Luke chapter 1 this morning. I don't know how many years ago
we began our study in the book of John. It was many, quite a
few years ago. It took us two or three years to
go through John, I think. And then we went through the books of Matthew
and Mark pretty much in succession and
I thought we'd wait a while to go through the book of Luke because
the gospels have many parallel passages of scripture and many
stories that overlap one another and I think it's time Luke chapter
1 verse 1, 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. Now in these first four verses
of the book of Luke, Luke is describing all that he's about
to write. It's a setting forth a declaration
of what he calls those things. those things which are most surely
believed among us not everybody believes them but us do and we believe them most surely there is an us who believes some
things we don't just believe everything we hear we believe
some things and we believe them most surely.
Who is the Us? There are a lot of Uses in this
world. This is all of the Uses. Every Us, everybody that considers
themselves a defined group of people, in the context of this,
They are defined by what they believe. We are us because of
the things we believe. You see how that connection is
vital in the verse here. This us, described in this passage
as all of the us's in this world, are defined. And there are a lot of us's out
there that were then. They were back when this was
written. The Pharisees, they didn't believe what the Sadducees
believed. Among the Gentiles there were many philosophers
with different beliefs who had followings and they had disputes
with one another. And there are many names used
to describe all of the us's with regard to what is most surely
believed in our day. Catholics, Presbyterian, Methodist,
Episcopalian, Baptists, just in this country alone there are
dozens of us's. And each one of those is divided
into subgroups. There are at least a dozen different
kinds of Baptists in this country. Southern, free will, fundamental,
primitive, landmark, progressive, and so on and so on. So it's
important for us to see here in our text that the us's mentioned
here are defined by what they believe. And what they believe
is the book of Luke. Right? Because he said, here's
what we've, these are the things, I'm going to set them forth for
you. I've been certain about them from the beginning, from
the very first, and I'm going to set it out for you. These
are those things which this us most surely believes. Here they
are. And it's the book of Luke. That's
what this book is. Which, by the way, is the same
things taught in all the other books. The book of Mark, the
book of Matthew, the book of John, the book of Romans, the
book of Acts, and every other book in this Bible. The Us's. They are called in this book,
those of this way. In the book of Acts. They are
called that because we are by God's grace doers of this book
and not just hearers. This is not just some things
that we believe. It's a way for us. It's a path. It's a life. A life lived. It's not just a set of facts
we agree with. Our way, our way is God's way. by his grace. And it says very
instructively of Blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10, 52. Listen, it says,
Jesus said unto him, Go your way. Go your way. The Lord gave him sight and he
said, Now get on with your life. My faith hath made thee whole.
And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the
way. What's your way? He followed
Jesus in the way. That's why the us's described
here in Luke 1 are called also those of this way. Our way is
to follow him, to worship him, to believe on him, to imitate
him, and to trust him. You gotta trust who you follow. And think about this, Luke said
I'm about to tell you those things which we most surely believe.
There is a we and us because of those things. Keep that in
mind. They are what make us us. And here they are. And as he
sets them forth, he does not, as most would, set about to list
a number of doctrinal stances that we've taken. He does not
begin to defend issues or even set forth a meticulous, what
men would describe as a body of divinity. He doesn't do that.
He doesn't set forth a logical set of theological facts that
we adhere to. He just witnesses concerning
a man. The man, Christ Jesus, He tells
us what He said, everything that He said, and everything that
He did. And by those things, we know who He is. Those things which we most surely
believe here they are it's him it's him Luke said in verse five where
we didn't read verse five, but he said we are eyewitnesses of
these things eyewitnesses Of these things what are they
witness Well, we'd have to read the whole book of Luke this morning
for me to answer specifically what Luke meant by that, but
I'll tell you what John said about it, and I want you to turn
over there, please, with me if you would. 1 John 1. This is
the way John described the same thing that Luke is talking about.
