Are you a grateful person? If so, do you give thanks to God? And, how often do you do that? The Bible repeatedly emphasizes our need to express thankfulness to God. This is true of even the towering figures of our faith who constantly offered thanks to God. For example, take Daniel in the Old Testament. Although he faced the wrath of King Nebuchadnezzar for doing so, Daniel continued his practice of getting down on his knees at home, three times a day, to offer thanks to God.[1] Or, think about Paul in the New Testament. Before each meal, Paul gave thanks to God for the bread on his table.[2] Even Jesus did this whenever He broke bread to eat. If Jesus did it, and if Paul did, then certainly we too should always do it before we eat. Do it at home. Do it when you are in restaurants. You shouldn’t make a big show of it, but you can always bow your head at the table and offer a silent prayer of thanks to God whether you are in public or not.
But, we should not limit our prayers of thanks to mealtimes. To the Church in Ephesus, Paul instructed: “ALWAYS [GIVE] THANKS for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God.” Ephesians 5:20 (NASB) And, for Paul, it did not matter whether the circumstances were good or bad. Paul’s advice to us is to: 17 “Always keep on praying. 18 No matter what happens, ALWAYS BE THANKFUL.” 1st Thessalonians 5:17-18a (TLB) And, how can we be thankful even during those difficult times of trials in life? Paul explains that it is because: “We know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into His plans.” Romans 8:28 (TLB)
What else should we be thankful for? In Psalms 107 and 138,[3] King David points to the most wonderful thing for which we should be thankful. It is God’s lovingkindness to us. The Hebrew word for lovingkindness is ḥesed (kheh’-sed). It expresses God’s constant love, mercy, goodness and favor given to His people.[4] And, what is the greatest expression of His lovingkindness for which we should continue to give thanks to God? The Apostle John answers: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 (NKJV) In this regard, Paul reminds us to always give thanks to God for the victory Jesus gives us over sin and death through His sacrifice on the Cross.[5] It is Jesus’ work on the Cross that allows us to join with David in saying: 6 “I wash my hands to prove my innocence and come before your altar, 7 singing a song of THANKSGIVING and telling about your MIRACLES.” Psalm 26:6-7 (TLB) That “washing” David speaks of can only be effective through the cleansing blood of Christ. It is through His sacrifice on the Cross and His Resurrection from the tomb that God provided THE GREATEST TWO MIRACLES OF ALL!
When we think about “cleansing miracles,” it reminds us of a time during Jesus’ ministry when He performed a miracle that pointed to His cleansing power. It was a miracle reminding us to always give thanks to God. This is something that’s emphasized in Luke’s Gospel when Jesus healed the ten lepers. Luke’s narrative has two parts. The first part is about faith. The second part is about thankfulness. As we will see, the two parts are closely related to each other. Let’s consider the first part found in Luke 17:11-14. This is what it says: 11 “As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, He reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. 12 As He entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, 13 crying out, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ 14 He looked at them and said, ‘Go show yourselves to the priests.’ And AS THEY WENT, they were cleansed of their leprosy.” Luke 17:11-14 (NLT2)
Leprosy was a dreaded disease in ancient times. In its most serious form, it could cause sores all over a person’s body and could become so severe that it could eat away fingers and toes. It was dreaded by the Jews for an additional reason. Namely, anyone who had leprosy, or came in direct contact with a leper, was considered to be ceremonially unclean. This meant that they were barred from worshipping with the rest of the community.[6] Most Jews believed that, if someone had leprosy, it was because God had cursed them for their sins. Thus, lepers were despised by fellow Jews. They weren’t allowed to come within six feet of any “clean” Jew, nor permitted to be within 150 feet up-wind of anyone who was “clean.” For the most part, lepers were cast into leper colonies where they resided until the disease either went away or they died.[7] The problem was physicians back in the 1st century A.D. had no cure for leprosy—with the exception, of course, of the Great Physician, Jesus Christ![8]
You see, Jesus looked at lepers from a different point of view. He knew that it isn’t what’s on the outside that makes one clean or unclean. It is what’s on the inside of a person’s heart that determines the extent of their cleanliness.[9] And so, Jesus had compassion for these ten forlorn outcasts. From a distance, they addressed Jesus in a proper manner by calling Him their “Master”. The Greek word for “master” is “epistatēs” (ἐπιστάτης). It can mean “commander,” “teacher,” or “Rabbi.” In other words, it was an expression of great respect and submission to Jesus [10] that acknowledged His divine authority and His power to heal them. [11]
