This sermon emphasizes the importance of being witnesses of Christ by experiencing His touch and being grateful for His mercy. It warns against ingratitude and the sin of entitlement, urging a humble and grateful heart. The story of the ten lepers in Luke 17 is used to illustrate the significance of giving thanks and praising God for His work in our lives.

In other words, Jesus Christ said, you are my witnesses. Well, whom do you call witnesses? Those that have seen and experienced, they have witnessed the happenings. They were participants. They were not mere distant onlookers. In this case, they are men and women who have tasted Christ. Such are witnesses. Unfortunately, theory becomes so strong, you know, and people just get caught up with some new idea, new religion, new something, new guru, or some such rubbish. But what we need is a real touch from God. And also, friends, don't get the idea that because of the scope of this work, the end result that we are seeking is any different. It's not for display. It's not for advertisement. Because the fire of God will dry all our works. And I wonder how much of it will be found to pass through the fire. You know, we live in times of advertisement, dangerous times, outward show. And I tell you, I have a revulsion, a strong revulsion for such hypocrisy. Let us turn to Luke 17 chapter, please, 12th verse. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him 10 men that were lepers, which stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan, much despised, northern upcountry fellow, Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, were there not 10 cleansed? But where are the nine? There are not found that return to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, arise and go your way. Your faith has made you whole. You know, friends, here we see what is so normal. And you might find this very thing in your very heart, giving thanks to God, somewhat alien to us. We like to take everything as though God owes it to us. You know, we believe in socialism seems to have taught a lot of laziness to people. And entitlements, you know, you feel you are entitled to this and entitled to that. Somebody must pay the rents. Somebody must pay your bills while you sit around. Now, my dear friends, you'll never see anybody who is truly touched by the Lord Jesus Christ. Just looking for an easy ride. You know, what are people looking for today? They are looking for an easy ride. They will change their locations. They will change their nationalities. They will do anything. They will divorce their wives. They will run away, pardon me, from their children just because they want to please themselves. But mark you, your values become very different when the Lord Jesus touches you. You become a beautiful person. You become a grateful person. Now, I fear that in my own heart, I'm not grateful enough. I have much to be grateful for. You know, Mr. Churchill once introduced his successor, Mr. Attlee, in these words. Mr. Attlee is a modest man with much to be modest about. Well, you could say something like that about me. You know, folks, much to be grateful for and much to be modest about. Here, when the Lord healed these 10 lepers, you know, only one of them turned up to thank him. I often find this to be the case. You know, I feel nobody owes any thanks to me because what am I? I'm only a man, a sinful man. So I say to people, hey, don't thank me. Go thank the Lord. I could not have touched your case absolutely beyond me or any man. It's the Lord who touched you. So give glory to God. Forget about me. So friends, I find that in the human heart, there is a great deal of ingratitude. The sin of ingratitude is a very ugly sin. We are just not grateful for God's mercies. When I could not talk, when I could not walk some months ago and had to learn all these things afresh, how grateful a person like me must be. Sure, there are many of you who can say that the Lord touched you at times of great need. And as to how grateful you are, I don't know. You know, folks, I wish there would be something put into us which will help us to be grateful, which would kind of remind us, give us a little shock, like the defibrillator. You know, the doctors, one of the world's authorities in pacemakers and such, sat me down and said, you go to such remote places and there's no help. And if your heart goes into fibrillation, you have only 10 minutes and nothing can be done. He said, you must get back with me so that I can examine you again and put a defibrillator in. You have to contact me. Well, I did never contact my doctor about this because my heart rebounded by the grace of God. But you know, the defibrillator gives us such a powerful shock. One of my friends who had one said to me, he simply could not take that jolt that the defibrillator gave him. I believe it would have been a great help that whenever we fall into grumbling or murmuring, if there was some shocking device that would go off and give us a big jolt, hey, come back to your senses now. That would be a great thing, isn't it? But the spirit of God teaches us to be humble and grateful. You know, God actually gave Jacob, you noted for his cunning and his craftiness. In the 32nd chapter of Genesis, Jacob was given a little device by God which helped him, I'm sure, a great deal. Genesis chapter 32. Here was old deceiver Jacob, 24th verse. And Jacob was left alone, and there rezzled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he rezzled with him. And he said, let me go for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let you go except you bless me. And he said unto him, what is your name? And he said, Jacob. You know, he had lied to his own father. And when his father asked him, being half blind, who art thou, my son? He gave the name of his elder brother, Esau. I'm Esau, your oldest boy. So if you look at 31st verse, and as he passed over Penuel, the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. You know, God put that remembrance. He halted. Those feet were quick to run to mischief, to deceit. And now every time he halted on that leg or thigh, it was a reminder. Remember, God gave you another name. You're no more Jacob. You're no more that old deceiver. Now you have a new nature. You are Israel, as a prince with God. 28th verse, your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince has thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed. That night, what did Jacob pray? I will not let you go. Now, some of you have children. Some of you are grandparents. And now, what is the kind of heritage that you are going to give them? Give them some pounds? Say, give them some old dilapidated building, which will crash on their heads if there is an earthquake of, say, seven points on the Richter scale or something, or eight points. Now, what is it that we are going to hand over? What is it? You know, you can give something which you don't have. Most mothers know that they gave their characteristics to their children. As I often say, my former weaknesses and failures and sins, they are imprinted in the lives of my children. I can see from some of their traits my old nature. Yes, and that should be a thing which sends