The Rock of Certainty in the Sea of Skepticism

Introduction

There are 66 books in our Bible, and one of my core beliefs as a pastor is that God’s Word does God’s Work. I talk with some pastors who are up all week sweating, trying to figure out what topic to preach on whenever Sunday comes around. I made a discovery early on as a pastor, I’m not that creative and I’m not that funny. Early on in ministry, I was convinced that expository preaching, preaching typically verse by verse, book by book, through the Bible is the way that best nourishes us as we progressively make our way through the entire Bible. As a pastor, this is challenging because I can’t only preach the topics and themes that I like or that sound good. I have to preach “the whole counsel of God’s Word.” And as a church, this is so good for us as we make our way through stories that we might otherwise miss and passages that might be difficult and often get skipped over. So far together, we’ve gone through the books of Colossians, Ruth, and Jonah. That’s 3 books out of 66 in one year! If my math is right, that means we have 22 years to go!

Today we begin our 4th verse by verse study of a book together… the Gospel of Luke. Luke isn’t like Colossians, Ruth, and Jonah. Luke is a BIG book. In fact, it’s the longest book in the New Testament based on word count. Because of this, you can’t preach through Luke in 12 sermons. You can’t preach through Luke in 24 sermons as that would either mean you do a chapter a week, or you skip over some important stuff! Last year I looked up how long it took pastors to preach through Luke, and let’s just say you need to hold onto your seats… John MacArthur took nearly 300 sermons to preach through this book. RC Sproul took just over 100. Many others took between 50-150 sermons, which would be between 1 and 3 years straight through! This is God’s Word, it is inspired, it is profitable, but I also know that 1-3 years is a long time! So, as we get ready for this study together, we’re going to be in Luke from now until Easter of 2027, with some breaks along the way. Luke ends with the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus, which will be our passage on Easter Sunday of 2027, and Luke begins his Gospel with a brief introduction about the reliability of his book, and we would say all of Scripture.

If you are a guest, my cards are on the table, this is God’s Word. It is true. Inspired. Authoritative. Without error. That’s what we as Southern Baptists believe! Today, as we begin this study, we’re going to see why exactly we can be certain that what we read is true and why our belief in the Bible and in Jesus Christ is reasonable!

Who Is Luke and What Does He Say?

Before we dive into this opening to this book, we need to understand the context of this Gospel. It’s author and it’s purpose. We know a lot about some people in the New Testament. We know a lot about Jesus. Paul. Peter. John. Mary. We can think of others! Yet, other than Paul, Luke wrote the majority of the New Testament. 52 chapters between Luke and Acts… but we don’t know much about this individual. He doesn’t talk about himself. Now there’s a lesson, isn’t there? Even whenever we’re used by God, it’s not about us. It’s all about Jesus - He is the hero of our story! But here is Luke. Writing a historical account of Jesus and the growth of the early church. We actually have to go to Colossians to get a description of Luke

Colossians 4:10–14 CSB

10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you greetings, as does Mark, Barnabas’s cousin (concerning whom you have received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him), 11 and so does Jesus who is called Justus. These alone of the circumcised are my coworkers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. 12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. He is always wrestling for you in his prayers, so that you can stand mature and fully assured in everything God wills. 13 For I testify about him that he works hard for you, for those in Laodicea, and for those in Hierapolis. 14 Luke, the dearly loved physician, and Demas send you greetings.

This is insightful as it tells us that Luke is a partner of Paul. He is not Jewish. And, he is a physician. Want to know more? Too bad, that’s all you get! We know that this man was a doctor. He has a goal, as our text tells us, of wanting to present the facts about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. In this sense, we can say that Luke is a little like Lee Strobel, the author of The Case for Christ. Some of you likely have heard that story before. Lee Strobel was a staunch athiest. He didn’t believe in God. He was a legal editor for the Chicago Tribune. He was good at his job and all was well… until his wife became a Christian. This forced him to begin to dig into what the Bible actually teaches. He investigated claim after claim. He investigated the accuracy of the Biblical manuscripts. He investigated the evidence of Jesus outside of the Bible. He investigated the crucifixion and resurrection. He detailed all of these events and based on the evidence, he went from an atheist to a theist. From lost to saved. From death to life. Jesus saved this man because he simply looked into the evidence standing before him in Scripture.

Luke’s goal is to present evidence. To share what took place. To share history. Luke isn’t telling a story that he made up… he is presenting facts. There are different genres in the Bible. Poetry. Prophecy. Epistles. Apocalyptic Literature. The largest chunk of the Bible is Narrative or Historical Narrative. This is Luke - he is writing a piece of history that was common in the ancient world for important people. A biographical book. A Gospel. We know that we have 4 different Gospel accounts in our Bible. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each are unique!

