With me to the gospel of Luke
chapter one. Luke chapter one. Read. A few verses here and then
we'll go back to Acts chapter one and. Pretty much stay there
the rest of the message Luke. One let's read the first four
verses. Gospel according to. St. Luke, 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 a perfect or full 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. now has been instructed. Sure and certain, this gospel
was written or rather recorded. The title of their gospel according
to Saint Luke, probably not a good title, is it? The gospel as repeated
by St. Luke but this was written down
by Luke who was not an apostle Luke was not an apostle he was
a physician I remember Paul called him Luke the beloved physician
by trade he was a constant companion of Paul he was with Paul in jail
a few times and we believe that he was probably one of the seventy
that our Lord called out. You remember when our Lord called
the twelve apostles, there were only twelve, Paul later being
the twelfth, and then at one time early on he called out seventy
men, you remember, of whom was Philip, Stephen, and we believe
Luke was one of those seventy whom the Lord called and sent
out to preach. Well, Luke is writing to a friend
of his who is apparently some kind of noble person, some kind
of leader, ruler. Most excellent Theopolis is his
name. We don't know much about him,
but he must have been a believer because Luke said, these things
you've been instructed in, you've heard these things, and I'm writing
to confirm to you the certainty. of these things and. And that's
what this message is all about. The certainty of these things
that you might know they're certain and things that are sure. Just
as sure as God is and surely believes. Surely, truly happened
and surely believed by all of God's people. Now in verse one
he said. Many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration
of those things. Evidently more than four. Accounts or. Bad word for. Testimonies were written. But the Lord only purpose for
four of them to be in this book. You want you ever wonder why
there are four gospels. Why therefore God well the Lord
said at the mouth of two or three witnesses a thing is that. Therefore. But that's not the other sixty
one of the book gospel book. Sixty five or sixty two. So while
there are only four gospels that the Lord was pleased to put in
this book canon of scripture yet there's a great cloud of
witnesses there's a whole lot more people that was there and
heard and they all declare the same thing. The same thing. Same thing, same gospel. It says
in verse 1, they took in hand to set forth in order a declaration
of these things. Preaching the gospel is to be
declared. And that's the way God said it
over in Psalm 2. I love Psalm 2. God said, I have
declared the decree. The gospel is not something to
be shared. You hear these phony preachers
say that all the time, don't you? Did you ever hear Paul say
that? I'd like to share with you a message. Did you hear John
stand up, John the Baptist stand up and say, if you all gather
around, I'd love to share something with you. No, the gospel is a declaration.
Scripture says, if any man's man speak, let him speak as the
oracles of God. Hear ye, hear ye. Now, it's not a hard message. It's a wonderful message of good
news, but it's something to be declared. He said, get on a rooftop
and declare this. Unbelievers won't like it, but
God's people will. Behold your God. Say unto the
heathen, Don't say let God be got saved by God right. A declaration of certain things. There's no doubt about the fact. Oh Luke. Said there are many infallible
fruit but the gospel is a declaration a pronouncement. Pronouncement
that's what declaration may make an announcement. Hear ye, hear
ye, thus saith the Lord. And it's not a matter of debate
or argument or discussion. That's why we don't open the
floor for comments. It's a declaration from God's
Word. And it's not up for vote. It's
not going to be so if men accept it. No, no, no. It's a declaration. All right. My sovereign decree.
God said this is a decree. I've said this is my beloved
son. This day have I begotten thee. Kiss the Son, lest he be
angry, and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled."
