And let's see how Luke describes
the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, as the man Christ Jesus. As you, I hope, remember, the
gospel narratives are given, these four gospel narratives
are given to show us distinct characteristics of our Savior
in the accomplishment of redemption for us. Matthew wrote his gospel
to show us our Redeemer King, and describes him in his royal
character as the King who has come to establish his kingdom,
the kingdom of his grace. describes our Savior as Jehovah's
righteous servant, that faithful man who faithfully did the will
of God in accomplishing our redemption by his obedience unto death as
our substitute and Jehovah's servant. John describes him as
God the Son, the second person in the Holy Trinity, God who
has come here to save us. And Luke describes him in his
glorious humanity. That one who has come here on
a mission, much like Matthew described him in giving us the
words of the angel, he shall save his people from their sins.
Our Lord Jesus in Luke's gospel tells us the Son of Man has come
to seek and to save that which was lost. And as such, he comes
here as a man. And it's so very important that
we understand our Lord Jesus is truly a man. In fact, Luke
describes him constantly as the Son of Man. And this is the title
that our Lord Jesus uses more than any other to speak of himself. He calls himself continually
the Son of Man, the Son of Man who has come to men, come to
men as a man, to save men for the glory of God. Now, the one
we meet here is the same person that John describes as God over
all. blessed forever, the Creator
of all things, the Eternal Word, the Eternal Son. He is yet a
man, a man just like us, as fully man as though he were not God,
as fully God as though he were not man. Incomprehensible mystery,
I admit. Beyond the scope of human logic,
indeed it is. But Jesus Christ is just as much
a man as Don Martin or Don Fortner, just as much. The only thing
different is he has no sin. He knew no sin. While he walked
on this earth, he had all the feelings, all the temptations,
all the pains, all the solace, all the troubles that you and
I endure in this world. all of them. What he did not
endure as a man while he walked on this earth in his flesh, he
endured while he hung upon the cursed tree as our substitute,
so that he is fully aware of everything that affects you and
me. He had no sin of his own, but
he was even made to be sin for us. And he knows more about what
it is to be sinned than any man who ever lived. You see, this
man is God Almighty. And when he was made to be sinned,
he was forsaken of God, who poured out his horrid wrath upon his
son when he was made to be sinned, so that Jesus Christ, our Savior,
who now has no sin, who is freed from sin, in whom we have no
sin, who has freed us from sin, sets upon the right hand of God,
and he knows and empathizes with you in your struggles with sin. He's a real man. He's a real
man. And this man is God. All of God there is. He is God. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. All that God is, he is, for he
is God. He thought it not godly to be
equal with God. That means it wasn't something
he had to seek after. He is equal with God, for he
is God. Not a god, not a likeness of
God, he is himself God Almighty. Now, as Luke describes our Lord
in his humanity, he gives us more details than either Matthew
or Mark about our Lord's birth. Luke describes a little bit of
our Savior's childhood, and he stresses more than any of the
other gospel writers our Redeemer's dependence upon his Father as
he walked before God in faith and in prayer. Understanding
that, if I fail to mention it again and emphasize it, Luke
tells us plainly, as do the other gospel writers, but Luke emphasizes
it, that our Lord Jesus, as a man, lived on this earth. just exactly
like you and I do, depending upon his Father, believing God. Only Baba, he depended on him
perfectly, and believed him perfectly. Not only did he set an example
of faith for us, he lived a life of faith as our substitute. Luke
emphasizes our Lord's poverty. his want of any kind of earthly
luxury or material wealth while he walked on this earth, and
his sympathy with men. He does this because it is his
purpose to show us our Savior's perfect humanity, and also to
show us that in his perfect humanity, he identifies himself fully with
men and women like you and me. You see, our Lord's humanity,
the totality The reality of his humanity is just as necessary
for the salvation of our souls as his eternal Godhead. God alone
could never save us from our sins. It takes the God-man to
save us. You see, God demands in his holiness
that justice be satisfied. God demands righteousness. God
demands that sin be punished. Only he who is man can bring
in righteousness for men and satisfy the wrath and justice
of God for men as the substitute for men, but only he who is God
in human flesh can do so and make that righteousness and that
sacrifice of infinite merit and efficacy for all his people. Jesus Christ is God the man,
and he is the man who is God. Yes, he is the man who is God. Now Luke begins here in chapter
1, verse 1, telling us that there are some things most surely believed
among us. Look at it. For as much as many
have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those
things most surely believed among us, Do you mean, Preacher, there
are some things that all believers believe? Yeah, yeah. There are some things that all
believers believe. You see, the Church of God is
a community of faith. And the faith of God's elect
is one faith. And all who are born of God believe
that faith, and believe the things concerning that faith, which
is Jesus Christ our Lord. They all believe it with a wholehearted,
overpowering devotion and determination for the honor of God. To set
forth those things most surely believed among us, even as they
delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses
and ministers of the word. Now, the word word here is not
the word that is normally used when speaking of the written
The word word that is used here is exactly the same word that's
used over in John chapter 1, when John speaks and says, in
the beginning was the word, and the word was God. So that those
who are ministers of the word, the written word, those who are
faithful servants of God, setting forth those things most surely
believed among us, are men who constantly serve your souls by
proclaiming to you him who is the living word of whom the written
word speaks. Read on. It seemed good to me
also, having had perfect understanding. What an arrogant thing to say.
