The book of Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. I'd like to read verses 1 to
4. Luke chapter 1, verses 1 to 4. 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. Let's pray together. Our Father, as we call upon you
this evening, how thankful we are for the privilege, Lord,
to assemble in the blessed name of the Lord Jesus. I pray, Father,
that you'd bless the Word to our hearts, teach us, help us,
help us to worship, forgive us of our sins for Christ's sake.
Amen. Recently I received a phone call,
in fact it was yesterday, and this person asked if they could
take a few minutes of my time and wanted to ask me a question. And they said someone had told his
wife that there were other books written that were inspired by
the Spirit of God other than the Holy Scriptures. And he asked
me, he said, is that so? And I said, no. No. We talked for a few minutes.
And after I hung up, I began to think on that. In fact, I
got up this morning ready to preach out of Ephesians chapter
2, verses 11 to 13. That was what I was going to
preach on tonight. And the longer I sat and listened
to the inquiry of my heart, I got to thinking about that question. I know that it's not so. I know there's books out there.
I've had people tell me that. You know the book of so and so,
the book of this, the book of that, this writing, these writings. If there are any additional books
out there, a book that a believer is not hearing, that's not being
preached, books that we're failing to study, then that means that
there's some things lacking. That would be that we might be
led astray. We might be caused to doubt. Now I know this, I'm not going
to convince a goat of anything. But I can tell you this, I'd
like to take this evening and deal from the word of God an
answer to that question because as I've said before, I've had
people tell me that before. You know I've read these books
and I've read these books and this one right here is inspired.
Well, if there is and there is a solid, God-inspired answer
in Scripture. If there is an answer that the
Scripture sets forth, proving what we believe this book to
be, the complete and total inspired Word of God, I want to look at
it. I want to see it in Scripture.
Now let me tell you what it's going to do. As I said, it's
not going to convince a goat. I'm not trying to convince a
goat of anything. But I do want to comfort God's people. Because
you may have the same thing cross your path. And if you do, then
I want you to have an answer. I want you to know what does
God's Word say about these things. Now, we know this. We've read this scripture before.
2 Timothy 3.16 says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God,
is God breathed. And it's profitable for doctrine,
that is for teaching. For reproof, that is for conviction. For correction, straightening
up. That's what the definition is,
for straightening up. for instruction or education
in righteousness or that is in justification. These scriptures
are profitable for the instruction in what does the scriptures have
to say about a man being justified before God. That the man of God
may be perfect or that is complete, completely taught, throughly
furnished or equipped unto all good works. I said just a moment
ago, you'll not convince a goat until God Almighty gives a man
a new heart. You're not going to convince
him of anything. A man will just argue with you. Well, I think
that if God ever gives a man or a woman a heart to believe
that this is the inspired word of God, then that'll end it.
But this is for God's people. But listen to who is the one
that is profited? Who is the one that's corrected?
Who is the one that is instructed in righteousness? The one that
truly is comforted, knowing that the Scriptures are the inspired
Word of God. It says here that the man of
God may be perfect. God's people need to be assured. Comforted. This is what you want
to know. I believe that this is the Word
of God. I believe that this is all the
Word of God. Is there any more beside this? I'm going to tell you right here,
there's not. But let me tell you what you want. You want me
to prove it. You prove it to me. Now, you
may say in your heart, now Marvin, I believe you. but you show me
in Scriptures. Be like the Bereans. You search
the Scriptures and find out if these things are so. The Holy
Scriptures, before a man or a woman, is converted as a closed book.
