#1 Lu.
1:1-4 THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE
Introduction:
We have just closed out a series of messages from the
Gospel According To Mark. Today we begin a new series from
The Gospel According to Luke. This is the third of what is
called
the synoptic gospels. The word synoptic
means that
they are alike or at least very
similar in their style and
content.
We know very little about Luke.
He does not claim to
have been an eye witness of the
life and ministry of Jesus,
but claims to have personally
heard many of the eye witnesses
speak
and he claimed to have personally read and studied the
writings
of others who wrote about the life and ministry of
Jesus.
It is believed by most Bible scholars that Luke was not
of Hebrew nationality. It is believed that prior to becoming
a Christian, he was a
proselyte Jew. That is, even though he
was a Gentile, he had joined
the Jewish religion. There are
no direct statements to that
effect in the Scripture, but
there
is much evidence upon which to base those conclusions.
For example, when he wrote about the Jews
and their language,
he never referred to "our
language," but "their language."
Yet he showed himself much more familiar
with Jewish customs
that was the average Gentile.
As to his profession, Luke was a doctor.
In Colossians
had good reason to call him
that. Luke traveled with Paul
during
much of his missionary journeys.
"The Gospel According To Luke" is not the only book of
the Bible that Luke wrote. He also wrote the Book of Acts.
More technically it is called, "The
Acts of The Apostles."
The two books that he wrote go hand in
hand. One is a
supplement
to the other. The first could be called
"The Acts
of Jesus Christ" and the
other "The Acts of The Apostles."
Actually, the word, teachings, could be
added into the names.
The could be called "The Acts and
Teachings of Jesus Christ"
and "The Acts and
Teachings of the Apostles."
II. The purpose of Luke in writing this
book
In our text Luke explained the purpose of his writing.
Christianity was still in its very early
stages and at that
time there was still very little
written about the life and
ministry
of Jesus Christ explaining the basis for the
Christian beliefs and practices. The Gospel of Matthew had
been written at that time, but
apparently Luke had not read
it and was not familiar with
it. Likewise the Gospel of Mark
was written, but neither was
Luke familiar with it.
Apparently those first two gospel records
were circulating
among
the Jewish churches and not among the Gentile churches
where
Luke was. The Gospel of John had not
been written at
that time.
At any rate, Luke decided that a new and much more
complete
record of the life of Jesus was needed than those
that he was familiar with. Apparently it was the Holy Spirit
of God which led him to this
conclusion and to the conclusion
that he was the man to write
this new book.
V. 1, "Forasmuch as many have taken
in hand to set
forth
in order a declaration of those things which are most
surely
believed among us." The word, many,
indicates that
Luke had in mind more than just the
gospels of Matthew and
Luke.
In fact, he apparently did not have those two inspired
writings
in mind at all. What Luke had in mind
was the
writings
of many other men who were not inspired of the Holy
Spirit and yet they had attempted to set forth in writing
the events and teachings of the
life of Jesus. Luke said
that they those men had
attempted to put in writing the
things
that were most surely believed among those early
Christians.
Now please note, Luke does not in the least criticize
those
men for attempting to produce such a writing not does
he seek to discredit anything
which they had written.
However, judging by what he did say, their
writings were not
at all complete. One writer would present a part of the
story
and another writer would present another part of the
story,
but no one writer presented the whole story.
V. 2, "Even as they delivered them unto us, which from
the beginning were
eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word."
Luke says that the earlier writers had
delivered in writing
or set down in writing the things
which they had heard from
the eyewitnesses of the
ministry of Jesus. The men would
hear the Apostle Peter or the
Apostle Matthew or the Apostle
James or some other apostle and then
attempt to write down
what the apostle had said. It was no wonder that their
writings
were incomplete. They may have been
completely
accurate,
but they were incomplete. No apostle
would tell
the whole story at any one
given time or place. He would
only tell a part of the story at
one time. Thus the writings
of those who wrote what they
had said were incomplete. They
did not tell the whole story.
Another thing that made their writings insufficient was
that the various speakers whose
speeches were being recorded
by those earlier writers did not
in sequence the whole gospel
story. If one speaker had started at the beginning
and told
a part of the story and then
each speaker who followed had
taken
up where the other left off and continued until the
whole
story was given then an accurate and complete record
could
have been made. But as it was, there was
no way in the
world
these writers could write down the whole story----at
least
not in any logical order. Most all of
the events of
Christ's life were given and most of the
teachings of Christ
were given, but they were not in
any particular order. And
no one writing of any man gave
the whole picture.
V. 3, "It seemed good to me also, having had perfect
understanding
of all things from the very first, to write..."
In our King James version
Luke said that he had perfect
understanding
of all these things that all these men had
written. The original Greek language here gives us a
little
deeper
insight into this statement. What Luke
said is that
he had made a thorough
investigation and study of all of
these
things which all of these men had written.
Now what Luke proposes to do is to separate all of these
events
into their proper sequence and to set them in a
logical
order of subject matter so that they would be easier
to understand and so that a
more complete picture could be
given. V. 3-4, "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." It
seemed like a good
idea to Luke that since he had
made a thorough search and
study
of all of those earlier documents and since he was such
a close friend and associate
with the Apostle Paul with whom
he could consult, that he
should put down in writing in one
record
all of the major events of the life and ministry of
Jesus Christ and all of the major
teachings of Christ.
III. About Theophilus
It also seemed good to Luke for him to put these
writings
in the hands of his very good friend, Theophilus.
Theophilus
was also a Gentile Christian. Apparently
he was a
good Christian who was reading
and searching for a proper
understanding
of the life and teachings of Christ.
