I'm telling you. All joking aside, I'm a blessed
man to have my mom here. I want you to take your Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Luke. The book of Luke. I'd like for us to look for a
few minutes at the first four verses of the book of Luke, Luke
chapter 1. Before we read, let's ask the
Lord's blessing. Our Father, we truly thank you
for this blessed time to be able to assemble ourselves together
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you for
giving us, Lord, a heart to be here Lord, that we would want
to be here. What a blessing. Thank you, Lord
Jesus, for your presence. I pray that as we read and study,
Lord, speak to our hearts. May we be encouraged by the Spirit
of God, for it's in Christ's name we ask these things. Amen. Before I read the first four
verses, I'm going to tell you basically what happened. And then I'm going to read the
verses. A man named Luke. Luke was not one of the apostles.
Luke was probably one of the early evangelists that the Lord
had called out of darkness. And Luke was moved by the Holy
Spirit. Now you know that. He was moved
by the Spirit of God to write these scriptures. Now these scriptures
are the infallible Word of God. Men are fallible. We're prone
to mistakes. But this Word is infallible. This is God's Word. And Luke
was moved by the Spirit of God to write this inspired book. And he was wanting to set forth
in these first four verses, he gave the reason why in his mind
he wrote the book. He had a friend. His friend's
name was Theophilus, and that means one who loves God, or one
that is loved of God. And this man, Theophilus, had
obviously heard the gospel preached. And it was a man that the Lord
had given a new heart, given him faith to believe what he
heard. And Luke, being an evangelist,
he was a preacher, he was a minister. And Luke had a heart to do what
the Lord had told Peter. Peter, you love me? You feed
my sheep. He was doing what the Lord had
told Isaiah to do. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. That's what a minister, a true
minister of the gospel desires to do. He wants to comfort the
people of God. He had a desire in his heart
to write an account of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he had this reason. This is what he's about to say.
I'll read it in a minute. This is what he had on his heart.
He wanted to write an account of what had happened. Now you
have to understand. These men, they had the Old Testament scriptures.
But they didn't have the New Testament Scriptures. They hadn't
been written yet. And these New Testament Scriptures
that we have, these are letters. They were inspired letters. But these were letters and accounts
given and sent. And the Spirit of God moved on
men to write these things down. Things that had happened. So
that there would be a written account. There was preaching.
They were preaching. but there was no written account
of what had gone on. And Luke desired to write down
what he had personally witnessed and what he had personally heard
and had gotten from eyewitnesses and he wanted to write this down
so that Theophilus, his dear friend, might know for a certainty
those things wherein he had been instructed. Luke loved him. And we're prone to forget. I mean there's things that we
can remember years and years and years ago, but we forget
a lot of the details. And as we get older, and here
Luke had a heart's desire, and obviously he had a heart's desire
because the Spirit of God moved on his heart to do that. That's
where he got that heart. But he wanted to write this thing
down so that he could give a letter, this book, to Theophilus. So that Theophilus could have
something that he could read and recall to his mind of what
had happened. So, though Luke stated that he,
you know, had a mind to write this book for his friends, we
do know that these scriptures are in the inspired word of God. All scriptures given by inspiration
of God. So now, knowing what went on,
those first four verses, let's read them and find out what happened.
For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order
a declaration of those things which are most surely believed
among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the
beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed
good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from
the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent
Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things
wherein thou hast been instructed." Here's what Luke said. He's writing
to Theophilus' friends and he says, Theophilus, now listen,
there's been many that have drawn up accounts. There's been many
accounts written concerning those things which are surely believed
among us. Now, before I go any farther,
who are the us that he's talking about? Well, he's talking about
the regenerated saints. He's talking about the elect.