It's a book of no comfort. You just read, it's just black
words on white paper. But to you that believe, you
rest your soul on what this book's got to say. You rest your eternal
destiny on what God Almighty has to say in His Scriptures. Now, let's consider the truth
concerning the completeness and the inspiration of this book,
of this Holy Scriptures right here. The Bible is the Word of
God. In verse 1 of Luke, Luke, now
again, The Scripture declares itself to be the inspired Word
of God. All Scripture given by God's
breath. Inspiration of God. So whenever
Luke penned these words, we know based on the Word of God. And
again, here is the believer's comfort. The believer says, I
know this. What God says is so. And if God
said it, that ended it. So therefore, if all script or
sense, all scripture, is given by inspiration of God, then the
very beginning of this book right here is inspired. This is from
the heart of God Almighty. as many have taken in hand to
set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most
surely believed among us." Now, Luke says under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, many have taken in hand to set forth in order,
orderly, completely, a declaration of those things which are surely
believed among us. The Spirit of God moved upon
Luke to write those words as a confirmation to the validity
of all the other scriptures. Now, Luke said, I want to set
forth, as God has moved upon my heart, those things that many
have set forth. You know, out of the mouth of
two or three witnesses, the thing was established. This is what
we know about the Word of God. It is established and established
and established. No contradictions. I know what
men say. I understand that. But there's
no contradictions. Have you ever found, you that
believe, have you ever found a contradiction in the Word of God? No. He said,
as many have taken in hand to set forth a declaration of those
things which are most surely believed upon us. Now this is
what I know about God's Word. I'm going to get to the proof
of it in just a second. But I'm going to take these scriptures
just like the Spirit of God wrote them. The Spirit of God has set
forth that there are some things that we believe. We believe these
things. Believers believe, and I'm going
to show you out of the book of Luke. Believers believe that
all men are born sinners, lost, ruined in the fall, dead spiritually
in trespasses and sins, totally incapable of saving themselves. Now, I won't read it all, but
I'll just tell you for the sake of time. You take Luke 15, there's
three parables that's given. One of them is about a lost sheep. One of them is about a lost coin.
The third one is about a lost boy, a prodigal son. And in each
one of those, something was lost. And it took another to go and
find it. The scriptures was bearing out
that all men in that parable as the Lord taught in parables.
This is what was being set forth by our Lord, that there were
born sinners lost in trespasses and sins. Luke proclaimed that. That's the truth. Now, the second
thing that the Spirit of God moved upon Luke to declare is
that salvation, and you can turn to Luke 4, verse 24-27. Luke
4. Now, the Spirit of God moved
upon Luke to declare that salvation is by God's sovereign, particular,
choosing grace. Look at Luke 4, 24-27. Now, listen to the one that's
speaking. This is the Lord Jesus. Under
the inspiration of God's Spirit, the Lord Jesus' words are being
recorded. And He said, verily I say unto
you, no prophet is accepted in his own country, but I tell you
a truth. Many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years, six
months, when great famine was throughout all the land. But
unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of
Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were
in Israel in the time of Eleusias. the prophet, and none of them
was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian." Do you know what the
Lord set forth there? That God Almighty has the right
to choose. God Almighty has the right to
save. Whomsoever He will. Now, is that the teaching of
all Scriptures? Did Paul the Apostle, writing
to the book of Ephesians, I mean to the church at Ephesus in the
book of Ephesians, did he set forth that truth? Yes. When he
was writing to the church at Thessalonica in chapter 2 verse
13, we're bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you.
Did the Lord say that through that That man, that apostle Paul,
yes he did. Luke saying, these things that
have been taken by hand, set forth by many, these are the
things that we surely, most surely, believe. Third thing that Luke
set forth, that Lord Jesus is God. Come in the flesh. the suffering substitute for
his people. That's declared by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now I want you to look at this
because I'm about to read you a scripture that we have absolutely
considered and considered and considered and this scripture,
if we had no other scripture to prove the validity, the completeness
of the Old Testament, and I'm going to show you the New Testament
in just a second, but I'm going to show you the completeness.
