That You May Be Certain of the Gospel

[0:00] a little perspective on things, doesn't it? We get wrapped up in our week and we get wrapped up in all of the things we're dealing with and focused on ourselves and our problems and our issues.

[0:11] And of course, that's just normal life. And we forget how big our God is. How worthy he is.

[0:23] And we take the focus off ourselves and put it upon him. And it puts things back in perspective. So, amen. Take out your Bibles with me, please.

[0:37] And turn to... Drum roll. Gospel of Luke, please. The Gospel of Luke. You will find Luke as the third book of the New Testament.

[0:52] So you have Matthew, then you have Mark, then you have Luke. All right, so Luke, the third book. We're just going to look at his introduction. And actually, Luke is quite unique in several ways.

[1:06] As a Gospel, he is the only one that has a little introduction like this. He's the only one that gives a preface as to why he's writing and how he came to think about even writing the book.

[1:20] So it's a little different from that perspective. It's also different because he's the only Gospel with a sequel. This is book one. And he has a second book called Acts.

[1:34] And we know this because he begins the book of Acts by saying, in the first book I wrote to you. All right? So a lot of unique things about Luke.

[1:44] I'm really looking forward to this because Luke has a unique purpose and goal in his writing. He seeks to write these things for us that you may have certainty about the things which you've been taught.

[2:06] But you may have certainty. We need a little certainty today in these days, do we not? So let's read, before I get going here, let's read the introduction to Luke.

[2:17] Luke chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. If you're able, please stand as I read this little introduction. Again, Luke.

[2:29] The Gospel of Luke chapter 1, verse 1. Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me too, having followed all things closely for some time, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

[3:17] So it reads. Let us pray. Father, give us insight into this man that you called, this man, Father, who was a close associate with Paul, in fact, the brother that was with him to the end.

[3:35] We pray that we might grasp why he wrote, what he wrote, so that, Father, as we walk through his book in the weeks ahead, we might get a fuller understanding of what he's doing for us, so that we too might have certainty of this gospel that we follow.

[3:59] We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. C.S. Lewis.

[4:15] You heard of him? Who wrote Mere Christianity? Heard of that? Pretty well-known book. I always appreciate the way C.S. Lewis comes at things, and if you know about him, you know that he was an atheist.

[4:35] He was a scholar, literary scholar, and an atheist. He did not believe there was a God. But he was a thinker, and he was dealing with the problem.

[4:49] The main problem for him was if there's a God, why is there so much evil in the world? And that just pounded on his mind.

[5:01] He just wrestled with that. So as he's wrestling, I love his description of how he kind of comes to terms with some things. And he starts to talk about who this God of the Bible is.

[5:13] Okay? So he says, now he's coming to the New Testament part of God's story. He says, then comes the real shock. Among these Jews, there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if he was God.

[5:29] He claims to forgive sins. He says he's always existed. He says he's coming to judge the world at the end of time. Now, let us get this clear.

[5:41] Among pantheists like the Indians, anyone might say that he was a part of God or one with God. There would be nothing very odd about it. But this man, since he was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God.

[5:57] God, in their language, meant the being outside the world who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was quite simply the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips.

[6:16] One part of the claim that tends to slip past us unnoticed, because we have heard it so often that we no longer see it for what it amounts to, I mean, the claim to forgive sins, any sins.

[6:34] Now, unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offenses against himself. You tread on my toe and I forgive you.

[6:47] You steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man himself unrobbed and untrodden on who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men's toes and stealing other men's money?

[7:06] He unhesitatingly behaved as if he was the party chiefly concerned. The person chiefly offended on all offenses.

[7:17] This makes sense only if he really wasn't. His love is wounded in every sin. Yet, and this is the strange, significant thing, even his enemies when they read the Gospels do not usually get the impression of silliness or conceit.

[7:39] Still less do unprejudiced readers. Christ says that he is humble and meek and we believe him. Not noticing that if he were merely a man, humility and meekness were the very last characteristics we would attribute to one saying he's God.

[7:58] I'm trying to prevent anyone from saying, I'm trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people have often said about him.

