The King And His Kingdom

Some of the most prominent themes in all of the Bible are the concepts of king and kingdom.

! We talked about this a couple of weeks ago in our fellowship group.

We were working through the Lord's prayer and we were dealing with that phrase,

thy kingdom come.

What does that actually mean?

What is Jesus instructing us on when he asks us to pray that?

And we came back to this very thought.

And that is, if not the most primary theme in the Bible, certainly one of the most prominent themes in the Scripture

is this idea of king and kingdom.

And I want you to think of it for just a moment in the broader scope of your Bible that you have in your hand.

If you've ever read the Bible all the way through, if you're just familiar with how it's structured, you'll understand this.

The Bible begins with a picture of kingdom with a king, right?

We go to Genesis.

We see God creates the world.

He creates this kingdom, the kingdom of this world.

It is a kingdom that is completely untouched by sin.

And what does he put in the midst of this kingdom, of this garden?

He puts a certain creature, Adam.

And what is Adam to act as there in God's kingdom?

As God's king.

He's God's representative to the world that God has created.

He is there to image God.

To guard the garden.

To speak truth.

To lead faithfully.

That's what Adam is meant to do.

That's what God creates him to do.

And he plants him in the garden, untouched by sin, for that purpose.

Now, let's pause from that.

And we're going to go to the whole other end of the Bible.

You're going to skip all the stuff in the middle.

We're going to go to the very end.

And you get to the book of Revelation.

What is it that we find there?

Well, this is the revealing of a new kingdom.

The new heavens.

The new earth.

God restoring a kingdom.

Not that it is untouched by sin in the same way.

But it is totally redeemed from sin.

And what does God use in this kingdom to lead it?

A new king.

The true and better Adam.

Jesus reigns in perfect righteousness in his eternal kingdom there.

And so we can see right there from just the big picture.

If we're thinking biblical theology for a moment.

The Bible starts with kingdom and king.

It ends with kingdom and king.

And everything in the middle is this incredible story of man's rebellion.

Man's redemption.

Man's restoration.

Through the saving work of God's king.

Now, these are the themes that are at the heart of the Advent season.

Which, according to the traditional Christian liturgical calendar, actually begins today.

I don't know if you realize that or not.

Maybe some of you did.

And maybe you're planning to start either this morning or tonight.

You've got your Advent devotional set aside that you're going to work through leading all the way up to December 24th.

But today is the first Sunday of Advent.

And these themes of king and kingdom is right at the very heart of it, isn't it?

From the first time that man sinned in the garden, Adam and Eve, continuing all through the scriptures thereafter,

God promised and reissued and continued these promises to send a savior king, a messiah, a Christ,

who would save his people from sin.

As the kids are learning in their kids' class on Sunday mornings,

who will crush the head of the serpent, right?

Who will restore the kingdom.

Advent itself, it means arrival.

Advent is about the arrival of this promised king.

In the liturgical season, which will run through December 24th,

it's meant to be a time of preparation, a time of anticipation that unfolds into,

if you're following strictly the liturgical calendar,

it will fold into the 12 days of Christmas,

which some of you kids may not realize is more than just a song, right?

And what is the 12 days of Christmas?

It's a time of celebration.

Celebration of what?

The fact that the king has come.

So we look to this promise in Advent.

We look to God's promises of a messiah.

And in Christmas season, we rejoice that the messiah has actually come.

Now, why am I saying all of this?

Because today we're going to find our place here in Luke's gospel.

And when you come to your Bible and you begin to read,

particularly in the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,

you need to understand what their goal is as they write.

These are not just basic biographies.

That's not what these books are.

Certainly they have biographical information,

but the authors, Luke, is not writing just to tell us some interesting stories

about the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

That's not what he's doing.

That's why we call them gospels and not biographies.

Gospel meaning good news.

These are declarations.

They are proclamations.

They are arguments in that sense.

And what Luke and Matthew and Mark and John are doing

is they are trying to convince you, persuade you as the reader,

the listener of this book,

that Jesus of Nazareth is that promised king

and that in his coming, his advent, his arrival,

what he has brought with it is the inbreaking of this kingdom

that he will one day complete at his return.

Now, I want you to think about Luke's gospel for a moment.

He even begins his gospel by doing what?

Detailing the events of the literal arrival of the king in Bethlehem.