Notice that Jesus didn’t approach them. In fact, all Jesus did was instruct them to go show themselves to the priests. Bear in mind that this was the standard procedure whenever someone was cured of leprosy. The priest was responsible for certifying that the person was completely healed and could come back into the community.[12] So, this is the part about faith. Whenever Jesus healed someone, He required them to step forward in faith. And, that is exactly what He required of these ten lepers.[13]
Think about this from the lepers’ perspectives. Perhaps, they would have expected Jesus to do something more. For example, they may have thought Jesus would have given them some task to perform that would lead to their healing. In order to be cured, maybe He could have instructed them to wash themselves in a river like Elisha told the Syrian general, Naaman, to do.[14] Possibly, they expected Jesus to come closer, and touch them while making a declaration, such as, “Be cleansed!,” as He had done when curing a leper on an earlier occasion.[15] But, no—Jesus didn’t do anything like that. He simply told them to show up for examination by the priests. Think about that. Before setting out to find the priests, they knew that there was a great risk involved. The priests were the very ones who would have been most alarmed to see a group of lepers approaching them. What if they still had those ugly sores and lesions on their skin when the priests first saw them? Would the priests summon the people to stone them to death for fear of contracting the disease?
But, if that thought crossed the minds of any of the ten lepers, there is no indication of it. Rather, they didn’t ask any questions at all. They apparently turned and immediately headed down the road to the Temple to find the priests as quickly as they could. It was their faith in Jesus that propelled them along the way. Perhaps, it wasn’t until they had gotten well along on their journey that the miracle started to take effect. Thereafter, with each passing step as they raced toward the Temple, their leprosy miraculously started to disappear. By the time they reached the priests, their disease had been completely healed! Perhaps, their skin was as clear as a new-born baby’s. Or, maybe they retained some minor scarring that proved they had had leprosy.
And so, their faith in Jesus was the basis for their physical healing. It took faith and courage for these ten lepers to head toward the priests even before they were fully healed. But, they did so because they believed in Jesus and were certain He was their only hope. Their faith was consistent with something found later in the Book of Hebrews where it states the essence of faith as follows: “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1 (TEV) To be “sure of things hoped for” means to have confidence in something, not based on physical evidence, but founded upon one’s trust in God. Whereas, some people say that “seeing is believing,” FAITH says “BELIEVING IS SEEING”—in the spiritual sense. The Apostle Paul expressed it this way: “We walk by faith, not by sight.” 2nd Corinthians 5:7 (NASB) Or, as stated in another translation: “We live by believing and not by seeing.” 2nd Corinthians 5:7 (NLT2) What are the things we believe, but not see? We believe in the existence of God, our Creator. We cannot see Him with our eyes, but focus upon Him with our hearts. We believe in the promise of Heaven and in the reality of Hell. We believe in things that are over the horizon and presently beyond our sight. Yet, we are certain those things are coming—like Jesus’ Second Coming and the establishment of His Kingdom here on earth. While we cannot see it now, we know that when Christ does come again, He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain—for all these things will be forever gone.[16] This is not a blind faith. This is a faith based upon the character and nature of God[17] who is forever loving,[18] good, kind, merciful[19] and trustworthy.[20] And so, these ten lepers had faith. Their faith in Jesus was the basis of their physical healing. Now, that we’ve considered a portion of the “faith” part of this narrative, let’s move on to the “thankfulness” part—for these two—faith and thankfulness—go together.
Luke’s Gospel continues as follows: 15 “One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, ‘Praise God!’ 16 He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking Him for what He had done. This man was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, ‘Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?’ 19 And Jesus said to the man, ‘Stand up and go. YOUR FAITH HAS HEALED YOU.’” Luke 17:15-19 (NLT2)
When you read this passage, you can almost hear the disappointment in Jesus’ voice. Only one man in ten returned to thank Jesus for healing him. The other nine were never heard from again. Note also that Luke makes a point of identifying the thankful man as being a Samaritan. Samaritans were hated by the Jews because they deemed the bloodlines of Samaritans to be a tainted mix between Jews and pagan Gentiles. Because of this, Jews deemed Samaritans to be ritually unclean. And yet, the unthankful nine were apparently Jews. They were the ones who remained unclean. This prompts us to think about who experienced genuine healing. I will get to that in a moment. But, first, note that this is an example of the Bible showing knowledge that modern science is just now discovering.
