Jesus, the one-stop solution

Rev. Shine Thomas

Scripture: Luke 17:11-14

Introduction: Where do you go when you have problem? Where do you go when you feel the issues of life are overtaking you? The secret of a successful person is to know where to go when you have a problem or when you are in need.

Well this morning I want to introduce to you a one-stop solution for all your problems in your life. I will show you some people who got their problems solved by meeting this person and we will study how we need to approach this person.

Luke 17:11-14 ^11^Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ^12^As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance ^13^and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" ^14^When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.

Background of a Leper: Leprosy is a horrible disease. Leprosy covers the skin with scales and oozes pus from it. Under the skin this disease eats away the nerves, muscles, and tissues. It is a very painful disease and later a leper loses sense to touch and pain.

Some missionaries did a research on a leper colony in India and they found that the majority of the lepers did not have toes or fingers. They found the toes and fingers disappeared mainly at night. They decided to stay awake to see what happened to them at night. At night they found rats coming from the nearby drains and chewing the fingers and the toes of the lepers. The lepers did not awaken because they did not feel it. Yes, leprosy is a terrible disease.

Leprosy in Bible times: In biblical times also leprosy was a terrible disease and a terrible problem. The lepers were thrown out from their homes and villages to live in colonies with other lepers. Therefore the lepers stayed outside, often without food, in pain, lonely, and rejected by the society. Leprosy in biblical times was indeed considered a terrible disease and they were called ‘the walking dead.’

Even though none of us have leprosy the Bible says that leprosy is a good description of us. We are all born with a deadly disease called sin. Leprosy in the Bible points to our sins. Sin causes us to be spiritual outcasts and makes us live outside God’s plan.

Now listen, sin is a part of our genetic code. It is in our DNA both for the believers and nonbelievers. Majority of us a believers and yet we continue to sin. We have a problem, we have leprosy. Our sins come from our parents and it goes all the way back to Adam and Eve.

Read Isaiah 1:4,6 ^4^Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. ^6^From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness — only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil.

This was written 2700 years ago but still God has to say the same about us. Sin is everywhere and knowingly or unknowingly we fall into the trap of sin.

In Bible sin is equivalent to leprosy and let us see how these 10 lepers came out of their leprosy. Let us see what they did.

Read Luke 17:11-13.

They looked at Jesus to solve their problem.

1. Only Jesus can fix/solve our problems.

The 10 lepers decided they would not give up on life and die as outcasts; therefore, they headed towards Jesus. You must understand that Jesus is the only solution for all our problems in life. It maybe material, spiritual, financial, relationship etc; Jesus is the one-stop solution for your problem today. Let us come to Jesus for the solution of our problems.

Once they came to Jesus see what they did. Read Luke 17:12-13 again. When they saw Jesus they cried out to Him – ‘Jesus, master have pity on us!’

2. Admit your problem and cry out to God.

We must learn to admit we have a problem and cry out to God for help. It would have been easy for them to just compare their disease with each other and not go to Jesus telling one is better than the other. No, they did not compare their sores of each other, instead they cried out together. The ones with more sores in their body and the ones with just a small sore cried out together. They accepted they had a problem and admitted they needed help.

The problem with many of us is that we are living in denial today. We do not want to admit our problem because we look around and find someone worse than us. We tend to think we have not done much big sins and we feel we are okay.

Child of God if you want Jesus to help you then you must realize you have a problem and admit it. Do not compare yourself to others. God wants you to admit your sins today and cry out to God for help.

Let’s see what happened when they cried out to God. Read v14
The lepers were never healed until they went to show the priest. Leviticus 13-14 has some detailed regulations about how a Jewish priest could declare a person clean or unclean. These 10 lepers knew the law and they knew very well they were unfit to show themselves to the priest. They knew they were unclean and they did not have any right to go to the priest. There was a crisis in their faith. It was impossible for them to get into the city and Jesus wanted them to go the priest. When they look their body is full of wounds. They could have told Jesus to heal them first and then they would go show themselves to the priest. Here is the point. The moment they received the word from Jesus, they headed to see the priest no matter what the circumstances said, and as they went they were healed.

3. God’s power is not released until you step out in faith.

There is a powerful lesson here. The lepers experienced the healing power only when they stepped out in faith. Here Jesus gave the word, they obeyed in faith, and the miracle followed. This is how faith works. Faith is obeying God even if you don’t have any visible or physical evidence to support your decision.

Conclusion: The 10 lepers knew exactly where to go when in need. They knew only Jesus could help them and no one else. They went to Jesus. They admitted their problem and cried out to Jesus. Finally, they stepped out in faith when the word came out of Jesus’ mouth. They were healed and their problem solved.

Child of God, the Bible is full of directions on how to live successfully and Jesus is the only person who can help us live successfully and solve our problems. Come to Jesus, admit to Jesus your problem today and cry out to him. God will definitely talk to you through His word and if you step out in faith as per the Word of God you will receive the miracle.

If you want a miracle or if you are in a problem step out in faith, I will pray for you. Amen!