And everything that follows in this book is Luke's account.

It serves the purpose of declaring this good news

that Jesus Christ is the king

and how through his life and death and resurrection,

he made a way for you to be a citizen of his kingdom.

Totally redeemed from sin.

So on this first Sunday of Advent,

we're not going to do an Advent series.

We'll be back in 1 Peter next week.

But at least on this first Sunday of Advent,

I want to take you through a story in Luke

that I think beautifully portrays Jesus as king

and reveals how you can enter his kingdom.

Let's read it together.

Luke 17, verses 11 to 19.

Luke 17:11–19

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,

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 then Jesus answered,

were not 10 cleansed?

Where are the 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.

Now perhaps you're familiar with this story.

Only Luke records it.

And it's usually presented as a powerful lesson

on gratitude and on thanksgiving.

Of course, highlighting the one former leper

who after being cleansed,

out of all the others,

goes back to Jesus and offers his thanksgiving.

And there can be no doubt that thanksgiving

is certainly a big part of this text.

I want to suggest to you, though,

that thanksgiving and gratitude

is not actually the point of this text.

What is this text actually meant to be doing here?

Why did Luke care to write it

when Matthew and Mark and John didn't?

And why did he place it where he placed it?

And I want to suggest that

actually the main point of this story

and why Luke includes it for us

is actually to give us a picture of the gospel.

It's to glorify Jesus as king,

which I've already said

is kind of the whole point of the book, right?

It's to show that Jesus is this king

and that he has brought the kingdom

and that you might enter it

if you trust him and believe him.

I think that's what Luke's actually doing

in this little story.

Yes, we want to be thankful.

We don't want to miss that here.

But I don't think it's actually about that.

It's about something much more profound than that.

Sometimes we look at the arrangement of material

in the gospels

and we think that maybe they're just

kind of this random assortment of events.

And I think that would be a mistake

for you to approach the gospels that way.

That would, one, be a pretty low view

of these four authors that wrote this.

Certainly they were more intelligent

and more intentional

than just to collect a bunch of random things

and with no particular order.

I actually think Luke's doing something

very different than that.

He is carefully ordering his material.

He's organizing this book

so that we might understand his argument.

So we need to determine

why Luke chose to place this story here.

And the only way to do that

is to look at what else he put around it.

So let's just zoom out for just a moment

and consider the chapter.

In verses one to four,

we find Jesus is teaching his disciples

a lesson on obedience and repentance

and the forgiveness that comes

after that repentance.

And he's doing that in the context

of how they are to interact with one another.

And of course, as they're interacting

with one another,

they are imaging God

and God's call to repentance

and God's willingness to forgive

again and again and again and again.

So we have that teaching there

in the first four verses.

And we get to verses five and six

and we see Jesus is teaching

another lesson to his disciples on faith.

It's a common one

that we see him teaching in the Gospels.

Little faith, like a mustard seed

that can do impossible things, right?

And of course, what's the point of that lesson?

It's not to say that

if you just believe hard enough,

you can do anything.

No, that's a worldly message.

That's not a biblical message.

No, what does Jesus mean to teach us there?

He means to say that faith,

God responds to faith

by doing the impossible in your life.

Faith is at the heart of it

and it only takes a little bit of it.

And God responds with magnificent things in our lives.

And then we get to the next section.

We get to verses seven to 10

and we find this maybe strange story

that Jesus is telling about a master

and his servants.

It's a story about servant-hearted humility

and submission to God.

We might say it this way,

it's a story about lordship

and humble service to the king.

All right, and then comes this story

that we just read.

But we got to look at what comes after it.

That'll help us get the proper context.

We see right in verses 20 all the way to 37,

we see Jesus is now in a conversation

with a group of Pharisees.

And the whole conversation

is about the coming kingdom.

In verses 22 to 37,

it's all focused on the kingdom

that is to come at the end,

the eschaton, right?

At the end when Jesus returns,

the day of judgment that will come

and what will that be like

and what will the signs be like

when the kingdom does finally come in its fullness.

That's verses 22 to 37.

But Jesus does this thing

that would have surprised the Pharisees,

certainly they wouldn't have bought into it,

and that's in verses 20 to 21.

Before he says, yes,

the kingdom is indeed coming,

he says it's actually already here

in some measure.