In this regard, psychologists have recently confirmed that people with a thankful disposition have healthier immune systems, increased daily energy, positive attitudes in accomplishing goals, and sleep more soundly at night.[21] A study by a Harvard researcher found that taking just five minutes at the end of a day to jot down three things you are thankful for can achieve these positive results.[22] Now, some people might try to develop a thankful attitude to gain these health related benefits. But, I hope you do it for a much better reason.
The practice of being thankful should become second nature to Christians for the good and sufficient reasons that the Bible teaches: IT HONORS GOD; it is HIS WILL that we offer thanks to Him; and, because of OUR LOVE FOR HIM, we feel joy in thanking Him.[23] In the Psalms, the LORD proclaims: “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me.” Psalm 50:23b (NASB) And Paul adds: “[Offering prayers of thanks] is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 1st Thessalonians 5:18b (TLB) Thankfulness to the LORD is also a sign of righteousness. In Psalm 140, we are told that: “Surely the righteous will give thanks to Your name.” Psalm 140:13a (NASB) The flip side to that coin is that the unrighteous do not honor God with thanks. Speaking of the unrighteous, Paul states: “Yes, they knew about [God] all right, but they wouldn’t admit it or worship Him OR EVEN THANK HIM FOR ALL HIS DAILY CARE. And after awhile they began to think up silly ideas of what God was like and what He wanted them to do. The result was that their foolish minds became dark and confused.” Romans 1:21 (TLB)
Now, let’s get back to those nine former lepers who failed to thank Jesus. What does this say about their “faith.” From what we just read, it seems clear that faith without thankfulness reflects unrighteousness. “Righteousness” means having a right relationship with God. “Unrighteousness” is the opposite. Thus, “unrighteous faith” is a shallow faith—if it can even be considered as genuine faith at all. And so, Jesus’ comment about the nine unthankful Jews is significant. Yes, they were physically healed of their leprosy. The disease of their skin was gone, but the leprosy of sin in their hearts was unaffected. From a spiritual standpoint, they remained unclean. They could never be healed until they thanked Jesus and continued to thank God on a daily basis for His many blessings. The same is true for you and me as well.
It is not mere speculation to say this about these nine ungrateful men. Luke’s narrative makes this clear when we focus on what Jesus told the Samaritan who did take the time to thank Him. The Samaritan bowed at Jesus’ feet as he expressed gratitude for being healed of his skin disease. And, that’s the point. The Samaritan had already been healed physically. Clearly, that physical healing occurred while he was headed to find the priests—well before he returned to Jesus. But, notice what Jesus tells him: “Stand up and go. YOUR FAITH HAS HEALED YOU.” Luke 17:19 (NLT2) Jesus’ statement reveals that now the man had received a second healing. But, this second time, the healing was so much more important. Having given thanks to Jesus, his faith was made complete as he received SPIRITUAL HEALING as well.[24] Here, Jesus is teaching us that we don’t attain a higher quality of life merely by physical healing. Rather, you receive it through the spiritual healing that can come only from Him. When we take the time to be thankful to God for His blessings (and not just enjoy the blessings in an ungrateful manner), it is pleasing to God and spiritually beneficial to us as well. So, when God does heal you of whatever ailment, don’t just think to yourself, “Well—that’s over with,” then go on your merry way.
Sometimes before performing a healing miracle, Jesus would ask the person: “Do you want to get well?” [25] Maybe He is asking you that very same question this morning. If so, remember to give God thanks for all that He provides and all that He does for you. You may have many things for which you are grateful. It may seem challenging to acknowledge all of them in your prayers of thanksgiving. But, don’t worry too much about that. Just take a tip from a man named Larry Fleet. Larry is a country songwriter and performer. In one of his songs, he sings about some things he’s grateful for. Two of those things are his wife and just being able to live out in the country. Part of the lyrics to his song entitled, “That’s Where I Find God,” go like this:
“Sometimes late at night, I lie there and listen / To the sound of her heart beatin’ / And that song the crickets are singin’ / And I don’t know what they’re sayin’ / But it sounds like a hymn to me / Now I ain’t too good at prayin’ / BUT [LORD], THANKS FOR EVERYTHING.”[26]
That’s right. Lepers like us—well, we need to thank God for everything, all the time. Do you want to be healed? Have faith in God. And, don’t forget to thank Him every day! And now, let us bow our heads and give thanks to Him.
