All right, brethren. Let's turn in our Bibles to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. I'm just going to read the first four verses. Luke 1 verse 1. For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. 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. I'm going to try to go through the Gospel of Luke and we'll see how this goes. We'll see if we end up going through it, but I'm going to try to. Let me say a little bit about it before we get into the text. The Spirit of the Lord used Luke to write it He's the writer of this, and he's the only Gentile used to write any book of the Bible. Luke was a Gentile. The Lord saved him. He traveled with Paul on his second and his third missionary journey, and when Paul went to prison, Luke was with him all the way to the end. He wrote when he was facing death, He wrote in 2 Timothy 4 11, only Luke is with me. And I think it's appropriate that the Lord used a man who was a physician and to write this gospel which has to do with Christ's humanity, with him being the son of man and how he healed and all that came to him. and that's what Luke deals with mostly is how the Lord is the son of man. He wrote this gospel and he wrote the book of Acts to a man named Theophilus, and we don't know anything about this man. The scriptures are silent about him, but his name means friend of God, loved of God. And this gospel, like all the rest of the Bible, is not just to Theophilus, it's to every chosen child of God who is the friend of God, who is loved of God. Now, all four gospels set forth something to do with a particular characteristic about the Lord Jesus. The Book of Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew sets him forth as the King, as the Redeemer, as the Messiah that the Old Testament Scriptures promise. The Gospel of Mark declares he's God's righteous servant. It sets him forth as the servant of God. The Gospel of John declares he is God the Son. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God. He declares he's God the Son. Well, this Gospel speaks of his humanity. It shows his compassion and his oneness with his people. And that's why I think it's appropriate that the Lord used a physician who practiced healing people the medicine to speak of the great physician who as a man knows the feeling of our infirmities. Now I want you to notice here what Luke says in verse one. He says, for as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration, that's what the gospel is, it's a declaration. He said, they've set forth a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us. And he says, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. Somebody preached the gospel to Luke, he said. He said, they saw, they were eyewitnesses, they preached to us. So now I'm preaching to you, that's what Luke's saying. I'm declaring to you what I've been, had declared to me. He said, it seemed good to me also, now listen to this word, 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. Our subject is things we most surely believe. Things we most surely believe. For God's saints, by divine revelation, by the Spirit of God revealing Christ in us, there are things most surely believed among us. We know these things. We've known them from the beginning. There are things most surely believed among us, and that's what I want, I want to talk to you about a few of these things. When we're part of God, when the gospel comes, and Christ sends it to us and we're taught of God, I mean taught in the heart, taught by God. And the Spirit of God reveals the Lord Jesus to us. We surely believe Christ is salvation. We surely believe He is salvation. And when you see Christ and He's revealed, that's when you know, that's how you know you are the sinner. We know He is the Savior and we are the sinner. He's salvation. We're the one who needs to be saved. We know that. We surely believe this. Surely believe it. Luke, as I said, he was a physician by trade, but he was a sinner saved by grace, just like everybody God saves. A sinner saved by grace. Now, those that declared the gospel to him were eyewitnesses. of our Lord Jesus Christ. But there were many who were eyewitnesses of the Lord Jesus that did not believe him. What made those before Luke believe him? And what made Luke believe him? Like every sinner that God saves, like every sinner that he quickens to life, when the Lord Jesus gives you faith and reveals Christ in you, It's a powerful, sure revelation. You're taught of God. You're taught from above. That's how all God's people learn the gospel. We don't learn the gospel of ourselves. We can't educate ourselves into the kingdom of God. We have to be taught from above. We have to be taught of God, and that's really what this word means when it says, he said, I had perfect understanding of all things from the very first. From the very first means from above. That's really what it's saying, from him who is the first. Does that sound like a bold claim that Luke's making? That sounds pretty bold, doesn't it, to say, I have perfect understanding of all things from the very first. Go with me to 1 John 2. Listen, Luke's not boasting in himself or anything that's of him. Here's who he's boasting in. The scripture said, God said, Christ shall not fail till he has set judgment in the earth. And he's talking about discernment in the heart, judgment at the cross and discernment in the heart. So he's made his children know in the heart. And from the very first revelation of Jesus Christ, when we're taught from above, from him who is first, and this first revelation comes into the heart, That new heart is born of incorruptible seed. Now think about that word, incorruptible seed. What do you think incorruptible seed's gonna produce? An incorruptible heart, a heart in which is no guile, a heart in which the truth is made known. And when we're born from the beginning, the Spirit of the Lord makes