He's talking about those that God Almighty everlastingly loved
in Christ, gave to Christ, put under the sound of the gospel,
and taught them under the sound of the gospel of God's sovereign
grace, called them out of darkness, gave them some understanding,
and all believers believe the same thing concerning Salvation
by grace. Now I will agree, there's some
things maybe in the scriptures that we might have some differences
on that doesn't matter. Was the cross like this? Or was it just a pole like this? Was it like this? Or was it like
this? What difference does it make?
What difference does it make? But when it comes to salvation
by grace, When it comes to God's electing grace, Christ redeeming
particular redeeming grace, that He died only for the elect, that
He died only for the sheep, that He poured out His life's blood
to redeem everyone that the Father had given Him, all believers
believe the same thing. That's what Luke was saying.
He said, Theophilus, There's been many, for as much as many
have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those
things which are most surely believed among us. Luke was saying
there's been a lot of accounts that have been written. But,
obviously, Luke felt a desire. He felt compelled to write down
his own, because the Spirit of God gave him that heart to do
so. Now, here's an amazing thing
about what he was saying. It's a very interesting point
here. Luke is not saying that some of the other accounts. Now
I know that there were probably a lot of people that cared nothing
for the glory of Christ and probably wrote a bunch of negative things
just like they may do in the paper today or television today. There's a lot of things that
are written that are just not true. But there could have been
some accounts that were not in total error. Maybe there were.
I don't know. I do know that there were many
that had taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration
of those things which are most surely believed among us. So
obviously there were some accounts that had been written and I'm
not saying that these writers were all wrong. I'm not saying
that they weren't written out of a love and appreciation for
the one who was the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not saying, but obviously
The Holy Spirit had not moved upon those other writers to pin
the account that Luke was called to pin. Maybe they did know some
things. Maybe there was some that had
a purpose to write concerning the confirmation of the Lord's
glory. And when Luke spoke of those
others that had taken in hand to write those things, You know,
obviously he wasn't talking about those like Matthew and Mark and
John that would write the other three gospels. Obviously he wasn't
talking about them. But there were some manuscripts
that probably were written. I don't know probably, they were
written. He said they were, as many have taken. But they weren't
inspired of God. They weren't moved upon by the
Spirit of God. Luke was led by the Spirit of
God to write this. It seemed good to me, having
had perfect understanding of all things from the very first
to write unto thee in order. God had taught Luke the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he gave Luke a heart to pin these
things that he had learned. Now, let me ask you this. How
many men are sitting in this congregation tonight, men, that
have an accurate and true heart knowledge of the gospel? Quite
a few, I'm convinced of that. I'm looking at quite a few, I'm
convinced do have a heart knowledge, an accurate heart knowledge,
but have not been called to preach. So there may have been some that
the Lord had not given an effectual call to write down. He did, Luke. Luke was moved by the Spirit
of God. When he says, I've taken in hand,
I've taken in hand, to write this account, I'm going to tell
you this, the only way we could cover everything that Luke had
been moved upon to write would be to read the whole book of
Luke. Because that's where all these details are going to be
found. But, tonight I want to just take those first four verses
and I'm going to just skim the top of the mountains. We're just
going to touch a few things. There's some things that I want
to bring out that Luke was moved upon to write. And he was moved
upon to write these things because he loved Theophilus. But the
Spirit of God is sending this to all of us. This is for all
of us. This is for all God's people.
So I want us to look for just a few minutes at these things
which are most surely believed among us. Those things which
were delivered unto us from the beginning by those who were eyewitnesses
and ministers in the Word. Those things that Luke said seemed
good to me to write them down. What he did was he said, I had
a perfect understanding. Well, here's what he actually
meant when he said he had a perfect understanding. It's not talking
about the Lord giving him infallible understanding in these scriptures.
Because I'm telling you, we all see through a glass darkly. But
here's what he meant when he said, I have a perfect understanding.