alarm bells ringing in your soul. I'm not going to give the worst of myself to my children. You know, when a child sees a mother speak a lie, sure, that child will become a liar. I've seen the sufferings of children whose parents, whose fathers would not amend, would not be converted, or who delayed conversion. Change of heart, I mean. Oh, what damage they did to those boys and girls. Yes, that old nature. And here was Jacob being given a new nature that night. You shall be no longer a supplant or a deceiver, but you will be Israel. As a prince with God, you have prevailed. But you will bear this mark, this reminder. Yes. So he halted upon his time. Now, I can think of three people who were brought to me very infirm on their feet, on their legs. One was a little boy who could not get out of bed, and the doctors diagnosed his case as cancer of the bones, you know, and he wanted, that little boy, wanted prayer. I managed to go to that little quarters of the defense department where his family were situated. Here was this boy seated in bed, can't get down. The Lord healed him. I said, Lord, let these feet run for the gospel. Of course, he has become a very successful fellow. He became a sportsman too. But I won't describe him as one who really is running for Jesus, running with the gospel. And that I keep reminding him about, you know? Another was a young fellow, and the doctors found that after his fall from a height, his, one of his legs became so infirm that there was a distinct one inch or one and a half inches difference between his legs. Once again, after Jesus touched him, when his mother brought him to me, well, you know, dear friends, when I meet with some of these cases, I plainly tell them, look, what can I do? I'm only a man. You need the touch of the Lord. The Lord must touch you. So that fellow became a sportsman too. And his feet and legs became completely normal. Now, a third person was a daughter of one of my very dear boys, an engineer. He said, my daughter has polio, has had polio. And here she is, one of her legs is so infirm. And the Lord healed her. And she is working for the Lord in a very difficult area close to Burma border. So I wish there would be some way by which people would be reminded, hey, this is what you would have been had it not been for my touch. Why are you so ungrateful? Can't you spend your days praising God, exalting Him for what He did for you? Where are the nine? Where are the nine? You know, my dear friends, I can think of so many. The sin of ingratitude is such a terrible sin. It gets hold of people again and again and again. And suddenly, they become ungrateful and intractable. That's all. They become stiff. They become corpses. Oh, we need a tender heart to remember God's mercies, just to praise God. How many mercies, how many mercies. Can we ever be grateful enough for Calvary? Can we ever say, hey, Lord Jesus, you deserve to die that way upon the cross. You said you loved me, and then you died for me. So what big deal is that? Nothing. Can you say that? Can you look at Calvary and say, hey, I deserve to be saved. I deserve that a propitiatory death like yours should have taken place. Because I'm worth saving, you know. I'm a great guy, and I should be saved. Can you say that? No. No, that Sanskrit term, prayaschit bali. I love that term, because it says complete atonement, the sacrifice that makes complete atonement. Nowhere is there an atonement or a love comparable to the love of the cross. And we have received, we have been made aware of that love. And can't we respond with gratitude? Can't we say, yes, Lord Jesus, there's nothing that can atone for a wretch like me and my life. There's nothing that can atone for a sinner like me. It took the sinless sacrifice of yourself upon the cross. Lord Jesus, I am forever grateful. Forgive me forever being ashamed of you or hesitating to stand with you and for you. Today, you know, the cry should go out in Britain, who is on the Lord's side? Which also means, who is on the devil's side? This is an obvious cry, you know, when Moses came down the mountain and saw the people dancing around the golden calf which they had made. What did he say? Who is on the Lord's side? It's time for us to make certain on whose side we are. Are we on the side of righteousness? Are we on the side of the truth? Or are we on the side of myths and fables and ancient traditions? No, there are many people who will go rather opt more for their families than for truth. Such people are simply no good for a time like this. My grandfather says, my family says, my somebody says, OK, your grandfather rode an ox cart. Why don't you ride one? And say, this is how my grandfather got his mobility. And this is how I will get mine. This is my automobile. You know, folks, it is untenable. Our position on the fence is untenable. You can't position yourself on the fence at a time like this when wrong is right and right is wrong, even in Parliament. Oh, how sad. You know, the British nation was known for its honesty, honest administration in the colonies and so on. Administration of justice. But in simple things today, even in accepting homosexuality as an alternate lifestyle, what does it mean? The extinction of a nation. The eventual extinction of a nation. So which mother is there who will tell me, I want all my children to adopt this new lifestyle. Come on, let me see which father wants that. But when it comes to the crunch, people want to sit on the fence, shocking disloyalty to truth and to the word of God. Oh, dear friends, you know, where are the nine? You know, we can live out our days in Thanksgiving. You know, Thanksgiving produces in you great vitality. You know, whatever I do for others, whatever I do for my Lord, I count it as nothing. I say I am a debtor. I owe it. I owe it to the Greeks and the barbarians. I am a debtor. The love of the cross, Christ's death has placed me in the position of a debtor, not a donor. I don't know what position you take. Every little thing, oh, I'm doing this for God. I'm doing that for God. I'm doing this for God. And I say I'm doing nothing for God. I owe it to the Lord. I'm a debtor. Let us pray. Oh, Lord, our God, in what debt you have placed us by dying in our place and rising again for us. Lord Jesus, save us from the attitude of some of these philanthropists or others who say I gave so many million for charity, and I did so much for somebody and somebody. No, Lord. We have whatever we might have done. It's nothing. When we measure it by Calvary, it's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing how grateful we should be, what vitality and love there should be in our lives as we serve others. Instead of feeling weary and tired and fatigued and almost rendered unwilling, please, Father, we see the world around us racing hither and thither for a few more pounds or a few more euros or dollars, relocating, doing this, doing that. But alas, alas, alas, when the love of Jesus fails to tick in our souls, how dead can we get? Save us, Lord, from such death. Life would hold nothing for us if we become that dead. Let the love of Jesus constrain us and make us a grateful people, a grateful in Jesus' holy name. Amen.