Luke 17:1-19

Faith is very very important! It takes faith to be saved. It takes faith to forgive the way we need to. It takes faith to have the humble attitude that God wants us to have. It takes faith to show proper gratitude. It takes place to experience miraculous healing, especially ultimate spiritual healing.

Darkness covers the Earth, and a deep and profound darkness covers the people. Chaos, confusion, Satan, sin and death have engulfed humanity. These dark forces are too powerful and we are too weak, to overcome them on our own.

What can remove the darkness? What can bring us light? What can bring us victory over these very real and utterly destructive and deadly forces? It is not our own efforts, works or deeds. It is simply our response to God and His Word. The Bible calls that faith.

Faith is knowing who the Supreme Being is and then trusting this great and good and faithful Three-In-One God. Faith is also knowing what God has said and having confidence in what He has said, and then doing what He has said.

Faith enables us to experience many good things that are otherwise impossible for us to experience. Faith, belief, confidence, trust, faithfulness to God and to His Word are essential for reconciliation with God, for getting right with God, for atonement, for salvation, for successful living that honors the Creator, for eternal life in the heavenly Jerusalem. Faith is a necessary and extremely beneficial thing. Unbelief, unfaith, is terribly, terribly destructive. We want to increase in faith!

We more we learn about God and the Scriptures, and the more we are faithful to God and the Scriptures and put into practice the things that we learn, the more we will increase in faith.

The Holy Spirit, communicating to us through Luke, has been telling us that when Israel’s Supreme Rabbi lived among us, Yeshua had been having conflicts with many of the religious and political leaders. Those who should have known the long awaited Seed of the Woman the best and supported Him the most - the religious and political leaders of the Chosen Nation - opposed Israel’s Messiah the most! They should have known that He was the Messiah and trusted Him and had faith in Him - but they didn’t!

It’s not that there wasn’t enough evidence that Yeshua was who He claimed to be. There was plenty of evidence that Yeshua was and is the Messiah:

Very few prophets in Israel’s long history ever did miracles. The young Rabbi from Nazareth did many miracles and some very powerful miracles, showing that He was uniquely close to God.

Messiah is the subject of many prophecies. All of the many prophecies that were fulfilled by Yeshua were evidence that Yeshua was the Messiah.

Messiah had to be a great prophet and teacher. Rabbi Yeshua’s very powerful and wise and unique teachings that were so insightful and faithful to the Word of God showed that He was the Messiah.

Messiah could not be an ordinary man in the area of righteousness. Messiah had to be exceptionally righteous. Yeshua’s godly, sinless, perfect life, a life that resisted every temptation and always honored God and Torah, were evidence that He was the Messiah.

Relatively few Jewish men have ever claimed to be the Messiah. Yeshua’s claims to be the Messiah indicated that He was in fact the Messiah. In spite of these abundant evidences that showed that Yeshua was and is the Messiah, and should be trusted, and believed, the vast majority of Israel’s leaders rejected their King. They refused to trust and place their confidence in the Faithful One.

People are influenced by their leaders, and the lack of faith of these leaders was negatively affecting the attitudes of many others among the Jewish people toward Yeshua. And, to whom much is given, much is required. And, since faith in the Messiah that the Father sent from Heaven is commanded by God, and pleases God, and is essential to be reconciled to God, and to live a life that is genuinely pleasing to God, there would be terrible consequences for the leaders because of their refusal to put their faith and trust in the Messiah.

It takes faith in Messiah to be saved.

It was unfaith, unbelief, distrust, lack of confidence in God and His Word that caused our ruination and damnation. It is the opposite - faith - that helps reverse the damage and is essential to our salvation. If God sent the Messiah into this world to be the only Savior of the world, then faith in God’s Messiah is essential for salvation. You need to believe that, and encourage others to believe that! You dare not discourage others from believing that.

Yeshua said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble”.

It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come: We know that not everyone will be saved and make it to Heaven - not even a majority of humanity. Only a remnant will experience eternal life in the Heavenly Jerusalem.

There will be human beings who will contribute to other people falling short of salvation, and not coming to God on His terms - which includes faith in Messiah. Just because the majority will not be saved doesn’t excuse those who are guilty of causing other people to stumble.