Having traced everything, from the first are having, by diligent
and careful investigation, followed up everything to the original
source as the Spirit of God gave Him direction. If there was something
that was done, the Spirit of God led Luke back to the source
of it. If he had not witnessed it himself,
because there's a lot of things that's penned in this book right
here, that Luke didn't experience personally, but he was moved
upon by the Spirit of God to find the source. So that's why
he said, when I had perfect understanding, he went back to where it happened,
to talk to those did experience. So in perfect harmony with the
message of the other men that had written these scriptures,
Luke begins to pin these things to Theophilus. And here's the
first thing, and I'd like to just look at these and we'll
just look at a few scriptures out of Luke, just to show how.
The Spirit of God moved on this man. You know, Matthew, John,
they were eyewitnesses of what they wrote. Luke was not an eyewitness
to all of it. Why did the Spirit of God do
it that way? Because He did it that way. That's why He did it
that way. We have no reason to wonder why
He did it that way. Luke was not an apostle. Matthew
and John were. Luke wasn't. Luke was a preacher,
an evangelist, probably a doctor. But here's what Luke set forth. He said, I'm writing these things
to you, Theophilus, that you might know the certainty of those
things wherein thou hast been instructed. I want you to have
a written confirmation, Theophilus. You go back and read this. So
let's just look at a few. Here's one of the things that
Luke set forth, that God's Word is faithful. Now I'll tell you
this, every believer in this congregation tonight most surely
believes that. God's Word is faithful. God had decreed through the prophet
Malachi that he would send his beloved son into this world and
would send first a forerunner of the Messiah. It was going
to be John the Baptist, one whose message would be blessed by the
Spirit of God to the calling out of God's elect. Now let me
show you that. Just hold your place in the loop
and turn back to Malachi 4. The last book of the Old Testament. Malachi 4. Here's the last two verses of
this prophet. This is what he said. The Lord
speaking. Behold, I will send you Elijah
the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day
of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of
the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children
to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."
Now that was the last thing that God said through a prophet. and did not speak again for 400
years. Isn't that right, Neil? 400 years
after the prophet Malachi. God said nothing. He said, I'm
going to send the Messiah, but I'm going to send the forerunner
of the Messiah, Elijah, the prophet. That's what he said. And so the
Holy Spirit moved upon Luke. to search out the surety of that
prophecy that was preached by those who were eyewitnesses of
Christ and then pen the fulfillment and the exact explanation of
that prophecy that all God's people might know certainly those
things wherein they had been instructed. This is what the
Spirit of God did. He moved on Luke to search that
out. And so here now in Luke chapter
1, look at verses 5 to 17. This is what the Spirit of God
moved upon Luke to write to his friend Theophilus. But it was
inspired scripture. And we've got it. We've got the
letter here tonight. This is what he wrote. He says
in verse 5, There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea, a certain priest named
Zacharias, of the course of Abiah. And his wife was the daughter
of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth, and they were both righteous
before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of
the Lord blameless. They had no child because Elizabeth
was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. It
came to pass that while he executed the priest's office before God
in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's
office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple
of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without
at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an
angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of
incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear
fell upon him. But the angel said unto him,
fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. And thy wife,
Elizabeth, shall bear thee a son. Thou shalt call his name John.
Thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his
birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and
shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He shall be filled
with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of
the children of Israel shall turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in
the spirit and power of Elias, or Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children
and the disobedient of the wisdom to the just. Wait a minute. Let me start over 17. He shall
go before him in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts
of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom
of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Here's
what the Lord moved on Luke to write. The explanation of what
Malachi had said. So whenever Luke was writing
this letter to Theophilus, here's what he was writing to confirm
what the Lord had already taught Theophilus, that God's Word is
faithful. That truth right there is most
surely believed by us. by God's sheep. God's people
believe God's Word. Does Almighty God says that there
is none good, no not one? Does God's Word say that all
men are dead in trespasses and sins? Does God's Word set forth
that of ourselves we can do nothing? Does God's Word state that we
have no free will? So when somebody stands up and
says, all you have to do is exercise a free will, Luke is setting
forth. He says, Theophilus, I'm going
to write you some things for confirmation of what you believe.
