Sunday Message – Today Jesus 107 12/11/06

<Luke 17:11-19>
WHERE ARE THE OTHER NINE?
• Our Abba Father loves us eternally and unconditionally. We will definitely
receive peace while living on earth if we know how to respond to His love.
Otherwise, we will be living in irony.
• He only wants us to do one thing, which is to love Him. Loving Him will bring
forth our greatest strength
• Do not touch any problems or troubles that we are currently having. We only
need to love and submit to God and all will be well taken care of
• God’s perfect will is revealed to us as we pray and think about His love. We
will receive strength when we submit ourselves to His perfect will.
• There are many different types of Believers in the churches today. While some
Believers will receive hope the moment they called out to the Lord, others
cannot receive any answers no matter how much they call out to God.
• Some find it impossible to live their lives on earth without relying on God,
while others can live a comfortable life without relying on God
• No matter what our situation is today, it is all God’s love for us
• God will bring us back to His side when we have completed the tasks He
wants us to do on earth
• Everything will change when we rely on God. Thus, when we are filled with
the Holy Spirit, we can be courageous. This is because we do everything by
relying on God
• We have everything in Christ. Thus, we ought to be generous
• If we cannot withstand the sneering of some people, how can we ever be
victorious over the one who is accusing us day and night?
• There are all sorts of Believers in the church. Some are very generous, while
others are very calculative. There are also some Believers living in struggles
and irony.

《Luke 17:11-19》
v11 The people in Samaria and Galilee have a lot of problems
v14 “as they went, they were cleansed”→ all our problems will be gone
when we submit to God
v19 “Rise and go” → what Jesus meant was to ask that man to follow Him and
walk with Him

• There were ten persons who had leprosy. However, nine of them never
returned to Jesus after they were cleansed. The one who came back to Jesus
understood that he had a much bigger problem than his leprosy; the problem
of not knowing God. This was why he was willing to follow and walk with Jesus
• A similar scenario can be found in the churches of today. Out of every ten
people, only one is willing to follow God faithfully. The rest of the Believers will
stop when their motives are fulfilled
• Some people search for Jesus Christ, bringing with them their problems.
However, they will come to realise that their problems are in fact very minute
 after meeting Jesus Christ. They will realise that the bigger problem they have
is that they do not know God. Only these people are willing to follow and
submit to God

1. The most ironic thing on Earth: to have more problems after knowing Jesus
Christ
1) Believers who are like Lot and King Saul
• E.g.: Lot is saved but he continues to dwell in the luxuries of this world.
Thus, he is living in fear and agony everyday. In the end, his relatives
were all killed and his wife was turned into a pillar of salt
• E.g. Because of his personal motives, King Saul was after the blood of
David, who was both anointed by God and also his Son-in-law. As a
result, his loved ones were all killed and he too committed suicide
• E.g. Though the Israelites had witnessed the miracles Moses performed
and had crossed the Red Sea, they of having no meat in the wilderness.
In the end, only 2 out of a generation of 600,000 were able to step foot
in the Canaan Land. Very often, we are also like that; though we have
already received the most precious gift of salvation, we often become
worried over trivial matters like a small sum of money.
• A lot of Believers will not hesitate to proclaim that they are Christians.
However, how many of them are really living a Christ-centred life?
• <Luke 17:14> our problems will be resolved as soon as we listen and
submit to God. We need to hear God’s instructions.
• Some people look for God because of physical illness or some financial
problems. However, after knowing Jesus Christ, they realised that they
had a problem far greater than their physical illness and financial
needs. Thus, they are willing to listen to God and the initial problems
they faced are immediately resolved or diminished.
• A lot of people look for God because of their children. As soon as their
eyes are opened, they will see that their children are given by and
taken care of by God, Himself. When they see this truth, the problems
on their children will disappear
• “leprosy” represents all our problems
• Some people look for God because of leprosy. Even if their leprosies are
cleansed, they will have other illnesses if they still do not really know
Jesus Christ.
• Some Believers will not fail to attend meetings in the church. They pray
and read the Bible regularly too. However, the prayers they do and the
Bible they read are not connected to their lives at all
2) Believers who believe in God partially
• Some Believers know that Jesus Christ can clean their leprosy.
However, they think that Jesus Christ cannot help them in their work
• Many a times, we believe in God partially too. We often think that God
will not understand the problems we have at work
• Some Believers claim that they believe in the opening of the Red Sea.
However, they cannot believe that God can help them in their financial
difficulties.
3) Believers who are lukewarm in their beliefs
 • Some Believers thought that Jesus Christ is just another good person
among many others
• Some give Jesus Christ the same weightage as their loved ones,
thinking they are equally important. When they have such thoughts,
the person they love most will cause them to fall
•Some Believers think that Jesus Christ is just as important as their
work. Thus, the more attention they place in their work, the more they
will fail in it
4) Believers who have their personal motives
• Those with leprosy will say “God is good as long as my leprosy is
cleansed”. It is the same as us saying “it is better that I have some
more money”
• A lot of Believers fail to meet God because of their personal motives
• They are busy trying to resolve other new problems, the moment their
present problem of leprosy is cleansed.
5) Believers who are foolishly fervent
• Those who do not really know God will be foolishly fervent. As such,
they will judge others as well as themselves
• Are we willing to carry our own cross, to follow God and to serve Him?
• If we are not willing, the more we serve, the more disappointment and
failures we will have