His child know and have perfect understanding of all things. Look here, 1 John 2.20. He said there, well, let's read verse 19. He said, they went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, They would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But you have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I've not written to you because you know not the truth, but because you know it. You know it. And that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He's antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Now look there at that statement, brethren. You have an auction from the Holy One, and you know all things. The Holy One does not fail. The Holy One gives perfect understanding. Well, what about our confusion and our misunderstanding of things and our inability to see things as clearly as we are? What about that? Scripture says you see through a glass darkly. Why is that? Well, that's not any fault of the Spirit. The Holy One, the Unction, He gives you understanding. He never fails to reveal Christ in you. The confusion and the misunderstanding and the cloudiness that we have is from our flesh. That's from our sinful flesh. It's from us. But the Holy One never fails. Christ never fails. This unctuance for the Holy One revealing Christ in that new spirit gives you a perfect understanding to know all things. To know all things. He makes you to know all things. He created a new spirit in us in holiness. The Holy Spirit creates a Holy Spirit. A new heart in which is no guile, which is no sin. If the spirit of Christ be in you, that spirit's life because of righteousness. He teaches us in the new heart and He never fails to do so. He gives His child an understanding. You have an unction from the Holy One and you know all things. What does it mean? He says, you know the truth. Christ said, I am the truth. It doesn't mean that you, from the very first, you know every doctrine and every deep thing there is to know in theology, but you have a perfect understanding from the beginning that Christ is the gospel. He's the truth. He said, I am the truth. You know this from the beginning. This is what faith believes. This is why we believe. We know him. He's revealed. It's not what you know. It's who you know. It's not how much you know. It's who you know. And He makes you to know Him. We most certainly believe Christ is the truth. These are some things that we most surely believe. And we most surely believe the Lord Jesus Christ is the truth. The Holy One in the new man has made you have an understanding and you know the truth. You know Christ the truth. And knowing Christ is the truth, There comes another revelation with that. We most certainly know we're not the truth. We most certainly know when you know the truth, you know you're the liar by nature. Let God be true and every man a liar. This is what, how do we learn that? When you behold the Lord Jesus, the truth, when you know Him, when He's given you an understanding to know Him and it's by revelation. It's by divine revelation. That's when we know we're the sinner. is when you see Christ is the truth. The Lord Jesus is the truth. When Isaiah saw His glory, what happened? When he was made to know the Lord and saw His glory, did he know Him? Yes, he knew Him. He beheld Him. He had an understanding when he saw His glory. And what did it result in? What did he know immediately? Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone. That's what he knew, I'm undone. Because I'm a man of unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. People think you can take the law and you can whip people with the law and you can just come down hard on people with the law and tell them you know all the precepts of the law and that's gonna make a sinner see his sin. No it won't. You're going to see your sin when you know Christ. When Christ is revealed in you and you see, when you see the truth, you're going to know I'm the liar. When you see the one who is perfectly straight, you're going to see how crooked you are. When you see him who's light, that's when you know you're the darkness. You've got to see him. Christ revealed himself and he revealed his power to his apostles when they were out there on that sea fishing that day. Peter tried to argue with him, you know, on where to cast the net and when he finally did what the Lord said and he brought in that great drought of fish, what did it make? He saw Christ. What did it make him do? Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, depart from me for I'm a sinful man, oh Lord. You see, that's when you know what you are by nature, when you see Christ and who He is. This unction, he says there in John, he said, you know Jesus is the Christ. Anybody that confesses not that He's come in the flesh is anti-Christ, but you know He's the Christ. You know He is the Son of God come in the flesh. That's what He reveals to you. We most certainly believe these things. We believe these things. The Son of God chosen by God, sent by God, to be Messiah, to be the Savior, to be the one who is the salvation of His people. You know this from the beginning. What else does... Faith is not just believing some things. Faith's not just believing some doctrine. Faith's believing a person. It has an object in believing a person. It's the revelation of Christ. And when He's revealed to be our righteousness, That's when we know, brethren, we can't work out a righteousness of our own. When the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah Sidcanu, is revealed in you, that's when we most certainly know this righteousness is not by the works of the law, it's not by my works, it's by Him. When we see that God chose His Son and sent His Son to this world, that's when we know salvation couldn't possibly have been by my hand because He had to send His own Son. We most certainly believe this. When He reveals in your heart that Christ is