Darvin Satterwhite, Pastor
Forest Hill Baptist Church
June 29, 2025
©2025 All Rights Reserved as follows:
Anyone is at liberty to use this sermon or any portions thereof for educational or religious purposes, with or without credit. The pastor believes the material presented herein to be true to the teaching of Scripture, and desires to further, not restrict, its potential use as an aid in the study of God’s Word. The publication of this material is a grace ministry of Forest Hill Baptist Church in Louisa, Virginia.
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[1] Daniel 6:10b “He continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and GIVING THANKS BEFORE HIS GOD, as he had been doing previously.” (NASB)
[2] Acts 27:35 “Then he [Paul] took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, and broke off a piece and ate it.” (NLT2)
[3] Psalm 107:8 “Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men!” (NASB)
Psalm 138:2 “I will bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word according to all Your name.” (NASB)
[4] James Strong, Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary, (Austin, TX: WORDsearch Corp., 2007), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "2617".
[5] 1st Corinthians 15:57 “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (NASB)
[6] Chad Brand, Charles Draper, Archie England, ed., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), s.v. “LEPROSY,” WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
[7] “Why is leprosy talked about so much in the Bible?” Gotquestions.org, https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-leprosy.html (accessed June 25, 2025).
[8] Mark 2:17 [Jesus said:] “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”(NASB)
[9] Matthew 23:25-26 25 [Jesus said:] “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.” (NLT2)
[10] James Strong, Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary, 1988, (Austin, TX: WORDsearch Corp., 2007), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "1988".
Richard C. Blight, Exegetical Summary of Luke 12-24, An, (Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2008), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 214.
[11] Luke 17:13, BibleHub.com, https://biblehub.com/study/luke/17-13.htm (accessed June 25, 2025).
[12] Richard C. Blight, Exegetical Summary of Luke 12-24, An, (Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2008), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 215.
[13] “What is the story of the ten lepers in the Bible?” Gotquestions.org, https://www.gotquestions.org/ten-lepers.html (accessed June 25, 2025).
[14] 2nd Kings 5.
[15] Luke 5:12-13 12 “While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." 13 And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately the leprosy left him.” (NASB) See: Matthew 8:2-3.
[16] Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” (NLT2)
[17] Hebrews 11:1, BibleHub.com, https://biblehub.com/study/hebrews/11-1.htm (accessed June 26, 2025).
[18] God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him”. — 1 John 4:16, ESV
[19] Titus 3:4-5 4 But—“When God our Savior revealed His kindness and love, 5 He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.” (NLT2)
Luke 6:36, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (ESV)
[20] Numbers 23:19 “God is not like people, who lie; He is not a human who changes His mind. Whatever He promises, He does; He speaks, and it is done.” (TEV)
[21] Brett & Kate McKay, “The Spiritual Disciplines: Gratitude” Podcast #459, ArtofManliness.com (November 29, 2018), cited in PreachingToday.com, https://www.preachingtoday.com/search/?query=thankfulness&contentFilter=Illustration&page=2&type=word (accessed November 25, 2025).
[22] Ken Shigematsu, Survival Guide for the Soul (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018), Pages 114-115; cited in PreachingToday.com, https://www.preachingtoday.com/search/?query=thankfulness& contentFilter=Illustration&page=2&type=word (accessed November 25, 2025).
[23] “It has seemed to me fit and proper that [the gifts of God] should be solemnly, reverently, and GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGED with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow citizens... to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a clay of THANKSGIVING and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”—Thanksgiving proclamation, 1863, issued by President Abraham Lincoln. Edythe Draper, Draper's Book of Quotations for the Christian World, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1992), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Thanksgiving".
[24] “What is the story of the ten lepers in the Bible?” Gotquestions.org, https://www.gotquestions.org/ten-lepers.html (accessed June 25, 2025).
[25] John 5:6 “Jesus saw him lying there, and he knew that the man had been sick for such a long time; so he asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’” (TEV)
[26] “That’s Where I Find God,” written by Connie Rae Harrington and Larry Fleet, on the album, Stack of Records (2021).