Here's the question that I'm about to ask. Is the Old Testament
the inspired Word of God? Look at Luke, chapter 24, verse
25. Luke 24, 25. I'll bring you up to this passage
of scripture right here before I read it. There was two walking
on the road to Damascus, two Lord's disciples, and you know
the story. The Lord came up to them, their
eyes were holding, they were talking, and he asked them, what's
the subject of your conversation? And they questioned whether or
not he knew or been around as Jesus of Nazareth. We were sure
that he was the Christ. Three days ago, they crucified
him, buried him. We just thought for sure that
he was the one. I want you to listen to this
passage of scripture. You that believe, I'm going to
Set forth and may the Spirit of God give you some comfort
on the completeness and the validity, the inspiration of the Old Testament. Because what the Lord is about
to talk about is the Old Testament Scriptures. The New Testament
had not been written when He said this. Luke chapter 24 verse
25 to 27. Then He said unto them, O fools and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses
and all the prophets." Now that's the second time the word all
is used. First time he says, O fools and
slow of heart to believe everything, the completeness, the whole,
the totality. Old fools and slow of heart to
believe everything that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ
to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory and
beginning at Moses and all the prophets, and again the word
means the whole, throughly, completely to believe all the prophets.
And he expounded unto them, and here again, same word, all the
scriptures, the things concerning himself. All the scriptures. There are no other. He told them,
this is the completeness. All the prophets, all the things
in all the scriptures. Now, according to His Word and
the meaning of those words, there is the proof of the inspiration
of the completeness of the Old Testament. Genesis to Malachi
declares His victorious accomplishment and obedience before God Almighty
in type. Set it forth in picture, in shadow. Everything the Lord said And
He said concerning His Word, Heaven and Earth are going to
pass away. But He said, My Word is not going to pass away. His
Word is going to accomplish the purpose for which it was sent.
Now, you that believe, according to the Word of the Lord, all
the prophets, all the things that the prophets said in all
of the Scriptures, and the Word means the whole, throughly, completely,
everything. In all the scriptures, He set
forth those things concerning Himself. What does that mean?
There are no more. There's no more. Isaiah chapter
45 verse 9, Woe unto him that striveth with his maker. Let
the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth. That
is, let the broken pots of this earth argue and contend with
each other. And woe, that is, hell is the
end of. Woe to everyone that strives
with God. Now my friend, You can have somebody
tell you, well now there's other books out there and there's this
and there's this. It's not just this. Well, according
to the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, I can tell you this so
far in this message, the holy scriptures in the Old Testament
are complete. That's all the scriptures set
forth before the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ came in
the New Testament. Our Lord declared in all the
scriptures those things concerning Himself. And for a believer,
that ends the debate. You let somebody come up and
tell you something about old writings and this, that, and
the other, and I'm going to tell you this, the Lord has already settled
that. The Old Testament, I heard Brother Henry say this and I'm
sure Brother Scott too, is Christ concealed. Concealed in those
types and pictures and shadows, and the New Testament is Christ
revealed. Now, back in Luke 1. Back in
Luke chapter 1, let's go to verse 2, and I'll hurry. Luke, under the inspiration of
the Spirit of God, now I'm going to deal with the inspiration. and the validity and the proof
of the New Testament being the inspired Word of God, even as
they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were
eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word. Now, according to the
wisdom, the purpose of Almighty God, those who also delivered
the Word from God were and must be eyewitnesses and ministers
of the Word. They were to be eyewitnesses
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to show you these scriptures.
They had to be ministers of his public ministry of the truth
of His crucifixion, of His burial, of His resurrection and ascension,
and called of God to preach. Now, look at 1 John 1, 1-3. 1 John 1. Hold your place right there in
Luke. We'll plan to come back. 1 John 1, 1-3. That which was from the beginning. which we have heard, which we've
seen with our eyes, which we've looked upon and our hands have
handled of the Word of life, for the life was manifested.
We've seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal
life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. that
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also
may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with His Son. Look at 2 Peter, just turn back
page there, 2 Peter 1.16 The Scripture says, For we have
not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto
you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of His majesty. I want you to look at Hebrews
chapter 2, verse 1 to 4. Hebrews 2, verse 1 to 4. Therefore we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at
any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompensive reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and
was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him. God also bearing
them witness, both with signs and wonders and divers, miracles
and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His own will. According to
the Scriptures, those who penned the Gospel were eyewitnesses
of His glory. They saw Him, watched Him, saw
Him crucified, saw Him buried, saw Him after the resurrection.
