Nine didn't Come Back

Howard Smith

Kingdom of God • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago • Presented a year ago

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The Problem

Synonyms & Antonyms of ungratefulness

failure or refusal to acknowledge receipt of something good from anotherwe'll keep your ungratefulness in mind the next time you ask for our assistance

Synonyms for ungratefulness

ingratitude, thanklessness

Words Related to ungratefulness

inappreciativeness, unappreciation.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ungratefulness

We live in a world where people are ungrateful. It does not seem to matter how much help people are given gratitude is a scarce commodity. I have seen it myself where people are were being given food items to help their children in this Covid19 pandemic. in response people were complaining about how small the quantity was. that is ungratefulness.

Suzanne Hadley Gosselin wrote an article on the internet under the title The Burden of Being Ungrateful. There she related a story her father told her. He said from his childhood a girl in his fifth grade class who he desperately wanted to impress. The girl had a numbered list of the boys in her class, ranking them based on who she liked the best. He wasn’t at the top of the list, but he wanted to be.

He knew it would require something really special to achieve his goal. So one day, he took his pencil box, a prized possession that had been a gift from his mom, and presented it to the girl. To his great delight, she put him in the number one spot … for a week.

The girl’s thankfulness was short-lived. Any gratitude she felt washed away with the next boy’s attempt to gain her affection.

We’ve all been on the receiving end of ungratefulness. The friend who shows zero reaction to a carefully chosen gift. The boss who never notices when you go above and beyond. The family member who constantly asks for more, no matter how much you give.

As bad as it feels to not be appreciated, I think being ungrateful is the bigger burden. Here’s why: When we forget to express gratitude for all of the blessings in our lives—from the air we breathe each day to the smile of a stranger—we become weighed down by our problems, and our troubles begin to define us. https://www.boundless.org/faith/the-burden-of-being-ungrateful/

In this rebellious age children who have not received right instruction and discipline have but little sense of their obligations to their parents. It is often the case that the more their parents do for them, the more ungrateful they are and the less they respect them. Children who have been petted and waited upon always expect it; and if their expectations are not met, they are disappointed and discouraged. This same disposition will be seen through their whole lives; they will be helpless, leaning upon others for aid, expecting others to favor them and yield to them. And if they are opposed, even after they have grown to manhood and womanhood, they think themselves abused; and thus they worry their way through the world, hardly able to bear their own weight, often murmuring and fretting because everything does not suit them. {AH 294.1}

What a picture here of the sinner's state! Although surrounded with the blessings of His love, there is nothing that the sinner, bent on self-indulgence and sinful pleasure, desires so much as separation from God. Like the ungrateful son, he claims the good things of God as his by right. He takes them as a matter of course, and makes no return of gratitude, renders no service of love. As Cain went out from the presence of the Lord to seek his home; as the prodigal wandered into the "far country," so do sinners seek happiness in forgetfulness of God. (Romans 1:28.) {COL 200.2}

Just think about it for a moment, no one likes an ungrateful person. An ungrateful person normally makes you feel unappreciated, used and abused. Can you imagine you put great effort in acquiring and presenting a gift from your heart to the person only to witness an ungrateful response. Ungratefulness cuts deep. And it is hard to forgive an ungrateful person.

that’s what we’re seeing here is in this narrative. Ten leapers cry out to Jesus for mercy and my question is why are they crying out for mercy? you see you need to understand that a person back in those days didn’t just contract this disease simply because it was contagious. Leprosy was inflicted upon an offender of God’s law

Numbers 5:1–4 NASB95

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Command the sons of Israel that they send away from the camp every leper and everyone having a discharge and everyone who is unclean because of a dead person. “You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell in their midst.” The sons of Israel did so and sent them outside the camp; just as the Lord had spoken to Moses, thus the sons of Israel did.

Many time leprosy was a curse from God as was the case with Miriam Moses Sister.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 12

9 So the anger of the LORD burned against them and aHe departed.

10 But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, aMiriam was leprous, as bwhite as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous.

Leprosy was a dreaded disease that caused those were infected to be quarantined. One rabbi would not eat an egg purchased in a street where there was someone with leprosy. Another rabbi threw stones at lepers in order to keep them away. This is perhaps why Jesus met these ten lepers on the border of Galilee and Samaria.

Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Leprosy, Leper,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1324–1325.