[8:11] I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher but I don't accept his claim to be God. Lewis says, that is the one thing we must not say.

[8:25] A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would be either a lunatic on the level of a man who says he is a poached egg or else he would be the devil of hell.

[8:45] You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the son of God or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool. You can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall to his feet and call him Lord and God.

[9:04] But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us.

[9:19] And he did not intend to. I love the way Lewis talks about this. Okay. But how do we know that this gospel written in this Bible is really true?

[9:41] How do we know that this story is real and not a cleverly devised tale? Do any of you have doubts or uncertainty that the Christian message is really true?

[9:58] true? At some point kind of wonder is this really real? Culture today is very skeptical.

[10:12] They dismiss the Bible. Many say it was written later much, much later and all made up cleverly devised tales.

[10:22] how can we have assurance that the gospel of Jesus Christ truly happened in the way that we read it? It is events over 2,000 years ago.

[10:37] How can we really know? How can we really know that Jesus really was the Son of God, that he really can forgive sins, that he offers a gift of eternal life?

[10:54] How can we know this? Yet Luke claims to write that you may be certain that the things you have been taught are true, that the things fulfilled among us truly did occur.

[11:18] this is what Luke seeks to show all of us who are unsure, especially for the person I think he's writing to.

[11:34] Theophilus is a Greek believer who had some of the story. He has been taught some things, but he's not sure. And being a Gentile, he's coming late into the whole story.

[11:47] Being a Gentile, he would be Greek who would have a background in Greek mythology. He would have a background in Greek pantheism.

[11:59] So he comes across the story of Jesus. There's a new God. Is this another God I just add to my pantheon? Who is this? Where did this story come from?

[12:09] Where did it all begin? Luke and this is what Luke seeks to write in an orderly way and prove that this story is true.

[12:20] So today I just want to introduce this gospel by asking three questions. One, who was Luke? Who is this guy? Two, why did he write? And three, how did he structure this account to prove what he intended to prove?

[12:37] Luke? Okay, so first of all, who's Luke? Who is Luke? Now, did you notice the name Luke in the first four verses? Anybody see Luke in there?

[12:48] I saw the name Theophilus, I didn't see the name Luke. It's anonymous. He does refer to himself, he says in verse three, it seemed good to me too to write a gospel.

[12:59] Well, to you who? All the way through the book of Luke, the gospel of Luke, you will not find the name Luke. same thing in the book of Acts, you will not find the name Luke.

[13:13] Even in those passages where he's the writer of Acts is describing Paul went here and Barnabas went there and all of a sudden he said, then we went over here.

[13:29] And then in the next chapter, then they did this and they did that. And then he'd be back to, oh, then we did this. Who's the we? Whoever wrote Acts was an associate with Paul and traveled with him quite a bit.

[13:43] So who is this Luke? He's not an apostle, but the ancient tradition of the church is absolutely unanimous that it is this man named Luke.

[13:58] So his name appears three times in the New Testament. It appears in the book of Philemon. Anybody know where Philemon is? It's about 24 verses long. Tucked back in there, it's a book from Paul to a man named Philemus.

[14:13] And at the end, Paul says, he talks about all of the people who send greetings. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

[14:31] So we learn Luke is one of fellow workers with Paul. Colossians 4, 14, talks about Luke, the beloved physician. There we learn, okay, he's not only associate of Paul, but he is a physician.

[14:46] What's a physician in the first century? He's a healer. How did he heal people? I don't know. But if he's a physician and interested in healing people, it probably implies that he's a very curious kind of person, that he researches and investigates things like, okay, Paul's got this new injury, how do I solve that?

[15:10] He was with Paul when Paul got beat up a lot, right? I think that's why Paul kind of, Luke, I need you. Bandage me up again. But probably he's an inquisitive man with a very keen mind.

[15:23] But since he's an associate with Paul and a physician, that means he's a medical missionary. the third passage is 2 Timothy 4, I'll get to that in a moment. There are several passages in the book of Acts that I referred to, chapter 16, 20, 21, chapters 27 and 28, where there are the we, called the we sections, where the writer of Acts is talking about traveling with Paul here and there, he was with Paul in the shipwreck, et cetera, which means that he's Paul's companion, that he was an eyewitness from that point on, and if you hang around Paul enough, what do you think happens?