• Why are there such Believers even though they have already known God?
• It is because Jesus Christ is perfect. Therefore, He cannot tolerate any
imperfection
• The Bible tells us that He is our bridegroom and the church is His bride
• Will not the bridegroom be concerned over his wife if the bride stays out,
all day long, with other men and is always thinking of other men?
• Jesus Christ loves us using His entire life. Therefore, He does not want us
to be responding to Him partially
• He wants to give us everything that are perfect
• God is our Father. Which father will allow his son to get in touch with
things that are bad or dangerous? Thus, God wants to control our lives
because He loves us greatly

2. Where does the problem lie?

• Where does the problem of those nine persons lie in?
• A woman need not have great wisdom, be fervent or diligent when loving
a man
• Jesus Christ came to earth with an ordinary life, and even had under-
privileged conditions. The Bible also tells us that He did not have an
outstanding appearance.
• How, then, can we entrust our entire life into such an ordinary person? We
can’t do so unless we really know that He is the King of kings and in Him is
everything!
• God does not need our diligence. All He wants is that we know who He is
• Those who really know Jesus Christ are willing to sell off all the
possessions they have, in order to follow Him
• The reasons why the 9 men with leprosy did not go back to Jesus Christ
after being healed are:
1) They did not know the fundamental problems of their lives. In fact,
their leprosy is God’s plan for them to have a chance to meet Jesus
Christ. In other words, they did not know the reason for having leprosy.
If they know the reason, the problem can be removed immediately
2) They did not know that they needed Jesus Christ. Not knowing Jesus
Christ was their actual problem
3) They did not know the blessings in Jesus Christ. They could have all
things in Jesus Christ. Moreover, Jesus Christ was able to help them in
all things
• Many a times, we also do not realise that Jesus Christ is our only need.
• We may be always listening to the Word of God, but we rarely receive
convictions. Therefore, we fall easily
• After having been with His disciples for quite sometime, Jesus Christ asked
them “Who am I?”
• Some said Isaiah: someone who always performs miracles
• Some said John, the Baptist: someone who is always asking others to
repent. Therefore, we should receive the Lord fervently and truthfully
• Some said Jeremiah: a patriot, a good person
• Some said He is one of the Prophets: Thus, he needs to prophesies
• In fact, Jesus is the Christ. He is the Son of the Living God. He is our all-
problem Solver. All answers are in Him
• I have become the Rock if this is how I know the Lord. Nothing can
overcome us if we are indeed the Rock
• Although we ought to be serious, fervent and sanctified when we serve the
Lord in the Church, we must be really sure of the path we are walking first.
• Our ferventness must correspond to our need for Jesus Christ
• Our ferventness and sanctification will lead us to more serious problems, if
we do not know Jesus Christ correctly. Moreover, we may also be judging
others as a result.
• Christ is the Messiah, the anointed One
• Christ is:
• Great Prophet: He revealed God’s will to us, which should be our most
complete answer. Our problems will be a binding factor for us if we do not
know God’s will
• Great Priest: He gave us a new life. Since our lives are new, we
should not be afraid that the curses on our parents will be passed to us, or
fear that we need to pay the price for the sins of our parents.
It becomes mystical if we do not believe in Jesus Christ fully. If
that’s the case, we might have even more problems than our
parents
The Great Priest has taken away all our curses
 • Great King: He reigns on the eternal throne in Heaven. He is the
Conductor of the whole Universe and makes us victorious
• Before we become fervent or faithful, we ought to really know who God is
• After we have become the Rock, all our strengths and weaknesses are
related to God’s Kingdom. Our success will glorify God while our failures
can comfort others
• E.g. After we have become the Rock, our stubbornness can be applied in
believing and following the Lord alone. If we are not the Rock, our
stubbornness will only turn us into demanding and unpopular people
• Our gentleness can be a comfort to others after we’d become the Rock, if
not, it would only bring us troubles
• God had given Paul, the lives of two hundred odd people onboard the ships
and the family of the jailer after he had became the Rock