So how to declare the decree. And so he says, and as much as
many have set forth an order, a declaration of those things,
of those things, things most surely believed among us. things most surely everyone doesn't
believe. But all of all believers. Someone asked the question what
must one believe to be a believer. The answer is in the name is
it is there anything that it could be said from God's Word
that you don't believe. All that things most surely believe
among us that he is it's called the faith of God's elect. The common bank all wrote Timothy. Of the common bank once delivered
to the science they all have it all these things are most
surely. Like Peter said I'm sure. Are
you. Verse two, he says, and they
these. They were delivered on us, these
things were delivered on us by those who were eyewitnesses and
ministers of the word. He's talking about the apostles
who were eyewitnesses and they delivered or declared unto us. They were all eyewitnesses of
the things that we're about to consider. That looks right. I witness it. You see, they all
witness. A witness is one who's seen and
heard something. OK, and then they are called
forth to not give an opinion, but just tell us what you've
seen and what you've heard. And all of these witnesses, this
is how you know it's true, because they all said the same thing.
What do you see? What do you hear? This is what
they all agree. All of God's witnesses agree. Do you remember when the false
witnesses were drummed up? Remember when they drummed up
false witnesses against the Lord? It says that they couldn't agree. None of them could agree. You know why there are so many
denominations today? Huh? They can't agree. False
religion can't agree they've all got, but now the church.
Believers all believe the same thing. They've all heard and
seen the same. I'm going to give it away. One. All right, so he says it's good
to me. Seemed good to me. Seemed good
to God, so it seemed good to him. To also set in order. He was a witness. He saw and
heard. And he said, I understood, I
was there from the beginning when it began to take place.
And he says, so I'm writing in order, or that is in chronological
or historical order, these things. Oh, Theophilus, my friend. Aren't you glad he wrote his
friend that God saw fit? Because we have it. that you might know almost excellent
theophilus that you might know the certainty of those things
where and now has been instructed you've already heard the fact
you've already read the fact you've already been instructed
in the fact you believe the fact. But. I want you to know this
I want you to be sure in your own mind and heart I want you
to have a sure now does this sound familiar. This is exactly
what John wrote to us. He said that which we've seen
and heard declare we unto you that you might have fellowship
that you might know. You say that you have these things
he said have I written under you that you might know. Or Peter,
Peter said this, he said, I will not be negligent to put you always
in remembrance of these things. And he went on to say, after
my death, to have these things always in remembrance, always
remember. What things? What things? We'll go back to Acts one, OK?
Acts chapter 1. Let's look at these glorious
things. All things. What things, Luke?
What things, John? What things, Peter? Look at chapter
1 of Acts, the former treatise, have I made, O Theopolis, of
all that Jesus began both to do and to teach. Until the day he was taken up, after the Holy Ghost through
the holy gave commandment under the apostle and to whom he showed
himself alive after his death is crucifixion by many infallible
proof for forty days. Forty days he stayed on this
earth speaking to them the things pertaining to the kingdom of
God. The gospel of Luke, he said,
as well as every book in this Bible is concerning that person
named Jesus called to cry. That's what this whole book is
about. You've heard this said that the Old Testament says from
Genesis to Malachi, someone is coming. God Almighty is the first
one who went to those centers in the garden and began to tell This thing is in a cesspool of
iniquity. Sin has entered. But somebody's
coming. The woman's seen. The Passover
lamb. And so on and so forth. Someone's
coming. The Old Testament. This book, Luke, Acts, all the
books of God's Word are concerning that one named Jesus of Nazareth. who is called the Christ. And
Peter said this. Peter said we didn't make this
story up. Peter said this is no cunningly
devised fable. We didn't get together. And decide
let's write a story, concoct a story. Peter said we were eyewitnesses. Eyewitnesses of what, Peter?
His majesty. We were in the presence of his
majesty. Have you ever seen a famous person And gone back to tell somebody
that you saw them. Anybody? You're ashamed of it
later. If you're an adult, that is,
you're ashamed later that you go, oh, look, there's whoever
the is, she is. And you went and told, I saw
so and so. I got their autograph. Peter says, John says, we saw
the king of kings. We saw God. John wrote a book.
1 John, he said, that which we have seen and heard declare unto
you, that which was from the beginning, that word of life.
We touched him. We handled him. Got his autograph.