Just look at it in verse 20.

Being asked by the Pharisees

when the kingdom would come,

he answered the kingdom of God

is not coming in ways that can be observed.

They were looking for, in that moment,

for these big signs,

political arrangements

and military arrangements

and a particular king

that's gonna sit on a throne

and do all these things,

things you can see.

Jesus says the kingdom

isn't coming that way right now.

You won't be able to see it

the way that you think

you'll be able to see it.

Nor will they say,

look, here it is, they're there.

Why?

Because the kingdom

is in the midst of you, he says.

It's in the midst of you.

So there's this already,

not yet view of the kingdom.

Yes, it will come in its fullness,

but it's already here

in some measure.

Now, we take all of that into account

and we realize,

when we put this story

in its context,

what is it exactly

that Luke's doing

by telling us about these lepers?

We find that he's using it

as a living illustration

of all of these truths

that Jesus was teaching

in this chapter

that he's arranged for us.

He's got repentance,

he's got faith,

he's got lordship,

he's got kingdom,

he's got king,

he's got all of it there

right in the middle of it.

He says,

now let me tell you this story

about something that happened

with Jesus and these lepers

that perfectly shows

all of these things

and how they are lived out

in practice.

Jesus' interaction

with this man in particular,

it reveals how the kingdom

is already in our midst

and its citizens

are marked by repentance

and faith

and submission

to Jesus as king.

And the placement of it here,

it emphasizes a sign

that the kingdom

has come in Jesus

and that citizenship

in that kingdom

depends entirely

on faith in him.

And that's the two parts

that I want to point out

to you here.

First, I want you to see this.

I want you to see the sign

of the king,

the sign of the king.

Look again at verses 11 to 14.

Let's just read this part

of the story again.

On the way to Jerusalem,

he was passing along

between Samaria and Galilee.

And as he entered a village,

he was met by ten lepers

who stood at a distance,

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.

Now, let's think about

this first phrase.

He's on his way to Jerusalem,

which is really how

Luke is structuring

his narrative.

Beginning all the way back

at chapter 9,

he structures it

around this final journey

that Jesus is taking

from Galilee

to Jerusalem.

And you know what

he is moving to Jerusalem

to do?

To die on a cross.

And that's how Luke

is tracking these stories

and these lessons

along in his particular gospels.

Those who had a messianic

thought of Jesus

believed that he was

going to get there

and he was going to

assume a throne,

deliver Israel from Rome.

If you think back,

even if you've ever studied

what we call

the triumphal entry,

what was that all about?

That's at the end

of this journey

that Luke's referring to.

Jesus finally does

get to Jerusalem

and he rides on that donkey

and what is it

that the people do?

They welcome him

as a king.

They throw down

their garments

and the palm branches

and they shout,

Hosanna!

Salvation is here!

The Lord saves!

And they're expecting

Jesus is going to

mount this donkey

and he's going to

ride it all the way

to the throne.

Except that's not

where he rides.

He rides to the temple,

doesn't he?

He didn't come

to sit on a throne,

not at least

in this instance.

He came to die

on a cross.

God's king,

he wasn't going

to deliver his people

by defeating Rome.

He had come

to deliver his people

by defeating sin

and making an atonement

for their sin.

And we find

Jesus is early

in this journey

at this point

in Luke's gospel.

And he's journeying

north from Galilee,

south to Jerusalem.

And he's going

towards Samaria

at this point.

And of course,

he and his disciples

are met by a group

of lepers

as they entered

the village.

Now that the encounter

took place

at the entrance

of the village

makes a lot of sense,

doesn't it?

Because lepers

were excluded

from society

on account

of their condition.

This form

of leprosy

that we see

notated

in the gospels

was a terrible

terminal

disease.

It involved

skin lesions

that would spread

through the body

and cause it

to decay.

It also affected

the nervous system

in a unique way.

It created

this numbing effect

so that their brain

wouldn't always register

whenever they were

sensing pain

or when something

was wrong.

So you can imagine

the longer that

these people lived,

it was a slow disease

the way that it took over.

But the longer

they would live,

not only would their

body be deteriorating,

but they might

would roll an ankle

and not realize

exactly what's happening.

and it creates

these other injuries

that are unrelated

to the skin lesions.

It's just a terrible

way to have to live

your life.

Leprosy wasn't

just a diagnosis.

