Faith to Forgive

Good morning. It's the 4th of July, and we're thinking about Jesus' instruction to his disciples, that is, his church. And so let's have a little fun. What is the relationship of the church to the state? There's a lot of confusion about this in our own government, in our own cultural conversations, and we could spend hours wrestling with the constitutional rights. What are the freedoms granted? What is it supposed to be when there's a wall stated in one letter? Most importantly this morning, we're not gonna ask those questions regarding the Constitution. What does Christ expect of us as a church? Because regardless of any constitutional rights or freedoms, we have obligations to our head, to Christ, our savior. If we were to step back, we could go back to 1840. A French philosopher, a French observer of America came, and this is what he wrote of America. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her harbors and ample rivers. and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her fertile fields and boundless forest, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her rich mines and vast world commerce, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her public school system, her institutions of learning, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution, and it was not there, not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great. Now these are not inspired words of God, but I think there's something helpful here. What if he's right? The concern over and over again is the church needs to speak to the nation's concerns. The church needs to get involved in what Paul actually calls civilian affairs. Why doesn't the church just focus on doing what the church is called to do? Make disciples. Proclaim Christ, exalt him so that we're more faithful in the one job we're given to do, and that is to make disciples for the glory of God. Friends, this morning we're gonna focus on the institution that God has made promises to, the church. The one and only institution that God has said is going to exist until the end of time, the church. The one institution that God promises to bless in faithfulness to his purpose, the church. Now this morning we're going to see some very weighty commands, instructions, to the church. The question is, are we going to submit to what Christ calls us to? The basic command this morning is pay attention. Watch out. Pay attention so that we are the ambassadors of reconciliation that Christ has commanded us to be. We're in Luke 17. Pay attention is our first point. Pay attention. Notice there in chapter 17, verse three, pay attention to yourselves. And notice there's a warning that goes before it and a instruction that goes behind it. We're in the same setting, the same scene that we've been in for quite a few weeks. Jesus has gone back and forth. He's corrected the Pharisees. He's taught the disciples. He's corrected the Pharisees. He's taught the disciples. We're seeing the end of this teaching scene here. And he's focused in on the disciples yet again. There's two basic ways to live. Tempting others, reconciling with others. Well, we see that, right? Temptations are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come. Be careful, pay attention not to be the cause and source of temptation. Rather, brothers, if your brother sins, rebuke him. Pay attention to yourself. How are you relating to others? Are we the cause of temptation, an instrument of sin, pulling others away from God, or are we the cause of reconciliation, instruments of grace pulling others towards God? The first thing I want us to see is verses one to two. What does it mean to pay attention to ourselves in light of temptation? Notice it begins very clear, temptation to sin Temptations to sin are sure to come. That's not a promise. God doesn't promise temptations. There's just a realistic expectation. Temptations are going to regularly exist. If Christians are to be faithful, we need to make sure we understand temptations will continue. We will all be tempted. Believers, we're going to face temptation, and this is why Jesus' command for disciples, one of the three clear commands, deny yourself. When you see an allurement that God has clearly said is not good, deny yourself. When God has clearly said something is ungodly, deny yourself. Self-denial is seeing how our desires are so easily enticed by something God has said is not good. Temptation is sure to come. Now, notice he says temptations to sin. Temptation and sin are two different things. We have to make sure we understand this. Temptation is something that entices us. Sin is something we partake in. The temptation, that's putting bait on a hook. The temptation is when we see the bait on the hook. Sin is when we bite it. Sin is when we want to participate in it. Temptation will come. Now the second part of this declaration is really the weight of it, it's really the focus. But woe to through whom they come. Temptations are to come and we need to make sure, we need to be paying attention to ourselves so that we're not the source of it. Woe is the opposite of