We got his whole book. We seen it. We were eyewitnesses,
Peter said. We were there with his majesty. We were on the mountain. Oh,
may God bring us up on the mountain to see His majesty. Mmm. Eyewitnesses
of who He is, what He said, what He did, where He is now, what
that means to us. See, our religion is not on doctrine
and creed and theories and old manuscripts. It's about a person,
a living person. It's real, because He's real. Everything concerning him, all
that we believe is concerning him. Things most surely believed among
us, his disciples, sure and certain things, irrefutable, undeniable. Luke says many infallible proofs. You know, we we live by faith,
but it's not as if God hasn't proved himself, is it? It's not
as if there's no proof. We don't just have blind faith.
The things of God are clearly what? Seen by all. God has clearly proven Himself. My wife and I were on the back
porch one day looking at the flowers that we've planted. Do
you know how many thousands of different flowers there are in
the world, or trees or plants or animals. The seed, infallible fruit, a
fool, an utter, absolute, complete, utter idiot, a rebel's idiot,
would say there's no God. They say, and nobody's ever disproved
it, that not one snowflake has ever been the same. What's the chances of that happening
if evolution were true? Not one thumbprint has ever been
the same. How many zillions of people have
been on the earth, yet God has stamped them each individually?
Many infallible people. The things of God are clearly
seen, being understood, are the things that are made. And they're
without excuse. Men aren't just Even a jungle
native can clearly see the things of God. Beautiful and wonderfully made.
We've got a creator. Creator. And then when God wrote
this wonderful book to tell us how it was created, we see, don't
we? How did it come? How did it get
like this? And man, because he's a rebel
against God, made up all sorts, did not think of God, doesn't
want a God, made up all sorts of vain imaginations, made God
to be what he wanted, or evolution or whatever. Weren't thankful,
didn't glorify God as God. I'm just quoting Romans 1. Then God wrote a book for his
people and said, now here's how I did it. And they say, yes,
I can see clearly. Yes. All these infallible proofs. You see, it's not that God has
not proven himself. He's clearly proven himself.
But men say, no, God, I don't want that. So God sends them
strong delusions. And they find a cow bone, and
they make it into Neanderthal paint. And the whole world believes
it. And they call this foolishness.
Man's just an idiot, isn't he? An idiot. Thinks he's on an upward
growth, but he's on a downward spiral. Well, you know, he's
always been low. Real low. Many infallible proofs,
he says in verse three, substantiated, confirmed fact. We're not saved
by facts. I'm going to give you some facts,
but we're not saved by facts. But we're saved when this living
Lord, through his Holy Spirit, through this preaching, comes
to you and says, I am that I am. Like the woman at the well. When
Christ is come, he'll show us many things. I don't understand.
What's this? What's it? And Christ opened it all up, didn't he?
When he said, I am. Martha, I don't understand the
resurrection. I am. You're it, aren't you? salvation. God, you are God. That is all. You're not saved by facts, but
here's the facts. These things are concerning.
Paul wrote Romans 1 concerning the gospel. He says concerning
God's son declared to be the son of God with power by the
spirit of holiness, according to the spirit of holiness and
the resurrection from the dead. Did you hear that? He said this
is God's gospel. God's author of it. God wrote
it. And it's all concerning his son
who was made of the seed of David, made a man. and concerning his son, who has
all power according to the Spirit of holiness, and he rose from
the dead." Now, let's think about that a minute. All right? As I said,
all our religion is Jesus Christ. And Luke wrote in order, he gives
the account of the birth, the immaculate They call it conception,
the miraculous, amazing, unexplainable conception, or how a child was
conceived in the womb of a virgin. A woman never knew a man, a virgin. She had no man, knew no man,
no seed of man in her, and yet she has a child. That's not possible. That's right.
