The sermon titled 'A Certain Gospel' emphasizes the certainty and truth of the gospel as presented by Luke. Unlike speculative or hearsay accounts, Luke's gospel is based on eyewitness testimonies, ensuring its reliability. Luke writes to Theophilus, using a formal style recognizable as a historical work in the first-century Greek world. The sermon highlights how Luke's narrative is structured both chronologically and thematically, differing from the other gospels. Luke's purpose is to confirm the truth of the gospel and encourage believers to fully trust and commit to its message. The sermon also underscores the responsibility of those who have witnessed or experienced the gospel's power to share it with others.

The title of the message this morning is, A Certain Gospel. You don't have a speculative gospel. You don't have a maybe gospel. You have a certain gospel. A gospel literally means good news, but let's agree.

Good news is only good news if it's true. Luke begins his gospel by assuring his readers, That's one man with a Greek name, Theophilus. But it's also us that what we're about to read and study isn't just a happy story. It's good news, and it's actually good news, not just happy sounding, it's actually good news because it is true. And we know it's true because Luke is giving us eyewitness accounts.

So here we begin Luke's gospel and it begins very differently from the other three gospels. Matthew begins with the genealogies, its names right off the bat. Then Matthew gives us the birth of Jesus. Mark begins with the public ministry of John the Baptist And then proceeds to the baptism of Jesus. John the Baptist baptizing Jesus.

John begins with these memorable words, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John starts with the actual theological framework for all these things. Jesus took on flesh. What is that theologically? It's God leading heaven.

It is the Word who was with God in the beginning and who was God coming. Then John proceeds to John the Baptist as a witness to bear witness to the light. John the Baptist wasn't the light. He came to bear witness to the light who was Jesus. Luke is very different from any of that.

Luke actually introduces his gospel. The other gospels you don't even know you're getting into a gospel if you just picked up a Bible for the first time you wouldn't know what this was. Luke actually essentially tells you what it is. He introduces his gospel and describes his gospel and addresses his gospel to an individual and tells you the purpose of his gospel. Then Luke goes back much farther than the other gospel writers to the birth story of John the Baptist.

So it's a different gospel and a different beginning to His gospel than the other three. As we take on our text, let's ask God to help us. God, this is a different beginning than Matthew, Mark, and John. But I thank you for what we have here and the things that we learn from it. It is rich taking the time to look at it phrase by phrase in detail.

There's so much good to plumb out of it. And I pray that you would help us to do that, to mine all the gold from just these four verses and get off to a good start in Luke. Please let your spirit be working freely and powerfully among us as preaching happens this morning in Jesus name. Amen. Easy subdivision verses 1 & 2 then verses 3 & 4.

So let's read verses 1 & 2. Follow along as I read it and then we'll take those two verses on. Luke chapter 1 verses 1 and 2. Luke writes this. 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, comma, strange place to stop.

It's one sentence in English, it's one sentence in Greek too. And These two verses, Luke addresses what has come before. Luke's not the first to write about these things. Others have undertaken this too. Now before I get into the phrase by phrase exposition, let me say this.

I'm not an educated first century Gentile, so I don't recognize this, but Theophilus is an educated first century Gentile, so he would instantaneously recognize this. What do I mean? To our eyes, this is just a letter to a person. Hi, Theophilus. I hope you've been well.

Things are good here. That is not what this is. This is the highly recognizable, the unmistakable introduction to a historical work in the educated first century Greek speaking world. Meaning, if you were an educated Greek speaker in the first century, you would instantaneously recognize this as an introduction to a historical work, not a letter, not a high Theophilus letter. Listen to the Expositors Bible commentary.

The Expositors Bible commentary says, the introduction to Luke is a long, carefully constructed sentence in the tradition of the finest historical works in Greek literature. It was customary among the great Greek and Hellenistic historians, including the first century Jewish writer, Josephus, to explain and justify their works in a preface. Their works in a preface. Their objective is to assure the reader that they were capable and reliable and that they had done thorough research. That's exactly what we have here.

Any and all of the other commentaries, and I read a bunch this week, said essentially the same thing, maybe in a little less quotable way. That's why you got Expositor's Bible Commentary. They all give examples from different scholarly Greek-speaking historians from the same era and almost identical introductions to their works. Very similar introductions to their works. Listen to David Garland, who wrote the exegetical commentary on the New Testament.

It's a commentary series. David Garland says, he, Luke, composes these opening verses in elegant Greek with a carefully balanced structure and employs current literary conventions used in opening dictations. This care and skill would reassure an educated Greek reader. It signals that the author was aware of the customs used in the non-Christian world and that he self-consciously intended for his work to be read widely and by those familiar with these literary conventions. So you see what I'm saying here.