holiness, that He's the perfect Holy One, That's when we know sanctification is Christ. He sanctified His people. He's our perfect sanctification. And it's only with Him dwelling in us that we have this unction and know Him. That's when you know. That's when you know. By the unction of the Holy One revealing Christ. By faith we know God the Father and the Son. He said the one that denies that he's coming to faith, he's anti-Christ, he denies the Father and the Son. When you know the Son, you know the Father. That's what Christ said. You believe on me, you believe on the Father. Look at, read it again, 1 John 2.20. You have an unction from the Holy One. And you know all things. You know Christ who is all. You know Christ who is all. You know he's the truth. He's the truth. There's only one truth. There's not many truths. There's not my truth and your truth. There's one truth. It's Christ the truth. And you know it. no lies of the truth. And you know he is, Jesus is the Christ, and when you know him, you know the Father. Look over at 1 John 5, 1 John 5, 10. How do we believe? He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. God has come, the three in one has come and revealed himself in your heart. He's born witness in your heart. He that believeth not God has made him a liar. A man who is ashamed to confess Christ does not believe on Christ and he's calling God a liar. That's what we did all our days. Because he believed not the record that God gave of his son. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life. That's what God declares. You think God fails to be able to teach his people? Of course He's going to teach us. He teaches you and He's given you eternal life and this life's in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Oh, this is a frightening thing to think about. We're coming to the end of a year. Very soon we're coming to the end of this world. And sooner than most every man thinks, we come to the end of our life. And you're coming to the end of your life, and you that are sitting here right now that do not believe on the sun do not have life. That doesn't mean you're not going to live somewhere for eternity. You're going to live somewhere for eternity. But you don't have eternal life. These things I've written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. You know why I'm preaching? For that same reason John wrote this book. I want you that know him to know you know him and know you believe on him. These are things we most certainly believe. And I want you that don't know him, I want you to know him. I want you to have this eternal life. I want you to have Christ the truth. All right, let's go back now, secondly. By the revelation of Christ in our new heart, we most certainly believe that salvation is the free gift of God's grace. We certainly believe this. I'm telling you some things today that we certainly believe. We certainly believe. When Christ is revealed in us and he comes in power, you behold your sinfulness, You see what you are and you behold that it took the Spirit of God to quicken you and to give you life and to give you faith before you'd believe on Him. You see that, you know that because you spent all this time sitting there hearing message after message after message and you wouldn't believe the Son of God. You couldn't make yourself believe Him. But then one day, by His power, you couldn't do anything but believe Him. And when that happens, you know this was all of God's grace. This was the free gift of God's grace. Regeneration has got to be the gift of God by His power. Any true regenerated child of God will tell you that is the case because he's experienced it. The man that's saying that he had something to do with his new birth has not experienced a new birth or he wouldn't be talking like that. Isn't that so? Faith and repentance is a gift of God by His grace. When you have faith, you don't go around talking about your faith. You don't go around talking about how you have strong faith. You speak of Christ, the object of your faith, because that's what faith does. Everything God's done for us is in Christ and it's by His grace. And when you've experienced grace, that's when you know this is all of grace. I didn't do it, it's freely given to me of God, the free gift of God. When we heard the scripture declare, after He quickens you and He called you and He made you to see, He's the truth, you're the liar. He is the Christ, you're the sinner in need of the Christ. And He gives you the suction from the Holy One, and you realize this is all the gift of God's grace. I did not do anything to obtain this. And when you know this, when you hear the scripture declared then, He takes you all the way back to the fountain, and you go all the way back before the foundation of the world, and you hear Him declare that before the foundation of the world, God the Father loved His people simply because He would with no cause in us. He chose whom He would in Christ, elected who He would save. When you hear that now, You say amen and you have to because you know this has to be of God. It has to be of grace because I see what a wretch I am. I know now that I was kicking against him and rebelling against him and it was Christ himself I was denied. I know it now. I know it has to be of grace. We most surely believe salvation is by God's grace alone, apart from our works. We believe that. We heard Christ say to us personally, you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you. Don't you know, when you hear that, don't you hear Christ say that to you personally? Can't you say amen? He says you didn't choose me, I chose you, I ordained you. We cry out in gratitude and we thank Him and we praise Him and we give Him the glory. This is the sure effect of the revelation of Christ in you. This is the sure effect, brethren, when the Holy Spirit has revealed Christ in you. You're gonna praise