With man, it's impossible. There was no artificial insemination
back there. Don't be ridiculous. You know, men, people have said
that sort of thing. And most of them, most just choose to
believe that she had, that he was a bastard son of, they actually
say this now, that Jesus was a bastard son of a traveling
soldier. Is it any wonder that God's going
to just burn this place out? Do you have any problem believing
that? God said, this is my son. How do you know? He's holy. That's how you know, according
to the spirit of holiness. He's born of a virgin. How do
you know that? He's holy. He's without sin. He's declared
to be the son of God by the spirit of there was only one man ever
walked this planet without sin. Without spot. No fault. Can't find. He stood before devils. And they couldn't tempt him with
anything. He stood before the law of God
and said fulfilled perfectly all of it. I delight to do thy
will, O God. He stood before men who wanted
to find something wrong with it, wanted to find something
wrong with it. He said, somebody, anybody, convince
me of sin, find something. Huh? In him is no sin, Jemet. This is the holy son of God,
the righteous one. Oh my, spotless one, full of
grace. When we talk about being sinless,
we don't just talk about not doing anything wrong. We're talking
about holiness. We're talking about pure, just. Everything he says is right.
Everything he says is pure. Everything he thinks is pure.
Everything about him is lovely, altogether lovely. Altogether
lovely. There's nothing about him not
to love. kind beyond understanding. Merciful just beyond belief. Gracious poured out of his lips. Goodness. Good. Good man. What a good man. Truth. He says, I can't lie. I cannot tell a lie. And I can't
tolerate one and I will expose everyone I hear. But everything
he said was true. He is the truth. Who is this? Huh? Son of God. No doubt about it.
Is there any doubt to you? Have you ever met a better faultless
human being? Hmm? Have you ever met anybody without
blame, without fault, without sin? Didn't make you mad at some
point? Even your most loved one? Anybody? Nobody. This man was
without sin. Declared to be the Son of God
by the Spirit. A virgin born. In him was no
sin. That's proof, infallible proof
right there. Why is this important? Why is
it important he was born of a virgin? Why is it important that he had
no sin? You notice. You've been instructed. Well, here's the certainty of
it. You see, he's a substitute. That's why. He didn't come down here to show
people how to live a sinless life. They can't do it. Although he is a great, wonderful
example that we are to emulate, want to be like, but we can't
do it. He came down here to be our righteousness. As a substitute. He who knew
no sin. This righteousness, this holy
life, this God well pleased. Accepted. He earned heaven. Don't you love that Psalm 24
that says, open the gates. Somebody's coming in. Open heaven's
gates. There's a man coming in. You've
got to open the gates. He's earned it. Who is it? King of glory coming
in. He earned heaven. He's going
to heaven because of his good works. He didn't do that for himself.
He did it for his people. You see, behind him and hanging
on to him. and covered by his train. The
bridal veil. Oh bunch of center. When they
walk through that job when I walk through that early game it's
wide open can go. In a moment it's quite a lot
of change this corruption corrupt holy unblameable unruly just
like. All these days, Job said, I'll
wait till my change comes. Well, he didn't change. He was
always holy. Well, where am I? Well, where
am I? On the I Am. Declared to be the
Son of God, a virgin born, and he's our substitute. Declared
to be the Son of God with power. Oh, my power to heal. You think about this. He healed
every single person that ever came to Him, of any and every
disease. It didn't matter what you had,
how long you had it, if you were born blind, born deaf, born dumb,
if you were a leper, you were completely shriveled up, if you
were palsied, laying on your bed, all your muscles gone, it
didn't matter. All of them. He healed them all. There's not
one person who ever came to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Great
Physician, Is this the doctor you want to see? Not one person
with one malady, one disease, one infirmity, he didn't say,
go, you're healed. Not one. Who is this? This is the Son
of God. You see these phonies, they can
heal arthritis. Who's going to say they don't? Oh, they can heal a fellow. My
heart's been palpitating and it stopped now. Benny's giving
me the word. Who's to refute it? He's a man
born blind. Born blind. Everybody in the
world knew him from birth. He's born blind. His eyes are
gone. Christ said, and they all said,
it looks like it can't be him. It can't be him. It is him. Who
did this? the Son of God did this, and
a greater miracle. And what all these miracles tell
us of is a much greater, a blind sinner all his lifetime, living
all his life like an animal in a gutter, didn't know a God,
don't want a God, sin rebelling God through His Word one day
says, opens his ears, opens his eyes,
a dead heart takes it out, puts a new one in with those hard
neck and eyes, and hardly softens it, makes him fall in love with
somebody he's never seen. Who could do this? Who is this? You go tell John again, who am
I? You go tell him again, the blind
are receiving their sight, the lame are walking by faith, One
who once was swift to run to mischief, now he's running to
the church house. He's running to hear the gospel.