[16:05] You start learning some stuff. What we do find out as we read the book of Luke and Acts is whoever the writer is, he had a rich understanding of Old Testament literature.

[16:23] He has an extensive knowledge, knowledge of the Old Testament. I mean, it just weaves all the way through. He doesn't always quote the Old Testament, he often alludes to it, and you're kind of going, boy, that sounds familiar, boy, that sounds familiar.

[16:39] You look in the cross, okay, Psalms, Isaiah, he's all over, he's got a very rich Old Testament understanding. name. And then the last passage where Luke is mentioned is in 2 Timothy 4.

[16:56] This is the last letter that Paul wrote. This is the very last chapter of Paul's last letter that he wrote before he was executed by Nero. And so Paul is talking about I fought the good fight to finish the course.

[17:12] And in the middle of it he refers to Luke alone is with me. To describe this situation I want to read from R.C.

[17:28] Sproul and his work on the Gospel of Luke. And he Sproul describes a time when he was in Rome and he went to that prison and he went down into that dark prison and he described the experience that he had.

[17:45] So I want you to hear this. This is R.C. Sproul. When I was last in Rome we made a special visit to the Mamertine Prison where the Apostle Paul endured his second and final Roman imprisonment before his execution under that emperor Nero whose nickname was The Beast.

[18:09] The holding cell was situated across the street from the Roman Forum. It was not a large prison but simply a large cistern that had been cut out of the rock and originally had been used to keep a supply of water for the Romans but as history would have it it was emptied of water and turned into a cell for those who were about to be executed.

[18:32] it was a moving experience to go down the stairs into that cistern that dark dank cold wet place where the great apostle was held and presumably where his final letter to Timothy whom he had left behind in Ephesus was written.

[18:56] In that epistle Paul writes these final words now quoting from 2nd Timothy for I'm already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come I have fought the good fight I have finished the race I have kept the faith hence more there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearance Timothy do your best to come to me soon for Demas in love with this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica Crescens has gone to Galatia tied it to Dalmatia Luke alone is with me get Mark and bring him with you remember Mark remember

[19:59] Paul's first experience with Mark I don't want Mark 20 years later bring Mark when you come bring the cloak that I left at Carpus at Troas also the books and above all the parchments this last admonition to Timothy in the New King James version is do your best to come before winter in 2 Timothy 4 Paul essentially tells Timothy come before winter bring the parchments bring my coat and bring Mark because I am alone except for the Lord and for the beloved physician Luke who's Luke clearly a close associate of

[20:59] Paul one who Paul was leaning on at the end one who by his book called the gospel by his name as well as Acts shows that he had learned extensively from Paul as well as his own research is Luke this man Luke the author of this book we call the gospel according to Luke it's very likely we can't prove that beyond a doubt but the ancient church tradition only puts forward one name for this book and it's without any dispute that it is the physician Luke in fact one of our oldest copies of an ancient papyri what the gospel was originally written on don't have very much papyri left very crumbly right called P73 it's the oldest papyri copy we have of the gospel of Luke it includes

[22:03] Luke's name by then this is around 200 AD all the early church fathers named Luke Justin Martyr Irenaeus among others so Luke we'll trust the ancient church for this and we don't really have a reason not to so here's the other thing about who is Luke when does he enter the scene he's not an apostle in fact he's not a first century Christian I mean a first generation Christian he comes on later like Paul did Paul remember Paul wasn't converted until Acts 9 right so he didn't Paul didn't follow Jesus he did see Jesus in person okay so Luke is similar Luke doesn't the we sections in Acts don't happen until Acts 16 so that means that Luke likely didn't come on the scene until the

[23:03] Acts 16 is around 50 AD 20 years after Jesus died okay so we know that because Acts 15 which records the council at Jerusalem when they decided about what do we do about all these Gentiles right do we make the Gentiles get circumcised to be like Jews right they had that decision that was 49 AD so chapter 16 next chapter Luke's coming along so 50 years after so I started thinking about this because I like 50 years after Christ yeah after Christ was born he talks about how he interviewed witnesses right he talked to witnesses!