It was a death sentence.

A leper didn't

just lose their health.

They lost everything.

They lost their family.

They lost their home,

their job,

their community.

They weren't allowed

to worship any longer

in synagogue or temple

either one.

They're outcasts

living on the fringes

of society

and barring a miracle

in their lives,

this kind of leprosy

had a 100% death rate.

Lepers were required

to cover themselves,

cover their faces

whenever they would get

within a certain distance

from other people

who were healthy.

They would have to yell out,

they'd cover their face

and they'd have to yell out,

unclean!

Unclean!

It was the law.

They were highly contagious.

And here Jesus

and his disciples

are nearing a village

in Samaria,

bordering Samaria

and Galilee.

And here's this group

of lepers,

this commune outside,

10 lepers,

who cover their faces

but it's not unclean

that they yell out.

Somehow they recognize

who this is

that's coming.

Perhaps there's a crowd

that's following Jesus along.

At this point,

he's three years

into this ministry.

His fame was spread

even beyond Israel

at this point.

They recognized

who he was

and they cry out,

Jesus,

Master,

have mercy

on us.

Such is the cry

from many of the suffering people

who encounter Jesus

in the Gospels.

Mercy from God

through his Messiah

was their only hope

for life.

And these poor souls

did what any of us

would have done.

You've heard the stories

of this great healer?

And here he comes.

Maybe before they had

contracted the disease,

maybe they had witnessed him

do it

or heard him teach.

They recognize him

and they do what we would have done.

Have mercy!

Lord,

have mercy.

They begged for

the great healer

to show mercy

and help him

and what we find Jesus doing

is what we find Jesus

always doing.

He hears their cry

and he answers

and he heals them.

And what's amazing

about this particular miracle

is that Jesus does it

in the most

undramatic way ever.

It's very quick.

He doesn't converse

with them

at least in the way

that Luke tells the story.

He doesn't converse

with them in any way.

He doesn't touch them

like we see him doing

with other lepers.

There's very little

interaction here.

This is very undramatic,

isn't it?

What does he do?

He just simply says,

go show yourself

to the priest.

Now this was important.

This was part of the law.

In order to be able

to reenter society again,

to get their life back,

they would have to go

to the temple.

They'd have to present

themselves to the priest.

Then eight days

they would have to live

and be monitored

and observed

before they would actually

be allowed back

into society.

The people who went

to present themselves

before the priest

were the people

who believed themselves

to have been healed

of their disease

or cleansed

from their leprosy.

Jesus tells these men,

if they were all men,

he tells these ten lepers

to go and present themselves

to the priest

except they're not clean.

They're not healed.

They're still leprous.

They're still leprous.

Meaning that before

anything's going to happen

for them in this moment,

some measure of faith

and obedience

has to come into play.

Surely there was

a discussion, right?

Who knows how long

they've been out there

together, dying.

They've heard the stories,

maybe they've heard

about Jesus actually

touching others

and he's telling us

to go to the priest.

How can we do that?

They're not even going

to let us in the city.

Eventually they decide

to do it

and what happens?

As they are on their way,

they're cleansed

suddenly.

And this cleansing,

it wouldn't have been

minor.

They had everything to gain,

nothing to lose.

They set out for the temple

and suddenly their skin

becomes perfectly healthy.

They're healthy.

The broken bones

that maybe they had

suffered along the way

are strong,

set in place,

missing fingers

are suddenly present

and functioning,

whatever was the case.

Jesus never heals halfway.

The cleansing he brings,

it's total,

it's complete

and these lepers

would have experienced

new life and health

to the fullest

as a result of Jesus'

kindness toward them.

It's not hard to see

the symbolism here,

is it?

It's a symbol

of the spiritual cleansing

that Jesus came

to bring all

who will trust

and obey him.

And that cleansing,

just like the cleansing

of these lepers,

is total.

It's complete.

He doesn't do anything

halfway.

He doesn't come

part of the way

and expect you

to come the rest

of the way

to complete the process.

No, he does it all

from start to finish.

to the fullest.

It lacks nothing at all.

It comes entirely

of Jesus' own kindness

and compassion

toward sinners.

Just like those lepers,

spiritually speaking,

each of us

have a death sentence

on our lives.

100% death rate.