This is not high theophilus. I'm writing you a letter. How are you? I'm fine. This is the introduction to a scholarly historical work using the normal conventions for that in the Greek speaking world.

Luke begins by stating that many have undertaken to write about the things that had been fulfilled or had been accomplished among the people in their generation. So there are these wonderful, well-known things that have been accomplished in their generation, and many people have already written about it. Why does that matter? Well, it points to the fact that These are the most consequential things. If many people undertake to write an account of something, it means it's important stuff.

It's the most important stuff. When Paul was testifying on his own behalf before King Agrippa and the Roman governor Festus, Paul said this in Acts 26 verse 26. This is Paul testifying for himself before King Agrippa and Festus. In Acts 26, 26 he says, the king before whom I also speak freely knows these things, For I am convinced that none of these things escapes His attention, since this thing was not done in a corner." The things leading up to the birth of John the Baptist, leading up to the birth of Jesus, the public ministry of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, were not things done in a corner, not unknown things. They were seen by many eyewitnesses.

And They were heard about by everyone so that Paul, when he's testifying for himself, he appeals to the prior knowledge of these things by King Agrippa because unless you've been under a rock you would have heard about the dead being raised, about the blind getting their sight, the deaf hearing. Now, it makes for a great sermon to seize on the phrase, fulfilled among us, and make that about Jesus fulfilling Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. By the way, I say Amen to that as a principle. Jesus does that a hundred times over in all the gospels, we'll be hitting that in Luke. But I think actually just a much more simple point is being made by Luke here.

Simply that he's writing about things that people have already heard have been accomplished in their generation. So fulfilled among us is fine as a translation. It can mean things foretold by prophets being fulfilled. But I think the simple point being made by Luke here is simply these things have been accomplished among us in our generation. So many others had already written about what Luke was writing about.

Likewise, Luke was writing about. Likewise, there were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word. You can either translate that ministers of the word or servants of the word. Either way is fine. We have a number of really good English translations that I like and I'm reading every week.

It's about half and half. Ministers of the word, servants of the Word. Both of those are good, responsible translations of that Greek word. There were eyewitnesses and ministers or servants of the Word who delivered the gospel, literally handed off the gospel. Delivered, literally, that Greek word translated delivered literally means handed off.

These eyewitnesses and servants of the Word or ministers of the Word literally handed off the gospel to many recipients, to Luke, to Theophilus, and to many others. Here's an important point. Listen to Robert Stein of the New American Commentary. Robert Stein says, The use of a single Greek article before eyewitnesses and servants indicates that Luke was referring to a single group, i.e. The witnesses and servants of the Word together, bracketed, witnesses are servants and servants are the witnesses, rather than the witnesses plus also the servants of the Word.

So this one group were eyewitnesses. They saw these things with their own eyes. They heard these things with their own ears, and They became ministers or servants of the word. They became servants entrusted to tell the things that they had seen and the things that they had heard. In other words, they weren't founding something.

They weren't making something. They were simply to be servants who delivered a totally truthful and accurate testimony of just what they saw with their own eyes and heard with their own ears. Listen to what Matthew Henry says to make this point. Matthew Henry says, they had not a gospel to make as masters, but a gospel to preach as servants. They weren't masters making a gospel.

They were servants preaching a gospel. Those are such different things. He continues, Matthew Henry continues, the ministers of the Word were eyewitnesses of the things which they preached. They preached about things they saw with their own eyes. And, which is also included, ear witnesses.

I think he coined a new term there. Eyewitnesses and ear witnesses. They did themselves hear the doctrine of Christ and see His miracles and had them not by report at second hand. The disciples weren't preaching things that they had secondhand. Somebody reported it to them and then they preached it.

No, they're preaching about the things that they saw their own eyes heard with their own ears. Listen to what Peter says in 2nd Peter 1.16. 2nd Peter 1.16. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we're eye witnesses of His majesty.

Peter's making that point. We're not masters making a gospel. We're servants relating a gospel, preaching the gospel. They were not following cunningly devised fables. Made up mythology, But we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty.

John also zeroes in on this. Turn to John chapter 1. John chapter 1 is a little longer, so it's probably helpful if you see it with your own eyes. Not John the Gospel, the first letter of John. It's really near Revelation.

1 John chapter 1. So John starts his letters making this point. So he's laying a foundation for 1 John in these first four verses of chapter one. Follow along as I read 1 John 1, 1 through 4. John writes, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the word of life, the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us, that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us.