There were ten lepers Nine were Jews and one was a Samaritan. Now ordinarily Jews and Samaritans don’t mix but when you have leprosy Jews or gentile all of society rejected you and scorned you so the racial walls of partition would disappear they were all in the same boat; they were all unclean. they were all in pain, they had to shout unclean when people were passing by which was rear but here comes Jesus. no one knows why He chose to walk that way but that’s just like Jesus. He goes out-of-the-way to render assistance to those in need that’s what my God is like. He is a sin pardoning savior. He’s a leaper cleansing Healer. He is a way maker . they must have been shocked to see Jesus coming their way. they must have heard about Jesus but they couldn’t go into town. they have wanted to meet Jesus but they were outcast and rejects of society but here comes Jesus He was coming their way. So what do you do when Jesus is coming your way? well let me tell you what they did, they opened up their mouths and cried out Jesus! there is something about that name. when i’m down and out i can call on that name Jesus. when i am all alone and have been rejected i call the name Jesus. when i am sick in my body and writhing in pain I can call on that name Jesus. you see there is power in the name of Jesus. it is still the sweetest note in Seraph song; it is still the sweetest name on mortal tongue, sweetest carol ever sung, Jesus, blessed Jesus. they cried out Jesus have mercy on us.

Jesus responded to them with these words, go show yourselves to the priest. and while they were going they were healed. what a God we serve He will not be angry at us for long He is a forgiving God.

The Solution

All good things come from God. We should be grateful. All ten leapers were healed but only One out the ten came back to thank Jesus, but the other nine should have done the same. One came back to thank Jesus and he was a Samaritan, but he other nine should have come back because they were Jews. He was a Samaritan. Possibly the other nine felt that, as sons of Abraham, they deserved to be healed. But this Samaritan, who may have considered that he did not deserve the blessing of health that had come to him suddenly and unexpectedly, appreciated the gift Heaven now bestowed upon him. Those who forget to thank God for blessings received, and truly to appreciate what God does for them, are in grave danger of forgetting Him altogether

Francis D. Nichol, ed., The Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1980), 839.

one came back to thank Jesus but he was a stranger from the commonwealth of God, but the other nine should have come back because they were the chosen of God. One came back he was a Samaritan but he was grateful for what Jesus did or him and he fell at His feet and worshiped Jesus that’s what the other nine should have done. it is never enough to settle for only physical healing Jesus wants to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness but only the one Samaritan came back. there were ten leapers so where are the other nine?

On the way they were cleansed, but only one of them returned to give Him glory. The others went their way, forgetting Him who had made them whole. How many are still doing the same thing! The Lord works continually to benefit mankind. He is ever imparting His bounties. He raises up the sick from beds of languishing, He delivers men from peril which they do not see, He commissions heavenly angels to save them from calamity, to guard them from “the pestilence that walketh in darkness” and “the destruction that wasteth at noonday” (Psalm 91:6); but their hearts are unimpressed. He has given all the riches of heaven to redeem them, and yet they are unmindful of His great love. By their ingratitude they close their hearts against the grace of God. Like the heath in the desert they know not when good cometh, and their souls inhabit the parched places of the wilderness.

Ellen Gould White, The Desire of Ages, vol. 3, Conflict of the Ages Series (Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1898), 348.

The Transformation

As they went. Healing was conditional upon an act of faith. They were not healed so long as they lingered in Jesus’ presence, but only as they proceeded to carry out His instructions. When they left Jesus they were still leprous. It is evident that had they awaited visible evidence of healing before setting out for Jerusalem, where they were to be pronounced “clean,” healing would never have come. It was necessary for them to act in faith, as if they were already healed, before healing actually came. He who does not come to the Lord in faith need not expect to “receive any thing of the Lord” (James 1:7; cf. Heb. 11:6). Without obedience there is no faith, for “faith without works is dead” (see James 2:17–20). He who has genuine faith will act in accordance with every requirement of God, but without faith obedience is impossible and unavailing. Neither can exist alone without the other (see James 2:17).

Francis D. Nichol, ed., The Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1980), 839.

Who are you in the story? The Nine, Samaritan, or the disciples? they all need the forgiveness of Jesus. do you? today God wants to forgive the Samaritan. today God wants to forgive the other nine who call themselves Jews. today God wants to forgive the weary disciple. which one are you?

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