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This morning, we begin our verse-by-verse study of the Gospel of Luke, and we are going to be looking at the first four verses in a few minutes. Now we are going to embark upon a wonderful expositional journey of this gospel, and we are all going to be changed by it. And the reason why is because it is the inspired Word of God that changes us. That's what the Spirit of God uses primarily. In fact, in Second Timothy 3:16, you will recall what the Apostle Paul tells us that

"All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

And of course, my responsibility as a pastor teacher is to rightly divide the Word of God to clearly explain what it says, what it means, and how we are to apply it to our lives so that we can live it out to the praise of God's glory. And your responsibility is to learn it, listen carefully, and to apply it to your life, and certainly to live it out with all of your heart. And as in every inspired text in the Bible, I use a literal, grammatical, historical hermeneutic that is a method of interpretation, and I want to remind you that this is what expository preaching is all about. A lot of people do not know what this means. In fact, I remember one time a guy came to the church, and he didn't know anything about it, and I said, yeah, "We're committed to expository preaching." And he literally said, "I've never heard of that. I've heard of suppository, but I've never heard of expository." And I said, "Well, there is a difference." And I had to explain it to him. But if you look at our CBC website, it says this, "Saints cannot be equipped for godly living and service apart from precise theology." And there I'm referring to Ephesians 4:11, through 16.

"This is the goal of expository preaching and teaching. The term 'exposit' literally means to expound or explain in a detailed manner. Expository Preaching is therefore a doctrinal proclamation of the Word of God derived from an exegetical process that is concerned only with the revelation of God, not the wisdom of man, and therefore carefully conveys the God-intended meaning of a text, passionately applying that meaning to the contemporary issues of life with an internal zeal and authority that cannot be extinguished.

Although this kind of preaching and teaching is rare in contemporary evangelicalism, since this was the method exemplified in the Bible, (and I've got a number of passages to support that statement), and since we have a divine mandate to "preach the Word," we believe that this is the God ordained method, and we remain committed to it."

I also want to add, I have to be considerate of a wide range of theological acumen among my audience, both here and the worship center, and those that listen online. There are those that are a part of our regular pulpit ministry, that have advanced degrees and they're following along in a Greek New Testament, and there are others who have very little understanding of the word of God. And so my responsibility is try to be sensitive to each group. And I humbly ask you that wherever you are on a spectrum of biblical understanding and knowledge and so forth, that you be sensitive to those who may not be at at your level. And I will also add that I believe it's important to preach to the most informed group of people, primarily, and in so doing, those less informed will gradually become more informed, rather than preaching to the least informed. And so just bear that in mind.

And remember, as I read, all Scripture is inspired of God. All of it is profitable, regardless of where you are on a spectrum; all of it's going to be profitable to you for teaching reproof, correction, training and righteousness and so forth, that no matter how much or how little you know. There are going to be those who will hear who may not even be born again; and all of this is totally foreign to you, but it's the word of God that the Spirit uses to even bring conviction to your heart. And we know that scripture will do one of two things. It will either harden or soften hearts, and that's the role of the Spirit. My role is to preach it with clarity. In fact, in Isaiah 55:11 God says, "My Word which goes forth from My mouth will not return to Me empty without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

And never forget, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ, right? That's how we came to know Christ, through His Word. And we've got to celebrate the great doctrine of illumination. I always marvel at that, how the Spirit of God - for believers - he helps us understand the Word and begin to apply it to our life. You might say, the Holy Spirit turns the light on. You know how sometimes we're reading or we're listening or whatever, and all of a sudden, a light bulb comes on. It's like, oh my goodness, I never saw that before. And what a wonderful thing that is. In Psalm 18:28, we read, "For You, [referring to God], light my lamp; the LORD my God illumines my darkness." And in Psalm 119:130 we read, "The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple." The term "simple" in Hebrew refers to those that lack understanding, those that are even lacking in intelligence, those that even lack common sense. And I'm thankful because I have been in that category for many, many, many years, and yet the Spirit of God will take his Word and help even a guy like me to understand it. So that's exciting.