And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full." How more repetitively could He have said that? In case you missed it in verse 1, He gives it to you in verse 2. In case you missed it in verse 2, He gives it to you in verse 3. In case you missed it in verse 3, He gives it to you in verse 4.

We have heard. We have seen with our eyes. We have looked upon. Our hands have handled. We have seen and bear witness.

Verse 3, we have seen and heard. Again and again and again. Okay, why John? Why are you doing that? So that your joy can be full.

That's the end of verse 4, so that your joy can be full. If you think it's a master who's making something, you view it differently than as a servant who is just relating something. We don't want to cheat your joy by leaving you wondering, did you see that with your own eyes? Yes, we saw it with our own eyes. Did you hear that with your own ears?

Yes, we heard it with our own ears. We handled it with our own hands. Let your joy be full. Don't let your joy be halfway. You can have full joy knowing that you're hearing this from people who saw it with their own eyes and heard it with their own ears.

John understood that the gospel demands that we bet everything on it being true. Do you understand that? Do you understand that the gospel demands that we bet everything that it's true? Everything. If you've been hedging your bets, I just want to say to you today, stop hedging your bets.

Put a few eggs in this basket, put a few eggs in that basket. This is not the gospel of the New Testament. The gospel of the New Testament says there is one basket and all your eggs go there. You bet it all or the gospel makes no offer to you. Peter says that as eyewitnesses, they had to speak of these things.

Peter actually makes the argument, they didn't really have a choice. These eyewitnesses who were with Jesus all that time, heard all those sermons, saw all those miracles, didn't have any choice. They had to say these things, to testify of these things. In Acts 4, the Jewish leaders have detained Peter and John. They've been overnight in jail.

They bring them out. They command them. The Jewish leaders command them, stop preaching! No more about Jesus! Or we'll beat you in worse!

Here's what Peter tells them in Acts 4 verse 20. This is wonderful. Peter in Acts 4 verse 20. Peter says, we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. We cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard.

If Luke would have said to Peter, you delivered the word to us. You handed off the gospel to us. Thank you. Peter would have said, we had to. Being eyewitnesses laid a necessity on us.

Being eyewitnesses imposed the stewardship of a treasure on us. It wasn't just a treasure for 12. It was a treasure for you and me and everyone. Being eyewitnesses imposed the stewardship of a treasure on these eyewitnesses. If you watch courtroom dramas, I love courtroom dramas, do you love courtroom dramas, an attorney is always saying, objection your honor, that's hearsay.

What does that attorney mean? That the witness didn't actually see it himself or herself, hear it himself or herself. The witness just heard someone else talk about it. It strips the weight out of the testimony. When an attorney can say, you didn't see that with your own eyes, you didn't hear that with your own ears, you're just passing along something that someone else supposedly heard and saw.

In court you need someone who was there and saw it and heard it. As a Gospel writer, Luke is eliminating that objection. No, no, no, no, Your Honor. My witnesses were there and they saw it with their own eyes and they heard it with their own ears. Luke isn't the witness.

Luke is the court reporter. Taking the eyewitnesses accounts and compiling the eyewitness accounts and then giving them. Luke isn't the witness. He's the court reporter. Who's got this access to the eye witnesses who saw it themselves, heard it themselves, were there.

What does Luke mean by from the beginning? Just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses. We find out immediately in next week's section from the time that an angel appeared to Zacharias to tell him that his aging barren wife was going to give birth to a prophet who was himself the subject of prophecy. Imagine that, a prophet who shows up in the earlier prophets' testimonies. The earlier prophets, the older Testament prophets, had said, before the anointed one, before the Messiah, a prophet will be sent to make ready the way for him.

So, an angel is sent to Zacharias to say, your son is going to be the prophet that is the subject to former prophecies that one will come to prepare a way for the Messiah. That's the beginning. That's where Luke picks up. And it's earlier than the other Gospel writers. Unless you include John who goes to eternity past with God.

I'm not counting that. Alright, back to Luke 1, now verses 3 and 4. Follow along as I read Luke 1 verses 3 and 4. Luke writes, it seemed good to me also having had perfect 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." In these verses we have what Luke determined to do. So he starts with what came before.

Many have already undertaken this. Now in verses 3 and 4, what Luke determined to do. Because Luke found himself with the unusual privilege of having access to and contact with these eyewitnesses, Luke determined to write his own account of these things. Luke can see I'm in an unusually privileged position. I have access to these eyewitnesses that's unusual.

I have contact with these eyewitnesses that's unusual. I should write my own account of these things. Our version, New King James says, having had perfect understanding of all these things from the very first. When I look at the Greek words in this construction, I prefer how the NASB and the ESV have translated it. Listen to this.

