Please turn with me in your Bibles to:

Luke 17:11-21 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 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 shew 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. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. 20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

We All Have A “Heart” Problem

Illustrate: March 21, 2009 was a little crazier in San Diego, California than it usually is. Drug suspects were moving large amounts of money in a truck, and Drug Enforcement Agency personnel got wind of it. They contacted the Highway Patrol and asked for assistance in tracking and stopping the vehicle. The driver refused to stop. At one point “cash was hurled out of the truck onto Interstate 805”, according to one news source. At that moment pandemonium broke out. Drivers on the interstate slammed on their brakes and, without regard to their safety, jumped out of cars and ran into the highway to grab all the money they could. One High School student Marco Casillas ran into the moving traffic with his friends. “It was a dream come true, we were in heaven. We saw one {bill}fly on the windshield and it was a $100 on my face and we just stopped and grabbed it… We were scared. We were parked halfway on the freeway, and halfway on the freeway…[But] we are football players and we were being greedy, and we were running and taking it from everybody, but then it got taken away.” Before they could escape with the money, officers seized the $1000 he and his friends had grabbed. Officers recovered around $18,000 in cash, all of it illegal to keep. People could have been killed – but by the grace of God no injuries were reported.

Illustrate: Weird things happen in California. On November 20, 2021 an armored vehicle was carrying money for the Federal Reserve on Interstate 5 in Carlsbad, California. The vehicle’s rear door popped open, and cash poured out – again, bringing about a “feeding frenzy”. People slammed on brakes, jumped out of their vehicles, and ran into moving traffic to get as much money as they could while they could. The California Highway Patrol and the FBI noted that – though some people returned the money – many others left the scene with stolen money.

Some of you might be wondering, “Well, what’s wrong with that? After all, finder’s keeper’s, loser’s weeper’s!” Yet this was not found money. In the first instance, this was money that came from the sale of drugs and death to children, to someone’s child. This drug money was probably bathed in blood, as drug cartels often kill to amass their power over a territory. Drug pushers capitalize on the weakness and loneliness of people, often giving their victims the first few doses for “free”. Then after a person is enslaved to the drug, the pusher has them turn to prostitution and robbery to get their “fix”. In 2020 91,799 people died from drug overdoses. This is blood money! As for the Federal Reserve Truck, money taken from the central bank of our nation effects not only local banks, but impacts the stock market as well. What would cause someone to run into traffic, risking their life for a green piece of paper? A confused and darkened heart.

The Bible talks about the human “heart”. Now, the Scripture is not speaking of that muscle in your chest. The physical heart pushes blood through your body. If the physical heart stops beating, your life on this earth stops. The spiritual heart is the center most part of your soul.

What is IN the spiritual heart is manifest in what you OUTWARDLY do. Religion cannot fix a heart problem.

Our Lord Jesus put it this way. Jesus chastised the religious Pharisees of his day – because they twisted the Word of God to make allowance for their sinful practices. Their are many in our world who do that today – you might be one of them! Jesus told the Pharisees:

Matthew 15:7-9 (ESV) You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

Preach: Jesus said of the Pharisees, “their heart is far from Me”. God gave us His Word, the Holy Bible, to show us His Standard and His Savior. We are to follow His Savior Jesus Christ with all our hearts. We are to love God with all our hearts. Jesus came to this earth not just to heal our physical bodies, but to fix our heart problem. He said:

Matthew 15:10-11, 17-20 (ESV) … “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” … 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

When we look around our America today, around our homes, in our schools, what do we see? Certainly there are good things out there. Certainly there are good people. But I’ll guarantee you, there were a lot of “good” people who stopped traffic to pick up and, yes, steal money that was not their own. They did not earn that money. They had a heart problem.

Jesus came, not to be a Hero, a conquering King,
but to be a Healer of our hearts.

What is the cause of evil thoughts, like racism and hatred?
What leads to murder?
Why would a person abandon his wife and child to sleep with another woman?
Why do we see such sexual immorality in America today – often in Churches?
Why do thieves steal?
Why would a person bear false witness and slander another soul?