Now let's look at an overview a bit here of these first four verses. This is Luke's prologue, and I want to get a bit technical for a moment, because this is important, and I'll explain why. Luke's literary prologue here, in these first four verses, reflects the highest form of first century Greek literature; and here he demonstrates his skill as a writer; moreover, his commitment to historical accuracy. All of this consistent with the contemporary Jewish and Hellenistic literature of that day. This is going to be very important, as you will see. In fact, when we look at this, in the original language, in one sentence consisting of two parts, he skillfully constructs a parallelism within the two parts. This, by the way, is called a "protasis" and a "apodosis." A protasis and apodosis are the two parts of a conditional sentence. And the protasis is the "if clause" that sets up the condition, while the apodosis is the "main clause" that presents the result of the conclusions of that condition. In other words, if this, then that; since this, then that.

And why is this important? Because you must understand, especially in that day, we don't have a novice here that is uneducated, that doesn't know how to write. Obviously, he's inspired by the Holy Spirit, but this is going to give him great credibility. I mean, this is not some structural grammatical train wreck like you would read on a Facebook post or a high school essay, alright? Not at all. This is a skillfully crafted prologue that met the highest standards of Greek literature inspired by the Holy Spirit; and this is going to give Luke credibility, because as a physician, he lacked credibility, as you will see. They didn't look at doctors in a way like we look at them today. He needed that credibility, and the Spirit of God knew that. And we're going to see that the rest of the gospel was written in Koine Greek, which was the everyday language of the common man and so forth. His goal here, in his gospel, is to give an accurate historical account of the Christian faith with great precision, especially to those who already had some knowledge of who Jesus was and is, some understanding of the history of Christianity that was so new, but perhaps lacked a full or even correct understanding of what happened.

Now let me read it to you, Luke one, beginning in verse one,

"Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us,

"just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,

"it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus,

"so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught."

Now, before we examine this more closely, let me talk a little bit about Luke. Luke is called by the apostle Paul in Colossians 4:14 "the beloved physician." In fact, earlier in that chapter, in Colossians four, Paul identifies Aristarchus, Mark and Jesus Justus as the only ones who were quote "from the circumcision." In other words, Jewish. So it is reasonable to assume that the others that he mentions in verses 12 through 17, including Luke, were Gentiles. So Luke was a physician, he was a Gentile, and Luke's name only appears three times in the New Testament, none of them in his own writings. Very humble guy. One place is in Colossians 4:14 that I just read, another one, Second Timothy 4:11 where we read, "Only Luke is with me," Paul writing. And then in Philemon verses 23 and 24 Paul says, "Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus greets you, as do Mark Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers."

Now what we see so clearly, and so wonderfully, is that in both his gospel and the book of Acts which he wrote, Luke gives a historical account of the purposes of God in redemption and the history of redemption itself. And this is going to be at the heart of his inspired writings. And what you want to understand as well is Luke's gospel is actually a a two-volume history spanning six and a half decades from the birth of John the Baptist all the way to Paul's first imprisonment. And his inspired writings encompass, actually 1/4 of the entire New Testament, more than any other writer. Furthermore, 40% of his gospel is not even recorded in the other gospels, including seven of Christ's miracles and 17 of his parables. Beloved, this is the story of the life of Christ, our Savior, our Lord, our coming King. And can there be any greater topic in all the world than this?