[23:48] from the beginning Luke alone in chapter 1 and 2 of Luke gives us the birth narrative of John the Baptist we have that nowhere else gives us the account of Gabriel coming to Mary we have that nowhere else gives us the description of Elizabeth and Zachariah right the whole background for John the Baptist Luke chapters 1 and 2 of Luke are quite unique imagine the things we wouldn't have without Luke deciding to run but Luke says he carefully investigated in other words he interviewed eyewitnesses Luke wasn't there when Gabriel came to Mary who would Luke talk to to find out what happened there what eyewitness could Luke talk to to find out the details of Elizabeth Mary etc so by 50 AD how old would

[24:52] Mary be how old was Mary when Jesus was born we'll call that for for adding sake we'll call that year zero it wasn't year zero but we'll call well when Jesus was born how old Mary was young right what do we think let's say she was 20 she was probably around 15 maybe even younger right but let's say she's 20 by 50 AD by time Luke comes along she's how old she's 70 is she likely still around yeah she's likely still around he could interview but she was probably younger than 70 by time Luke's coming around starting to interview so in other words I'm trying to is it legitimate that Luke by the time he came along could have interviewed witnesses who would have been there okay so it's not just a myth so he could say it's certain I talked to

[25:52] Mary talked to I found some of those shepherds that were still around okay now did he did she did he was he able to interview John the Baptist no John the Baptist was killed long before right was he able to interview Zachariah and Elizabeth they were old way back then so they probably be about 180 I don't know probably they're not around still okay but Mary likely would have been and how do we find out about the background of!

[26:25] the Baptist who which disciples were first disciples of John the Baptist became disciples of Jesus who would have known all about John the Baptist James and John Andrew Jesus his first disciples remember John said hey there he is and they left John and started following Jesus okay so what I'm trying to prove to you is Luke this author would have had the opportunity okay to have truly investigated these things all right so here's the more important question second question is why does Luke write his gospel he tells us that right up front in verse four in verse three he says I decided to write an orderly account for you why verse four that you may have certainty you may have certainty certain of what well what subject does he describe look back at verse one he says in as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have what things that have been accomplished among us literally the things that have been fulfilled among us in other words

[27:45] Luke Luke's subject is not just to write the story of Jesus he's not just writing history he's going to make sure about the facts and all those kind of things but he's not just writing history he's writing history that is Bible history that is God history things that have been fulfilled things that have come that God has brought into into account God's story God's plan the fact that as Lewis said here's this man coming along who says he's God who says he's the son of God who says he can forgive sins who says he's coming back again etc this man right this subject and then at the end of verse four he says I want you to have certainty concerning the things you have been taught so whoever this Theophilus is he's somebody that has it is a believer and has some understanding he's been taught somewhat the word anybody ever gone through the catechism no no catechism yeah yeah okay it's not a dirty word

[28:56] I told some Protestants once about I want to take the youth group through the catechism they're like you can't do that it's Catholic I said no it's not Luther started it the Catholics copied!

[29:12] it from Luther Luther thought it'd be a smart thing to get a orderly way to teach people he was a good thing besides it's a biblical word catechize to teach to instruct okay so in other words this is a man Theophilus whoever he is is somebody who has been going through some teachings he's learned some things but he's not sure he's just heard remember he's a Greek man Theophilus everybody know what Theophilus break that word down any linguist here Theophilus Theo God right Theo Phylos Phileo Philadelphia right love right lover of God some some suggest maybe this is a symbolic name that he's writing to all the lovers of God the problem with that is he he adds this other adjective on there excellent

[30:19] Theophilus or noble so it probably is a man of some standing maybe he even financed Luke backed him in the writing of this whole thing in the research that kind of thing possibly I don't know we don't know what we do know is he says this Theophilus has been taught and now Luke is writing to give him more certainty okay telling he knows the gospel story but he doesn't really have certainty that it's a reliable true story because he's a man from the as I said before he's a man from the Greek culture who has come from a like our culture very pluralistic very you know everybody believes all kinds of different things and there's many kinds of gods and you pick your god I pick my god and I have all kinds of gods I've got for this and this but so for Theophilus it's kind of like okay who's this new god I know the story of Zeus and I know the background of Athena but who's this Jesus