NASB translates it this way. Having investigated everything carefully from the beginning. So instead of having had perfect understanding of all things from the very beginning, NASB says having investigated everything carefully from the beginning. ESV translated having followed all things closely. So that's the sense of it.

Luke had the unusual privilege of having access to and contact with these eyewitnesses. Last week I showed the New Testament connections between Luke and the Apostle Paul, and also between Luke and Mark, the Gospel writer. Luke made use of that privileged position to carefully investigate all these things that we find in this Gospel. He had better access, more contact with, and he used that privileged position to carefully investigate these things and then he gave them to us in his gospel. In Acts 24, Paul spends two years imprisoned in Israel.

Paul's imprisoned, two years, Caesarea, it's about 80 miles from Jerusalem. It's about the same distance as Nazareth to Jerusalem, very similar distance. Two years in Israel, which would have afforded a co-laborer like Luke tremendous opportunities to interact with these eyewitnesses. He's in Israel for two years. He's in the right place.

He's not going anywhere for a long time. So why another account? Many have already undertaken to provide an account after all. But Luke enjoys a very unusual position, and so he has a unique contribution to make. And he senses that it would be good for him to Make that unique contribution.

Of course, understanding what Scripture is, we know is giving Luke that sense. It would be good. I have an opportunity to make a unique contribution. I should do it. God is doing that.

Give you the Gospel of Luke. Luke is very, very right about that. Matthew Henry says that each Gospel is good, but what we really need, what is very, very good, is all the Gospels together. Because they each make a unique contribution. That's so true.

Thank God for Luke. When we start Luke today, we should start Luke by thanking God for the Gospel of Luke and the contribution it makes to the whole of these four Gospels. Luke says that he wrote an orderly account. When we study his Gospels start to finish, we're going to find that it's generally organized chronologically in order of when the events occurred by time, but occasionally ordered thematically in order of a particular individual or theme, but that it's always ordered. If this gospel is anything, it's orderly.

It's always orderly, It's never willy-nilly. Here's an example. While Luke generally follows the chronology of Matthew and Mark, their order of when things occurred, In Luke 3, the arrest of John the Baptist follows right after the baptism of Jesus. So John the Baptist baptizes Jesus, and then in Luke you get the history of John the Baptist's arrest, which is a break from the chronology of events in Mark. Why is that?

Because while Luke is generally chronological, When it makes sense, he will leave the ordering of time sequence and group events together by theme instead of time. In this case, what happened to John the Baptist? He's talking about John the Baptist. John the Baptist baptizes Jesus, and then he just stays on that individual, that theme, and talks about his arrest. Even though it's out of sequence time-wise, he's ordered it in a different way.

This is good and orderly. Luke has given us an orderly account. Two more things. First, Luke is writing ultimately to us. I don't care who he says in verse 3.

We know ultimately this gospel is for me. This gospel is for everyone on planet earth, but he's writing immediately to Theophilus. And Luke gives this man who we never encounter in the New Testament outside these mentions in the very beginning of Luke 1, the very beginning of Acts 1, Luke gives him a designation of honor. Most excellent. Most excellent theophilus.

This is a designation of honor that is given to the Roman governor Felix by a Roman soldier in Acts 23 verse 26. So you can go to Acts 23 verse 26 and see that phrase given to a Roman governor by a Roman soldier. Also in the very next chapter, Acts 24 verse 3, this Roman governor Felix is also given the same designation of honor by a Jewish orator who's prosecuting Paul. It's given to the Roman governor Festus, not Felix, but Festus by Paul himself in Acts 26 verse 25. So when you go to Acts 26 verse 25, You see Paul giving this designation of honor to a Roman governor.

The Greek lexicon after giving this definition or translation in English has this explanation, used in addressing men of prominent rank or office." So, I doubt you've ever called anyone most excellent. Most excellent? Wrong! It's used in addressing men of prominent rank or office. That's what it means to attach that designation of honor.

So we don't know the details other than to say that Theophilus is a man of prominent rank or office. Here is some interesting speculation. So I'm going to try to keep the interesting speculation to a bare minimum in Luke. But I want to give this to you because I found it very interesting. I listened to David Garland of the exegetical commentary on the New Testament.

By the way, on commentaries, before I quote David Garland, on commentaries, I always overbuy. I research what are the best ones and I buy more than I know I can read for two years and I read them all for the first four to six weeks and I bought some off the island. So right now I'm culling the herd. Not all the herd's going to make it. Three of them are going to go in the first month.