Now notice, Luke addresses his writing to "most excellent Theophilus," and obviously it's going to be disseminated now primarily among other Gentiles as well, and then ultimately, to us. "Theophilus" in Greek is a compound word. "Philos" is "friend"; "Theos" is "of God," and so it means "lover" or "friend of God," and whether or not he was a Christian or not, we don't know. We don't know anything about him. He's an unknown person, but the phrase "most excellent" is used elsewhere in addressing prominent dignitaries and so forth. And perhaps he was Luke's literary patron. Sometimes you would have that type of thing. He might have been a governor, some official, but we simply do not know; and because Luke is addressing a Gentile audience, what we're going to see as we study the gospel is that he will avoid using Aramaic - that's the ancient Semitic language spoken by Jesus - he's going to avoid using ancient Aramaic terms that Gentiles would not understand. Words like "Abba," "Rabbi," "Hosanna," "Golgotha"; and he will be careful to explain Jewish traditions to them that would be foreign to them. And he's even going to go great lengths to explain Israel's geography, which they would have been completely unfamiliar with.

Now let me give you some historical parallels with the wicked culture in which we live, so you get a flavor of what it was like in Luke's day. Of course, today, our world - especially our country - is gleefully celebrating all of the godless ideologies and the immoral free fall into hell that is going on. We're aware of those things. In fact, here recently the meteoric rise of the self-described Democratic socialist - and I might add Islamic jihadist, Zohran Mamdani, as the new mayor of New York City - all of that's just completely stunned the world, even though we really shouldn't be surprised, especially if you know anything about New York City; and they elected a man that embraces the same ideology of those who brought down the Twin Towers. Just unbelievable that people would do this. However, none of this matters - and I can understand this at some level - none of this matters to educated workers who have been systematically priced out of the American Dream, which really is a coalition that exists in every major American city, and when you can't afford to live, you're going to vote for anyone that's going to help you, and frankly, give no thought to the damning ideologies that they hold to that will ultimately destroy you.

I might add that this is why I believe the MAGA movement will soon disappear, and the Democratic socialists will eventually rise, most of whom are appallingly immoral. Many of them are Muslim, antisemitic, and they all absolutely loathe Biblical Christianity; and this is further proof of the wrath of divine abandonment in our country, as we read about in Romans one verse 28 and following, where God finally gives people over to a depraved, worthless mind, that they might suffer the consequences of their iniquities; and frankly, the abominations described in that passage is essentially the political platform of the Democratic Party.

I might also add that there's a high probability that our grandchildren will raise their children in a nation governed by socialists and even possibly Sharia law. The once powerful United States of America will gradually become a third world country, and true Christians will be persecuted to the brink of extinction. Which, by the way, is a great opportunity for evangelism, right? And I also believe that the coming persecution, which is going to continue to mount, will cause people to seek out Bible preaching, teaching, worshiping churches. I believe that our church will continue to grow to that end.

Now a far worse environment existed in Luke's day - let me tell you about it a little bit - even during Jesus' ministry on earth. Luke wrote his gospel sometime around AD 60 to 61 and there were really two groups of people in that day. There were the ruling class, the fabulously wealthy people that were in control of everything, and everyone else lived in poverty, just like we saw in the little video clip earlier. I think that's probably the Philippines, but I'm not sure, but that's what it looks like in most of those third world countries. And if you look at some of our cities, that's what it looks like and, and so that's what you have in those kinds of totalitarian rule countries. And the political climate of the Roman empire between AD 60 and following was characterized by government tyranny, ruled by Emperor Nero, who was a sociopathic, demonically possessed sodomite, a megalomaniac. The world was filled with poverty, slavery, pagan idolatry, unrestrained gross immorality, and it gradually got worse under the increasingly volatile and tyrannical, murderous rule of Emperor Nero in Rome. He came to power at age 16, if you can imagine that, in AD 54 and ruled until his death at the age of 30 in AD 68. The depth of his depravity and the sexual decadence associated with his reign, and the culture itself, is really it's beyond description. The extreme public debauchery of that day, especially in his parties, would shock even Jeffrey Epstein and his clients. Might even shock the gayborhoods of West Hollywood and San Francisco. And I might add, I would not recommend you read about them and the histories of that day. It's very disturbing. Very disturbing, it's very demonic. Nero is infamous for killing his mother, Julia Agrippina, aka "Agrippina the Younger" as well as his first wife, Claudia Octavia. He also reportedly kicked his second pregnant wife to death, her name was Poppaea Sabina. But he was also a Sodomite; his perversions knew no bounds. In a public ceremony in 64 ad Nero played the role of the bride, even wearing a bridal veil, while his first husband, a main a man named Pythagoras played the role of the groom. Can you imagine that? And Nero later married a young boy named Sporus, who had been castrated, and he played the role of the bride. So you can just imagine the depth of depravity.