We are eyewitnesses of these things. That's what he said,
right? And I'm going to set them forth for you. Here's what the
things that we most surely believe in. What did he do? He just began
to talk about everything that Christ said, everything that
Christ did. Listen to what John said 1st
John 1 1 Same same thing now. He's saying I'm a witness. I'm
a witness. How did he describe it that which
was from the beginning? Which we have heard Which we
have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands
have handled of the word of life For the life was manifested in
And we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that
eternal life which was with the Father. In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And
that Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And in Him was
life, and the life was the light of men. That's who John's talking
about here. was manifested that which we
have seen and heard declare we unto you that you also may have
fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father
and with his son Jesus Christ and you think about what he's
saying here that's why I wanted you to turn there because what
I'm fixing to say to you I want us to see it right here in this
passage John said the one that we are telling you about we actually
had at the time and do have fellowship with Him. Our hands handled Him. We heard Him. We saw Him. We
witnessed Him. We walked with God's Son. We
walked with Him who is life eternal. We have fellowship. Our fellowship
is with Him. And we want you to have fellowship
with Him too. Isn't that what He's saying?
That you also may have fellowship with us. What do you mean with
us? Our fellowship's with Him. That's why we want you in on
it. Not just so you get to know us better, we want you to know
who He is. Our fellowship is with the Father
and with His Son. Our fellowship is with the one
who said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Even
His Son, Jesus Christ. And we're telling you about Him
so you might also have fellowship with Him. That's what we're talking
about. May God teach me this simple
truth that I might preach only and always Christ and Him crucified. We saw Him, we heard Him, we're
witnesses of Him, we have fellowship with Him, and we want you to
also. That's the things we most surely
believe. That's what we want you to know.
That's what we preach. Christ and everything concerning
Him The record that God has given concerning his son is what this
book is. And that's what Luke said, this
is what this is. That's what John said, this is
what this is. Simple truth. What do we believe? You think
about that. What do we believe? If somebody asked you, what do
y'all believe down there at College Grove Grace Church? Our Lord
Jesus Christ says, you search the scriptures, for in them you
think you have eternal life. And they are they which testify
of me. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. What do we believe? I believe
that this whole book, it doesn't say a lot of things. There's
not a lot of different doctrines that we have to dissent and cross
every T and dot every I. This book concerns the Son of
God, the Redeemer of sinners. And everything it says, it says
about Him. Everything. That's what I believe
by God's grace. What do we believe? 1 John 5,
10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in
himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave. You know the rest of it, don't
you? Of His Son. What do we believe? The record
that God gave, and that record is a record of His Son. And this is the record that God
has given us eternal life, and this life's in His Son. The record is not only in His
Son, but that's how you're going to live, is to know Him, to have
fellowship with Him, whom we have fellowship with. What do
you believe, Paul? You're an apostle. Surely you
have some stances on some issues. What is your testimony? Let's
hear it. I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded about him.
I'm persuaded that he's able. Paul believed this most surely,
didn't he? He was persuaded to trust and
to be confident in. 2 Timothy 1.12, he was persuaded
that Christ is able. And by God's grace, so are we.
While men are arguing and debating issues and doing their best to
prove that they know more than everybody else, and taking stances
in defense of their religious talking points, or even much
more commonly than that, while men and women are going about
their lives without a thought whatsoever to God, or what He
said. While all that's going on, while
men are going about their lives, He said to Bartimaeus, get on
with your life. He followed Christ. But this whole world is getting
on with their lives. And while they are, someone is
calling to sinners and saying this, come to me, come to me,
come to me and I'll give you, I'll give you rest. Believe on
me and you won't perish, but have everlasting life. Now, some
would say to me, Chris, you got to be more specific than that.
You gotta be more specific than that. You just can't tell people
they just need Christ. You gotta be, how much more specific
can you get than this? One person. One person. One person. There is one place to which you
must come. His feet. There is one truth
which you must believe. His word. There is one trust
that you must rest in. His power. One hope for acceptance
with God that you must embrace. His precious blood. One righteousness
you must be found in His. Is that specific enough for you?
Christ is salvation? Well, we know who us is now,
don't we? Those who believe these things
that Luke wrote and that everybody else that God inspired wrote
in this book. So who is this He? We know who
the us is. Who's the He that defines us?
That's what Luke deals with in all of this book. And we'll just
contemplate him now a little bit. Before we contemplate him
in every word of this book for the next several years, I have
no doubt, let's look forward into the book of Luke a little
bit and begin to contemplate the one of whom he witnessed.
And Luke begins right away to give account in this chapter. of how that this Jesus is God,
born of a woman. He tells of His birth. Born the
Savior who shall save. He's named the way He's named. The name He's given signifies
this. He shall save. And He shall rule
His people forever and shall deliver them, shall save them
from their sins. He tells even in this first chapter
who was born that day and why He was born in a manger and who
sent Him and why He was sent. He is God the Son sent by God
the Father to redeem an us from their sins. And we are that us. He didn't come to make an offer.