The only hope we have

is a miracle from God

that he will intervene,

that he will show mercy

to us,

kindness and compassion

to us.

Mercy from God

through his king

is your only hope.

And if you will come

through his king,

your healing,

your cleansing

will be complete,

paid in full.

Now the prophets foretold

that a sign of the Messiah

would be his power

to heal.

Jesus demonstrated

that power

on a remarkably

massive scale.

John MacArthur

used to talk about

how Jesus essentially

eradicated disease

from Israel

throughout his ministry.

I mean,

we're talking thousands

and thousands

and thousands

of people

who are coming to him

sometimes on a daily basis.

They're being healed

in tangible ways.

It's not something

that you could just

quickly dismiss

to say there's no way

that happened.

If there was maybe

just a handful of people

that Jesus had claimed

to have healed,

maybe so.

This is healing

on a massive scale.

Thousands of people.

And what he did

for these lepers

doesn't even begin

to scratch the surface

of the power

that he demonstrated

throughout his three years

of ministry.

And what was this all about?

Why does Luke record

all of these instances?

Matthew and Mark

and John the same.

Why did they even

add this in there?

Well, it's not just

to amaze us.

It's to show us

something about Jesus.

It's to say

Jesus is that king

that Isaiah said

when he comes

the blind will see

and the lame will leap

and the dumb will speak.

It's marked

in his existence

and what he has done.

Just look at Jesus.

He is the king.

The savior king.

God sends

his people.

That's the point.

The first part

of this story,

I think.

Yeah, there's compassion.

There's this

microcosm

of a gospel story

right here

in these first few verses

and all of it's

pointing to the fact

that Jesus is king.

The king has come.

Well, then we get

to the second part

of the story

and we see

we move from

a sign of the king

to now we're seeing

a citizen of the kingdom.

Citizen of the kingdom.

Look at 15 to 19.

Then one of them,

when he saw

that he was healed,

turned back.

He was praising God

with a loud voice

and he fell on his face

at Jesus' feet

giving him thanks.

Now he's a Samaritan

and Jesus answered,

Were not ten 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,

that is he said

to this former leper

who has returned,

Rise and go your way.

Your faith has made you

well.

Now all of those lepers

experienced an incredible

life-changing miracle.

This one experienced

something that he

could have never imagined here.

Luke here,

he moves from the many

to the one.

He's making a distinction

in the work

that Jesus is doing.

There is this big work

that he's doing in the ten.

There's a different work

that he's doing in the one.

It's significant.

They were all

cleansed of body.

This one, I believe,

was cleansed of soul.

And we find that

in Jesus' final statement

in verse 19.

Literally it reads,

Your faith has saved you.

An expression

that he often communicated

to those who he healed.

It's a reference

to spiritual salvation

as distinct from

physical healing.

healing.

There's really no question

as we understand

the gospels

that Jesus had more

in mind here

with this statement

than healing from a disease.

As God's king,

Jesus affirmed

this former leper

as a new citizen

of his kingdom.

But why?

And this is where

Jesus' teaching

throughout the chapter

begins to show itself

in this story.

It's in the life

of this one man.

Just three things

I think are helpful

to note here.

First I want you

to notice his return.

His return.

Look at verse 15 again.

One of them,

when he saw he was healed,

turned back,

praising God

with a loud voice.

Jesus says it again

in verse 18.

Was no one found

to return

and give praise

but this one.

Now remember

at the beginning

of the chapter

Jesus taught this lesson

on repentance

that's to result

in forgiveness.

It's not a coincidence

that Luke is using

language of repentance

to describe

how this man

turned back,

praising God

with a loud voice.

Paul told the Romans

in Romans chapter 2

Romans 2 · chapter mention

and verse 4

that God's kindness

and patience

are meant to lead us

to repentance.

And here in the 10

lepers,

we see an example

of God's kindness

and of his patience.

A miracle that was

meant to show them

Jesus.

A miracle that was

meant to bring them

to something deeper

than physical healing.

That was meant

to bring them

to repentance

and now with the one,

Luke is using

this language

of repentance,

he turned back.

Jesus says

he returns.

Literally that word

for repentance,

a turning away

and turning to God

in these moments.

All 10 lepers

received God's grace

and their healing

but only this man

turned

even from the benefits

of that healing

to offer praise

and thanksgiving

to Jesus.