And here's what is the truth. God's Word is faithful. God's Word is true. Secondly, he said that which
most will surely believe upon us was that this, God actually
came into this world. God Almighty actually, the way
John said it, John 1.1, In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word was made
flesh. Here's what Luke wrote to Theophilus. God Almighty took upon Himself
the form of sinful flesh. He was made flesh. Here's how
Luke said. John said in the beginning was
the Word. Here's what Luke said. Look at
Luke 2 verses 1 to 11. Here's what the Spirit of God
moved upon Luke to say. It came to pass in those days
that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all
the world should be taxed. And this taxing, they were taking
a census, is what it was. And this taxing was first made
when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed,
everyone to his own city. And Joseph also went up from
Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, into the city of
David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and
lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife,
being great with child. And so it was that while they
were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes, laid him in a manger because there was no room for
them in the inn. And there were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock
by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and
the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore
afraid. And the angel said unto them,
Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Here's
what the Spirit of God moved on Luke to say. The Word was
made flesh. We have no greater account of
the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ than what Luke wrote. John said the Word was made flesh. This is what Luke wrote. This
is how the Spirit of God, the detail of what Almighty God did
in coming into this world to save His people. concerning him
who eternally loved his people, it was written, wherefore in
all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. That's
what the Apostle Paul wrote in Hebrews 2.17. It was imperative that God be made flesh. Because, first of all, Hebrews
5.1 says the high priest must be taken from among men. The
great high priest must be taken from among men. That's what God
said. So what did he do? He became
man. He became man. A priest. It was imperative that he be
made flesh because the only sacrifice that Almighty God would accept
for the remission of sins was blood. Blood. Therefore, His blood, the blood
that the Father beholds for the cleansing of His people's sin,
the blood that He sees and passes over us, He must be made flesh. God must come into this world. He must be flesh. And he must
be flesh because he must earn as a man a righteousness that
robes all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He must be
covered. Man disobeyed God. A man must
obey God. A man. Right now, seated in glory. There is a man sitting on the
throne of God. There's a man sitting on God's
throne. The God-man, just as much as
Brother Scott has said, just as much God as if he were never
man, just as much man as if he were never God. A man sits in
glory. He must, this is what Luke told
Theophilus, God was made flesh. He must come into this world
and obey His Father. At 12 years old, Mary and Joseph
took Him to Jerusalem for the Passover. They're going back
home. Three days later they discovered
He's not with them. They go back and there He is
sitting in the midst of the doctors of that time asking them questions. And they were marveling at what
this 12-year-old lad knew. And here's what when Mary, his
earthly mother, asked him, you know, when she said, where you
been? Here's what he said, 12 years
old. Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business?
12 years old. He knew. He knew. He knew. This is what Luke said to Theophilus.
Theophilus, God was made flesh and came into this world to save
His people from their sins. Thirdly, we most surely believe
that He must save us because we cannot save ourselves. We cannot do that. We believe
that we truly died spiritually in the garden and therefore we
are convinced that man by nature having been born in Adam, is
an arrogant, proud, self-righteous boaster and rebel before God. And so the Holy Spirit moved
on Luke to write a parable, write down a parable that the Lord
had, Luke wrote it. Luke wrote this parable of the
publican and the Pharisee. You know the story. Two men went
up to pray. And this Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself. He said, God, I thank you that
I'm not as other men are. I tithe. I'm not like that publican right
there. That low life tax collector. I'm not like him. I'm not a sinner.