He's running away from that. He's running to Christ. Who can
do that? But God. Who is this? The Son of God, declared to be
the Son of God, raised the dead. He never attended a funeral that the person didn't get up. Every funeral he went to, there
was a woman, everybody was weeping over Tabitha. They all loved
her, a dear daughter and a sister. They all loved her dearly and
they were all standing around the casket. And Christ came in
and said, Get up! Arise! Who is this? A beloved sister and two sisters,
their beloved brother, Lazarus, laid in a tomb four days without
being embalmed. They say that the second day
your body will be as stiff as a board, rigamore to set in,
and it will begin to putrefy, and you can't stand to be around
the body. He was there four days. Even his sister said, don't open
that. It stinks. Don't open that tomb. Christ
said, roll back the door. Oh, but Lord, he's dead. No,
he's not. I told you. You don't believe
me. But I told you I can't lie. He
that liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Lazarus. Come forth. And he that was dead, stinking
dead, walked out that way. Who is this? Luke said, I'm right
here. I want you to know, by many infallible
proofs, certain things most surely believed among us. You need to
know the certainty of these things. We were there. We saw this. We
saw it. Huh. Oh my, I had so much more,
but I'm going to quit. The Lord, what about when He
stilled the wind and the waves? The disciples, we were in a boat,
and we've seen a lot of storms, but there were 15 foot waves
because the boat was full of water. He's sleeping. He's sleeping
in a puddle of water, sound asleep. He's not in the least bit concerned
about anything. We're dying. And we run to him,
and he just calmly gets up, not in a hurry, walking, walks out
on the bow of that ship and says to the sea, lie down, and to
the wind, be still. Oh, the office. This is God, God was with us.
Manifest in the flesh. Oh my, no man spake like this
man. Luke went on to write throughout
this epistle of all that he say. Well, no, not all he said. Not
even, not even half of it. Half has never been told. I love
that verse that says, if all things were written that he said
and did, the world couldn't contain the book. My, my. Is it any wonder Brother Kelly
was going to spend eternity? Every day is going to be new.
That's a lot to tell us. But the things he did say, his
words, his voice. His voice. Even his enemies said,
no, no man's speaking of this man. They were told, go apprehend
him. And they went, we'll get him.
Bring him back now we'll bring it back. And they went and he was preaching.
And they found themselves sitting sitting down. Now this is what
I see. Like a dog had been sick. That's
what he did. Staying that's what he did sit
down. And it was over they all walked back and then the ruler
said where is it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, something glorious, something
that, you know, he was with them for three and a half years talking,
conversing about everything. And he'd tell them he knew everything. He did know everything. And he'd
tell them, look at this, look at that. We've never heard it like this.
My, my, glorious things came from his gracious lips. And then
Luke wrote of his death. Our Lord foretold it, didn't
He? He kept telling them, over and over again, I'm going to
Jerusalem. This is the cause. What shall
I say? Father, deliver me from this
hour? No, this is why I came. This
is it. I'm going to Calvary's tree.
I'm going to Jerusalem. And there the Son of Man shall
be delivered. By who? Father. Peter said, don't go in there,
Lord. It'll kill you. No man taketh my life from me.
Now that's where I've been going all along. You didn't know it.