No, no, no, no. I had perfect understanding.
I had perfect understanding. Clear, complete understanding
of everything I need to know. And if you're born of God, you
do too. Is that what Scripture says?
We have the mind of Christ. He's given us clear, complete
understanding of all that's needful to our souls. Or having perfect
understanding, read it, of all things from the very first, ever
since God revealed himself to me, ever since Christ was revealed
in me, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus. Now, I have an understanding
of these things most surely believed among us, and I'm going to set
them before you in a reasonable order. So as you read what I'm
telling you, you'll look at that and say, well, I see that pretty
good. That's just clear. That's easy enough. Don't see
why anybody wouldn't believe that. I'm going to set it out
in order. And Luke sets out the history of our Lord's works on
this earth in a more detailed chronological order than any
of the other gospel narratives. All right, read on. Most excellent
Theophilus. The name Theophilus means lover
of God, or one who is loved of God. Some suggest that this man
was not a literal character. I'm certain that he was. Luke
addresses the book of Acts to him as well. As a matter of fact,
if you'll read Acts 1, verses 1-4, you'll see it's very similar
to what we have here in Luke 1, 1-4. He's speaking to this
man Theophilus, this man who is a lover of God, who is loved
of God. And what he tells Theophilus
are things that all who are loved of God and made by God's grace
to be lovers of God themselves, they all believe these things.
In Luke's gospel, Luke tells us about our Lord's works in
his humanity while he walked on this earth. And Acts is really
just a continuation of the same thing. Only in the book of Acts,
Luke is describing for us our Lord's works on this earth through
his church as the risen, ruling, reigning God-man who continues
to do the same thing in heaven that he did on this earth. He
came to seek and to save that which was lost. And that's exactly
what he's doing now and will continue to do until all whom
he came to seek and save are at last brought to him safe into
his fold by his almighty grace. Luke speaks to this man Theophilus
then, this excellent noble man. We don't know anything at all
about him except what Luke tells us. He calls him most excellent
Theophilus. He must have been a man of some
prominence, of some nobility. There's reason to rejoice in
that. Not many noble are called, but some are. Some of the upper folks are called. We have a tendency, because of
our horrid pride, if we're poor to despise the wealthy, if a
person is wealthy to despise the poor, none is to be despised
by God's church. We're to carry the gospel to
all, and God has his elect among them all. Now Luke specifically
writes his gospel then to this man Theophilus, this lover of
God, to tell him these things most surely believed among us. He says that at the very outset.
You see, contrary to popular opinion, believers, men and women
who are born of God, men and women who are taught of God,
men and women who have faith in Jesus Christ, all of them,
all Christians, I'm not talking about all who wear the name Christian,
I'm talking about all Christians, all who know God, all who trust
Christ, all who are born of God, believe certain things most assuredly. Most assuredly. Now I'm going
to go through some of these things as Luke gives them to you. And
I want you to see them, see them clearly. And I know that some
folks who will hear this message on tape will hear it and say,
well, I know Christians who don't believe those things. No, you
don't. No, you don't. You know religious folks who
don't believe those things. There's a big difference. Let's
see what it says. Turn, if you will, to Luke chapter
1, verse 35. The first one you're very familiar
with. In that very central, pivotal chapter, Luke 15, our Lord Jesus
gives us a parable, a parable of a woman going to find a lost
coin, a shepherd going to find a lost sheep, and a father receiving
his lost son as he returns to him. And in that parable, right
in the midst of this book, Luke shows us that all men and women
are lost sinners. in need of God's salvation, lost,
ruined, dead in trespasses and sins, under the curse of God's
holy law, and totally incapable of doing anything to change their
condition. Man is lost. And to be lost is
to be helpless. To be lost is to be without the
ability to change yourself. To be lost is to be under the
curse of God, to be separated from God, alienated from Him.