But this publican. In that parable, the Lord moved
on Luke to write, that publican beat upon his breath, wouldn't
even look up to heaven, and said, God, be merciful to me. This is what Luke told Theophilus. God has mercy. God has compassion. Fourthly, we learn assuredly
that God Almighty is long-suffering to his people. Only Luke recorded
the parable of the prodigal son. You remember the story. This
boy decided he wanted what was coming to him. Went off, riotous
living, wasted it all. Still a son. He was still a son. I mean, out there, separated from his father, a
rebel, I mean, but never was he not a son. And scripture says
that he came to himself. Came to himself. Now this is
a parable now. And Luke writes Theophilus, listen,
God almighty, for those that he's everlastingly loved in Christ,
those that fell in the garden, In time, He's going to give His
people, His sons, sons in electing grace, sons by redeeming grace,
sons by willingly giving themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ in the
day of His power. He said, Theophilus, here's what's
going to happen. They're all going to come to
themselves in due time. He comes to. He came to Himself. He went back in despair to his
father's house, a broken rebel, had his story all rehearsed and
everything, I've sinned against heaven, I've done it in your
sight, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. And what did his dad say? He said, you put some shoes on
that boy's feet. You put a ring, put the ring
of my authority on his hand. You put the best rope on him,
you killed a fatted calf. Wow, this is my son who was dead. Were we not dead in trespasses
and sins? Did he not give us a heart to
come to ourselves? He came to me and said, Marvin,
Marvin, come to me. He gave me a heart to come. He
comes at a sinner in need of a savior. Listen to this, 2 Peter
3 verse 9, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some
men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward. Usward. Not willing that any should perish. Of who? The uswards. That's what
Peter was saying. He was writing to the elect.
Go back and find out in 1 Peter. Find out who Peter was writing
to. He was writing to the elect. Not willing, but that all should
come to repentance. I'm telling you, if God Almighty
willed that everyone without distinction come to repentance,
guess who would come to repentance if God willed it? Everybody. But the scripture says He's long
suffering to usward. O my brethren, does not the record
of God's long suffering to usward not fill our hearts with thanksgiving
and praise? And fifthly, we most surely believe
that as long as there is breath within a sinner, the Lord is
able according to His will and purpose to save to the uttermost
all that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make
intercession for them. Matthew and Mark had recorded
the truth that there was, on the day of the crucifixion, that
there was someone else being crucified with the Lord. They
acknowledged that there was some thieves. They acknowledged that.
But only Luke recorded the repentant thief's plea. for mercy and his
confession of Christ. Only Luke. I'm going to read
this one. This is the last one. Luke 23.
I want you to turn to Luke 23. Only Luke wrote this down. The
other two just said that they were there. But listen to what
the Spirit of God moved on Luke to write. And again, I'm just
so thankful that the Lord gave Luke a heart to write to his
friend. So he'd have an account. I'm so thankful we've got an
account of this. of what happened. Listen to this,
Luke 23 verse 39. One of the malefactors which
were hanged railed on Him, saying, If Thou be Christ, save Thyself
and us. But the other answering rebuked
Him, saying, Dost not Thou fear God, seeing Thou art in the same
condemnation? And we indeed justly, we receive
the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing
amiss. And he said to Jesus, Lord, Remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. I'm so glad the Lord moved on
Luke to write that down. I love that story. I love that
story of the prodigal. Oh, the blessedness of the account
of Luke, that the Spirit of God moved upon to write to a friend. He wanted to write to his friend,
one that God had shown mercy, a friend that had heard the Gospel,
believed the Gospel. But Luke told him, back in that
first verse, just to cause us to remember, as many have taken in hand to
set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most
surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us,
which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of
the word, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding
of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order,
most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty
of those things wherein thou hast been instructed. What a
blessing. Luke thought he was just going
to write his friend a letter, you know, and just kind of give
him some encouragement. You know, I just want you to
have a record, Theophilus, of these things. And as he began
to write, the Spirit of God moved upon him and he just kept writing,
just kept writing, until he wrote down the whole book of Luke.
And now here we have it in Holy Scriptures. He wrote the book
of Acts too, you know. The Spirit of God moved on him
to write down all the Acts of the Apostles. What a blessing. I pray God bless these words
to our heart tonight for Christ's sake. Amen.