These things come from a corrupt heart. Every evil we see in America, shouting out from the headlines, every injustice can be traced back to a corrupted heart. The corrupted heart says,

“I am all that matters. I am the center of the universe.”

We are born with corrupted hearts. We come into this world with hearts focused on ourselves, on our wants and desires. We see this illustrated in our text today.

Jesus Is The Healer Of Broken Hearts

Luke 17:11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

The Lord Jesus is traveling across the land, walking from one point to another. Why? Jesus did not just stay in Jerusalem and Judea. The Bible says that “He came unto his own” (John 1:11), but “His own would not receive Him”. Jesus Christ came not just for the Jew, but for whosoever will. Our Lord Jesus came to share the Gospel with “the Jew first, but also the Gentile” (Romans 1:16). He came not to just convert the hearts of the physical seed of Abraham, but Jesus Christ came to fulfill the promise that God made:

Genesis 12:3 (ESV) … in you {Abraham} shall all the families of the earth be blessed ..

Jesus is called of God to preach the Kingdom of God. Jesus is the King of the Kingdom of God. Repent, and give your hearts to Him!

When the heart puts anything or anyone on its throne, wickedness is the output of that life. The Bible tells us that:

Mark 1:14-15 …(ESV) after John {The Baptist} was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

John the Baptist ministered and preached of the coming of the Messiah, the One that God promised would come to this earth to fix what ails us. John preached, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Then the King came. There is no Kingdom without a King, and John preached that the King was coming. Then one day John saw Jesus.

John 1:29 (ESV) BEHOLD, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world!

Jesus takes away the sin of the world by paying for our sins on the Cross. He is the Lamb of God. Jesus takes away the sin of the world by entering our lives and by ruling our hearts.

John was pointing out Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not only the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, but Jesus is the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”. Jesus is the Conquering Lamb of Revelation 17:14. Jesus Christ is the Avenging Warrior of Revelation 19:16. Jesus is, according to the Scripture,

1 Timothy 6:15 (ESV) … who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords

John preached on the coming of Jesus, until Jesus came. Then John was imprisoned, but Jesus kept preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. Jesus preached,

Mark 1:15 … The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel

Jesus preached the Gospel. He called people to Himself. Jesus is to be our King. Jesus said “Follow Me”:

Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. (Matthew 4:19)
Follow Me, and let the dead bury the dead. (Matthew 8:22)
Follow Me, Matthew, and leave your money behind. (Matthew 9:9)
Follow Me, and take up your Cross. (Matthew 10:38)
Follow Me, and deny yourselves. (Matthew 16:24)
Follow Me, and give away all that you now worship. (Matthew 19:21)

Your heart is desperately wicked. If you are on the Throne of your heart. You are your own god. The kingdom of god – little g – is within you. Repent! Turn away from all the gods and goddesses that you have treasured up to this point. If your family is your god, REPENT! Jesus said:

Luke 14:26 (ESV) … If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

“But” you object, “doesn’t the Law say that we are to honor our father and mother?” (Exodus 20:12). Yes, it does. Jesus is not saying that we actually despise our loved ones, but that we are to love Jesus MORE than we love our loved ones on this earth. I am not to rest on the throne of my heart, nor am I to elevate others as idols on the throne of my heart. When God gave us the Ten Commandments, the first of the Commandments was NOT to honor your father and mother. The FIRST of the commandments is to PUT GOD FIRST. God has said:

Exodus 20:3-4 (ESV) … you shall have NO OTHER GODS before Me. 4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in Heaven above or that is in the earth beneath … 5 You shall not bow down to them nor serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God …

God is to be King of our hearts. “Know that the LORD, He is God! It is HE Who made us, and we are His..” (Psalm 100:3). Jesus Christ is God Incarnate, God amongst us, the King come to visit His people. When Jesus preached …

“The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand;
repent and believe in the Gospel.”

He was preaching the same thing John the Baptist was preaching. Jesus Christ is the long awaited Messiah. He is the Son of God come down to this earth to redeem us from our broken hearts, to fix what ails us. When a person is saved that person makes a God guided decision to put away all other gods and goddesses – and to embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. At that moment Jesus goes onto the throne of our heart.

We are saved, and God the Holy Spirit begins to work in our lives.