Here in Luke chapter 1, we're told blamely that the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, has come in the flesh. Is that what John
told us, that if man confesses not that Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh, he's Antichrist? He that believes that Christ
has come in the flesh, he's born of God. What does that mean?
It doesn't mean, well, I believe in the incarnation of virgin
birth. No. No, you can believe in the
incarnation of virgin birth and not believe anything. It doesn't
mean I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Saying the wrong
words is nothing. What it means is that this Christ,
revealed in this book, is himself God come in the flesh. Now let's
see if that's what the book says. Luke 135, the angel answered
and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. Now if you have some moment or
some bustle like knock on your door in the morning and they
have some literature with you and they say, You see there in
Luke 1.35, he's not really God, he's called the Son of God in
reverence, but he's not really the Son of God. In 1 John chapter
3, the Scripture says we are called the sons of God. Does
that mean that John's just speaking nice about us? No. When the Scripture calls you
something, that means that's what you are. And when Jesus
Christ is called the Son of God, it is because he is the Son of
God. He is called the Son of God.
This holy thing, that holy thing formed by God the Holy Spirit
in the room of the Virgin, that body prepared in the Virgin's
womb to be a sacrifice for sin, that holy thing, that thing is
God the Son right here in human flesh. He's the Son of God. Now
look at the next thing, verse 68. We have here the father of
John the Baptist, Zechariah. And he tells us that the Lord
Jesus Christ has effectually accomplished and obtained salvation
for sinners by the sacrifice of himself and his death as our
Wait a minute, Preacher, this is before John the Baptist was
born, let alone before Christ was born. It sure is. Let's look
at it, verse 67. Remember, that which Zachariah
spoke of here concerning the accomplishment of redemption,
he spoke being filled with the Holy Spirit. I suspect that means
you ought to believe him. He tells us that Christ accomplished
redemption, and he explains to us in graphic detail what it
is to have redemption accomplished. Verse 67, his father Zechariah
was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied, saying, Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed
his people. Now wait a minute, Zechariah,
you've got this thing wrong. This is John the Baptist's boy
here. Yeah, but he's the forerunner of him who's come to visit and
redeem his people. And the fact that he's here means
that God Almighty is right now fulfilling that which he ordained
and promised before the world began. Look at it. What does
that mean, he's redeemed his people? He hath raised up an
horn of salvation. Our Lord has often spoken of
it just that way. In the Psalms, in the prophets, a horn? A horn? A horn means one of two things,
or both. It means either power or plenty. In this case it means both. He's
raised up in Jesus Christ, that one who is the power of God to
save, and that one in whom is God's salvation in its fullness. A horn of salvation for us. Not
for everybody, for us. He's raised him up in the house
of his servant David, as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets,
which have been since the world began. that we should be saved
from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us. Oh, the Lord's going to save
us from these terrible Romans. No, that's not what he's talking
about. He's going to save us from all our enemies, all of
them, spiritual enemies, enemies within and enemies without. enemies
in our own minds and enemies in hell. He will save us from
all our enemies. That's what happened when Christ
died. Read Colossians chapter 2. He took them and led them
into captivity. He led them into captivity. Read
on now. He's going to do this, save us
from all our enemies and from the hand of them that hate us,
verse 72, to perform the mercy. Isn't that a good way to speak
of this? Sometimes the Scriptures speak of God's abundant mercies,
of his tender mercies, of his sure mercies, but here it speaks
of the mercy. He's talking about God's salvation.
He's talking about one thing, the mercy promised to our fathers,
and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our
father Abraham, that he would grant unto us that we, being
delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him
without fear. How? in holiness and righteousness
before him all the days of our lives. And now Zechariah speaks
of his baby boy. And thou, child, shalt be called
the prophet of the highest, for thou shalt go before the face
of the Lord to prepare his ways. Oh, what an honor! God's given
me a boy to show sinners the way of Christ, to give knowledge
of salvation. through the tender mercy of our
God, whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give
light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death to
guide our feet into the way of peace." This salvation which
Christ Jesus obtained for his elect by his blood atonement,
by his effectually accomplished redemption, comes to sinners
by the free gift of God Almighty in the operation of his grace.