Now we need to think

about what he was

turning away from.

going to the priest

would have resulted

in this man

getting his life back.

And I would imagine

after this encounter

with Jesus

he did indeed

go to the priest

and get his life back.

But even that

becomes a lesser priority

than coming back

to Jesus

in this moment

to offer his thanks

and to give praise

to God

through the king.

Is that not a picture

of real spiritual repentance?

What he's turning away

from in this moment

is not some gross sin

not some pagan

heresy.

He's turning away

from life

and health

and everything good.

But even the best things

in true repentance

become lesser things

when it means

that we're coming

to Jesus

in the process.

Isn't that what he's doing?

There is no salvation

without repentance

and what this man did

beautifully pictures

what repentance

unto salvation

actually looks like.

So we see his return.

Next I want you

to see his faith.

His faith.

I look again

at the second half

of verse 15.

He turned back

and he was praising God

with a loud voice

just as a nice side note.

You can ask your kids

this when they get home.

They can get a piece of dessert

if they get this right.

The Greek language here

literally means megaphone.

Phones megalase.

Megaphone.

He's coming

and as he's on his way

back to Jesus

this is not subtle.

You know

he's not in the service

singing the song

and he's got his head down

and he's hoping

that nobody hears him

because he might be

a little embarrassed

if they hear his voice.

No, this man doesn't care.

This is like a megaphone.

He's praising God

as he's on his way back

to find Jesus

in this moment.

Now are we to assume

that the other nine

former lepers

did not praise God

as they journey

to see the priest?

That's often how

this story is presented

isn't it?

That well there were

ten of them

and they all received

this healing

but only one of them

actually had any gratitude.

But you know

the text doesn't

actually say that.

What it does say

is that one of them

returned to Jesus.

It doesn't say

that the other nine

refused to have gratitude

or that they didn't

praise God.

I would imagine

on their way

to the temple

there's a pretty nice

party going on.

They're excited

they're going to get

their life back.

If they're Jews

they would have understood

this is coming

because of God's

mercy on my life.

Probably I would imagine

a lot of praising

going on.

I don't think

that the emphasis

of this text

is to say

that they didn't

praise God.

Jesus' emphasis

is not just

on the man's praise.

It's on the fact

that he returned

to Jesus

to offer

that praise

to God.

At the very least

he seems to have

grasped

that Jesus

was God's

representative

and even

Jesus' response

suggests

that the man

understood him

to be more

than just a

prophetic representative

like the woman

at the well.

His eyes

were opened

to Jesus'

messianic

significance.

This was God's

promised king.

It's not only

that he's offering

praise to God

it's that he's

offering praise

to God

through Jesus.

He falls

at Jesus'

feet

and he offers

his praise

to God

through thanksgiving

to Jesus

as a mediator

of God's

blessing

on his life.

And it's

this faith

in the heart

of this man

this faith

in the person

of Christ

that Jesus

responds to

in verse 19

when he says

your faith

has saved

you.

The others

may very well

have offered

praise to God

I imagine

that they

very likely

did

but they

missed Jesus

in the process

of it

and because

they failed

to recognize

and return

to Jesus

they missed

the greatest

miracle of all

in the story

the cleansing

of their souls.

You see

without faith

in the person

and work

of Jesus Christ

there is no

salvation.

salvation

your life

may contain

all kinds

of praises

to God

whether that's

just a general

idea of God

in your mind

or maybe it's

even in the

context of

Christian religion

you may have

all kinds

of praise

to offer

but if you

miss Jesus

in the process

of it

you've missed

everything.

