Good morning. Let's all stand together. We'll sing hymn number 257. 257. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promise, just to know, thus saith the Lord. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, Precious Jesus, oh, for grace to trust Him more. Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus, as our trust is cleansing blood. Just in simple faith to plunge me Neath the healing, pleasing flood Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him How I've proved Him Lord and Lord Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, hope for grace to trust Him more. Yes, tis sweet to trust in Jesus, just from sin and self to cease. just from Jesus, simply taking life and rest and joy and peace. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, O for grace to trust Him more. I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee, Precious Jesus, Saviour, Friend And I know that Thou art with me, wilt be with me to the end. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Be seated. Marlene, I'm going to change it up on you. We'll sing hymn number 40. Hymn number 40. Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not. As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be. Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, Morning by morning All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest Sun, moon and stars in their courses above Join with all nature and men of hope with this, to thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness, Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth. Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and pride, hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside. Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Praise is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. If you ever believe I can say yes, amen to that. They've been so faithful. All right, Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. Read these first four verses again. This will be our second message out of the book of Luke. 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. Oh, our God, our God, bless forever. God, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, our hearts are so thankful for your great, glorious faithfulness to us, day in, day out, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year. Oh, Lord, you keep us. You give us strength for our day. not for tomorrow, but today, what we need today. You give us grace sufficient. You manifest your mercies to us and your grace every single day. You forgive us of so much is so unlike you every single day. And Lord, we are truly, truly, truly overwhelmed I am in my heart for your love, for your mercy, for your grace, for your power, for the faithfulness, for your long-suffering, for your patience, and, oh, most of all, I thank you that you're God. You run this world. You control this world. You order this world. and you work all things after the counsel of your own will. So here we are in your presence to offer again our praise and our thanksgiving. And Lord, we've gathered here to worship, gathered here to bless your holy name, preach your glorious gospel of grace. And Lord Jesus, we pray for those that are in need today. Lord, we continue to pray for Debbie and Jim, Lord, that you give her grace and help Jim. And Lord, we pray again for Helen and Rick and Helen. Oh, Lord, we ask for your great grace and mercy upon them. And we pray for others in this congregation who are being tried at this very time. They have to go home to troubles. They have to go home to arguments, have to go home and deal with things that's hard to deal with in this world. And Lord, please be with them. God, give them grace, give them strength. And our blessed Savior, cause this gospel to find a lodging place in the heart today for your glory and our good in our Lord Jesus Christ name. Amen. Oh, they are now. I just heard that Zach and Taylor are at the hospital having a baby. Remember them in prayer as well. Pray for a safe delivery. Let's stand together and sing the hymn of the day in the bulletin. O Lamb of God, still keep me near to thy wounded side. Tis only there in safety and peace I can abide. What foes and snares surround me, but blessed and fierce within. The grace that sought and found me alone can keep me clean. Tis only in Thee hiding, I know my life secure. Only in Thee abiding, I steadfast shall endure, Thine arm the victory gaineth For every hurtful foe. Thy love my heart sustaineth In all its care and woe. Soon shall my eyes behold thee With rapture face to face, The half hath not been told me Of all thy power and grace. Thy beauty, Lord, and glory The wonders of thy love shall be the endless story of all thy saints above. Be seated. I want to get my title for the message this morning out of verse four, that thou mightest know the certainty of these things. There's things we can be certain of, and that's what he's, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things when thou hast been instructed. I said years ago that when people pay attention, If they got somebody that preaches the gospel, preaches grace to them, you can grow, you can learn, and you'll learn a lot of things. And I'll tell you what a blessing it is, what a privilege it is, what a glorious work of God that He enables us and teaches us the gospel concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the certainty of His salvation. It's certain that he's going to save his people. It's certain that he's