[31:21] I don't know the background so it's uncertain especially since this Jesus claims to be nothing like any of those other gods those are limited gods those are gods with a small g those are gods that are still growing those are gods that are not almighty those are gods with problems they're more like superheroes okay this man claims to be above and beyond all way beyond that he's not a Zeus that has to war against some other god he's the kind of person that says I brought it all into being and speaks to demons and they just kind of not a war not a war or speaks to the wind and the sea and they you know like okay this is not this is not your normal small g god okay so

[32:26] Luke is unique is the only gospel the sequel we read the introduction to the book of acts he says this in the first book of the the the same guy first book I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen so so there in Acts 1 he summarizes what the!

[32:52] Luke was all about it's about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day was taken up from his birth to his resurrection and ascension okay so Acts is going to continue that story so what happened next what happened after Jesus gave the gave the orders you know go and make disciples what happened did they do it right so Acts is the story of that what's interesting is the story of Acts ends rather abruptly where Paul is still in prison he's sitting in room why didn't he write about what happened next it doesn't record Paul's death doesn't record Peter's death which would have been shortly after AD 62 when Acts ended so it appears that that's when he finished writing and that's the most logical date for Acts AD 62 which is maybe a year or two after Mark okay so the book of

[33:56] Luke and Acts so is he qualified so verse one look at his sources he has two sources verse one he refers to all the many who have undertaken to compile the narrative so did you know there was many people that wrote about the things that Jesus began to do and teach we have four we have Matthew Mark Luke and John right now Luke's come along historically when only Mark had probably been done most likely Mark was done or available to Luke because it appears Luke pretty much follows Mark fairly closely he just adds big chunks to what Mark had done Matthew similarly but he's saying there was other ones out there and perhaps part of his motivation to writing another gospel so if there's many why write another one right do you have something unique to add you know somebody's writing a book nowadays you you know you're writing what somebody else has already written or do you have something unique to add right what what your what your and so

[35:08] Luke talks about writing an orderly account so perhaps there's other accounts that are just kind of a little bit here a little bit there they could be writings where they've combined some of the sayings of Jesus maybe there's an account of the parables Jesus told or just some of the stories and it's a little bit hodgepodge by what he says I wanted to write an orderly account sounds like okay nobody except for Mark has really put it all together so he wants to put it all together and obviously his major motivation is to give you certainty so I'm going to go and talk to those eyewitnesses so he says in verse three it seemed good to me having followed all things closely for some time to write an orderly account so follow things closely in other words he investigated he researched he searched out how did he do it he read those other accounts so that's one source that he had he had

[36:10] Mark and then he had a whole slew of eyewitnesses I got to go over to Nazareth because I got to meet with Mother Mary we're going to have an interview and I'm going to be there a few weeks because she got a lot to tell by the way in Luke chapter 2 remember he talks about how Mary stored up all these things in her heart how do you know that he talked to Mary he talked to Mary that's how he knew that so he was researching all these eyewitnesses obviously would have been Mary perhaps some other folks that were around that from the very beginning obviously he has all the apostles to talk to so by time you come to what Mark describes now remember Mark is the first gospel written Mark gives no birth narratives!

[37:09] that in and pretty much everything from the end of Mark of Luke 9 to Luke 19 is pretty unique to Luke there's about 10 chapters there he filled in a whole bunch of stuff right there good Samaritan a lot of parables some of the stuff we don't have anywhere so his investigation he checks the facts he's researching he's interviewing eyewitnesses he's verifying he's tracing back right to find out how all these came to be he's verifying with those who have been there he provides a lot of unique details he is a historian and then finally his goal verse four is that you may have certainty you may have confidence that you might know that these things what I'm telling you in the gospel Luke is trustworthy reliable it's not a cleverly devised tale it's not an opinion it's not what liberal scholars today say oh the gospels that we have they're all written centuries later they're made up by the church you know how to fit the story it's like it's too easy to research and find out that these guys are just lying okay remember when what was that book the