He came to rule and to redeem. We'll see that as we read some
in this chapter in a moment here. He came to rule and He came to
redeem. And by God's grace, I believe those things most surely. I believe
that God sent His Christ, His Son, His Lamb into this world
to rule. He's the judge now. He's the
decider of every case. He'll save you or He'll damn
you as it pleases Him. And He'll redeem everyone who
it pleases Him to save. He'll wash them from their sins
in his blood Now he's the virgin listen. I Believe this I believe
that this one of whom we are witnesses. He is the virgin born
sinless holy Son of God look at verses 26 to 32 And in the
sixth month the angel Gabriel and was sent from God unto a city
of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin, a spouse to a man whose
name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name
was Mary. And the angel came in unto her,
and said, Hail thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with
thee. Blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast
in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel
said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with
God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt
bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall
be great, and he shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the
Lord God shall give unto him the throne. of his father David,
and he shall reign. Not an earthly throne. You remember
how many times he said, my kingdom is not of this world. The throne
that was represented by David, the throne of Israel, the throne
of God's people, he's going to rule over the people of God.
What a wonderful truth this is. that he was born of a virgin.
He came to a virgin and said, you're going to conceive. And
she said, how? I have not known a man. Oh, that thing that shall
be conceived in thee shall be called, that holy thing, shall
be called the Son of the Most High God. Listen to this, Hebrews
2.14. What a beautiful truth this is.
What does this mean to me? For as much then as the children,
that's us, the usses, are made partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part in the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and save
them, deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of
Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren, take on their very nature, become what they
are, yet without sin, that he might be. What does this mean
to me? That he might be a merciful. God said a long time ago, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And here's how he does
it. By sending his son. Into this world to be born of
a virgin not without seeing like unto us of our nature, but yet
without seeing That he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest In all things pertaining to God to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people Here we are at enmity. We are enmity
and against God in our nature, in our carnal nature. And God
sent His Son down here to reconcile us to Himself by the blood of
His Son. I believe that, do you? I believe
God was made flesh and brought right here among us. I believe
it behooved Him to become what I am, yet without sin, that He
might be the very mercy of God to me. that he might be that
high priest who alone can offer unto God that which is sufficient
to pay for all of my sins. And I believe that he is the
sovereign savior of his people. We read that too there, didn't
we? He's gonna rule. He will rule. Luke 133, and he
shall reign over the house of Jacob forever
and of his kingdom there shall be no end now this is spiritual
Jacob we know that they're not all Israel which are of Israel
but us are of Israel those who have the faith that God gave
Abraham those who are Christ's are the seed are counted for
the seed and are sons of the promise as our sovereign We're
told that Christ has authority from his father to give eternal
life to as many as the father gave him. That's why when John
described being a witness of him, he said, we saw eternal
life. We witnessed eternal life. John 5, 21, for as the father
raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so his son. quickeneth,
giveth life to whom he will. He shall reign. That's what a
king does. He does what? What he pleases. Whatever he pleases. I'm glad
we don't have an earthly king with that kind of authority,
aren't you? I'm not sure that I could think of a single person
that I would want to have that kind of authority in this earth.
But I'll tell you this, I'm glad we have a Heavenly King who does
as He pleases, when He pleases, with whom He pleases. He's worthy. And He does reign. The Sovereign
God, the Sovereign Son of God has authority over all flesh
so that no one can dispute His right to give eternal life and
to withhold it. He said in John 17 too, as thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. Authority. I believe not only that Jesus
Christ is God's Son, God the Son, born holy and sinless into
this world, and that he was born to save his people, And that
he was given all authority and power to do exactly that. But
I also believe this, I believe he did it. Don't you? I believe he did it. In Luke 2.49, this Jesus as a
young boy told his earthly parents, I must be, didn't, don't you
understand? I must be about my father's business. And in John chapter six, verses
37 through 40, he told us what that business was. He said, I'm here for a reason. Father sent me, he sent me to
do his will, and here's his will. That of all those which he gave
me, I should lose nothing, but raise them all up at the last
day. He gave me the responsibility over a people. I'm their surety. I'm given charge over them. I'm
responsible for them. Their eternal destiny is in my
hand. And all that the Father gave
me shall come to me. And I will raise them up at the
last day. I will. And I most surely believe
that He did. I think with me, I'm heading
somewhere here. He said in Luke 2, 49, I must
do the business that God sent me, my father sent me to do.