And it comes to them according to his own sovereign will. Look
at Luke chapter 4. Our Lord is in his hometown now. He has opened the scriptures
beginning at verse 16 and opened the scriptures to Isaiah 61.
and read to them how that the Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
sent me to preach the gospel to the captive, to the poor,
to set the prisoners free." And he looked at them. Scripture
says every eye was glued on him, fixed on him. He said, this day
is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears. And then he tells
them a bit of history that liked to have just caused them to blow
their minds. I mean they were. sought to kill
him because of it. He says in verse 25, I tell you
of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years
and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land.
But to none of them did God send his messenger of grace. None
of them was Elias sent, save to surrender a city of Sidon
unto a woman that was a Gentile. A Gentile widow. God passed by all the good folks
of Israel and sent his prophet with his mercy over to a Gentile
woman. And many lepers were in Israel
in the time of Elisha, the prophet. And none of them was cleansed,
except one vile Syrian fellow by the name of Naaman. He said,
God has mercy on whom he will have mercy. He has compassion
on whom he will have compassion. He gives his grace to whom he
will. And the Jews wanted to kill him. These are things most
surely believed among us. Now look at chapter 9, verse
11, and be sure you get this. Someone wrote to me last week
and asked a question, talking about God's sovereignty. And
in the course of something I had written, I had mentioned something
about prayer. And this person wasn't being
a smart aleck. They were asking, I think, sincerely, he said,
if God is sovereign, how can you talk about praying for God
to save somebody? How can you talk about men Seeking
the Lord because God is sovereign and he has mercy on whom he will. I urge you to seek his mercy. It's in his hands. Like that
woman who came, or like that leper who said, Lord, if you
will, you can make me whole. I don't know whether you will
or not. I don't have a word from you that tells me you will, but
if you will, you can make me whole. I don't know whether I've
been elected or not, I don't know whether I'm redeemed or
not, I don't know, but if you will, you can make me whole. Now let me tell you something,
I've got a word from God for you that Leopard didn't have.
Luke tells us, and this is one of those things most surely believed
among us, he tells us that God's grace in Christ is so abundantly
free. that every sinner in this world
who needs it has it. I didn't say he'll get it. He
has it. Look here in Luke 9 verse 11.
What a picture this is of God's grace. And the people when they
knew it followed him, and received him, and spake unto them of the
kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing. The hymn writer put it this way,
I can but perish if I go. I can but perish if I go. I'm dying anyway. I'm dying anyway. But then he says, If I die with
mercy sought, when I the king have This were to die, delightful
thought, a sinner never died. You won't die at the throne of
grace seeking mercy. It won't happen. It won't happen.
But what about election? Election notwithstanding. What
about sovereignty? Sovereignty notwithstanding.
What about limited atonement? Limited atonement notwithstanding.
What about irresistible grace? Irresistible grace notwithstanding.
He heals still as many as have need of healing. So Pastor, I
haven't had that experience. That's because you don't need
healing yet. That's all. Because you have no need of him. If you wanted him, you'd have
him. That's exactly right, isn't it? That's exactly right. Now,
there are several things in Luke's gospel that are distinctive about
him and his gospel. As we read through this gospel
of Luke, we can't help noticing that he tells us many precious
things that are not even mentioned by other writers. Luke alone
tells us about the histories of Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth.
Luke alone describes the birth of John the Baptist. Perhaps
because Luke is telling us particularly that Christ is the man, the Son
of Man, who is himself God, that prophet whom the prophets spoke
of. Luke tells us that John the Baptist,
here is Elijah, here is that one who comes before him to prepare
his way. Luke alone tells us about the
angels' announcement to Mary of our Savior's birth. Only Luke
describes the experience when the Lord Jesus was brought. Eight days after his birth, he
was circumcised, brought into the temple, and then brought
to offer sacrifices according to the law. There was an old
man by the name of Simeon who was waiting for the consolation
of Israel. And he saw the child Jesus, and he picked him up in
his arms, and he lifted his eyes toward heaven, and he said, Lord,
now let your servant depart in peace. Mine eyes have seen thy
salvation. And there was an old woman in
the name of Anna, a prophetess. Now that doesn't mean that Anna
was a gal who went around in funny-looking outfits and shook
Bibles in her hands and slobbered a lot and screamed and hollered
at folks. She was a worshiper of God, that's all. She was a
worshiper of God. And this woman Anna, She spoke
of him and praised him and spoke of his grace and mercy to all
who wait for redemption in Israel. Luke alone tells us about Mary's
song and tells us about the childhood of our master as he says to his
mother, I must be about my father's business. Luke alone speaks about
our Lord Jesus coming to Zacchaeus and calling him by his grace.