blessing, woe is a warning, maybe even a condemnation. Woe if you are the source of temptation. This second half is the real main point because verse two makes it all the more clear. It would be better for him, that is the source of temptation, if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. That's pretty mafia, right? It's actually Roman. The Romans did this and the Jews thought it was incredibly horrible. The stone here would be something so heavy, a donkey. It's actually called the donkey stone. But to tie it around your neck and to throw you in the sea. Now, what part of it is better? Is it that you'll be better dead swimming with the fishes than to cause temptation, or is the judgment that will fall upon you even worse than a millstone being tied around your neck? Either way, what Jesus is saying is very clear. It's a warning that we need to make sure we're heeding. We also need to wrestle with this word little ones, this phrase. This could refer to believers. Jesus has referred to other believers this way. There's a great compassion and love that Jesus shows as a parental figure towards Jesus, towards the believers. A love, like a hen gathering his chicks. There's a way in which little ones could be believers, young believers. He also referenced the little ones as children at other times, those who are most vulnerable. Those who lack discerning. Maybe it's young believers or maybe it's young children, but it's clearly those who are not yet truly discerning. Those who are most susceptible to stumbling. Now, this passage shows that there is a way in which you can cause temptation. Jesus says so. You can cause others to be tempted. The question we have to ask, can you cause someone to sin? Can you make someone sin? You can be the cause of temptation, which is alluring them to sin, but can you cause that? I don't believe Jesus is saying here you can cause someone to sin. We need to wrestle with this a little bit. James tells us in chapter one of his letter that temptation comes as an internal problem. Temptation comes when we're lured and enticed by our own desires. So temptation isn't just an outside problem. Temptation's also an inside problem, he tells us. The key to what James is telling us is all the good things, they come from outside of us. The solution comes from outside. The problem is inside. That is the most basic truth of the Christian worldview. Our sin is our main problem. God from outside is the solution. He wrestled with that and he also recognized Jesus was truly tempted. Jesus truly faced temptation as a righteous man who had no sin in his heart. Satan approaches him three different times and tempts him three different times. Even still, Adam and Eve were tempted before they were sinners. By whom? Satan. Friends, the woe, the danger, the warning, We can consider why the judgment is so harsh because to tempt someone else to sin is demonic, satanic. It's over against the purposes of God. We are supposed to be a people that are pursuing holiness and glorifying God. To tempt someone towards sin is satanic by its very definition. Now there's different ways we tempt to others. Before we move on from this distinction of temptation and sin, let's just be very clear. We like to blame others for being the cause of our sin too quickly? You make me angry? That's a false statement in and of itself. You can tempt me to anger, but you can't make me sin in anger. We're too quick to blame others for the cause of our sin, and we're too quick to dismiss how our actions actually are the cause of sin. Do you see the difference? We're too quick to blame someone as if the cause of our sin, and we're often too quick to dismiss our own actions that are tempting. This morning, let's consider three ways in which we might actually be the cause of temptation. One, alluring someone to see sin as something that's good. This is what happens in our own culture, where we have movies, entertainment that glorifies pirates, as if there's something about an honorable thief We need to be careful of making something that's clearly opposed to God, something that's clearly against God, and making it look good. Pretending that something that's clearly sinful, well, it's okay here. It's licensed. You're free to participate in these things. We can allure people too often by making something that's clearly sin appear to be okay. And then the second way in which you could be enticing someone to a temptation is by defeating them with ungodly burdens. Remember, he's just turned from the Pharisees, and now he's talking to the disciples. The Pharisees are still in earshot, and I believe much of what Jesus is saying to the disciples is, please, you cannot be like the Pharisees. True disciples is what he's expecting. With the Pharisees in view, they opened up a license to sin. Remember last week, they gave a license for free and easy divorce, which led to adultery. The other problem they had is that they liked to unload extra burdens on others, making expectations impossible. What's the third way we can actually cause temptation? Not fulfilling promises. Here's where I'm gonna get