going to open people's hearts. It's certain that he's going to save his sheep. That's just as certain as God's sitting on his throne right now. But now Luke here, when we're talking about Luke, he is a physician. He's a doctor. And he also wrote the book of Acts. And when you read the book of Acts, he often says, we, we, we, because he was with Paul. started traveling with Paul and with Barnabas and Silas. He was with them in the shipwreck. He was with them because he would oftentimes say, and we, and we, and we. And so he wrote the book of Acts and traveled with the apostle. And he was such a companion to those blessed men, and he wrote concerning them. And in these verses that we read, the first thing I want us to notice is the nature. We see the nature of the gospel. Look what he says in verse 1. We're going to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are surely believed among us. He said that's the nature of the gospel, a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us. You know, when we say that word most surely, that means the same word as persuaded. We are persuaded. Abraham said, I'm persuaded that whatever he's promised, he's able also to perform. I'm persuaded that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ. Not only does it mean persuaded, but it also means to be fully known, fully known. And I'll tell you what, when he says the nature, we did declare unto you the things which have been done. And the gospel, when he thinks the things which have been done, the things that's been accomplished, things already been done, things that's done by the Lord Jesus Christ, as you'll see. The gospel, he says here, is the gospel of concerning the facts about the Lord Jesus Christ. And the gospel is a declaration. He said, we declare it. Paul said, I declare unto you that I which also received, I've been declaring it to you. The gospel is not up for debate. The gospel's not up for debate. It's not up to be argued about. It's not left to man's opinions, not left to his suppositions, not left to philosophy, not left to your belief about it. The gospel is a declaration. Paul said, I'm determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I tell you, you know, true faith, is built upon facts. Facts, not suppositions. It's built upon facts. The first preachers didn't proclaim priestcraft like the Catholics have. Didn't proclaim priestcraft like a lot of Baptists believe in priestcraft now. But oh, no, they didn't preach works. They didn't preach philosophy. They preached facts concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe facts about Christ. I've never seen him, but I believe everything that's said about him. And I believe in facts concerning him. Look with me in Acts chapter 22. Excuse me, Acts 2. I'm sorry. Acts chapter 2. Look what he says over here. They say, well, you believe what you want to believe about him. We'll believe what we want to believe about him. That's not the way it works. That's not the way it works. Look what he said here in Acts chapter 2, in verse 22. This is what I'm talking about. Ye men of Israel, hear these words. And he says, I'm declaring something to you, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you. He's the only man ever been proved of God among the human race. And look what else he said, by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you as yourselves also, what, no? He said, no, you know these things. And oh, listen. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loose the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should behold another." And what he just told them is that everything that we tell you, we know for a fact that those things happen. And I'll tell you, beloved, you know, men will believe facts about a lot of things, but I'll tell you what, it's the facts. He said, we declare unto you the things which happened among us, happened before these things just happened. They preached that the Son of God came into this world, a sin laden world, a world full of sin. And he lived a life you and I couldn't possibly ever live. He lived a life of perfection, sinlessness. He was a man, as much as we are, sin accepted. If you cut him, he'd bleed. If he got tired, he had to rest. If he got sleepy, he went to sleep. When he got hungry, he ate. He was a man, but he was God-man. He was God that come into this world. And He came into this world as a man to live a life that you and I couldn't possibly live. A life of perfection before God. A life that lived according to God's holy law. Every ceremony, every sacrifice, He fulfilled everything that God required of Him to do. And then He died a death that you and I couldn't die. He died not for his sin, but for our sin, for the sin of his elect, for the sins of his sheep, for the sins as though that God gave him. Not for everybody, but for those that were given unto him, for his blessed sheep, for his elect, if you want to say it like that. He laid down his life and he died a death for sin, not his own, Wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity, and all the stripes that they put upon him was for our healing. And God made his soul, his soul. And that's where we heard that, in our souls. And that's what we're gonna face God with, our souls. And he made his soul an offering for sin. And it pleased God the Father to bruise him while he was on that cross. Oh, my. And then, I'll tell you what, he bore a judgment, bless his holy name, that we couldn't bear. We couldn't bear, but he bore