3. “Your faith has made you well”

• Jesus Christ is seeking those who really believe in Him
• How can we know if we really believe in Jesus Christ?
• When a person first seeks Jesus Christ, he/she will do it with his/her
personal motives. This is the ‘first motive’ of a person. A person who really
believes in Jesus Christ will change his/her first motive to be the second
motive
1) Discover evidence in Jesus Christ
• A lot of people dislike their past, their characters or their parents. This
is because they have yet to change their motives
• Those who change their personal motives after knowing Jesus Christ
will be able to discover the reason for their past, characters and
parents
• We will receive evidence as long as we live to love God
2) Jesus Christ: Our all-problem Solver
• All our problems are resolved as long as we know God’s perfect will for
us
• God’s perfect will is all supreme. All the things a person possesses will
only become a bondage for him if he does not know God’s perfect will
• God’s concern is for all the people whom He loves to know His perfect
will
• God is omnipotent and He has a perfect will for all of us. In each era,
He is looking out for the person who really knows His perfect will
• If we find God hoping to resolve our personal motives, we will be used
by God as a negative demonstration
• <Romans 12> Paul calls us to become a Living Sacrifice. Paul is one
who knows God’s good, pleasing and perfect will
• God will not heal our physical problems if our motives are not changed.
He wants to heal our eyes first.
3) Evangelise, cast out demons, and become sanctified
 • Only those who know God’s perfect will are able to evangelise, cast out
demons and be sanctified. It is because they have received the
absolute answer.
• In other words, how can we share the Gospel with others if we haven’t
received the absolute answer?
• How are we going to cast out the demons who are binding a person if
we do not know God’s perfect will on that person?
• What would we be thinking of if we attended a healing ministry and
saw the Pastor prophesying a specific number of people were suffering
from a specified illness; and true enough, the correct number of people
went out to the stage to get healed?
• First of all, we may be puzzled how the Pastor knew that. Was it pre-
planned or did he possess some special gifts which empowered him to
know?
• Secondly, we may also be wondering what testimonies those people
would share after being healed. Do they only share with others on how
their illnesses are being taken away by God? If they are not able to
testify how God can use them in any conditions, they are actually
limiting God’s sovereignty. They are anti-Christ if they become too
extreme!

Sharing and Prayer Topics

1. The ten people who had leprosy were all healed after meeting the
Lord: Did I receive answers every time I prayed in Jesus’ name? Are there still
any problems left unresolved in Christ? Discover the answers Christ has for
me in that problem.

2. Only of the ten who were healed, only one came back to look for
Jesus: Diagnose: Which category of Believers am I in?
1) Call up to the Lord only when problem arises?
2) Call up to the Lord only when I am praying or reading the Bible or when I
am attending some meetings with the congregation?
3) Call up to the Lord for all things. How can I seek the Lord in all things?

3. The Lord told that Samarian who came back for Him, “Rise and go;
your faith has made you well.” With my life in Jesus Christ, do I have the
absolute answer that comes about by faith? Am I able to see the evidence
daily that God is with me, guiding me and fulfilling His plans? Do I need to
test and approve God’s perfect will more thoroughly?