[38:31] Da Vinci Code remember when that came out that guy he wrote in the beginning of his book right said okay this is fictional but it's based on history he talks about how Jesus had a lover and blah blah blah you know he's like dude it's easy to check this out so whatever his name brown he's a liar blatant liar okay it's too easy to check it out historically okay it's too easy these documents go back to the first century the copies that we have the papyri I just mentioned that has the gospel look on 8200 I mean can you imagine a papyri that's still around that's 18 or what year are we in now yeah we're we're oh we're still 2000 right we're still

[39:32] I was going to say we're 2023 I was thinking wait we're in the 23rd century no we're not wait it's pretty old okay so this tells us how to read Luke as well if he's written that we might have certainty then that kind of tells us how to read Luke to look for how he's showing us to be certain okay he's trying to strengthen our faith and give us assurance and trust that this Jesus that Lewis talks about this Jesus that suddenly shows up is really the true son of God and he truly did do what he did and people saw and heard what he did and wrote it wrote it down and so Luke compiled it all so last thing I want you to show you just fairly briefly even though it looks intimidating perhaps the back of your outline how does he structure I just want to show you

[40:33] I don't I'm not going to try to go over all of this how is Luke's gospel structured as he writes in verse three he says! He took some time to do this to write an orderly account for you to write point by point what happened how it happened what was said how people felt why it's significant and because it's true why does it matter to us so every story he tells from Luke 1 on to Luke 24 is not just a record of events but he includes the significance all through it he alludes to the Old Testament continually and so in this outline here you have on the back of your outline I wanted to kind of reveal that a little bit so he unfolds the story in five parts okay chapters 1 and 2 is the preface we just read the preface and then the beginning so beginning in

[41:38] Luke 1 5 he says what in the days of Herod king of Judah there was a priest named Zechariah and Elizabeth and the birth of John the Baptist right and then he goes on in chapter one to talk about Mary and the angel visiting Mary and then Mary visiting Elizabeth and all these things that came about in the first two chapters okay so you have the preface and beginning what's interesting is Luke lays out this parallel between John the Baptist and Jesus so in chapters one and two you have the birth of John the Baptist and then you have the birth of Jesus you have Luke one and two you have oh the significance of John the Baptist Zechariah talks about how this he's going to be the prophet of the Gabriel talking to Mary about who is this son you're going to have oh he will be great he will be the son he will be given the throne of his father

[42:42] David oh oh and he will have an eternal kingdom oh can you imagine Mary taking that in I don't know how she took that in so the significance in other words so then you have the so that's chapters one two chapters three and four the preparation for ministry again you have parallel between John the Baptist and Jesus John is fading away Jesus is the one coming right and then it gets kind of geographical the next three sections are the main sections of the gospel book from chapter 4 14 to 9 you have the Galilean ministry Jesus doing his ministry up and around the sea of Galilee right his preaching and just like in the gospel of Mark things take a change as soon as there is a confession about who Jesus is and when Jesus gets up on the mountain and says who do you say that I am Peter makes his confession and from that point on things change and so from so the fourth section of

[43:48] Luke chapters 951 to almost the end of 19 is the journey to Jerusalem and this is the section in Luke that's quite unique most of this section is unique to Luke he is rejected during this journey and he talks about this new way the way of the cross and then the final section is when he arrives in Jerusalem the end of chapter 19 through the end this is his suffering death and resurrection that's a passion story so Luke kind of goes from this beginnings up in Nazareth and Galilee and then the Galilean ministry then the road to Jerusalem and then Jerusalem so he's just kind of given the orderly account here he is up here now once he's on his journey he's set he's ready to go to Jerusalem he's like I gotta go I gotta go I gotta go I gotta go and this is what I'm gonna do this is what's gonna happen when I get there okay so that's