And then he described that business as having to do with our salvation
in John 6. It has to do with him saving
us, redeeming us, giving us life, raising us from the dead. And
then John also tells us that when he was crucified on Calvary
to share his precious blood to redeem his people, he cried,
it's finished. My father's business is accomplished.
All that he gave me, sure enough, I'm not going to lose a single
one of them. They are perfected forever by that one sacrifice
for sin that he gave on Calvary. And they will be raised again
at the last day. The work the Father gave Him
to do was completed. It was perfected by Him. The
work of bringing in everlasting righteousness with all that He
did as the representative of a people, the mediator of a covenant,
the work of redemption and making His own soul an offering for
my sin. You know, we just say that so
commonly and that just rolls off of our tongue and rolls through
our ears. The Son of God gave Himself for my sin. The work of salvation as my substitute,
dying under the wrath of God, and making all for whom He died,
uncondemnable before God. Who is He that condemneth? It
is Christ that dies. There are many other things which
we most surely believe that we'll see in this study. But as with these, we'll see
that they all boil down to one thing. One thing is needful. Everything
we see, all of these things that we most surely believe, they
really are one thing. And it's what our Lord said,
if you believe on me, believe on me and you'll not perish but
have everlasting life we'll see as we study this book and as
I pray God gives us light and understanding that the things
which those things those things which
we believe and those that believe have everlasting
life but those things are the things of Christ who he is God's holy sinless
son what he did he did what the father sent him to do which was
what perfect forever those whom he sanctified with his precious
blood not lose a single one of God's people but raise Him up
at the last day. Why He did it? For the glory of His Father. The Father sent Him to glorify
His Son. God in all of His persons is
glorified in the saving of sinners like no other way. And where He is now, we'll see
that too. in the book of Luke, as in all
these books. He said to his disciples, I've
got to go now. And I go, you know where I'm
going, and you know how to get there. And you remember, Philip, I believe
it was, said, we don't know. We don't know where you're going. How can we know how to get there?
We don't even know where we're going. He said, I'm going to
my father. He just said that. I go unto
my father. You know where I'm going, and
you know how to get there. How can we know the way, Philip
said? Have I been with you all this time, and you don't know
me? I am the way. I am the truth. And I am the light. If you've seen me, you've seen
my father. And I go unto my father, and
you can't come with me now, but you will. You will. Where is he now? He's on the
right hand of the majesty on high, making intercession for
us. The difference between by Judas
and Apostle Simon Peter. He's praying for us. He's interceding
for us. As our mediator and great high
priest, where he is now. Listen to what John said about
this. All that Luke is gonna, we just touched on, we just skipped
up across the mountaintops, didn't we, this morning. But listen
to how John described In the book of Luke, in the book
of John, in the book of Mark, in the book of Matthew. Here's
what we know. We will surely believe these
things. Here's what we know. We know that the Son of God has
come. That's what Luke described in
chapter 1, isn't it? We know that the Son of God has
come. And we know why He came. He has given us an understanding.
that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is
true even in his son Jesus Christ you see what these things are? we see these as things because
we can't understand them in any other way we can't contemplate
the glory and grandeur and majesty of Christ without Looking at
specific things dividing it up the truth of him up in these
Specific things we're going to talk about that tonight the lord
teaches Line upon line precept upon precept here a little bit
there a little bit But every one of these things that we learn
Is one thing we're learning who he is we know that the son of
god has come and we know That the reason we know is because
he gave us an understanding And He gave us an understanding
that we may know Him, not a bunch of stuff. That we may know Him that is
true. And we know this, that by the grace of God are we in
Him that is true. Even in His Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God. And this is eternal life. What
is to know Him? May God give us grace. As we
look into this book, as we saw in John, and Mark, and Matthew,
and everywhere else we've looked in this Bible, may He reveal
to us His Son. And may we believe by God's grace,
by the gift of faith, may we lay hold and believe God's record,
which concerns His Son. And as he said that if you won't
come to me this whole book points to me This whole book concerns
me and points to me and you won't come to me I pray that we will
come to him By his grace we come to him