God for saving by His free grace, by His sovereign grace, by His saving grace. You're gonna give Him the glory that it's all of grace. If it's of grace, it's no more of works. And you say, amen, thank God that's so. Why did he, this was his purpose in saving through the gospel. Go to 1 Corinthians 1. I'm gonna say a few things out of here, out of 1 Corinthians 1. I want you to see this. This is the whole purpose of God saving the way he saved. Luke said, there were some men that were eyewitnesses of Christ. Christ came to them and saved them, the apostles. Called them personally. Sent them, and they preached the things they had been eyewitnesses of. They declared the gospel. And he said, and we have the most. We believed all things from the beginning. And these are things we most certainly believe by the Spirit of God. And when you know God did this, and you see how he did this, and you had no part in it, that's when you know it's all of grace, and that's when you glory in him only. And that's the whole reason God saves this way. That's why he saves through the foolishness of preaching. That's why he saved through a bloody cross. That's why he does this. Everything about the gospel is foolishness to men. Just sinners, just a sinner, just an earthen vessel who's a sinner preaching to other sinners. And he's preaching one who to man just looks like a man. He doesn't have all the pomp and splendor that, that's why the Pharisees reject him. He didn't look Christ enough to them. He didn't look Messiah enough to them. They didn't see what they thought they ought to see in him. And everything about this gospel fills us to it. Until God gives you a heart to see. And here's the whole purpose in it. Verse 29, that no flesh shall glory in his presence. But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it's written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. That's what we most certainly believe. We believe all the glory goes to God and none to us. We most certainly believe. This is the perfect understanding he's given us in the new heart. Oh, we have sinful flesh that wants to confound this. We have sinful flesh that wants to glory in self. It wants us to have some glory, but the Lord subdues that iniquity in us, and He keeps you looking to Him, and He makes you know, I get the glory, and you want Him to have it in a new man. Now, lastly, I want you to see, stay there in 1 Corinthians 1. We most surely believe that we must have the preaching of the gospel. We most surely believe this. We sure do. Luke said he's writing a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them to us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. You see that? He said the way we know this is somebody preached to us. And the way they knew it is Christ made them eyewitnesses and gave them the word to preach. You know, people say, well, he's just preaching what another man said. If you're saved, The preacher that preached the gospel to you preached what somebody else said. I guarantee he did. He preached what Luke said, what John said, what Paul said. And you know what they preached? They preached what Christ said. If you're saved, you're saved by a man preaching you what another man preached. That's how you're saved, because that's how God saved. God used his ministers to preach the gospel to us, and by experiencing the power of God and calling you and giving you faith through this gospel, giving you life, we most surely know and believe the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. We surely believe this. We surely believe this. We most surely believe that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, is the gospel. He is the word. He is the covenant. And he's the prophet who speaks through the word and who sends the gospel and speaks through the gospel and speaks in power in the heart. We have eyes to see and ears to hear now because he spoke to us in power and we most surely believe This Bible is the Word of God, and this Bible is all about God's Son, Christ Jesus the Lord, who is our salvation. And we most surely believe that when a man stands to preach, he must preach Christ, because that's the subject of this book. Christ, the person and the work of our Lord Jesus, the triune God manifest in Christ. We have to hear this, and we have to hear Christ in him crucified preached, because we know this is the power of God unto salvation. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. It's the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. From faith, from the faithful one to the heart of faith he's given. This is the power of God unto salvation. That's what the Spirit of God did in us. Here's, look, verse 18, 1 Corinthians 1.18, The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it's written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. And that's what the Lord did in us. He destroyed our wisdom and our prudence and gave us new hearts to submit to Christ. He made you know you're saved by the power of God. Look at verse 23. We preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block unto the Greeks villages, but unto them which are called. both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Luke declares. He's not suggesting or recommending. He declares. That's what he's declaring. He's declaring Christ and who He is and what He did. He said, He said, this is why he sent John the Baptist. The very next word we're gonna see when we start through here, it's gonna start in with John, John the Baptist. And the very reason the Lord sent John the Baptist was to prepare the way for him through the preaching of the gospel. And Christ, when he's gonna enter into the heart of a sinner, he prepares the way by sending his messenger, preaching the truth of this gospel. That's how he does, announcing the king's arrival. And then the king comes in. And by him giving you faith, he makes you eyewitnesses of