Luke alone describes the dying thief and our Lord's mercy to
him. Only Luke gives us the parable of the good Samaritan. Only Luke
speaks to the Pharisee and the public. And only Luke tells us
about the apocryphal son, the rich man and Lazarus. And only
Luke tells us about that day After the resurrection when our
Lord Jesus met two of his disciples, troubled and heavy hearted, walking
to Emmaus and made himself known to them, only Luke. Now this
man Luke, he's described by Paul in Colossians as the beloved
physician. He never mentions himself, but he's used of God
for so much. This man was such a faithful
man. As his name implies, he was a Gentile, probably wrote
specifically Acts and Luke to the Gentiles so that the word
of God is spoken clearly by God himself to his people scattered
among the Gentile nations. But this man Luke followed Paul
and served him as his companion on his second missionary journey.
When there was a church formed at Philippi, Luke stayed behind
apparently to minister to and care for those newborn saints
in that early church. And then on Paul's third missionary
journey, Luke joined him again at Philippi, and he went with
him to Caesarea and to Rome. And when Paul is at Rome, just
about to be martyred for the gospel's sake, this is what he
says about Luke. Only Luke is with me. Ah, loyal, loyal Luke. What a
man he is. This man Luke gives us the poetry
then of our Savior as the Son of Man. All the gospel writers
tell us about both his divinity and his humanity, don't misunderstand
me. But let us never forget that our Lord Jesus lived upon this
earth as our Savior, as our as our mediator, as our substitute,
the life of a perfect man. Not only to be an example for
us, as Peter tells us he was. He left us an example that we
should walk in his steps. But his life of obedience was
as necessary for our redemption and salvation as was his death
upon the cursed tree. You see, by his life of obedience,
he worked out righteousness for us. the very righteousness of
God that is imputed to us. Luke describes our Lord as a
man of tremendous courage. In chapter 13, you don't need
to turn there, but in chapter 13, our Lord was advised to flee
from Herod, because Herod sought to kill him. But our Lord was
a man of boldness. He was courageous. He said in verse 32 of chapter
13, I'll give you my paraphrase. You go tell that old fox I'm
doing what I came here to do, and you're not going to stop
me. I'm doing just what I came to do. You do whatever you want
to, it's not going to hinder me. When time came for him to
lay down his life as our sin-atoning substitute, he set his face like
a fin to go up to Jerusalem deliberately to accomplish redemption for
us. I'm going to pause for a minute
and talk a little bit about that idiocy that's going on. That
movie is supposed to come out tomorrow. I don't know if it's
coming out here or not. It doesn't matter. The Lord Jesus
Christ did not go to Jerusalem and did not go up to Calvary
because he was forced to or because he was going there to be defeated.
Poor little Jesus. Oh, feel so sorry for Jesus. Oh, look at him. He said, don't weep for me. Is
that what he said? Don't weep for me. Weep for yourself. You who cry, let his blood be
on us and our children. You weep for yourselves." He
didn't go to be pitied. He went to be adored and worshipped.
He didn't go to be vanquished, but he went to vanquish his foes
and our foes on our behalf. He did not go there so that men
might take away his life. He went there to lay down his
life for us, and lay it down he did. and victorious, and by
his death upon the tree, entered into his kingdom, and sits upon
his throne, to give life to all his own." Our Lord Jesus was
a man of courage, and he was a man of tenderness, compassion,
and sympathy, to whom no man could be compared. Look at chapter
4 for a moment, verse 18. In his very first sermon he declared
that he came to preach the gospel to the poor. He said, The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, the recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. This is the year. This is the day of which all
the prophets and all the scriptures have spoken. This is that time
which is the fullness of time when God Almighty shall pour
out His Spirit and at the same time acceptance accomplished
for His people by the sacrifice of His Son. And Luke constantly
portrays our Savior as a man full of compassion for these
poor ones, drying the tears of sorrow. pitying the outcast,
entertaining despised publicans, receiving sinners, healing all
who came to him with need. There's a lesson here about manhood,
too, as we watch our Savior. Most of us don't have any difficulty
realizing that manhood involves courage. That's about lost in our day,
but nobody has difficulty realizing that's what it involves. Manhood
involves courage. Courage, not because of who I
am or how strong I am, courage because of who my God is. I was watching a movie, Gods
and Generals, and the portrait of Stonewall Jackson is so good,
one of his officers. After seeing Jackson standing
with volleys of artillery, one after another falling at him,
hit him on the hand, he just stands like a stone wall. He
said, how do you have such courage? He said, I believe God. And if
all men alike had faith, all men alike would be brave. That's it. Courage, but courage
that's full of tenderness, that cares, that cares. Manhood involves
compassion. Never was there a man like the
God-man. Bold, strong, determined, unbending,
Relentless, courageous, tender, compassionate, moved, feeling,
sympathetic, touched, so easily touched. Moreover, and this is very, very
important, as the perfect man. Our Lord Jesus was a man of implicit
faith. He believed God. Yes, I must believe my God. I must be about my Father's business.