Surrender To Jesus Is The Solution To Our Need

When John the Baptist was imprisoned for his faith, he sent messengers to Jesus with a simple question:

Matthew 11:3 (ESV) “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

John has been imprisoned, tortured, starved, and will soon be beheaded. In the midst of this darkness, John began to wonder if, perhaps, he had stood up for the wrong messiah. At this time in Israel’s history there were many who professed to be “Messiah”, people who would save Israel from the Roman Empire. Yet one after another of these false messiahs were captured, killed, and became nothing but a brief blip on the radar of humanity. The Blessed Physician further expands this questioning by the great Prophet John:

Luke 7:21-23 (ESV) In that hour {Jesus} healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. 22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

When John’s men came and asked Jesus if He were God Incarnate, the Messiah, Jesus did not immediately answer. Instead Jesus “healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind {Jesus} bestowed sight”. The Pharisees said that Jesus “cast out devils by the prince of devils” (Matthew 9:34; 12:24). Yet the Bible says that when the Messiah came:

Prophecy Revealed: Isaiah 35:5-6 (ESV) Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.

This is the Scripture Jesus was alluding to. When the Messiah came, the blinde shall see, the lame walk, the lepers would be cured, the dead would be brought back to life (see also Isaiah 26:19; 29:18; 61:1). Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Jesus Christ is the King of the Kingdom of God. Jesus Christ is God the Son, and the Son of God.

Luke 17:11-13 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 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.

The Bible tells us that “ten men that were lepers” cried out to Jesus. They had heard that Jesus was passing through, and had heard how Jesus was healing people. These men “stood afar off”. Why didn’t they come up to Jesus? Because Leprosy was a horrible and contagious disease that could kill God’s Israel. As a result, those who were lepers were set apart – extremely quarantined – by the Law of God. The scripture says:

Leviticus 13:45-46 (ESV) “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ 46 He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.

These ten men – all nameless and unknown – are in a miserable place. They are lost to their families. They have no business they can conduct. They are shunned by society, “He is unclean. He shall live alone”. The leper is not supposed to enter the city. They are not allowed to ride in the back of the bus, nor in a segregated part of the restaurant. They are unclean, cast off and cast out. They have lost everything. If someone touches these lepers, that person becomes, according to the Law, unclean. The lepers “stood afar off”. They cried out:

Jesus, Master, have mercy on us

Word Study: Notice how they call to Jesus. He is ἐπιστάτης epistátēs, {pronounced ep-is-tat’-ace}, which means “The One Who is in Charge”. Jesus is the One in charge.

Who is in charge of your life? Do you pursue a little “g” god,
or is Jesus your epistátēs, your God?

Jesus is the Gospel. He is the King of God’s Kingdom. Jesus is the Savior and Lord of His people. Jesus is the YHWH – the Great I AM that the Prophet Jeremiah spoke of in Jeremiah 23:6. Jesus became the Son of Man – Incarnate – through the operation of the Holy Spirit of God on a virgin named Mary. He entered the human story by clothing Himself with flesh. But Jesus Christ is God the Son. He is epistátēs, the Master, the King of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus controls nature. When Peter had toiled all night and caught no fish, Jesus sent him back out. Master, epistátēs, we have toiled all night. But we will do as you say. (Luke 5:5). When Peter did as Jesus said, he caught so many fish that they broke the nets. Not long after that Jesus is in the boat sleeping with Jesus when a storm arises. They wake up Jesus saying “Master, epistátēs, we perish!” (Luke 8:24). Jesus rises – raises a hand – and the wind and sea calm down.

Jesus is greater than the Law or the Prophets. Peter, James, and John accompany Jesus to a mountain one day, and there see Him transfigured and speaking to Moses and Elijah (Luke 9:33). Afterward Peter says, “Master, epistátēs, let us make three altars here – one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah”. God the Father spoke from Heaven, “This is My Beloved Son: Hear Him” (Luke 9:35).