the Lord Jesus. Paul said those that preached to us were eyewitnesses. Luke said that. They were eyewitnesses. Luke himself, though he did see Christ, but he was an eyewitness by faith. We're eyewitnesses by faith. Faith is what? Faith is the evidence. What did he tell the Galatians? He said, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you. It's faith that beholds him evidently. It's the eye of faith. We most surely believe that it's by this gospel, by Christ himself, by the spirit of our Lord, that we're saved and that we're kept and that we're preserved from the first moment he gives you this understanding until he takes you out of this world. We are being saved through the preaching of this word. It's by Christ preaching to us. It's by this word of this gospel that exalts him. That's why Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words. You have the words of eternal life. That's what the gospel is, the words of eternal life. We have to have the words of eternal life. Just like you eat food every day. You get up and you eat. Well, I don't need to eat anymore, I'm full. In just a little while, you're gonna be hungry again, aren't you? It's the same with the gospel. This is our food. We eat, and in a little while you're hungry. We got to have, this is the words of eternal life, the food of eternal life is what this is. It's like our Lord fed that multitude with the fish and the loaves. This is what he feeds a multitude of his elect throughout all the generations of time. He's fed us with this gospel of Christ and him crucified. Here's what it comes down to. Go with me to 2 Corinthians 4. Here's what it comes down to. Anybody that can forsake the gospel of Christ has never received mercy from the Lord Jesus. It just comes down to that. He never received mercy of the Lord Jesus because once you receive this mercy and the power of our Lord Jesus has called you, that's what's going to keep you from fainting, that's what's going to keep you from wilting, that's what's going to keep you from going back. We're not of them that go back. We're them that believe to the saving of the soul. We persevere in faith. And that's by the Lord. That's by His mercy. And anybody that can forsake the gospel and go back They just hadn't experienced the mercy of God. Christ doesn't fail. Look here at 2 Corinthians 4, and look here in verse 1. Paul was talking there about how we're saved through the Spirit of the Lord, giving us a heart to behold the glory of Christ. And he says, therefore seeing we have, 2 Corinthians 4.1, therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, the same way we receive mercy, we faint not. Look down at verse seven. But we have this treasured earth and vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. Look at verse 16. For which cause we faint not. Though our outward man perish, the inward man renew day by day. Now look back at verse three. But if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost. That's it, that's where the rubber meets the road right there. We most surely believe Christ shall not fail till he has set judgment, discernment in the hearts of every one of his people and every chosen Gentile who he redeemed shall wait on the law, on his law, his gospel. We have to have it. And he won't lose one of his blood-bought sheep. Just, you know, when he works this work, it doesn't mean you're not going to stray, but I'll tell you what's going to happen when you stray. He's going to find his lost sheep. He said, I'll find my lost sheep, and I'll bring it home on my shoulder. He said, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. We most surely believe, and we know the certainty of this, Christ is all. He is all. He truly is all. By His grace, we depend entirely upon Him. By His grace, we believe He shall save us and He shall preserve us and He will present us to God without fault and without blame. We most certainly believe, by His grace, He is our hope. We behold Him by faith, entered into the veil, seated at God's right hand, and He's our hope of eternal salvation. We most certainly believe we are accepted in the Beloved, complete in the Lord Jesus. And we believe he has saved us, he is saving us, and he shall save us. He has delivered us, he is delivering us, he shall deliver us. We most certainly believe we have to have Christ. That's what he makes you know and keeps you knowing. Let's go to him. Father, we thank you for this word. Lord, thank you that you chose your son and sent him and that he is everything in the salvation of his people. Lord, how we need you, how we need your gospel. And we pray, Lord, you continue this work in us. Thank you for our brother Luke. Thank you for using him to write these words, giving him a heart to record our Lord Jesus and the things that he did. things he accomplished. Thank you, Father, that you gave us hearts to believe you, to see Christ and know him. Lord, thank you for this gospel. You have blessed us. We have everything because of you. You've given us your gospel. You've given us your son. You've given us life, salvation. Everything we have, you've given it to us, Lord, and we thank you. You get all the glory. Lord, we want you to have the glory. Help us to glorify you in things we say and do in our lives. Help us to glorify you to lost sinners. Help us to declare, Lord. Give us strength to boldly declare, meekly and patiently and kindly declare to perishing sinners the glorious good news of our Lord Jesus. And Lord, we pray that you would send forth laborers into this harvest. We pray you'd send forth more preachers. And we ask, Lord, that you would call out your people. Lord, we need you every hour. We pray you do this. And we know, we know your promise, Lord, but we ask you, we ask you. We confess our need for you to work. We thank you, Lord. We pray you be exalted here today. Forgive us our sins, Father. In Christ's name we pray, amen.