In ad 64 Nero was guilty of setting Rome on fire and blaming his monstrous act on Christians and then began to persecute them for it. You read accounts of how he had no problem killing babies. Of course, in our culture, people have no problem with that either. Historical accounts, especially for Christians, of prolonged imprisonment and torture; he would cover Christians in flammable materials like pitch and tar, tie them to stakes and to set them on fire as human torches to illuminate his gardens during his parties and his chariot races. He would sow them into the hides of wild animals so that they would be mauled by wild dogs or other beasts in the arenas and in the circus of Nero. Many people were crucified, as Peter and his wife, as well as Paul, being beheaded under his reign. So this man was a demon-possessed monster. Frankly, like the members of Hamas. I might add that the atrocities Hamas perpetrated against the Israelis on October 7 will give you a good picture of the types of things that Nero would do to Christians.

Now as a footnote, Paul wrote his epistle to Romans from Corinth, actually, in AD 56 near the end of his third missionary journey, and he was imprisoned in Caesarea from AD 57 to 59 and you will recall there he appealed to Caesar for judgment in his case, and so he was sent to Nero's Rome under house arrest in 62, and then eventually Nero had Paul put to death.

Now back to Luke. When Luke wrote his gospel, he probably wrote it in Rome, since he was with Paul during his imprisonment in Rome. The full fury of Satan's wrath against Christians, through his servant Nero, was just really on the upstart. It hadn't really kicked in in full force, but it's coming. It's gaining steam, and knowing this God raises up Luke to write his gospel, to minister to the church and to prepare them for what is to come. And as we go through it, may I say that this is the Spirit's role for us: to help us understand these things and prepare us for what is to come. And I'm so thankful that Jesus promised "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it." Aren't you thankful for that? The "gates of Hades" - the gates of death, the place of the dead. By the way that represented the entrance of the realm of the departed dead. They would have understood that back in that day, this imagery. The gates served as a barrier between the living and the dead, and they even believed that the gates could be opened and could suck people into it and so forth. Jesus' point is that none of this has any power over the church, alright? So we can rejoice in that. Death has no claim on his elect, and Luke's gospel was one of the instruments of God's righteousness that he uses to save sinners. And oh, dear Christian, know this: there is nothing in this world that Satan can do to thwart the purposes of God. All of these horrible things that have happened, that are happening today, that will happen. I mean, Satan's most powerful attacks are as useless as a child shooting a spit ball through a straw at a battleship. It's just not going to have much effect, alright? Really not any effect. And as we study Luke's Gospel, we're going to behold the glory of God and his redemption.

And I might also add, just speaking from my heart here, because Satan's world system is essentially committed to obscuring the glory of Christ in every possible way and to emplace a preoccupation of the glory of Christ with an infatuation of our own, it is important for us to guard our heart against any encroachment of anything in life that might diminish our preoccupation with the glory of Christ and all that he has planned for his elect, and this study is going to do just that. It is going to articulate the gospel. It's going to put the glory of Christ on display. This is God's goal. This is Luke's goal. Certainly, this is my goal.

And by the way, you want to ask yourself right now, does your life reflect the glory of Christ? Does your life redound to the glory of God? Do other people see that in your life? Are you in awe of his glory? Well, I trust that you are.