it. And I'll tell you what, I read this morning, a fellow that I love, he writes, oh, he puts out some wonderful articles. name's Doug Messer, and he puts out some wonderful, he put out one this morning that says that we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of the things we've done. And the first thing he said was, God's elects already face judgment in Christ. So when we go to face Christ, we're not going to be facing Him for our judgment. We've already been done that. We've already bore the judgment of God. When God said, I'll know if nobody's clear the guilty, that means that He will not clear the guilty. You know how He clears the guilty? Why He does for the guilty? He made Christ to bear their guilt, to bear their shame, to bear their sin, to bear their judgment. And I tell you, that's the gospel. And I'm grateful that I know that gospel. And I tell you what, not only was He buried, But the fact is, He rose again. How do we know He rose again? Because all the brethren saw Him, and He appeared over to 500 brethren at one time. So I'll tell you what, we believe some facts concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my, I tell you, we believe facts. And I tell you, these preachers preach not only about the Lord Jesus Christ being the Son of God that He came, but they preached the fact of sin. Sin is a fact. Where are you going to go in this whole world where you will not find sin? That's what we just read over there in Acts chapter 22, being in brethren you with wicked hands, wicked hands. You took that just one and crucified him. You did it. You did it. What made them do it? The same reason you and I did it. Sin. S-I-N. Christ come into this world to save us from S-I-N. Sin. And what is sin? Sins are what we do because we are sin. A man doesn't become a thief when he steals. He steals because he's a thief. And I'll tell you what, and the only people that know anything about sin in this world and are concerned about sin is God's people. And you know when you find out when you're a sin, you got sin and you're a sinner before God? When you're like Isaiah and he said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. And I cried, woe is me. I'm undone. It's when you see him that you see your sin. When you see his holiness, you see your sinfulness. When you see his power, you see his weakness. When you see his sovereignty, you see how you're nothing. When you see that he's everything, you understand that that's who I have to have. I have to have him. And I'll tell you what, I'm so thankful When Christ died, when He died, He died 2,000 years ago. I've only been here since 1950. And Christ, when He died on that cross, and I didn't know it, but He bore my sin 2,000 years ago, and I was yet future. So that means He died for my sins when I didn't exist. So when I heard the gospel, I understood that he died for my past sins, my present sins, and my future sins. You say, well, that's a good excuse to go out here and live like hell. No, no, no, no, no. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. If there's one thing we'd like to do, and whoa, that's why we want so much to be done with this world, is we're going to a place where we'll never be plagued with this flesh, never be plagued with sin again, never be plagued with the weakness of our bodies. Oh, what a day that'll be. What a day that'll be, huh? Oh, and I'll tell you what, they told the fact that salvation is of the Lord. They preach salvation of the Lord. And you know, when Paul preached on Mars Hill, he said, known unto God are all his works from the beginning. He said, I'm telling you something, you all, it's by him, by him, he said, we live and we move and we have our being. And oh my, may the Lord Jesus Christ His blessed, blessed person, be our all and all in this world. May God in His grace make our hearts and souls desire the Lord Jesus Christ more than anything in this world, and to live a life of faith in Him, to daily know Him better, because the Apostle says, for me to live Christ, for me to live is Christ. And oh my, and then back, let me show you another, that's the nature of the gospel. We declare unto you, it's a declaration. I'm standing here declaring things unto you. And oh my, then we see the true position of the apostles. Look what he says down there in verse two. even as they delivered them unto us, which from, listen to this now, which were from the beginning eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. That's the true position of the apostles or anybody that preaches the gospel. They said, he said, we're eyewitnesses, eyewitnesses of Christ and ministers of the word. He didn't give them flattering titles. He didn't give them flattery titles. He didn't talk about them being high up in the church. Doesn't idolize them. He just said they were eyewitnesses and ministered those words. He said they were eyewitnesses. They told men what they saw, told men what they heard. what they knew firsthand. I'm going to read a verse of scripture to you. You don't have to turn there, but it's in 1 John. Listen to this, talking about eyewitnesses. This is John, the beloved disciple. That which was from the beginning, which we heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and handled, handled him with the word of life. Oh my, for the life was manifested. We saw it, he said, we saw it. And bear witness and show unto you, we want you to see this, that and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was manifested unto