The Gospel of Luke

Dr. R.C. Sproul begins his sermon series in the Gospel of Luke, next, on Renewing Your Mind. Last week you'll recall that we finished Dr. Sproul's series on the Gospel according to Mark, and today we are pleased to begin his verse-by-verse exposition of Luke. We hope you'll join us over the coming weeks as we make our way through these sermons, which R.C.

delivered at St. Andrew's Chapel, where he co-pastored for many years. I've decided to move now in the direction of preaching by way of exposition through the Gospel according to St. Luke. It's the only gospel of the four that I have not preached upon since St. Andrew's began, and this is an occasion where I've already preached on Luke's second volume, the book of Acts, which is the sequel to his gospel, and so this morning we'll begin our study of the prequel to the book of Acts, namely the Gospel of Luke itself, the longest and most extensive of all of the gospels. And so this morning we'll begin with chapter 1, and I will ask the congregation to stand for the reading of the Word of God. Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had the complete understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. These words come to us from Luke, the gospel writer, but he wrote not alone or in his own power, but as he was moved and superintended by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost so that the words that you have just heard are indeed the very Word of God. Please be seated. Let us pray. Our Father, as we once again embark upon the study of a precious gospel that gives to us a narration of the person and the work, the words, the sayings, and the teachings of our dear Lord, we pray that you would fill our minds and our hearts with the knowledge of and the love for Jesus, the central topic of this book, for we ask it in His name.

Amen. Before I begin an exposition of the text of the gospel of Luke, I want to say a few words about Luke himself. Ironically, in my own life before I ever read Luke's gospel, or indeed anything of the Bible, before I was even a Christian, I became acquainted with this man named Luke.

It was due to my lack of performance in the elementary study of the Latin language when I was in high school, a study that I abhorred from the very first lesson, and our gracious Latin teacher gave us the ability to get five bonus points per six weeks testing spirit if we would read certain novels that she kept in her library in the Latin room, novels that went over the history of biblical times such as The Silver Chalice from Loyce Douglas or The Robe. Well, I read this book called The Road to Bithynia, and that book I believe was written by Frank Slaughter. I'm not sure about that in these latter days, but it was a book tracing the life of the one that the Apostle Paul identifies in his letter to the Colossians as the beloved physician. And of course, this was a novel with the free use that the author had for fiction, but nevertheless, he incorporated everything that he could learn about this historical character from biblical sources as well as the historians of the second and third century. It's a moving work.

If you ever have an opportunity to read it, it's The Road to Bithynia. Well, we find Luke mentioned in several places in the New Testament, not the least of which is in his own book of Acts, where Luke served as a companion with the Apostle Paul in Paul's missionary journeys. And so we see that this man was not only a doctor, but he was a missionary, a medical missionary that was a close companion and friend of the Apostle to the Gentiles, Saul of Tarsus.

Luke was born and raised in Antioch of Gentile descent and died in his eighties in a peaceful way, unlike most of the other writers of the biblical narratives and epistles. But again, before I look at his text, I want to direct your attention to the final words given to us by the Apostle Paul in the second letter that he wrote to his disciple Timothy a few weeks ago. With the Ligonier tour of the Cradle of Christianity, we were in Rome. And while in Rome, we videotaped several of the famous sites, the Colosseum and the Church of the Lateran with the sacred steps. But we also made a special visit to the Mamertine Prison, where the Apostle Paul endured his second Roman imprisonment and final imprisonment before his execution under that emperor whose nickname in the Roman Empire was the Beast, Nero himself. And the holding cell in which the Apostle was kept prior to his execution under Nero was situated across the street from the Roman Forum. This was not a large prison as we imagine prisons to be, but was simply a large cistern that had been cut out of the rock and had originally 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 on death row about to be executed. And it is a moving experience to go down the stairs into that cistern, that dank, dark, cold, wet place where the great Apostle was held and presumably there wrote his final letter to Timothy whom he had left behind in Ephesus. But in that epistle, Paul writes these words that I'd like to call to your attention this morning. I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight.

I've finished the race. I've kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved His appearing. Be diligent to come quickly, for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world and has departed for Thessalonica, Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia.

Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry. And Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.

Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come, and the books especially the parchments. And then he goes on to say in verse 17, The Lord has stood with me and strengthened me that His message might be preached fully through me and that all the Gentiles might hear. I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion, and the Lord will deliver me from every work and preserve me in His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever.

Amen. Then final greetings to his friends, and the last admonition to Timothy. Do your utmost to come before winter. Come before winter. Bring the parchments.

Bring my coat. Bring Mark, because I am alone except for the Lord and for the beloved physician, Luke. That last statement of the Apostle Paul speaks volumes to me about this companion of his who went with him on his missionary journeys and stood next to Paul in all of the trials and the tribulations that are recorded in the book of Acts, but most significantly stood side by side with Paul in that dreadful, dank prison cell where all the rest had fled and departed him. And so Luke we know was a physician. Luke we know was a missionary, but most important about Luke was that he has emerged as one of the most important, if not the most important historian of the ancient world. If we look back now at how he begins his gospel, he acknowledges at the outset that others had taken pen to give a narrative account of the things that they knew of the person and work of Jesus.

We have to survive to this day the inspired writings of Matthew, Mark, and John. But presumably beside those gospel writers there were others in the first century who tried their hand at writing a summary of the history of Jesus. And so Luke acknowledges that at the beginning and makes it clear that he is aware that others have gone before him in this venture of providing a history. And so he says, since many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were from the beginning eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word, that's a descriptive phrase, for the apostles, those who had been disciples like Matthew, like John. Mark, of course, was not one of the twelve, but he was considered to be the amanuensis or the secretary for the apostle Peter. But Luke was not a disciple.