You will. And they didn't understand until
it was all over. But we do. And our Lord in power, oh my,
oh, give me another thirty minutes. Our Lord in incredible strength
and power, incredible They took him. And put him through indescribable
pain and suffering and torture that an average ordinary man
could not endure pilot himself to witness many was amazed at
this man's strength. Without crying. Without wincing. without flinching. But he's saying
that. We're going to go to use by. A show that ground for the only
thing is to do it. And then they hung him on that
cross dropped him in that hole on every joint in his body out
of indescribable pain and suffering but that's not the real suffering
that he the worst soul went through hell. Literally. Actually. Separation from God. Which I
can't, we can't, describe. But he was nailed to that cross
for six hours. Three of which under a burning
sun. And yet, in perfect control,
in absolute control of his faculty, his self, his mind, his body,
his speech, and everything, set in perfect control of everything,
he began to give orders. He began to speak. Grace was
still poured out of his lips. The first thing that he uttered,
against those who did what they did, Father forgive them. And then he looked down at that
woman who the Lord had chosen to give birth to his, and he
cared for her. He was a man. No infidel he cared
for his own and he said woman behold thy son, son behold thy
mother. He was thinking of others while
in. And then there was a worthless
man hanging beside him that you'd want crucified, a thief and a
murderer hanging beside him. He began to talk to him. And he said today you'll be with
me in paradise. And then he uttered those words,
my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? And then he said,
I thirst. That's the scriptures. He's fulfilling
scriptures. He's fulfilling everything that's
written of him while hanging on the tree. He already did in
his life, in his work, while hanging on the tree, everything
written in Psalm 22 and other places concerning his crucifixion. He had to fulfill it. And he
said that the scriptures might be fulfilled, I thirst. And they gave him vinegar, just
like scripture said they would. It's as if someone over at the
side is reading the book and said, now here's what we're supposed
to do next. Well, he's directing it. And then he said with a loud
voice, in perfect control of not He's been hanging there six
hours. He's not in a weakened state, but he cries with a loud voice
with authority that heaven, John, heaven, earth, and hell heard
this. It is finished. It's accomplished. It's over. I did it. I did it. What? Accomplished salvation for my
people. And then he said to the Father,
into thy hands I commit my spirit. And sovereignly, as if a curtain
called, it's open. Bowed his head, walked out of
the fire. That's not all. He's dead. He's dead. They saw
it. Luke saw it. They all saw it.
He's dead. They saw him hang there. And
that soldier came by with a spear. Crucifixion was horrible, horrible,
horrible. We don't know anything about
it. Horrible. They used to take and break the
legs of the one hanging there. So they couldn't lift themselves
up. And live any longer, but their ribcages would collapse
their lungs. They had no feet to rest on.
And they'd just suffocate in their blood and die. Well, they
came to him and were amazed, it says, that he's dead already.
The soldier was amazed. He's dead. Why? He just died. He just did. killed himself. But he took a spear. Gotta do this. He took a spear. What if that was your loved one? This is God's Son. Behold, what
love, huh? He took a spear. And ripped his side open. And
out came platinum water. He's dead. There's no doubt about
it. And they took his lifeless body
down from the grave several hours later and put it in a tomb and
rolled back, rolled the stone over it. And three days later. Who is this? Well he was a good
man. Hold on. It ain't over. Three
days later, Jeanette, he just came walking out of the tomb.
Just came walking out. He said, I was dead, but I'm
alive forevermore. Who? Who is this? Oh, Theophilus. Oh, as much as many have taken
in hand to set in order a declaration of those things, most surely
believe among us, I thought it good that I might write these
things down and declare unto you, too, that you might know
the certainty of these things, that that one that came, born
of a virgin, declared to be the Son of God with power and the
Holy Ghost, Spirit, Holy Spirit, man by the resurrection from
the day is indeed without a doubt. Many infallible. And he's coming
again. uh... uh... and and I don't know. you. you Okay. Okay. Okay.