us. That which we have seen, that which we have heard, we declare unto you. And I want to declare that, that you also have made fellowship with us. And what fellowship with not just John, but he said, who's a fellowship with, with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. Eyewitnesses, he said, eyewitnesses. Ah, Peter says when he was on that mount, he told in his writings, he says, we were eyewitnesses of that majesty on the mount. And we heard that most excellent voice from heaven. That most excellent voice. Eyewitnesses. Oh my. And I, you know, and then look what else it says. Not only eyewitnesses, but ministers of the word. My goodness. That's the highest calling anybody ever had in this universe. Ministers of the word. Ministers ministering the word. Black and white. Black and white. Jocelyn Tittle's periods, paragraphs, words. And he said, ministers of the word. Oh, my. Servants of the word of the gospel. These men didn't preach themselves. And all they had to use was the Old Testament. They didn't have the New Testament. All they had was the Old Testament. So whenever they preached, they had to go to the Old Testament. They had to start in Genesis. Exodus. Numbers. Deuteronomy. They had to go to Leviticus. They had to deal with all that. Isaiah. Jeremiah. Zechariah. Malachi. All of them. They had to use them. nothing else. And they were ministers of the Word. And you read Hebrews, that's the whole purpose of the book of Hebrews is to show that Jesus Christ fulfilled everything in the Old Testament. Every sacrifice, every priesthood, every altar, every All the blood, everything was, everybody that was anybody in the Old Testament didn't amount to nothing in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the whole purpose of it. And oh my, ministers, priests not themselves but Christ, told men about Christ, told men about His cross. Oh my. Let me, look in Acts chapter 4 with me, verse 33. You know, this is, somebody said one time, if you want to know how to preach the gospel, read the book of Acts. Look what God said here, talking about the ministers of the word. Acts 433, and with great power, gave the apostles, listen to this, witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and great grace was upon them." What was they doing? Witnessing to the resurrection. Gave them great power. Gave them great power. Oh, my. And I'll tell you what, it would be awful. You know, I've often said that I'd have to step down to be the President of the United States. But that would be the awfulest thing in the world to walk away from the gospel and take up politics, take up philosophy, take up science. But, oh, no. A minister's the highest calling that anybody can have in this world right now, I'm telling you, is to be a minister of the Word of God. to be a preacher of the gospel. There's not a higher calling in this world, in this world. And what a blessing it would be today if we had ministers of the word. Oh, ministers of the word, not bishops, not reverends, not popes, not priests, not Dr. Sound and Brass, Not the Dr. So-and-so, no, no. I saw a thing the other day. This is what I'm talking about, the ministers of the word. I saw a thing that they, this Baptist church here in town, they had a special meeting, had a meeting. And this guy got up, he was dressed in his golf clothes or whatever. He done something and all the people sitting around with cokes, Coca-Cola's in their hands, eating. Got some people up banging on guitars and entertaining them. And they're sitting in the hall, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Is that a minister of the word? That's entertainment. We don't come before God to be entertained. Was it entertaining for Christ to go to the cross? Was it entertaining for Christ to bear our sin? Was it entertaining for Christ to come and reveal the gospel to us and give us a new heart? Could that be? Is that entertainment? This is serious business. I'm telling you, watch you. We're dealing with eternally bound souls of men and women. And I learned this years and years ago, that I don't care what service it is. If it's a Wednesday night, a Sunday night, or if I'm off preaching somewhere, that may be the only time that I'll ever get to preach to somebody that comes in and just sets down for one service. That's why it's imperative that we always preach Christ, always preach the gospel, always deal with Christ who did it all. So that when they leave here, they've heard it one time. You imagine somebody going out into eternity after they heard somebody getting up there. Well, I'll tell you what, Jesus loves you and he wants to be led into your heart. He's banging on your heart's door, would you let him in? How would you like to face God if that's the kind of preacher I was? That's why I say hell ain't even half full yet. And preachers, they'll be lined up to face God Almighty. Oh my, if I've learned anything over the years and I watched men down through the years, I watched Scott Richardson, watched Henry Mahan, watched Maurice Montgomery, watched Tim James, I watched all these blessed men who preached the gospel faithfully year in and year out for 50 something years. And they would not dare to get into a pulpit and try to entertain somebody. Oh my. If we had some ministers of the word, who wasn't trying to make a name for themselves, somebody's trying to make a name for themselves. But here he says, they're just eyewitnesses, eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. And then he