Messiah wants us to know that those people who are part of the problem - who prevent others from coming to faith and getting closer to the Three-In-One God and a right understanding of the Special Writings - especially those who are leaders, will be held responsible and severely punished for these spiritual crimes of unbelief.

It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble.

There are many ways to die - some less pleasant and some more pleasant than others. I consider drowning to be one of the less pleasant ways to die. The Son of God wants us to know that being thrown into the sea with a very heavy rock attached to one’s neck, so there is no possibility of escaping death by drowning, is to be preferred to the punishment that will come to those who cause others from getting closer to God, to Messiah, to the Scriptures, to righteous living, to godly values, to salvation, to a good religious community.

You may not be a spiritual leader, but you should still ask yourself: Am I causing others to get closer to God, to Messiah, to the Scriptures, to righteous living, to godly values, to salvation, to a good religious community, or farther from them? Are my beliefs, words, deeds, lifestyle, example I set, causing others to come closer to God, to Messiah, to the Scriptures, to righteous living, to godly values, to salvation, to a good religious community? Or, am I causing others to stumble, and get farther away from these most important things?

Not only does it take faith to be saved, but it takes faith to forgive the way we are commanded to forgive.

Fallen human beings sin in many ways. We are prone to make mistakes. We frequently hurt each other. It also is natural for us to hate. It is easy for us to hate those who have sinned against us, and to want to see harm come to those who have harmed us. God does want us to be like that. He wants us to be very gracious and forgiving to those who sin against us and then apologize to us.

Again, because of the ruination of human nature, that kind of gracious, forgiving attitude does not come to us naturally. It takes faith; it takes understanding about God the Father and Messiah the Son; it take understanding about the need to extend love and grace and mercy and forgiveness that comes from the Word of God, to help us be the kind of gracious, forgiving people that the gracious and forgiving God wants us to be.

Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him. Rebuking comes easily to us. It is easy for us to see the someone else’s faults and want to say something to correct him.

However, Messiah’s next instruction is not so easy. And if he repents (understands that his actions toward you were wrong, and turns to you), forgive him. Forgiving someone who has hurt or offended us does not come naturally to us, but with faith in God and Messiah and the Word of God, we can muster the faith to forgive.

But the Son of God’s next instruction is even harder. He asks us to forgive more than just once. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, “I repent”, forgive him.

If the same individual hurts us again, and regrets it again, comes to us a second time, and asks for forgiveness, the gracious God wants us to forgive him again. And, if he does it a third time, and is remorseful, and comes and sincerely apologizes to us, the God of forgiveness, who has forgiven us so many times, often for the same sin, wants us to forgive again! And again! And again! And again! That is very hard to do! That takes real trust in God, knowing who He is and what He wants, and that this is the kind of abundant forgiveness that He wants us to extend to other sinning human beings. The Messiah’s emissaries knew that this was not easy and they needed help to do this.

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith”!

In other words: Adon Yeshua, what You are asking is very hard for us to do. We need to know and trust You and God the Father much better in order to be able to extend that amount of forgiveness! We will need a huge amount of faith to be the kind of people who can be that forgiving! You will have to help us grow in our trust a lot more. But the Son of God knew that just a little accurate knowledge, combined with just a little bit of faith, a small amount of confidence in God, trust in Messiah, and belief in the Bible, can produce amazing results! It can transform us into the kind of godly, gracious people that God wants us to be.

And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you.

Adon Yeshua (the Lord Jesus) does not want us to use our confidence in God to drown mulberry trees! That is not where we should be focusing our faith! He does want us to be loving, generous, forgiving, godly men and women with Messiah-like character.

People can change! Just a little bit of faith in God, in Messiah, in the Bible, will unleash the transforming power of God to make us into the kind of individuals that the holy God wants us to become.

It takes faith to be saved. It takes faith to forgive the way we need to. It takes faith to have the humble attitude that God wants us to have.

The Fall of man and the corruption of human nature has caused human beings to be proud and arrogant, to have an attitude of independence from the Creator. We think that we are so important, and that the universe revolves around us. It takes faith to understand who God is, and who we are, and how the creature should properly relate to the Creator.

It takes faith to understand that the universe revolves around the Lord of lords - not us. It takes faith to understand that the Supreme Being, by whose will we were created, and for whom we exist, is the center and the focus - not us. To teach us this lesson, Rabbi Yeshua asked and answered a question.

Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, “Come immediately and sit down to eat”? But will he not say to him, “Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink”? He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, “We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done”.

It takes faith to understand that because the Lord is the Creator and because He is the Redeemer, that everything that we have and are and ever will be is because of Him, and His grace and goodness and mercy, and therefore we belong to Him and are obligated to serve Him.

Because the God of Israel, the true God, the Living God, the Three-In-One God created us and then redeemed us, we have an eternal debt to Him that can never be fully paid. We can only try to repay this great debt by serving Him the way He deserves to be served. That is our due. That is what we owe. That is the proper attitude that the redeemed creature should have toward the Creator.

Loving and serving God the Father and Messiah the Son with the totality of our being, with all that we have and that we are, and knowing that that is right and proper, and that there is nothing special or meritorious about that - that takes faith.

It takes faith to be saved. It takes faith to forgive the way we need to. It takes faith to have the humble attitude that God wants us to have. It takes faith to show proper gratitude. It takes faith to experience miraculous healing, especially final spiritual healing.

Because we are fallen, and far from God, and not in a right relationship to the Supreme Being, and because we don’t appreciate all the many things the great Creator and Sustainer is constantly doing for us, we do not give proper thanks to the Creator for His many blessings. All too frequently we take Adonai and His blessings for granted. It takes faith to be properly thankful.

While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, Yeshua, Master, have mercy on us!”

Leprosy was a horrible disease that deformed and destroyed the body and isolated people from their families, from their community, from the synagogue, and from the Temple. These ten men are a symbol of humanity - at a distance from God, very sick, unable to heal ourselves, needing the help of the Son of God to become whole. And, Adon Yeshua did have mercy, and told them what to do if they wanted to become better.

When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.

Expressing gratitude is very important. If someone goes out of his way to do something good for you, and you can’t repay him, the least you can do is say thank you. If you can’t do that, something is seriously wrong with you. We can never repay the Lord for all that He has done, is doing, and will do for us. The very least we can do is express our thanks to Him in a genuine way. That takes faith.

Only one of the ten lepers had enough faith to do what was right - to thank God the Father and God the Son for the miraculous healing he had just experienced. Surprisingly, the one with the faith in God and Messiah was not one of the Chosen People, but a Samaritan - who were not known for their faithfulness to God and the Tenach. And, Israel’s Messiah was disappointed by the lack of faith of the nine.

Then Yeshua answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine - where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner”?

Even though Israel’s Messiah had finally arrived, doing amazing things, teaching profound things, not many in Israel had the faith to recognize Him or thank Him. And surprisingly, some Gentiles, even a few of the despised Samaritans, did!

This incident of the nine Jewish lepers and the one Samaritan leper is a kind of prophecy - a prophecy that the majority of the Chosen Nation would not have faith in the Jewish Messiah, but faith would come to many of the Samaritans and Gentiles. And, we know from 2,000 years of history that that is exactly what has happened.

And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well”.

Faith can unleash the healing power of God - including physical healing; but the goal of faith is for a greater kind of healing - spiritual healing. And those with faith know that ultimately God will heal human beings completely and eternally - body, soul and spirit. Do you have that kind of faith?

Faith is knowing who the Supreme Being is and then trusting this great and good and faithful God. Faith is also knowing what God has said and having confidence in what He has said, and then doing what He has said.

Faith is very very important! It is essential for salvation. It is crucial for godly, successful living that honors God. It takes faith to recognize that Yeshua is the Messiah. It takes faith to forgive the way God wants us to. It takes faith to see ourselves as servants of God, who owe Him our love, and a life of devotion and service. It takes faith to show proper gratitude. Faith is a necessary and extremely beneficial thing. Unbelief, unfaith, is terribly, terribly destructive. We want to increase in faith!

May the Lord increase our faith, as we learn more about Him and His Word, and put the things we learn into practice! Lord, increase our faith!

Lord willing, next week we will continue with Messiah’s teaching on faith. Messiah wants us to know that it takes faith to understand the kingdom of God - to understand how God operates to extend His kingdom in this world, and to understand the establishment of the kingdom of God on Earth when the King returns. And, it takes faith to persevere through injustice and discouragement and opposition.