If all you

get out of

this story

is offering

thanksgiving

to God

and you

miss Jesus

you've

missed it

all

and if

you go

through this

life

affiliating

with

Christianity

and showing

up to

church

on Sunday

and singing

with everybody

else

when we go

through the

songs

and sitting

around the

table at

Thanksgiving

saying God

it's just

been so good

to me

look at all

that I have

or whatever

it is

and you

miss Jesus

and all

the process

of it

you've

missed

it all

you've

received

some great

benefits

of his

kindness

but that

doesn't make

you a

citizen

of his

kingdom

his

faith

here

is

significant

the

picture

of

lordship

as he

cast

himself

at

Jesus

feet

all

part

of

this

chapter

isn't

it

and we

find this

third

thing

here

we see

his

citizenship

look

again

at

verse

16

now

he was

a

Samaritan

verse

18

is

no

one

found

to

return

and

give

praise

to

God

except

this

foreigner

now

this

seems

weird

doesn't

it

why

would

Luke

make

an

issue

of

this

why

would

he

bring

out

the

fact

that

this

man

was

a

Samaritan

well

Luke's

primary

audience

is

not

a

Jewish

audience

can

you

imagine

you're

a

Gentile

you've

been

told

your

whole

life

as

far

as

it

goes

with

the

Jewish

God

you're

excluded

and

now

Luke's

writing

this

and

he's

telling

about

God's

king

and

he's

saying

the

guy

that

he

responded

to

wasn't

a

Jew

he was

a

Samaritan

it's

a

pretty

big

deal

isn't

it

Jesus

is

making

a

big

point

here

by

calling

him

a

foreigner

he's

not

degrading

him

that's

not

what

Jesus

is

doing

he's

not

he's

making

a

point

about

the

kingdom

part

of

the

of

his

kingdom

and

of

his

true

people

citizens

of

Christ's

kingdom

are

not

marked

by

ethnicity

they're

not

marked

by

political

alignment

they

are

marked

solely

by

faith

in

the

Lord

Jesus

Christ

thus

Jesus

tells

the

Pharisees

in

verse

21

that

the

kingdom

of

God

is

already

in

the

midst

of

them

first

it's

in

their

midst

because

Jesus

is

there

he's

the

king

the

representative

of

the

kingdom

but

from

there

it's

present

in

people

from

every

nation

who

trust

and

love

and

follow

him

that's

how

the

kingdom

breaks

through

even

now

it's

not

a

Jewish

kingdom

it's

not

an

Israeli

kingdom

it's

God's

kingdom

and it's

universal

it's

global

international

and it's

breaking

through

even

now

just

like

a

summer

day

when

an

afternoon

rain

storm

comes

through

and you've

got all

the dark

clouds

but as

the storm

begins

to break

you start

to see

these flashes

of light

from the

sun

it may

still be

raining

!

It may

still be

blowing

hard

but you

see

maybe

in the

distance

these

lights

of the

sun

poking

through

the

clouds

just

like

that

even

now

we're

going to

see

the sun

in its

fullness

one day

but even

now

there's

these

rays

of the

kingdom

that they're

shining

through

and they're

shining

through

entirely

based on

those who

come to

faith in

the Lord

Jesus

Christ

that's

how the

kingdom

comes

Kevin

de

young

says

the

kingdom

comes

when

and

where

the

king

is

known

when

Jesus

is

loved

and

worshipped

and

believed

upon

there

the

kingdom

of

God

is

in

the

midst

of

you

citizenship

!

in the

kingdom

eternal

salvation

in other

words

it's

not

about

ethnicity

political

alignment

or even

religious

affiliation

in and

of

itself

salvation

is

all

about

where

you

stand

with

the

king

Jesus

the

eternal

king

and

entrance

into

his

kingdom

comes

exclusively

through

faith

in

him

exclusively

there

is

no

other

way

and

all

who

come

to

him

in

faith

are

welcomed

into

his

kingdom

all

everyone

it

doesn't

matter

what

you've

done

up to

this

point

in

your

life

it

doesn't

matter

how

unclean

you

actually

are

in

my

eyes

or

anybody

else's

eyes

you are

welcomed

by your

king

if you

will

come

to him

the way

he said

to come

to him

which is

in repentance

and faith

there's really

two miracles

that's happening

in this

story

the cleansing

!

cleansing

of the

ten

lepers

gets

all

the

attention

right

but

it's

the

cleansing

of

the

one

that

really

the

story

is

about

all

of

Jesus'

miracles

there

were

they're

meant

to be

these

signs

that

he

is

indeed

God's

son

and

Messiah

they

aren't

ends

in and

of

themselves

in

the

text

they

are

means

by

which

these

authors

are

revealing

the

true

nature

of

Jesus

because

once

we

see

who

he

is

only

then

will

we

begin

to

understand

the

significance

of

his

arrival

and

why

he

came

and

ultimately

he

didn't

come

to

heal

our

diseases

he

came

to

forgive

our

sins

and

the

only

way

that

those

sins

will

be

forgiven

is

if

he