Now, let me give you a general overview of Luke's gospel, and the dominating theme, obviously, is the gospel. In fact, in chapter 19, verse 10, we read that God sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, quote, "'to seek and to save that which was lost.'" Oh, the love of God for us, where would we be had he not sought us and saved us? And in Luke's gospel, we witness the love of God in things like the way Jesus went out of his way to save the disenfranchised, the down and the out. Luke's going to talk about this a lot. The outcast of Jewish society, of Gentile society, but especially the despised Gentiles that the Jews hated, the Samaritans, the tax collectors. He offered repentance to women who were basically considered as something not much more than cattle. They were property. He ministered to the diseased and the disabled and the blind and the deaf. I mean, he even went to the lepers, the outcasts.

He records five marvelous tributes of praise to Jesus just at his birth, through Elizabeth, Mary, Zacharias, the angel who announced his birth in Simeon; just right from the beginning, he does this. And the birth of Jesus is announced with quote, "great joy" in chapter two and verse 10. In fact, what you're going to see is that the word "joy" - the concept of joy - is going to be one that that is woven through the fabric of Luke's Gospel. It appears approximately 21 times. Let me put it this way, Luke was a very happy man. He was rejoicing in Christ regardless of all the chaos going on around him. I hope that describes you as well. He speaks of joy even in persecution, in chapter six, verse 23. He talks about how the disciples he sent "returned with joy in their heart," chapter 10, verse 17. He describes the great joy when that which was lost is found in the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son. And in Luke 10, beginning in verse 20, we read how Jesus, quote, "rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit" and why? It is over whose quote, "names are recorded in heaven."

We're going to see that Luke also frequently emphasizes the ministry - the role - of the Holy Spirit, including that terrifying warning in Luke 12:10, where we read, "'And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him,'" The words of Jesus. And then that's followed by the solemn, yet comforting promise, in verses 11 and 12, "'When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say,'" and here's why, "'for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.'" I've thought about that many times. What would I say if I was in a situation where I was about to be, I don't know, burned at the stake or whatever. What Jesus is saying is don't worry about that, the Holy Spirit will give you the words.

There's a great summary overview, it's just real short, William Hendrickson, a great, great scholar and commentator, said this, "The Gospel of Luke is a book of doctrine showing us what to believe; a book of ethics, telling us how to live; a book of comfort teaching us why to rejoice;" and then, fourthly, "It's a book of prophecy, informing us what to expect." Great summary.

Now, with that as an introduction, let's look at this a little more closely for the remaining few minutes that we have together this morning. Notice verse one, "Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us." So let me stop there. Luke is wanting to contribute to what others have already said, others have already written. We don't know, some of it was accurate, some of it may have been inaccurate, but there's no indication in the text that he's writing this to somehow correct what others have written or said. He merely wants to compose a more complete account of Jesus' life and ministry and other themes pertaining to the Christian faith beyond what was currently available to the people. That's why, in verse three, it says, "it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order."

So back to verse one. Obviously other people had previously quote "undertaken to compile an account" of the life and ministry of Jesus, though he does not mention them. However, he may have consulted the inspired gospels of Matthew and Mark. He also had personal contact with Mark, because Mark and Luke both traveled together with the Apostle Paul. Luke probably came to Jerusalem during Paul's two-year imprisonment in Caesarea, and there he would have had an opportunity to even interact with Matthew.