tells his own qualification for writing this thing. And it looked down in verse three. He said, it seemed good to me also, and this is really, How this happens, I don't know, but this is what he said, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first. He said, I had perfect understanding from the very first, of all things from the very first. I didn't have that. I still ain't got it, I don't think, but I do have understanding of the gospel. And what he is talking about is that he never saw Christ himself. Luke never saw the Lord Jesus. Never saw him. Never saw his miracles. Never heard his word. Never sat at his feet. And I tell you what, how did he get this understanding? Where did he get this understanding? This perfect understanding from the first. Well, look what he says. He listened. He says, he said in verse back up in verse two, even as they delivered them unto us, which were from the beginning eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. He said, I listened to what they had to say. I heard, I heard Paul preach. I heard Peter preach. I heard John preach. And these men were eyewitnesses. He said, these men were eyewitnesses. James were eyewitnesses. Eyewitnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they delivered unto us what they saw and what they heard. And when they delivered unto me, I paid attention to what they were saying. And when they told me, I understood what they were saying. I perfectly understood who Jesus Christ is. I perfectly understood why He came. I perfectly understand what He accomplished. I perfectly understand what He did by self, by what He accomplished by His death, His burial, and His resurrection. And I perfectly understood what He accomplished in His life. I understand what He accomplished in His death. I understand what He accomplished. That's what He's talking about here. And oh my, and this is what we do know. And look what he says. He even, he says, he said from down in verse three, so I have understanding of all things from the very first to write in order unto thee. He tells of his own qualification for writing, had a perfect understanding. And this is what we do know about him. He wrote under the inspiration of God. The Holy Ghost gave him his words, gave him his thoughts, gave him his sentences. This is not the word of men. That's why he's talking about here. And I tell you what, look over in 1 Thessalonians with me. Look in 1 Thessalonians. I want you to see this. Talking about the word. The word. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13. You know, this is not the word of men, but the word of God. That's what I always have people go look. They used to write newspaper articles, and I put them out for a couple of years, and always at the end of every single one of those articles, I've said, read your Bibles. Read the word of God. And it aggravated some people. I had two or three people tell me, he says, why do you keep saying, read your Bible? Read your Bible. Because that's the only place you're going to get anything from God. It's the word. We're dealing ministers of the word. But look what he said here in 1 Thessalonians 2.13. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing. Because when you receive, listen to this, the Word of God, which ye heard of us, you received it not as the Word of Paul or an apostle, but you received it in truth, the Word of God. And listen to what it does. It effectually works in you that believe. It does its work. It ain't trying to, it does it. It does it. And oh my, you know, if, and let me tell you something about the word. If any of it is un, if any of it's uninspired, all of it's uninspired. If it's all inspired, then there's not an error in this book nowhere that you can find. And the main object that he had in writing his gospel, look what he says in verse four. that thou mightest know the certainty of those things where then thou hast been instructed." Oh, we might know. And you know, the reason he wrote these things, because of the weakness of men's memories, because of man's history, he changed anything by adding or altering. It depends upon only one word. Word of mouth. What does he do? He said, I write it. I'm going to write these things unto you, that you might know the certainty of those things wherein you've been instructed. We don't have to trust traditions. We don't have to trust a church. We don't have to trust a priest. We don't have to trust a preacher. And oh my, but we can be certain. We can be certain of it. We can be certain of the gospel. We can be certain of Christ. We can be certain of sin. We can be certain of Christ in you, the hope of glory. We can be certain of the weakness of this flesh that in us dwells no good thing. We can be certain of faith that God gives it. We can be certain of our Lord Jesus Christ's death. We can be certain of the results of those who believe. You take faith and compare it with unbelief. Look how when Christ revealed himself to you, how your unbelief And your faith came alive. Oh, that's what faith does. It works faith in you. And when faith, when Christ works faith in you, oh, you go from unbelief to faith. And we know the certainty of this blessed book. I mean, I'm certain. I'm certain of this, I'm certain, I am certain of this, that I'm gonna one of these days lay down my last time, breathe my last breath, my heart'll be this last time, but I'm just as certain as anything that the minute I close my eyes, I'm gonna go be with Christ. I'm certain of that.