So anyway, David Garland just might make it. So I'm going to quote him now. He says this, Most excellent. Josephus, so this is the Jewish historian writing about the same time Luke is writing, Josephus uses the same term in his preface to against Apion. So that's the name of a book written by Josephus, against Apion.

And he uses that same term in most excellent in his preface to his book, writing about the same time, to salute his patron who enabled him to write and publicly distribute the work. So there's someone who's enabling Josephus to write and distribute this work, and so he addresses him in the introductory remarks and uses this term. Here's where it gets speculative. Here's what David Garland says, In my view, Theophilus is the patron who provided funds to publish and distribute Luke and acts. It's possible.

That's what it represented for Josephus and his work, someone who enabled him to publish and then distribute these works. It's possible that that's true. At least theophilus is a man of prominent rank or office. Finally, Luke gives us the purpose statement of this work. Don't you like it when an author just tells you right up front what they're getting at?

What they're trying to accomplish. Luke does that. He gives us the purpose statement of his work. Luke, why did you write this? That you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

You've heard the preachers. Now what are you to make of the preachers, of their preaching? They're certain. I went back, I talked to the eyewitnesses. The things that you've heard from The gospel preachers are certain things established on eyewitness testimony.

I've heard them say it myself. They saw these things with their own eyes. They heard these things with their own ears. That you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. You heard the gospel preachers.

They made radical claims, and radical claims on your life. They have told you to bet everything. So these gospel preachers fanned out in the known world and they went and said, bet everything on Jesus. You must bet everything on Jesus. Luke says, I want you to know you can bet everything.

You can bet it all. You should bet everything. You must bet everything. These are certain things. I've been carefully investigated.

All these things are in the very beginning. The testimony isn't hearsay. I heard someone say they saw this. No, no, no. It's from eyewitnesses and ear witnesses.

Bet everything. John had a purpose statement too in his gospel. Only he put his purpose statement near the end. But I want you to just hear it again. It's John chapter 20 verses 30 and 31.

Just listen as I read it. John chapter 20 verses 30 and 31. Truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples. They were there. They saw it.

Which are not written in this book. But these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." You can bet everything on this Jesus. I wrote these things to you. Not all the things. The oceans would have to be ink, and the skies would have to be parchment to write all these things.

But I've written these things so you may know that Jesus is the anointed of God to save sinners. He is the Son of God. He is God. And That in believing Him, you can have life. Now remember what John said in 1 John chapter 1.

We saw, we heard, we handled them with our own hands. Applications, I give you three. One. Bet everything. You ever get tired of pacing yourself?

Ever get tired of feeling like you've hedged your bets? The things that you've been taught are certain things from eyewitnesses. From eyewitnesses, the gospel demands that we bet everything. Number two, give thanks for Matthew and Mark and Luke and John and their contributions. God raised up these four men to give us a full-orbed view of who Jesus is and what He did, culminating in His death and resurrection on behalf of sinners.

This is just an opportunity. To start Luke is a great opportunity to just give thanks for what we have. Your house is like my house. It's a house full of Bibles. You don't even know how many you have, but it's a bunch.

You probably have more than you have fingers. In my house I probably have more than I have fingers and toes. These things become so routine. That's not right! In human history, people would kill to have one Bible on their block.

You have more in your house and you have fingers. Give thanks. Number two. Oh, that's number two. Number three, and finally.

Consider the stewardship that comes with being an eyewitness. Remember what Peter said in Acts 420? We cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard. Have you seen anything? Have you heard anything?

Have you ever felt this way when you've known a gifted evangelist? I know some gifted evangelists. Have you ever felt this way? The gospel just rolls off your lips. They'll never be like that.

That might be so! That you'll never be like that. Ah, but have you seen anything? Have you ever seen anyone transformed by this gospel? I have.

Have you ever heard anything that defies explanation? I have. My own ears. I don't mean secondhand accounts. I mean been there and heard the things myself.

The gospel might not exactly roll off your lips like it does for the gifted evangelist, but if you've seen things and you've heard things, you should consider that a stewardship. When God transforms people, he ought to have the praise for it. Sometimes people need a careful, full, precise, accurate, comprehensive presentation of the gospel. Most people just need contact with somebody whose life has been transformed. Most people are that.

Have you been given a treasure with what you've seen with your own eyes and heard with your own ears? Do you think it was just for you? The men who are with Jesus didn't think it was just for them. Consider the stewardship that comes with being an eyewitness. Let's pray.

God, thank you for Luke and his contributions raising up a man and inspiring him to write perfectly these eyewitness accounts. What a treasure. We need it. We're thankful for it. I pray that you would make us good students of this gospel in Jesus name, amen.