Take your Bibles with me this morning and go to the book of Luke. Luke 1.
We are starting this morning on a study through the book of Luke. It will very likely take me years to get through this book. I've already preached through Matthew, Mark, and John, and each of those took at least a year. Luke is the longest of the bunch.
What I want to do this morning is to look at just the first four verses. Luke 1:1-4. And give you an introduction to the book. So bear with me this morning.
[!bible] Luke 1:1-4 - KJV
- Forasmuch 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.
These verses are the introduction to the book of Luke. If you were reading a novel or a biography, you could expect to find a prologue—a little introductory note from the author. That is what this is. It's the prologue to the book.
I don't know about you, but I tend to skip the prologue. I try to get right to the meat of the book when I'm reading something. But often, there is important stuff there, and this prologue was inspired by the Holy Spirit, so we are going to look at it today.
We are also going to talk about the author of this book some today, and the reason this book was written. So let's pray, and we'll jump into our message this morning.
Pray
I want to start this morning by asking a question: "Why do we need four gospels?" Why Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?
As you are thinking about that, let me talk about one of my favorite things for a minute: biographies.
I like to read biographies and books of history. Right now, I'm reading a book about the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and a serial killer who took advantage of it. It's an interesting book. It's so interesting they are making a TV series out of it.
I have read scores of biographies over the years and sometimes, I've read multiple biographies of the same person.
For instance, I've read multiple biographies of Abraham Lincoln. I've read multiple biographies of Charles Spurgeon. I've read multiple biographies of Ronald Reagan.
Some people are just so popular, and their life is so impactful, that lots of people want to write about them. For instance, I went on Amazon and found 14 different biographies of Steve Jobs on the main page!
Now, why would so many people write a biography of Steve Jobs?
Well, to start, to appeal to different audiences. Some of these biographies were 900 pages long, and some were 50 pages long. Some were written for children, some were written for academics, some were written for computer nerds.
Another reason so many of these biographies are written is because of the unique voice of the writer. Sometimes people write biographies because they had personal history with the subject. It's not uncommon to read a biography written by a man's son or his surviving wife. They obviously have a unique perspective to share.
Other people are just really good at researching and writing biographies. There are masters of the craft. Walter Isaacson, David McCullough, Erik Lawson, Stephen Ambrose, Ron Chernow, Nathaniel Philbrick. I'll read just about anything those guys write because they are just really, really good at writing biographies.
So what does this have to do with the book of Luke?
Well, why are there four gospels? I mean, it's kind of unique. There really aren't any other parts of the Bible that overlap like that. I mean, 1-2 Chronicles and 1-2 Kings have some overlap, but nothing like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
So why are there four gospels?
Because Jesus Christ was a lot more important than Steve Jobs. There has never been a more important and impactful person in the whole world than Jesus Christ.
So, of course, multiple people would want to tell His story.
But again, it's not like any story. You can get inspired by reading about Steve Jobs or Ronald Reagan, but those stories aren't going to change your life—they don't offer eternal salvation. Not so with the story of Christ.
The story of Christ is the gospel. It's the most important story in the whole world. It is the focal point and the theme of the whole Bible.
And so, it needs to be told in lots of different ways and for lots of different audiences and shared by lots of different authors who each bring their experience and personality to bear.
When you look at Matthew, Matthew was written by an eyewitness. Matthew was an apostle. He was also very Jewish and wrote the book with a Jewish audience in mind.
Mark was not an apostle. But he was a lifelong companion of Peter and lived most of his life in the Roman world—he seems to have written Mark from the sources of Peter with a Roman audience in mind.
John was an eyewitness. He was the disciple who leaned on Jesus at the Last Supper. But John had a unique way of viewing the world. He viewed everything, it seems, in light of eternity. So in John, God used John to share his experiences of Christ, and he wrote with this eternal mindset.
But the book of Luke is different. Luke was not an apostle. He was not an eyewitness.
In fact, he tells us that here in verse 2. He wasn't one of the people who saw Jesus. He was one of the people to whom the good news of Jesus was delivered.
Luke is an interesting character. He actually wrote one-third of the New Testament. If you put the book of Luke and the book of Acts together—the two books he wrote—you get 52 chapters, which is roughly one-third of the New Testament.
We know that Luke was a companion of the apostle Paul. We know that he started with Paul on his second missionary journey and stayed with him his whole life. All the stories in Acts—Luke was there. But do you know what? Not one time in Luke or in Acts does Luke ever talk about himself.
Luke was also a Gentile. We know that. He had an extensive Greek education. The books of Luke and Acts have the highest vocabulary in the New Testament. In fact, the four verses we read this morning aren't even written in Koine (or common) Greek—they were written in classical Greek. Luke was educated. Paul calls him a "beloved physician," so he was a doctor of some kind.
And that's it. That's all we know about Luke. He was a Gentile convert, a doctor, and a long-time missionary companion of Paul.
So what do we make of these four verses this morning? What do they tell us about the book we are starting out on? Let me give you three points, and I'll quit today.
Let's read our text again. It's just four verses.
[!bible] Luke 1:1-4 - KJV
- Forasmuch 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.
As I was thinking about how to approach this introduction, the words that stuck out to me are the words in verse 1: those things which are most surely believed among us.
What is Luke doing here? He is announcing his subject. He is going to write about the things that we all believe. That is his subject.
So I want to talk about "the things that we believe" today, because that is what Luke was writing about...the things which we most surely believe.
So Luke announces his subject—the things we believe—but then what does he write about for 28 chapters? The life of Jesus. He writes about the life of Christ.
And that brings me to my first point...
Listen, the most important things for you to believe are about Christ. It's all about Him.
There is a reason why we have four gospels. Because Jesus' life, death, and resurrection are the most important things for us to believe.