Luke
wanted
to be of assistance to him in his search for a right
understanding
of the Christian way. What better thing could
he do than to help this man to
know more about Jesus and the
things
that Jesus did and taught?
Apparently he put his writings into the hands of the
right
man. Not only did Theophilus
read and study these
writings
for himself, but he passed them along to the
churches
near and far. It was through his efforts
and by the
grace
of God that this writing of Luke has been preserved for
us to read and study today.
IV. About Holy Spirit inspiration
But there is one aspect of his writing which is very
important. The writing that he produced was written by
inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God. Luke does not
come
right
out and say so, but what he does say most certainly
lead us to that conclusion. Note again in verse 4 that Luke
told Theophilus
that by a study of this writing he could know
of a certainty concerning the
events of the life of Jesus
Christ.
He could know of a certainty regarding the Christian
principles
that he believed and taught. Furthermore
all of
the early church fathers
believed that he wrote by
inspiration. They accepted his writing and spread it far
and
near. They considered it equal in every respect to
the
gospels
of Matthew and Mark. We can be sure of
one thing.
If his writing had inaccurate, if it had
been filled with
erroneous
teachings, if it had not been inspired of God, then
the Apostle Paul would not have
hesitated to say so. It is
almost
certain that Luke let Paul read what he wrote and that
Paul sanctioned what he wrote. Luke was so closely
associated
with him in his travels that it is almost certain
that Paul read and sanctioned
them.
So now, after Luke completed his work, there were three
New Testament books which were inspired of
God and ready for
use in the early churches. Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John
was not yet written. Matthew at first was spread primarily
among
churches which were made up of a Jewish background.
Mark was written at
the churches of
writer
of the gospels and was at first spread among the
various
Gentile churches.
V.
About the book itself
The special differences in the Gospel of Luke made it
especially
suitable for spread among the Gentiles.
For
instance,
The emphasis in this book is not upon Jesus being
the Messiah of the Jews, as it
was in Matthew. The emphasis
is upon Jesus being the Savior
of all mankind. In Luke 19:10
we are told that Jesus came to
seek and to save that which
was lost. That speaks of all mankind regardless of
nationality. Jesus is not the Savior of Jews only. He is
the Savior of all who will look
to Him and trust in Him.
But now let us take a brief look at the entire book.
The book is centered around the life and
ministry and
teachings
of Jesus Christ. Luke will tell us about
the birth
and ministry of the John the
Baptist, who is the forerunner
of Jesus Christ. But John, in himself, is not the important
one. Jesus is the one of importance.
Luke will tell us about the birth of Jesus into this
world. He will give us greater detail about the
birth of
Jesus than any other writer of Scripture. Luke will tell us
about
the early boyhood of Jesus. Again, he
will tell us
more about the boyhood of Jesus
than any other writer of
Scripture. Luke will tell us about the many parables
which
Jesus gave and again, he will tell us more
than any other
writer
of Scripture. Luke will tell us about
the prophecies
of Jesus Christ concerning the
end-time events. In this he
is much like the writers of
the other synoptic gospels.
Finally, Luke, like the others will tell
us about the
crucifixion
and resurrection of Jesus.
A study of the Gospel According to Luke
should convince
any open-minded unsaved person
that Jesus is the Christ, the
Savior of men and that he can be saved by
repenting of his
sin and trusting Jesus as his
Savior.
A study of the Gospel According to Luke should
enlighten
any open-minded Christian as to what the teachings
of Jesus Christ really are and
should do a lot to ground him
in the doctrines that were
once delivered to the saints.
A study of the Gospel According to Luke should enlighten
any open-minded Christian as to
the kind of life that Jesus
Christ would have us to live here in this
world.
It writings can be believed with all confidence. We,
like Theophilus,
can know of certainty that what we believe
is in keeping with the
teachings of Jesus Christ Himself.
VI. About you
I want to challenge you to set yourself a goal to not
miss any of these messages in
the whole book. And if that is
just not possible, then I want
to challenge you to the next
best thing. Do not miss any more times than is absolutely
necessary
and when you do miss, sign your name to the tape
list on the vestibule and listen
to those messages.
Furthermore, I want to challenge you to examine your own
soul honestly before God in
heaven and ask yourself the
question,
"Am I saved?" If you are not
saved, this book has
a special message for you
about Jesus Christ that can make
the difference between heaven
and hell for you. You see, God
in heaven loves you and wants
you to be saved. God does not
want you to go to hell. God sent Jesus into this world to
die on the cross to suffer for
your sins so that He could
save your soul. Please do not reject the gospel message.
Please believe what the writers of the
Holy Scripture have
said about Jesus being the Savior
of men. Please call upon
the Lord Jesus Christ from the
depths of your heart and ask
Jesus to have mercy upon your soul. Ask Him to save you and
to keep you out of hell. Trust Him to save you. The Bible
promises
that if you will trust in Him He will save you.
I will assure you of one thing.
There has never yet
been any man, woman, boy, or
girl who has ever trusted in
Jesus who has regretted doing so. If you will trust in
Jesus, you will be forever glad that you
did. If you will
trust
in Jesus, you will be just as glad as I am that I
trusted
in Him. If you will trust in Jesus, you
will be just
as glad as these other
Christians here that they have trusted
Him. If you will trust in Jesus, you will be just
as glad as
Matthew, Mark and Luke were that they
trusted in Him.
But if you are ever going to trust in Him, if you are
ever going to get saved, there
must be the time when you will
say to yourself, "I am not
going to put it off any longer. I
am going to get this matter
settled with God today. I am
going
to get this matter settled with God right now."
Won't you call on Him and trust in Him right now? Who
will do that right now? What man, woman, boy or girl will
trust
in Jesus Christ right now?