Jesus is greater than any need you have. A woman with uncontrollable bleeding reached out to, and touched Jesus. With just one touch she was healed. “Master, epistátēs, we do not know who touched You” (Luke 8:46). When the woman fell down before Jesus, affirming that she had touched Him, Jesus said:

“your faith hath made thee whole; go in peace” (Luke 8:48)

Jesus Christ is the epistátēs. He is the One and only Master. He is the King of the Kingdom. Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. The lepers stand far off. But Jesus sees them:

Luke 17:14 And when {Jesus} saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

The men heard Jesus’ words. Jesus told them to go to the priests. Why? Because Jesus honored the written Word of God.

According to the Law, only the priest of Israel could declare someone cleansed of leprosy. In the first recorded sermon Jesus preached, He said:

Matthew 5:17-18 (ESV) “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Jesus did not come to give us a “loophole” by which we can sin without guilt. Jesus fulfilled the animal sacrifices of the Law, but did not eradicate the righteousness of the Law.

The Law required that the healed leper present themselves to the priest. Once the person was recognized cleansed or leprosy, he was to make a sacrifice to God (Leviticus 14:4-7). Two birds were used. One bird was killed, and its blood sprinkled on the cleansed person and on the living bird. This was highly symbolic of what would one day come through Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus was sacrificed outside the camp (Hebrews 13:11-13) for our sins. Our Lord Jesus is resurrected, ascended back to Heaven to guarantee our salvation (John 3:13; 6:38). Our Lord Jesus “became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (Acts 2:27; 2 Corinthians 5:21). The Bible says, “as they went, they were cleansed”. Jesus healed these men, but they had to obediently go to the priest, and make sacrifice unto God. They had to do what Jesus said do. Read a little further:

Luke 17:15-18 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.

Ten men called Jesus “Master, epistátēs”. Yet only nine really regarded Jesus as the Master, as the Son of God. All ten went to the priest, who offered sacrifice for them and pronounced them clean. But only one person returned to praise God for Jesus.

Only one leper was fixed where it mattered, in his heart. The other nine still had themselves on the throne of their hearts. If you are born again, you will return to Jesus. You will give glory to God by bowing your knee to Christ Jesus. Jesus is God incarnate, God in the flesh, saving us!

We do not know the nationality or the color of the other nine men that refused to return to and worship Jesus. We do know who the returning man was. Jesus calls him a “stranger” and a “Samaritan”. The one who worshiped Jesus is a Gentile. Jesus tells this man:

Luke 17:19 … Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Faith In Jesus Alone Makes Us Whole

Word Study: The phrase “hath made thee whole” is the Greek σώζω sṓzō, {pronounced sode’-zo}, which means “has saved you from suffering, from sin, from Messianic judgment”. Jesus is not speaking about the man’s leprosy. His leprosy was healed – along with the other nine lepers – when he presented himself to the priest as God the Son commanded. Here Jesus is speaking not of temporal salvation from suffering, but the salvation of the soul. The word sṓzō is first used in the New Testament in:

Matthew 1:21 … and {Mary} shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS, for He will SAVE (sṓzō) His people from their sins.

When Jesus was asked “Why do You spend so much time with sinners?”, He replied:

Matthew 18:11 For {I} the Son of Man is come to SAVE (sṓzō) that which was lost.

On the Day of Pentecost the Apostle Peter preached:

Acts 2:21 … whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be SAVED (sṓzō).

When commanded not to preach the Name of Jesus, Peter boldly said:

Acts 4:11-12 … {Jesus} is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be SAVED (sṓzō).

After pronouncing this man “saved”, his heart renewed and regenerated because of his faith in Jesus, the Pharisees asked:

Luke 17:20-21 … when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

The Pharisees were asking the same question I hear people asking today. You see, Israel was in bondage to Rome. Would Jesus be the One Who led Israel in revolt, to bring about peace and freedom from the enemy? Jesus did not come to “fix” Israel, nor to “fix” Rome, nor to “fix” America. Jesus came to fix the human heart. An ancient Pastor name Augustine said:

“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord,
and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”

Where is your heart resting today? Beloved, open your heart to Jesus. Do not harden your hearts to His plea. Jesus came to this earth to save the broken hearted – He came to save those who believe in Him. I beg you, please receive Him as your Lord and Savior! Holy Spirit, please do this work. Touch lives for God’s glory. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen and Amen.