[44:50] Luke's focus everything in between so on your outline you have a whole bunch of references there and what those are are show where Luke shows the significance of the event okay so for example in Luke chapter 1 let's look at this one 26 Luke 1 26 where the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city in Galilee to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph okay so when the angel comes to Mary now look at verse 30 what does he tell Mary Mary Mary's disturbed obviously the angel appears she's disturbed right he tells her verse 30 don't be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Yehoshua he will be great and he will be called the son of the most high the Lord your

[45:50] God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom there will be no end what an announcement he he didn't he didn't say he didn't say oh you have a son okay great woo you know pre ultrasound and of course now this is Mary who hasn't gotten married yet this is Mary who hasn't been with Joseph yet so how was she pregnant right and the angel answers that of course but I want you so even there he gives the significance not just that you're having a son you should call him Jesus but here's why he's called Jesus and here's who who's the identity of this son you're going to have he's not just some some new prophet he is going to be the son of the most high he is going to have the throne of his father David and he will he will by the way fulfill!

[46:46] the promise to Samuel where that promise was fulfilling so you go through all those how much time do I want to take an hour and do all this I didn't hear any notes okay I'm going to go so under the second section you have John the Baptist in chapter 3 of John right when Luke introduces John what does he say chapter 3 verse 4 he comes with a baptism of repentance as is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet and he quotes interestingly he doesn't quote Isaiah but he quotes Psalm 40 so I don't know if you got the reference wrong but he's showing that biblical significance same thing with Jesus the Messiah the last chapter the last half of chapter 3 what do we have what do we have from

[47:48] Luke chapter 3 23 to the end what do you have in what is that a genealogy whose genealogy Jesus who was supposedly the son of Joseph but we know by fact because of what Luke told us he's not technically the son of Joseph because he was born of a virgin he's the son of Mary which by the way this is actually Mary's genealogy because if you compare it to the one in Matthew which is Joseph genealogy we got a difference at David both go to David one goes through David's son Solomon that's Matthew one goes to David's son Nathan that's Mary both Joseph and Mary are in the genealogy from Adam through Noah through

[48:48] Abraham Isaac Jacob Judah right Boaz David etc etc etc etc both so he's got a physical tie to the promised David and the paternal royal tie because Joseph took him as his son interesting isn't it so anyway you go through all of these in when Jesus begins his preaching in chapter 4 he says I'm now fulfilling the scripture that is in Isaiah 61 when he tells of his mission in chapter 9 he foretells that he will go to Jerusalem he'll be betrayed he'll be he will suffer he will be killed and then on the third day he will rise again so Jesus keeps putting his mission before them and just as you go along on the journey to

[49:49] Jerusalem he reveals some new coming and then in chapter 24 this is what you know right in chapter 24 of Luke Jesus has raised from the dead and he starts appearing to his disciples right Luke includes for us the story that we have nowhere else where Jesus appears to the two men walking to Emmaus right he's all of a sudden they're talking to him and their ears are burning and all this kind of stuff and he says to them in 24 25 because they're saying hey haven't you heard about all this

[50:52] Jesus stuff haven't you they don't recognize that Jesus is with them and telling the stranger that haven't you recognized all this and then Jesus said to them verse 25 oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself wouldn't you love to be there okay start with Genesis 1 let's go to Exodus 5 you know can you imagine going through all the scriptures that must have been a bit of a meeting don't you think and then later in chapter 24 he appears to the to the 11 apostles right in the upper room he says basically the same thing to them in chapter 24 verse 44 he said to them these are my words that I spoke to you while

[51:52] I was still with you right this is a new material this is I'm reviewing here what I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must understand the scriptures because till that point they're like huh I'll get it no he's supposed to be the messiah sit on the throne and we're supposed to take care of Rome he's supposed to be like David right supposed to conquer Goliath and you know and we got a physical kingdom so now he explains it okay guys got it wrong no no no no David did that I'm different I'm a much bigger king my realm is not just this little territory in Israel okay it's like not even a very big country no I'm the king of kings and so he again he opened their minds understand scriptures he said to them thus it is written that the

[53:00] Christ should suffer on the third day and on the third day rise from the dead and the repentance and forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem you eleven men are witnesses of these things John brings up witnesses Interesting John John Luke I'm going to have trouble you're going to have to auto correct for me when I say other names I mean Luke I got to get used to Luke Luke begins talking about witnesses and he ends the gospel quoting Jesus talking about witnesses!