What is Christianity all about? Is it all about culture? Is it all about politics? Is it all about holding onto the things they are trying to change? Is it all about having morals and being good people?
As important as many of those things are, Christianity isn't about any of those things. Christianity is about having a relationship with Jesus Christ that is based on faith.
The gospel—the good news—is that Jesus came. He came as God robed in human flesh. 100% man. 100% God. He came through a virgin birth. He came to dwell among men and to live with them.
As the God-man, He was able to do what no man has ever done: He totally fulfilled the law of God. He was the perfect man, the totally complete man, the man that satisfied God.
But He was rejected. He was rejected by His own people. He was brutally murdered on a cross, and while He was on that cross, God poured out His wrath for the sins of mankind—for my sin and for your sin.
Jesus died on the cross after taking God's wrath for our sin, and they buried Him. But listen, three days later, He rose again in triumph over sin and the grave, and then He ascended into Heaven.
All of this is what is recorded in Luke:
Listen, if you die and meet God, and fall under His judgment, it will be because of your sins. Every one of us has sinned and is, in our natural state, under the judgment of God. Whether you are Jeffrey Dahmer or Mother Teresa, Hitler or Albert Schweitzer, you are a sinner, and your sins will be punished by a holy God.
But God has given you a way of salvation.
[!bible] John 3:16 - KJV 16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
In a sense, if you stand before God and are punished in hell, it will be because you didn't believe the gospel—you didn't believe in Christ. God gave you a free gift of salvation, and you rejected it.
Don't do that. Trust Christ today. Believe the gospel. Admit you are a sinner before God. Give up on the foolish notion that you can somehow save yourself. Trust Jesus and Jesus alone for your salvation.
But listen, Jesus isn't just the start of "the things we believe." Jesus isn't just the ABCs; He isn't something we find out about and move on from. Jesus is who we are becoming.
[!bible] 2 Corinthians 3:18 - KJV 18. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
The Bible teaches that as we look at Christ, we become like Him. That is our goal.
Ephesians 4 makes this even more explicit. It says:
[!bible] Ephesians 4:13 - KJV 13. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Then in verse 15, it says:
[!bible] Ephesians 4:15 - KJV 15. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
So Christ is not just the beginning of what we believe. We don't just learn about Christ so we can become Christians. We are to keep learning about Christ and grow into Him.
This Man who Luke so eloquently tells us about—this Jesus—the "Son of Man" as He calls Himself 25 times in this book—this is who God wants to make us like, and learning about Him and looking at Him is what God uses to accomplish that.
So the first thing I want to point out is that "the things we believe" are all about Jesus.
But there are two more things I think these four verses teach us about "the things we believe." The second thing is...
Look at our text again. Look at what Luke said in verses 3-4:
[!bible] Luke 1:3-4 - KJV 3. 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, 4. That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.
I want you to notice the phrases "perfect understanding," "to write unto thee in order," and "know the certainty."
Luke was not some casual writer. He was educated. He was intelligent. He was meticulous.
As the companion of Paul, he spent at least two years in and around Jerusalem. What I think (and obviously I'm not alone here) is that he spent his time while Paul was imprisoned in Jerusalem conducting interviews with the eyewitnesses who were still alive at the time.
He talked to Mary. He talked to Zacchaeus. He talked to the disciples.
Much like a great biographer would today, he took copious notes. He checked and rechecked. He wanted to make sure that his story was right and complete.
It's possible that Theophilus was a Christian patron, a very wealthy person who recognized Luke's talents as a historian and funded his writing.
But this book wasn't done in some willy-nilly way. This book is a serious historical document. Actually far more serious than the "great" works of history written by others at the time.
Listen, let me quickly make this point and then I'll move on: to be a Christian, you must believe. You have to believe what the Bible teaches you about Christ. There is no way around it.
And there are those who think that to believe is to commit intellectual suicide. They think that Christianity is a simple religion for the simple-minded.
And do you know what? They are right about Christianity being for the simple-minded. You can be a small child and come to Christ. You can be mentally handicapped and come to Christ. You can find Christ with a very low IQ. You can come to Christ with no education. Praise the Lord for that.
But it is not true that believing Christianity makes you dumb. It is not true that only the small-minded become believers. Some of the greatest minds who ever lived were faithful Christians.
Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell, George Washington Carver, Werner Heisenberg, and many, many others who contributed to our understanding of the world were all devout Christians—they were believers.
Far from shutting off intelligence, wisdom, and creativity, when we know God and believe, we open up true wisdom, intelligence, and creativity. Luke is an example of that.
But there is one more thing I want to point out about "the things we believe":
Why do we need four different gospels? Well, I told you before that God used the unique experiences and talents of the four writers to give us a more complete view of Christ.
But I also told you that each gospel is tailored to a different audience.
The book of Luke was written by a Gentile and obviously written for a Gentile audience.
Luke contains an obvious emphasis on Jesus' love for the outsiders and the Gentiles. One of the points Luke is obviously trying to make is that Jesus wasn't just for the Jews, but Jesus was for all people.
Jesus is for all of them. Let me just show you one example. Look at Luke 4.
In this chapter, Jesus is preaching at His home synagogue in the heart of Israel to a bunch of Jews. Look at what Jesus says in verse 25:
[!bible] Luke 4:25-27 - KJV 25. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26. But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 27. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Did you get that? Jesus went into the heart of Israel and said, "You know, God showed special favor to these faithful Gentiles. There were lots of Jews in need, and God helped a widow woman from Lebanon and a leper from Syria."
And do you know how they received that? They tried to throw Jesus off a cliff. His own church. His own synagogue!
Church, we are here today because we believe some things about Jesus:
Studying this book will strengthen what we believe, and I'm excited to do it.
Let's stand for the invitation.