I must like my master say, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. But most of the time I'm like
his disciples, full of unbelief. Aren't you? And the basis of my assurance
and confidence, of my acceptance with God, is not my faith in
him, but my Savior's faith and faithfulness in him and to him. You see, he didn't believe God
for himself. He didn't do anything for himself. He believed God for me. He believed
God perfectly for me. Eight times, no less than eight
times, we see our Lord calling upon God in prayer. As God's
servants in this world, we must confess with shame and sorrow
that we are often weak and hard and hard-hearted, unbelieving,
full of doubts. But this man, who is our Savior,
lived before God in the perfection of manhood. This man, he is God's salvation. He is God's salvation. How can
I say this like it needs to be said? We rejoice in all the doctrines
of the gospel. We delight in them. I don't take
a back seat to anybody in delighting in God's sovereignty, Christ's
effectual redemption, irresistible grace. As a matter of fact, I
like to state things in such a way that not many folks I know
state them. I like to state them in such
a way that makes it so clear you can't mistake what I'm saying.
But the sovereignty of God is not my Savior. And the blood
of Christ, precious as it is, is not my Savior. And the righteousness
of Christ is not my Savior. Oh, no, no, no. God's sovereign,
irresistible grace is not my Savior. My Savior is the righteous God,
Jesus Christ the Lord. I've seen your salvation. Here
he is. It's a person. It's a person. Forgive me for honor shall be
not. Isn't she pretty? Look at that
outfit. And that pretty jacket. Pretty
skirt. Beautiful. But if you ever see
me walk over here someday, and I've got that jacket and skirt
and sweater hanging on a hanger, and I'm standing up here hugging
it and kissing it, go ahead and take me to the funny farm, I've
lost my mind. Those things aren't pretty, they're
pretty on her. You got that? And all these doctrines
that we delight in and love to proclaim and insist upon are
not the Savior. Separated from him, they're nothing. They're nothing. We don't hug
the doctrines. We don't believe in the doctrines. We hug up to the Savior and we
trust him. Understand the difference? Oh, Luke sets him before us in
his great humanity. as that man who has power and
authority over everything. All evil, all sickness, all disease,
all death, all life, all the elements of what men call nature,
he has authority over it all, because this man has received
from his Father all power. as our mediator and substitute,
that he should give eternal life to as many as the Father has
given him." Luke's gospel specifically is
a gospel for sinners. When he gives us our Lord's genealogy,
Matthew began with Abraham and traced his genealogy all the
way up to Joseph. Luke begins with the Lord Jesus. and traces his genealogy through
his mother's side all the way down to Adam and up to God. He says he's the son of Adam,
the son of God. And he is the savior of Adam's
fallen sons. Our Lord Jesus here is described
as being worshipped by shepherds, not by the wise men, but by common
shepherds. And all of the parables he set
before us in his tenderness and compassion, he's the good Samaritan. He shows us his mercy in the
parable of the publican and the Pharisee. He shows us his goodness
and mercy as he speaks of that importunate widow and describes
how God is merciful to sinners who will not give up their plea
for mercy at the throne of grace. Now let me give you the last
thing. I've got to quit. Turn over to Luke 24. In the parable of the great supper,
Luke's the only one who describes that parable and relates this
story, this part of the story. He says, go out in the highways
and hedges and compel him to come in. Compel him to come in. Luke is the only one who seems
to echo through all of his message this word that he gives. It's
done as you said, and yet there's room.