 This is an example of a question that's asked when you get the answer. You can see one what the text says, but also it helps to understand how we ought to read the scriptures. It helps us to discipline ourselves so we don't say things that should not be stated. This comes up when you see people who are so-called faith healers who would try to say that Jesus did not heal immediately. And so if their healings of a person takes place over the course of days, weeks, or months, they might turn to this passage in Luke and show that, see, Jesus himself did not heal immediately. And the pastor was speaking of is the pastor in Luke chapter 17 of the 10 lepers. They'll point out or try to say that Jesus's healing was not infantaneously. But the question is, is that true? So let's go to Luke chapter 17, starting in verse 11. While he was on his way to Jerusalem, he was passing between Samaria and Galilee, and or as he entered a village, 10 lepers men who stood at a distance met him and they raised their voice saying, Jesus, master have mercy on us. When he saw them, he said to them, go and show yourself to the priests. And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now, one of them, when he saw had been healed, turned back glorifying God with a loud voice and fell upon his face, giving thanks to him. Now, where the difficulty can come in or where the misunderstanding can come in, I understand it could be an honest misunderstanding, is in verse 14 where it says, and as they were going, they were cleansed. Some could see this to say that as they were going, that's how they were healed as they were going. The problem is, that's not really what the text says in the Greek. The word that's used here as they were going, it's not as they were going, it's hyper game, which is an offensive, which is to go to move away from. So they were going and this word that's used for they were cleansed is the error. So they were cleansed in the past. It doesn't mean that as they were going, they were being cleansed as they were going. In other words, the more stuff they took, the more they were cleansed, the more they were obedient and had faith, then they were cleansed. That's not what the text is saying. And the reason why I said it like that is because you'll hear some people that will even make a sermon out of this, that you've got to keep moving. You got to keep having faith. You got to keep taking the next step in order to be healed or whatever the gift is that God wants to give you. Whether that's true or not, that's not what this text is saying. Remember, they're not speaking to Jesus in front of him. The text says that they were at a distance, which was the custom that if you had leprosy one, you had to be on the other side of the road if there were one. And if there were those coming in your direction, you would have to yell out unclean, but they were at a distance and they yelled out for Jesus to have mercy on you. And then Jesus hearing them, sees them, tells them, go show yourself to the chief priest. Now, the question is, there's three questions. One, when did Jesus actually pronounce healing on them? The second question is, when were they healed? And then the third question is, when did they notice they were healed? The problem with all of those questions is, we just don't know. Let's go back to it. Verse 14, when he, Jesus saw them, he said to them, go and show yourselves to the priest. Does the text tell us when Jesus actually healed them? He just says, go and show yourself to the priest. Does that mean that at that very moment Jesus healed them, or did he wait for them to take one step, two steps, 10 steps? It doesn't say. We have no idea when Jesus actually healed them, too. We don't know when they were actually healed. And so we would have to, Isogene, read into it to come away with that. They weren't healed at that moment, but they were healed later on. The text doesn't say. And then the third is, when did they notice? It could have been that, remember, they're at a distance. That as they turned, taking one step, they could have been healed right then and there. Maybe not even noticed it. Maybe they did notice it one step later, two steps later. Well, that's pretty instantaneous. They notice it apparently pretty quickly. How do I know? After notice being healed, one turned back, glorifying God. How far did he turn back? How far had he gotten? We don't know. All we know that it was pretty quickly. Jesus was still there in the same area. So it doesn't seem like this was a long distance route that the person took. The person noticed it, but nine of the 10 simply did not go. The point was that the one actually verified or acknowledged what was happening. But the question is, when were they healed? We don't know. And the reason why this is a good question to help us discipline ourselves as it comes to reading is to make sure we do not say what the text doesn't say. Make sure we say what it says. If there is some ambiguity, some confusion, we'll then say that. But do not read into it to say that Jesus did not heal them instantly. We don't have an example of when a person, we don't have an example of a person in the Bible not being healed instantly. And so it would seem that the moment that he said that you're healed, you were healed, including them. How many steps did it take? I don't know. Even if it was one, two, three, four, five steps, that's still pretty instantaneous. And then the more important point is they were healed definitively without question. No more leprosy, no more blindness, no more deafness, no more muteness. Whatever he was healing you of, you were healed. And so to answer the first question, were they healed immediately? I would have to conclude from the text that they were healed immediately. How long does it have to be for immediately one step, two steps? Don't know. But I don't see that them having walked away, then they were healed. I see them being healed as he said so. And the text seems to bear that out. Secondly, and just as importantly or even more importantly, when we read a text, make sure that you discipline yourself to do what Paul says not to do in 2 Corinthians 4, not to exceed what was written. So say what it states, say what it says, don't read into it, even resisting the temptation of to borrow from a former pastor's preaching, someone's teaching, or they may have mistook or placed into the text, something that doesn't say, even if it was innocently done, you make sure that you be disciplined in how you read the text.