And those that preach the gospel now by faith believe those things
which God Almighty has given and set forth by these that were
actually eyewitnesses. Now, back in Luke. Here we are
now, 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." Luke, the writer of this book here,
Luke and the book of Acts, was not named, is not named as one
of the twelve apostles. But, by the inspiration of God's
Spirit, somebody said, well what made, I read where some men are
trying to set forth that Luke did not actually know these things,
he just heard them from somebody else. Luke said of himself, it
seemed good to me also having had perfect understanding The
word perfect means exact, accurate understanding of all
things from the very first to right unto thee in order. That is with peculiar accuracy. Most excellent Theophilus. to write according to the God-ordained
requirement, is what he said. I'm writing under God's exact
requirement to be an eyewitness of His ministry. I've got a scripture
that I'm coming to here that I just can't wait to get to to
prove this, something the Lord said. To write as an eyewitness
of His ministry, His suffering, His death, burial, resurrection,
and ascension. And then lastly, the purpose
of this account, verse 4, Luke 1, that thou mightest know the
certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed. That is to say, not only Theophilus,
I'm not writing this just for Theophilus, but for all of God's
sheep, that they might be made wise unto salvation. We believe
these things are God revealed. They are God inspired. certain
things concerning His will and purpose. The Holy Scriptures
are set forth to be that which is able to make God's sheep wise
unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. John
20 verse 31, But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have
life through His name. Now listen, in conclusion to
what has been said. 2 Peter 1.21 says this, For the
prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy
men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. That
which was spoken, that which was written concerning the law
and the prophets was by the inspiration, the breath of God. We're settled
on that. The Lord Jesus Christ bore witness
to the inspiration of scripture to the two on the road to Emmaus
that we just read. And I want you to listen to this.
Acts 10.43 says to him, give all the prophets witness that
through his name, whosoever believeth in him should receive remission
of sins. And the scriptures bear out that
God Almighty was pleased to move upon the eyewitnesses to pin
the New Testament. I want you to turn to Luke 24,
verse 44-48. This is what I wanted to tell
you, that scripture. Luke 24. Listen well to the words
of our Lord. Luke 24, verse 44-48. This is
when the Lord But you can look at verse 36,
as they thus spake, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, said
unto them, Peace be unto you. They were terrified, affrighted,
supposed that they had seen the Spirit. And He said unto them,
Why are you troubled? Why are your thoughts arising
in your hearts? Behold My hands, My feet, it is I, Myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. And when he had
thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while
they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said unto them,
have you here no meat? I know, have you here any meat?
And they gave him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb. He took it and he did eat. Now
I want you to listen very carefully. verses 44 to 48. And he said unto them, these
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law
of Moses in the prophets in the Psalms concerning me Then opened
he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.
And he said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved
Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.
and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in
His name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And then He said,
and ye are witnesses of these things. Let me tell you, if you want
to know the validity of God's Word, number one, God said they're
inspired. The Lord Jesus Christ said concerning
the Old Testament Scriptures, He expounded unto them in all
the Scriptures. There are no more. Not only that
He spoke out of all of them, but that's the totality of them.
And the writing of the New Testament The setting forth by the Spirit
of God that Christ is God in the flesh was to be pinned by,
under the inspiration of God's Spirit, witnesses that saw Him,
that witnessed Him, that were witnesses, first-hand witnesses. Now, the next time somebody says
to you, well, I can tell you this, I believe that there's
other writings. other than the Holy Scriptures.
My question is going to be this. Is it anything other than the
Old Testament that the Lord Jesus Christ said was complete out
of all the Scriptures? Understanding that word right
there, that one word, all, carries immense weight. My second question
was this. Well, were they one of the eyewitnesses
to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ? Were they there? Did
they see him? Were they witnesses? The next
time somebody tells you that some man out in the desert somewhere
received some golden tablets from some angel and they took
them and they built a whole religion on something that some man says,
I want to know this, was he an eyewitness of the Lord Jesus
Christ? If he wasn't, he's not of God. My friend, According to God's
Word, this is the totality of God's Word. There is no other
and you rest your soul on the writings in this book right here.
May the Lord Jesus Christ be pleased to open these scriptures
to our heart and teach us and comfort us for Christ's sake. Amen.