in some pretty high grass, I think. There's ways in which we have made covenant promises to others, and if we're not faithful in those covenant promises, we can be the cause of temptation. Consider a spouse. If a spouse neglects their covenant promises, they can be a cause of temptation. If a spouse neglects the covenant promises, there can be a cause of temptation. They can withhold attention. They can withhold sex. They can withhold help. They can withhold leadership. By doing so, you're creating a situation where your spouse is in a vulnerable position. But by living in sin as a spouse, you're putting your husband or wife in a position of being in temptation because of what you're withholding. We're called to not tempt others in sin. You cannot cause someone to sin, but you can tempt others in sin. And here, the heavy weighty warning. If you're a believer, if you're a member of Jefferson Park specifically, something that constantly concerns me is that there's little children everywhere and they're always listening and they're paying attention. What do they hear us talk about? What do they see us doing? When the children observe how we come in for worship, when the children are looking for if you're even here, when the children hear you talk about others, what are we testifying to? Are we making church this delightful place where backbiting, gossip, slander, insubordination is so out of place that it's unacceptable? And the children get to hear and see good models of what godliness looks like. Oh, it burdens me for us to think we might be a stumbling block for children, the most vulnerable. Our philosophy of children's ministry is pretty simple. Parents, you are the primary person responsible for your child's growing up in Christ. Yeah, there are different situations where the church needs to take on that primary responsibility because a parent will not or cannot, but the primary goal of the church is to assist. Oh, it's so encouraging when my children see other adults behaving, professing, talking, believing like their parents. You're solidifying, not us, but the message of Christ, the truth of Christ. The main hope here is that even while our children are down to basics, Those other members, they're actually testifying to the same gospel our kids are hearing at home. Pay attention to your life. What values are we modeling? Are we able to say, follow me as I follow Christ, or is our life so chaotic, selfish, and sideways, the church would be a mess if others behaved like us? Key thing here is someone's watching. The other part of being, paying attention, the warning of not being a temptation. Now, pay attention to the other side. We've been given a prohibition, we've been given a boundary. Now we're given an instruction, a direction. We could tear down others with temptations or we could build up with truth and love. Notice the opposite of being a temptation is being an ambassador of reconciliation. Again, verse three, pay attention to yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day and turns to you seven times, saying, I repent, you must forgive him. Our own covenant summarizes verse three and four pretty helpfully and clearly. We will humbly warn a brother who is in danger of falling into disobedience or error. We will speak the truth in love, be slow to take offense, and be eager to seek swift and lasting reconciliation. Notice here, the first command here is rebuke. Rebuke someone who is in sin. Rebuke someone who's in need of correction. The key here is we looked at last week. We're walking through the Gospel of Luke. Last week, the problem with the Pharisees is they could not use, they would not use the law as a mirror to show sin. As we're Christians and we're meditating upon God's word together, as we're looking at God's word, We're seeing our own sin, and sometimes we get so self-deceived, we need to help others see sin. We need others to help us see sin. If we go back to what the Pharisees were doing last week, they were justifying themselves. Sometimes we need somebody to come in and help point us the right way. Rebuke isn't meant to be a condemnation. Rebuke is meant to be an invitation. Let's get that right, Christian. Too often we think let's rebuke somebody and we're gonna put them in their place. No, that's not what Christians do. Christians point out sin so you can point them to the Savior. The whole point of pointing somebody's sin out is that you might be able to point them to the Savior so they could confess that sin. So four principles on how we should think about rebuke. One, rebuke with God's word. 2 Timothy 3 tells us that God's word is good for teaching, reproof, correction, training. If we're only rebuking someone because we don't like what they're doing because of our own personal convictions or opinions, that's not going to be helpful. What we're looking for is something that makes it clear. Your lifestyle is so out of line with what God's word clearly says. Second, rebuke with patience. Rebuke with patience. 