[53:37] And guess how the book of Acts begins You shall be my witnesses! Right? Starting here in Jerusalem through Samaria etc.

[53:49] etc. Luke is focused on eyewitnesses because eyewitnesses verify what really happened So Luke tells us the story of Jesus but it's much more than mere history of facts he gives us the significance the things that have been fulfilled among us this is about God's purpose and God's plan His burden is to give us assurance that all that Jesus said and did is true it's reliable and trustworthy it's not made up myth it's not opinion of people who live centuries later this is certainty so how much certainty can we have being 20 centuries later right I can't talk to that eyewitness I can't talk to Mary

[54:49] I can't even talk to Luke how much certainty do we have now Luke's writing when somebody Theophilus can go and okay let me check your sources and by the way since the ancient church had no issue with Luke it means that these sources had been vetted these sources had been authenticated but again we're at a point where if you want absolute physical evidence what are you going to do how do you prove that God exists is there evidence that God exists absolutely it's all over the place can you scientifically verify that pretty much pretty much heavens declare right only a holy God can make all of this and make kings of the earth bow and bring a rebellious sinner out of his rebellion to embrace this

[56:06] God and his son so can I can Luke give us absolute certainty depends on your presuppositions Lewis started with a presupposition that if there was a God there can't be a God because there's so much evil his presupposition that God must be according to his definition but then he got thinking about where did I get the idea of justice where did I even get the idea to evaluate what's good and bad huh good thinker isn't he he recognizes his presuppositions then he questions them and he goes back traces and then he can go forward so Luke was an early eyewitness what he tells us is that he investigated he researched he interviewed the original witnesses and he gave he had the claim that he could give certainty to these messages to this gospel how do we prove it by changed lives one you know intuitively there is a

[57:40] God you know it doesn't matter how much you deny that you know that right Paul says in Romans 1 we know that and if we don't want to know we suppress it and we twist it and that kind of thing but we all know and if we know he's a God who is not just loving and forgiving and merciful and all the things we want him to be but he's also this God who's holy and righteous and good who is only a holy God then how do I have that relationship with him when I want the loving forgiving part but he's holy and righteous and I can't stand before him when his glory is a consuming fire how do I do that and Luke tells us by sending this man as Lewis called him who talked as if he was God who said he could forgive sins who said he was always existent claims to be the very son of God who lives a perfect life and dies in our place do you believe that is that a myth is that a cleverly devised tale by the way what cleverly devised myth ever came up with something so what do we call it non-human wisdom kind of stuff doesn't make us look good at all let me close something

[59:17] R.C. Sproul wrote again in his commentary he said historians have sometimes been skeptical about the biblical writers and in the early part of the 20th century a British atheist historian William Mitchell Ramsey set out to debunk the truth claims of the gospels he decided to follow the alleged footsteps footsteps of the apostle Paul throughout his missionary journeys going to all the places that the archaeologists have examined Dr. Ramsey was converted to Christianity along the way because he discovered that every time a spade of dirt was turned over in those days some historical aspect of the gospel was verified and authenticated who'd have thought Ramsey and other secular historians have said that Luke apart from inspiration apart from the divine assistance that he enjoyed was the most accurate historian of the entire ancient world is he credible he's credible is he reliable that's what we're going to decide in this journey through

[60:40] Luke does he prove his point he's got a lot of help by the way because he's not just writing on his own he's writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit let's pray Father we thank you for this book of Luke we thank you for the man that you called to do something different than Mark did something different than John or Matthew did to write from a perspective of a historian a researcher an investigator one who wanted to be certain but obviously one who was carried along by the Holy Spirit who as Paul said to Timothy all scriptures breathed out by God and this is part of that scripture so we thank you

[61:40] Lord prepare us for this journey we pray that you change us that you encourage us that you strengthen our faith that we learn some things about Jesus that we haven't thought about or learned before and may we see your amazing hand through the whole process as Luke wants us to see we pray in Christ's name amen