (with Jeroboam as her first king).

Rehoboam assembled an army to make war against Israel to reunite the kingdom, but God intervened through His prophet Shemiah ().

Later, in speaking of the reign of Abijam, Jeroboam’s son, says “there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.”

Immediately after the division, Jeroboam changed the worship of the Israelites in .

No longer did the inhabitants of the north travel to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice and worship (cf ).

Instead, Jeroboam set up idols in Dan and Bethel.

Later, after Israel’s fall to the Assyrians, they began to intermarry with the Assyrians, contrary to .

This is why the Jews hated the Samaritans as “dogs,” or “half-breeds.”

The Samaritans were also a continuous source of difficulty to the Jews who rebuilt Jerusalem after returning from Babylonian captivity (, esp v 10; , esp v 2).

Eventually, the religion of the Samaritans evolved to the point that they held only the Pentateuch (Genesis-Deuteronomy) as being the law of God, rejecting all the books of poetry and prophecy.

Furthermore, they claimed their copy of the Pentateuch was the only original copy (a claim still made today by what few Samaritans still survive).

A lesson to all bigots and racist, sometimes your healing is in the mouth of somebody you hate!

With out the word that came out of the mouth of Jesus these lepers would have died in their condition!

But because of the pain and their predicament it overruled their deep seeded prejudices and racial hatred and those ten lepers were cleansed!

Lesson #2 Don’t let your condition stop you from meeting Jesus!

(NKJV) — 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.

There is no place to small or insignificant for God to stop by to deal with your dilemma.

A certain village…

Have enough faith to seek Him out just as your are… Don’t let who you are stop you from getting what you need from God!

there met Him ten men who were lepers…

The first thing that I notice is that there were 10 lepers!

In the Bible, the number 10 is used 242 times.

The designation "10th" is used 79 times.

Ten is also viewed as a complete and perfect number, as is 3, 7 and 12.

It is made up of 4, the number of the physical creation, and 6, the number of man.

As such, it signifies testimony, law, responsibility and the completeness of order.

In we find the phrase "God said" 10 times, which is a testimony of His creative power.

God gave the 10 Commandments to man.

Ten therefore represents man's responsibility to keep the commandments.

A tithe is a 10th of our earnings and is a testimony of our faith in the Lord.

The Passover lamb was selected on the 10th day of the 1st month (), as was Jesus, the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world (; ).

When God punished Egypt for not letting Israel go there were 10 plagues.

And a tenth of 10 is 1 ten lepers were heal but only one returned!

So then 10 lepers is to say that in the number 10 we have the symbolic language that means God’s divine perfection and order but in the lepers we have the human condition; so that in this particular parickupe we see the results of what happens when God’s divine perfection and order meets a fallen human condition!

These 10 leperous men did not stand directly in the road so as to make an actual meeting, but are close enough to beg.

Sin will cause you to have to beg!

The law required them to keep away from the rest of the people.

() The rabbis are said to have prescribed a fixed distance at which lepers must keep some say as little as 16’ and others have is high as 500’.

The lesson is Get as close as you can to Him.

Who stood afar off

William Barclay described what a leper looks like: “The whole appearance of the face is changed, till the man loses his human appearance and looks, as the ancients said, ‘like a lion or a satyr.’

The nodules grow larger and larger.

They ulcerate.