2 Timothy 4.2 says, reproof. Rebuke correct with complete patience and teaching. Demanding somebody must change the way you expect them to change right now is not very Christ-like, because that's not how Christ has called you. There needs to be an urgency, but there's, here, the clarity of patience. Third, rebuke with prayer. Here's where we're asking God for the grace to speak truth and love. that they would receive truth and love, and that Christ would be honored and glorified. And fourth, rebuke to win our brother. Rebuke to win our brother. If he repents, we forgive him. Titus 1.13 even talks about the false teachers. He says, rebuke them so that it would be sound in the faith. Matthew 18, which is really a double-clicking on this passage. The reason you're confronting somebody is that they would listen and that you would win your brother. Oh, again, correction, rebuke is not meant to put them in their place unless we consider that place next to us rejoicing in Christ together, inviting them in to a sweet fellowship of confession. We must seek to know Christ and make him known. This means that we will have sin pointed out and we will need our own sin pointed out. Here's the confusing part of this. We usually are looking for community. Friends, this is the kind of activity that we have to expect in order to build community. You don't find a Christian community, you actually invest in one, you build it. So a few questions. Who is it that you've invited into your life to rebuke you? Is that an odd question for you? Are you self-aware enough of your self-deception and sin that you actually know you need to invite somebody into your life who has the permission? You've given someone permission. If you see ag on my face, help me get it off. And by ag, I mean disgusting sin that's destructive. Who is it that you've invited into your life to know you? Now for the challenging part of the passage. Forgive. Forgive. Not being a temptation, that means I've gotta live a holy life and I've gotta pursue holiness so that I'm not causing others to sin. I'm going to rebuke others whenever I see they are not following the same call to holiness, the same narrow way. Now the hard part. Forgive. If there was one word in our Christian vernacular in our own culture that I would love to correct in the way we misuse it, it's love. The second one's forgive. We treat this as if it's some kind of just flippant forgetting. Anyone who's truly been sinned against knows it's not as simple as some kind of flippant forgetting. No, that makes so little of sin, it makes so little of the pain. When real trouble comes, this is why Christians throw fits and have these outrages of anger because we've not actually thought through what forgiveness really means. It's something small because sin is not small. The first thing we need to think about when we think about the call to forgive is we go to the cross. That's where forgiveness is defined. The one holy righteous God showed us what the penalty of sin really looks like. Shows us what the pain of sin really looks like to be received. Shows us how much we have been forgiven so that we know how to forgive others. The reality, forgiveness is costly. Forgiveness is costly. For God to forgive us meant he had to promise, as we read earlier in Exodus 6, we are called to hear the promises of God. He's promised us salvation, I will save you, I will redeem you, I will help you, I will be your God. He committed himself to it. And then he paid for it. When the father sent his own son to die on the cross for our sin, it wasn't free. It was costly. It's freely given, it's freely offered that we can receive it by faith. but it was costly for God to pay the penalty for our sin. He calls us to see how much he has forgiven so that we might be Christ-like and forgive. If we're gonna forgive somebody, it's costly. It's a promise, a promise that we're not going to continue to let this sin hinder our relationship. It's a promise that I'm not gonna store this up and use it as ammunition the next time you do something. To forgive someone doesn't mean you forget about that sin, it means you absorb it. When we are forgiven in Christ, it means we know the offense. It means we looked and see how others have sinned against us and we look to make sure we're exercising the same kind of forgiveness. What we're talking about here is reconciliation. Reconciliation has two parts. Reconciliation can only happen when two things go together, a confession of sin and forgiveness. That's the equation. If you've been with us for a little while, I hope you've heard this, and if you're gonna stick around for a little while, you're gonna hear it again. Because this is the key equation for Christians to actually be Christians, to understand we have to confess sin, we have to be forgiven, then we have reconciliation. Right, so if you're taking notes, simple note, confession plus forgiveness equals reconciliation. I'm sorry, I forgive you, reconcile. Now, that doesn't mean that the relationship is gonna go right back to the way it was. No, it will probably look different, depending on the relationship and the sin. But the goal there is that if two Christians come together and are reconciled, they