He had been converted by the disciples, by the apostles, and came under the tutelage of the great apostle Paul. And so much of what Luke knows he gains from his association with Paul as well as with the others who were among the first disciples. This is those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word. Luke is saying, I'm not an eyewitness, but I am a historian, and as a historian I check the sources.

You know, Luke gives us more information about the birth of Jesus than anybody else, and it's with almost total certainty that we know that Luke had the privilege of interviewing Mary, the mother of Christ, and got all the infancy information from Mary about Elizabeth and the visitation of the Magi and all of that from those who were the eyewitnesses of the birth of our Lord. But he said, after we have received these from the eyewitnesses, it seemed good to me also, having had a complete understanding of all the things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus. Now, there's a lot of conjecture about the one who is addressed here and in the book of Acts, Theophilus. He said that he has Theophilus' name in all of the Bible.

When did you go to sleep? Of course, the name Theophilus, if you analyze its meaning, it means friend or lover of God. And so some people think that the person who is mentioned here represents in a certain way Christian every man.

But I don't think so. I think that Luke is addressing his volume as it was commonplace in the ancient world for scholars to dedicate their writings to some person of noble position. He is devoting or dedicating this to a man by the name of Theophilus because he calls him most excellent Theophilus, which were titles not given to symbolic characters, but rather to real historical personages. And then he goes on to say the reason why he's writing, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. That was his burden.

That was his passion. I'm writing these things down that you can be sure that the things that you have heard, the things that have been preached to you, the things that have been declared to you by the eyewitnesses, I'm writing an orderly, historical, carefully documented account to strengthen your faith, to give you certitude so that you might have the full assurance of the truth of the gospel that you have heard. That was his task as a historian. Now, the ancient world had many notable historians, both Roman and Greek and Jewish as well. You have the historians Thucydides, Xenophon, Herodotus, Suetonius, Tacitus, Pliny, the Jewish historian Josephus, all of whose works are still read. I have a collection in my house of all of the works of the great Greek historians, and there were many, and they were excellent in the work that they did. But no historian of the ancient world has been subjected to as much academic and archaeological scrutiny as has been Luke, the writer of this gospel. You know, historians have sometimes been skeptical about the biblical writers, and in the early part of the 20th century, a British atheist historian set out to debunk the truth claims of the gospels, and though he decided to follow the alleged footsteps of the Apostle Paul throughout his missionary journeys, going to all of those places that the archaeologists had examined, and this fellow by the name of Ramsey was converted to Christianity on the way because he discovered that every time a spade of dirt was turned over in those days, some historical aspect of the gospels was being verified and authenticated.

And Ramsey and others have said, secular historians, that Luke, apart from the inspiration, apart from the divine assistance that he enjoyed, that Luke was the most accurate historian of the entire ancient world. You know, language changes as time passes and as cultures go through upheavals and changes, I remember, of course, going through the decade of the 60s and into the 70s, and in the 60s there was so much attention given to the discovery of hallucinogenic drugs, and Timothy Leary was the great high priest of LSD while he was teaching there at Harvard University and encouraged his students to drop out and to turn on and all of that, and he also said that you could not trust anyone over 30 years of age. And you recall all that discussion about the credibility gap between generations at that time, and then this skepticism and cynicism about truth-telling was then emphasized by a colorful sports commentator, Howard Cosell, who said that we should always do what? Tell it like it is. And so we had this emphasis of telling things the way it actually is, except we had a president who raised questions about what the meaning of is is. Nevertheless, we have this currency now in our language of, I hear it all the time to my endless annoyance, it is what it is.

One of the things I do every week is record the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin's press conferences where he answers questions from the media about the status of his football team, and when critical issues come up about weaknesses displayed by his team, he will shrug his shoulder and say, it is what it is. And I was thinking, what could be more redundant than to say it is what it is? Of course it is what it is. It can't be what it is and not be what it is. I mean, even Hamlet understood that to be or not to be, that's the question.

You can't have it both ways. Now why am I talking about that silliness? Because not only is it true that it is what it is, but even important, more important for us, is that it was what it was. And Luke's task under God was to set forth for us and for our certainty how it really was, what really took place in space and time, in real history. Luke set out to record an orderly account of Christ's earthly life and ministry, and because he was inspired by the Holy Spirit, we can be certain of its accuracy. We're so glad you could join us for the beginning of Dr. Sproul's sermon series from The Gospel of Luke, and we hope you'll be with us in the coming weeks and months as he guides us through this gospel account. And as you do join us, we're offering a companion resource.

It's R.C. 's verse-by-verse commentary on Luke with his theological precision and pastoral insights. Dr. Sproul guides you through the events of Christ's birth and resurrection.

You'll also learn the meaning of beloved parables, including the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. It's all there in this commentary on Luke, and we'll be happy to send you the e-book version for your donation of any amount to Ligonier Ministries. Just log on to renewingyourmind.org and click on the tab marked Today's Offer. This is a web offer only.

Our offices are closed today so that we can worship and enjoy the Lord's Day with our families as well. Once again, that web address is renewingyourmind.org. Here at Ligonier Ministries, we are dedicated to providing you with quality teaching that you can trust. We want to equip you with the very best resources on theology, biblical studies, apologetics, and church history. And it's all waiting for you when you download our Ligonier app. You'll have on-the-go access to devotionals, podcasts, and messages from more than two decades of past national and regional conferences that we've hosted.

Just search for Ligonier in your favorite app store. And be sure to join us next Sunday as Dr. Sproul sets the stage for the birth of John the Baptist. Suddenly after Malachi, God became silent, not for a year, not for ten years, but for four hundred years. And now Luke tells us that silence is broken with the coming of a new prophet whose birth is being announced here in this episode. We hope you'll join us again next Sunday for Renewing Your Mind. .