Now, that Luke was a physician gave him no real credibility, as I mentioned earlier. In his book, "Medicine, Miracle and Magic in New Testament Times," Howard Kee offers some helpful insights in this regard; and I might add here, his research indicates that doctors in that day were perceived as, quote, "money seeking routine bound quacks," all right? And he quotes Galen, who is a second century doctor who criticized other doctors, saying, quote, "They enter the sick room, bleed the patient, lay on a plaster and give an enema." End quote. He even speaks of Dio Chrysostom, who described the efforts of physicians to "...drum up trade by public lecture presentations. Indeed, to dazzle hearers and attract patients. This sort of recitation is kind of a spectacle or parade, like the exhibition of the so-called physicians." Now, mind you, this is coming from one who would have seen this. "They seat themselves conspicuously before us and give us a detailed account of the union of joints, the combination and juxtaposition of bones, and other topics of that sort, such as pores and respirations and excretions. And the crowd is all agape with admiration and more enchanted than a swarm of children." End quote. And Kee goes on and says, "In his fine survey, 'Roman Medicine' by John Scarborough, he notes that there were two different classes of physicians serving two different groups of patients. The aristocrats had physicians as servants, or as private employees in their own establishments, or had access to them despite their high fees and lofty reputations. And then there were also many illiterate doctors, quacks, charlatans, exploiters of a gullible and needy public...'" Faith healers come to mind when I read that. I'm also reminded of the physicians, you will recall in Luke eight, that took money from the woman with the menstrual flow and yet they were unable to cure her. That gives you a little background on the culture and how they would have seen Luke.

Now, back to the text, "Inasmuch as" or, in other words, "since many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us." Now that's an interesting statement, especially in the original language. It's an interesting phrase. It means to "bring to fullness," or to be "fully convinced" of the complete fulfillment of something. So what are these things accomplished among us? What's he referring to? Well, he's referring to the divine accomplishment of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. John MacArthur says this, "The gospels do not relate the story of a misunderstood ethical teacher, a failed social revolutionary, a model of selfless humility or even a heroic martyr. They reveal the Savior who is God incarnate, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world [John 1:29]."

Now notice verse two, "...just as they..." in other words, those that have written these accounts about things accomplished among us, "...just as they were handed down to us by those who were from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word." So in other words, by citing other sources here, he is going to establish himself as a credible historian. It's very important - those of you know anything about scholarly writings - you have to establish your credibility by citing other sources and interacting with them. So the point is, he's saying, I'm not making this stuff up here, right? This isn't just my ideas, and he's not saying anything that would have been contrary to orthodox doctrine handed down from Jesus and the apostles. I'm reminded of what he says in Acts 2:42 that "They” - and he would have been part of this - "They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." It's a great description of Calvary Bible Church. That's what we do. And so Luke was careful to research other written accounts from eyewitnesses and servants of the word, and this would have included other divinely inspired writers.

And it's also important for me to remind you that Luke was not an eyewitness of Christ's resurrection, and therefore he did not meet one of the major qualifications of an apostle. In fact, Peter sets forth the qualifications of Judas' replacement in Acts one, beginning in verse 21,

"Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us --

"beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us--one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection."

Luke did not meet that category. In fact, the New Testament tells us that the apostles had to essentially meet three basic requirements before they would qualify as an apostle and be understood and respected as one. Number one, they had to be directly chosen and personally commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, they had to be able to perform the signs of an apostle; that's what authenticated both them as the messenger and their message, “miraculous,” quote, “signs and wonders and mighty deeds” (Second Corinthians 12:12), and then, thirdly, they had to be an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ.

I might add that this obviously refutes the heretical Roman Catholic idea of apostolic succession, that somehow the Pope is, you know, the next guy in line. I mean, there's no further eyewitnesses to succeed those who died. In fact, James was not replaced after his martyrdom. Also, this refutes the charismatic Pentecostal belief in modern day apostles. You hear about that, we've got them running around in our area, both men and women that claim to be apostles. But it's interesting to know that in First Corinthians 15:8, Paul explicitly states that he was the last person to see the resurrected Christ, which he did on the road to Damascus. So there are no other divinely gifted and appointed apostles today, but there are many who claim that they are, but you got to be careful with that. But apostles were Christ's authoritative revelatory agents commissioned by him to establish the doctrinal foundation of the church, and although that is true, God did inspire non-apostles to contribute to the New Testament canon, men like Mark and certainly Luke and James, Jude.