take the Lord's Supper together in joy, knowing that Christ paid for that sin. That's the real fruit of reconciliation. Here in this passage, we're talking about somebody who says, I'm sorry, but let's just be very clear. When somebody says they, when someone refuses to acknowledge sin, it's harder to forgive. I still believe we're called to forgive even when someone doesn't repent. Why? Because Ephesians 4, 32, 33 says, we are to forgive as God has forgiven us in Christ. And there's no way I have acknowledged, repented of, or confessed all my sin, but Christ paid for it all. God forgives us even in our failure to confess and forgive. Praise God, his forgiveness extends beyond our own confession and repentance. It is so much more complicated when someone doesn't repent to forgive them. Let's just be clear about that. And what's the real takeaway is if we're refusing to repent, we're making it more difficult for somebody else to forgive us. We're making that more complicated. We confess, we rebuke, we confess, we repent, we forgive, in order to renew a relationship. And the Lord's Supper is designed for us to practice this. This is where we don't come as an individual and just think about how much we sinned against God and how much he forgave us. No, this is Christ inviting everybody who's believed in him. Everyone who's walking alongside of each other, who really know each other, who sinned against each other most likely, and we're able to enjoy the fact that we are able to experience and express the forgiveness of Christ together. There's an important question we gotta ask. Well, how many times do I have to forgive somebody? Jesus knows what we're thinking, verse four. And if he sins against you seven times in a day and turns to you seven times saying, I repent, you must forgive him. Now, why seven? Is it that Jesus wants to get a little punch card? So there's seven options and we had a little You know, we just punch it every time. That way, when he hits seven, we can stop forgiving them. We kinda act like that sometimes, and maybe he doesn't go, we'll go to seven. Seven here, probably the perfect number. Jesus will clarify. Jesus has probably taught this over and over again. By the time he gets to Matthew 18, it makes it clear. How many times should we forgive? Seven? No, 70 times seven. Relationships are costly. They make us vulnerable to temptation in our own sin or in those who have sinned against us. This is why this teaching is so important. I talked about earlier that forgiveness is difficult. It's costly. We think about it as a debt, as Jesus talks about it in some ways. If you forgive somebody $100, well, where's $100 lacking? Your own bank account. You absorb it. You promise that you're going to take that pain, that difficulty. They don't need to hear about how difficult it is. To forgive means you absorb the offense. You absorb the pain. Church, we can only be a healthy body of believers if we really take verses one to four seriously. It assumes a call to holiness, a desire to pursue holiness in a way that we're not gonna cause others to stumble. We're gonna avoid sin, therefore we're not enticing others to sin. We're gonna avoid our own heavy, weighty opinions so that we're not burdening others. When we see sin, we're gonna wanna talk about it. When we see our own sin, we're gonna wanna confess it. When there's sin against us, we're gonna desire to forgive. This is a high calling. If you're not a believer, especially I'm concerned if you're not a believer, if you're really just skeptical of the church because you've been hurt, anyone who's tried to thrive and live in a church for too long has been hurt because we're not sinless. The church is made up of those who confess Christ. We confess him as our savior. We confess our sin to him. We confess to one another our own sins. A church is meant to be of those who are continually and regularly confessing Christ as Savior, confessing our sins so that we actually are pursuing reconciliation. If you've been hurt by the church, just understand it's because they haven't been following Christ. Don't let how some body of believers has treated you affect the way the Christ, the one and only God, has come to save you and you enjoying him and knowing him. Our next point, the power of faith. Verse five. It's at this point we feel the full weight of the passage, I hope, just like the apostles did, and we can see it in their response, which is perfectly reasonable. Increase our faith. What a reasonable response to this teaching because it's so weighty. They ask Jesus for something more. They want more faith. Notice it seems perfectly reasonable to ask for more faith, but Jesus seems to point to them that this is not the right request. Verse six, and the Lord said, if you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and plant in the sea and it would obey you. And the mustard seed, that was the most understood, the common understood smallest seed. If you had the smallest faith, if you had the littlest faith, you would have this great ability. Now, we wanna make sure we understand the full weight of what this passage is teaching us because in Mark nine, There's a prayer, I believe, help my unbelief. There's a right way for us as Christians to desire to have more faith. There's a right way for us to say, God, we are failing. We wanna grow in our faith. Here, the correction of Jesus seems to make it clear, no, you're not asking for the right thing in the right way right now. It's almost as if they're saying, Jesus, your instructions are too much. We need something more from you than what you've already given to us. The request seems perfectly logical, but Jesus' correction is, no, it's the smallest faith. The smallest true faith and the true source will actually have great power. He clarifies this for us further in the parable, verses seven to 10. Will any of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in the field, come out once and recline at table? Will you not rather say to him, prepare supper for me and dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? Now he's first asking them, if you have a servant, he's worked all day, are you gonna then say, you come and eat at my table? Well, no, that would be completely out of custom. No, the servant's job is to then prepare the food, and then afterward he can eat. Then he says, would you thank him afterwards? Well, no, you wouldn't thank him afterwards, verse nine. Notice verse 10 changes the storyline. Would you have a servant after he's worked all day then let him come eat with you? No, would you would you then let up let him would you thank him? No, we flips it. So you also When you are the servant When you have done all that you were commanded say We're unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty? Jesus helping them see a very clear point You're called to serve. Back in Luke 16, 13, we just looked at this. Jesus taught that you cannot have more than one master. We do serve a master. Christ is our master, God is our master. We are designed to be his servants. He calls us up into that wonderful privilege of being sons, but we're called to serve him. The focus here of seven through 10, if you're a faithful servant, you're not expecting thank you from God. Do you realize how weird that makes the relationship? To faithfully serve God, expecting he's supposed to say thank you. Now, we are told we'll hear well done, good and faithful servant, but that's not thank you. To confuse the relationship of God here is what is correcting. If we're faithful servants, we're going to just simply do what is our duty. Now this passage just gets all the more difficult, doesn't it? Duty. That's one of our favorite Christian words. Faith, hope, love, duty. There's an obligation to being a Christian. There's a duty. The beauty of the gospel is Jesus loves us while we're sinners. That is the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. While we are rebellious tyrants, rebelling against God himself, he loves us and saves us. The sinful lie we infer from that is that he doesn't care about the way we live then. Oh, that's a tempting lie. We're saved by grace, not by works, but we are saved for good works, duty. We must understand and speak of duty, a duty to Him, an obligation to Him. We have a duty not to cause others to temptation. We see that in verse one. We have a duty to rebuke others. We have a duty to repent of our sin. We have a duty to forgive others. We just read Ephesians 4.32. We are supposed to be forgiving as Christ forgave us. Matthew 18.35 says it even more clearly and weighty. If we're not forgiving others, we will not be forgiven. There is an important duty here to delight in, to love others, to rebuke others, to forgive others. We must recognize and fill the full weight that we are called into the kingdom of God to serve him. And there's an obligation. Young people, Oh, we love you. And therefore, we're gonna expect much of you. It is not loving to have low expectations. We're gonna want to extend grace. We're gonna let you, we're gonna see where there's sin. We're gonna apply the grace of God, but we're not gonna permit sin. The danger is for you to think I'm gonna put off until another day. I'm gonna delay obedience. No, today we'll, if you're a believer in Christ, we wouldn't expect much of you. We're gonna help you understand what is the duty of being a faithful follower of Christ, to be learning, growing, serving. The church is meant to be a regular training ground. Young believers, our desire is to see you grow up in godliness. Older believers, we love you too. Therefore, we expect much of you. Don't check out and retire. Who's going to teach, train, model godliness for the young believers if you're going to check out and retire? There's no retirement plan in the call of godliness. There's no retirement plan if the whole goal of the church is to be a group of disciples making disciples. There's a duty to invest. There's responsibility. Here we see God's promises are to us as a church. is commanded to us as a church to be faithful, not to be a temptation, to rebuke, to forgive, to be ambassadors of reconciliation. Are we paying attention to our duty? The last section stands alone. The heading, if you're taking notes, give thanks. On the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. When he saw them, he said to them, go and show yourselves to the priest. And as they went, they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. And he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answered, we're not 10 cleansed. Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, rise and go your way. Your faith has made you well. Here's a standalone scene. Jesus is moving along here and he comes across a leprechaun. Now, Samaritans were despised by Jews because they were considered unclean. They had their own system of religion. They had denied different books of the Bible. They had a different kind of people, relationally, religiously. And here halfway between Galilee and Samaria, he comes across even a different kind of group of despised people. Those were lepers. They were unclean. They were scary, deadly, and dangerous. If you touched them, you might actually get leprosy and be an outcast in society. Notice here, Jesus is passing by, in verse 13, they cry out, they lift up their voices, all 10 lepers. There's at least one Samaritan, maybe there's other Jews, maybe they've all come together as the outcast. They all say together, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. They're calling to the one God who can actually help them. And when he saw them, when he turns his attention to them, he first commands them, go show yourself to the priest. A leper would, or anyone who was unclean, would need to go to the priest to give a right to then worship in the temple and be brought back into society. It was a cleansing ceremony. They would need to go show themselves to the priest to receive this. Notice he commands them, they go, and then as they went, then they were cleansed. On their way, their leprosy just started falling off. They were getting washed as they were going. And 15 focuses in on one of them. One of them saw that he was healed. One of them turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He falls at Jesus' feet and he thanks him. He was a Samaritan. Notice, he's the outcast, not only because he was a leper, but because he was a Samaritan. Luke is regularly doing this. If you haven't been with us, we see it over and over again. He takes the one who is despised and looked down upon and he always uses him as a teacher of what's good and right. If we wanna know what faith looks like, if we wanna know how to increase our faith, we don't know what faith truly looks like, it's the Samaritan. He turns and just gives thanks. The Samaritan does. Jesus observes it. He wants to point out. He's not asking where they are, he's pointing out only one came back. Where are the other nine? No one. found it right to return and give praise except the Samaritan, the foreigner. Then he speaks to that Samaritan who was a leper. Rise, go your way. Your faith has made you well. When the disciples who want to know what faith looks like in order to not be a temptation, in order to know how to rebuke someone, forgive somebody, this is it. Someone who comes and praises God and gives thanks. Someone who recognizes the full power of God and returns and wants to praise Him and give thanks. He points to us what faith truly looks like. Friend, this morning, if we cry out for mercy, God forgives us. If we confess our sin, He forgives us. If we desire to know Him more, He comes close to us. This morning, let's respond in thinking through what it means to give thanks. One of the ways the church has named the Lord's Supper, some call it the Eucharist, really just means to give thanks. It's an opportunity to give thanks to Christ for his dying on the cross, to pay the penalty for all our sin, to give him thanks for rising from the dead, to give us new life and new purpose, and to give him thanks for how clear his command is that we can live with one another, walk with another, forgive one another. We cannot pretend to give thanks to God if we're holding on to forgiveness. We're refusing to forgive. We're actively tempting others. We're neglecting God's instruction. This morning, the invitation. Confess to God. Confess to one another with a heart that we would know fully how to give thanks to him who has forgiven us for all our sin. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you. You did not leave us alone in our sin. You came to show us our sin. You did not leave us alone in our condemnation. Father, you sent your Son to die in our place, to rise again, and you've given us your Holy Spirit, Lord. Lord, I pray that you would convict us of sin. that we would have the courage in the gospel, that we would be given the grace that we need to confess sin, desiring to come out of it. We'll be given the strength to forgive sin, to put away bitterness, that we would greatly rejoice together as your people who have all been purchased by the same blood of Jesus Christ as we partake together in the Lord's Supper. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let us stand and sing our song of invitation, the Reformation song.