So back to the text, verse three, "...it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order..." In other words, I want to give you a precise, a logical, a systematic understanding of who Christ is, what happened, and all of the great doctrinal truths, etc. And of course, that must be the passion and the priority of every theologian, of every pastor that stands in a pulpit. And then he says, "...most excellent Theophilus." In other words, Theo, this is what I'm up to here. This is why I'm doing it. And he says, verse four, "...so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught." I love that "the exact truth." Folks, we have to know the exact truth. I love what Spurgeon said, and of course, this is the key to discernment, is it not, you got to know the exact truth. Spurgeon said,

"Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong. Rather, it is the difference between right and almost right."

So you got to know the exact truth, and it's fair to assume that Theophilus already had some measure of understanding. He probably received some things that were written pertaining to Christ and Christian doctrine; some information that helped him, but Luke wants to give him more. And again, we don't know if Theo was saved or unsaved, or if he was ignorant, confused, or if he was under attack from heretics. We just don't know. It's really not all that important. You know, we all need to have a thorough grasp of Scripture to know precisely what it says - the exact meaning of things - and that's why sometimes I will belabor a point, and maybe I beat the horse after he's already been dead for a long time, but I want to make sure that we are precise in our understanding of Scripture, because otherwise we're not going to be able to stand firm in the faith, and we're going to be easy prey for error. That's why Jude said in Jude three, "Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints" - referring to the New Testament canon - "For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." I shouldn't say that he's concerned just about the New Testament canon, he's concerned about all of Scripture; and we must be as well. And frankly, I'm appalled at some of the things professing Christians believe. I'm not even going to get into that, but you're aware of those things.

And so verse four, Luke wanted Theo to, quote, "know the exact truth about the things you have been taught." And by extension, he wants all of us to know the exact things of what happened - who Jesus is, the plan of redemption, all of these magnificent truths - and so what happens here is God inspires this man to write a treatise that is not only true, but one that is historically accurate. And I find it so fascinating to think how God selected certain men to disclose himself to us in his Word. The fascinating thing, I mean, where would we be if we didn't have the Word? We'd just be making stuff up, right? We'd be vulnerable to every character that comes along that has some idea. And if you listen to some of the people out there, it's tragic. And as soon as you begin to drift away from,  again, a literal, grammatical, historical hermeneutic of Scripture, once you start doing that, it's a slippery slope, and then you just continue to deviate - to this, to that, and another person said this, and Mama said that, and this is where we believe - and we're a long ways from the exact truth. Gotta guard yourself. If we didn't have the truth, we would be walking in darkness. Like so many people, some of my family members, they are walking in darkness. They don't know it, because God's Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

I might add in closing, about 20 to 30 years after Luke wrote his gospel, the apostle John wrote his. He wrote his somewhere between 80 and 90 ad, which I might add, is about 50 years after the time that he spent with Jesus. And here's what John said in John 20 beginning in verse 30,

"Therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;

"but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name."

Don't you wish you could read some of the other things that we don't have. But this is what God has selected to accomplish his purposes as they will. And John also said this in John 21 beginning in verse 24,

"This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.

"And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which, if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written."

O dear child of God, be thankful for the word that God has given us, and never forget that it is the inspired, the infallible, the authoritative and the all-sufficient Word of the living God. And so we need to learn it and meditate upon it. We need to live it. We need to preach it. We need to teach it, especially to our children, Amen? And so let's stay committed to these ends and remember these things as we embark upon this journey studying what God has to say through his servant Luke. Let's pray,

Father, thank you for the great truths of your Word. We are excited as we anticipate what you have in store for us as we look into Luke's gospel that discloses the magnificent truths that you want us to not only hear, but to live. So I pray that you will help us to that end. And Father, if there be any in our in our midst, within the sound of my voice, that knows nothing of what it means to be united to Christ, and therefore reconciled to you as a holy God, I pray that you will overwhelm them with conviction and that today they will come to repentant faith, that they will cast themselves before the cross in humble repentance and trust in Christ as their only hope of salvation. So we commit that to you. Thank you for this time we could be together. Thank you for speaking to our hearts. We pray all of this in the precious name of Jesus, Amen.