Matthew is concerned with showing the Jewish people that Jesus is the promised Messiah

Mark shows the Roman world that Jesus is the Suffering Servant

Luke shows the entire world that Jesus is the Savior who came to flip this upside down world right side up

John shows us that Jesus is the Word made Flesh who provides people with life in abundance

Some wonder, why do these Gospel accounts matter? They’re 2,000 years old. How could they be considered truth today? Ready or not, school is right around the corner… and our students will be learning things like Trigonometry, Calculus, Biology, Chemistry, World History, and Computing… We can handle some big topics today. We live in what many would call a “Post-Modern” world. If you have a post-modern title, it follows that before Post-modern was the modern world. What do those titles mean? For hundreds of years, ending in the middle of the 20th century, we had modernism. The idea here was that if we can just learn more science, then we’ll find truth. Knowledge will answer our deepest questions. After World War 2, though, this began to shift. Culture was moving away from absolutes. The Post-Modern era was upon us and this worldview says that truth is relative, not objective. Knowledge and Science won’t help us find anything because we all interpret it differently. It’s all about my experience. My truth. My feelings. We live today in this era. Full of feelings. “Your truth” matters more than THE truth. Into this world, Luke will help us so much.

Luke’s goal in this Gospel is to show us how much we need Jesus. How messed up the world is. How Jesus changes everything! Luke’s Gospel is a persuasive Gospel - it is saturated with evidence that demands a response. Luke argues that Jesus truly is the Messiah who alone saves sinners. This is Luke’s main message and this is what we’ll be studying in the weeks and months to come!

If you’ve ever read Luke before, you know that Luke shows Jesus’ ministry in 3 key parts based on Geography

Order of Luke

Begins in Galilee (1-9) (Now until Thanksgiving)

Traveling to Jerusalem (9:51-19:28) (2026)

Travelogue of Luke contains so many stories that are exclusive to Luke

Good Samaritan

Prodigal Son

Zacchaeus

In Jerusalem (19-24) (2027)

This will be where we camp out for the majority of the next few years as we look at Jesus’ ministry. Luke will show us several key things along the way

Theological themes of Luke

Jesus is the Savior of the World, not just those located in Jerusalem or the country of Israel

Luke 19:10 CSB

10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

God is Sovereign and has a perfect plan

Luke 17:25 CSB

25 But first it is necessary that he suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

Understand the cost of following Jesus

Luke 9:23 CSB

23 Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Today, God is still sovereign. Jesus is still saving. The Holy Spirit is still changing lives. And believers are still following Christ. This is God’s Word and it is good news FOR us! Are you ready for the sermon? Let’s dive into our text this morning

Luke 1:1–4 CSB

1 Many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as the original eyewitnesses and servants of the word handed them down to us. 3 So it also seemed good to me, since I have carefully investigated everything from the very first, to write to you in an orderly sequence, most honorable Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things about which you have been instructed.

We can know that the things we read in this book, and in the entire Bible, certainly happened. That what we read is true. That what the Bible says is right. This is our belief and it’s all because of WHO our God is and what He has done in giving us His Word. Let’s thank Him for that today, let’s pray

God’s Word is Really True (1-3)

We all place faith in certain things as people. This week we celebrated Isaiah’s birthday and my inlaws had a bounce house for the grandkids to play in! If you’ve ever seen a bounce house before, you know that as fun as they are, they take up a lot of room and they take up a lot of air. We placed our faith in the fact that the air pump was going to do its job and that we wouldn’t have to blow it up ourselves. Think of other things that we place our faith in as people - you likely place your faith in different people. Parents. Spouses. Friends. Coaches. Teachers. Pastors. What happens with people, sometimes? People let us down. Friends disappoint. Parents sin. Take cars - you get into your car, you put your key in the ignition, or you press a button in some cars, and what do you expect? The car to turn on! What happens sometimes, though? Cars break down. They don’t start. You arrived here this morning, you likely talked to a few people, and then you sat down… what were you doing when you sat down? You were placing your faith in that chair to hold you up! Looks like everyone’s faith was well placed, because I don’t see anyone on the floor with a broken chair… but sometimes chairs do break. Sometimes the things that we place our faith in do in fact fail us.

So often what we do as humans is we judge the reliability of someone’s faith based on the intensity of their faith. If someone is confident, we give them the benefit of the doubt. If someone is strong in their belief, we might be swayed to accept that belief too. Tim Keller once shared, “It is not the strength of your faith, but the object of your faith that saves you!” Strong faith in a weak branch is infinitely worse than weak faith in a strong branch. In other words, I’ve known people who are very genuine, very strong, very convicted in a certain belief… but their strength isn’t what makes that belief right. It’s the object that does. We see this with other religions. I’ve seen some very dedicated and committed Muslims. They are very convinced and confident that Islam is correct. They believe that Muhammad is the greatest of all prophets. They aren’t lacking on the confidence part. But confidence isn’t what saves. It’s the object of our faith that saves, and Allah doesn’t save people from their sins. Sincerity doesn’t save. We must not simply be sincere, we must be right. How can you and I have confidence in the object of our faith? By what basis can we know that the claims in the Bible are correct and right?

This is Luke’s goal in the opening of this book. Look at the foundation he gives us regarding the claims that are going to follow in this book. We see here that this Gospel is “a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us.” Now, he says that many have done this. Who are those many? We can think of 3: Matthew. Mark. John. Luke’s Gospel account was likely written in the early 60s AD. Luke’s goal was to document what took place and he was careful with what he wrote.

Luke’s Gospel is

Based on Sources

Based on Eyewitnesses

Based on Investigation

Luke outlines his purpose of the remaining 24 chapters of his Gospel in these opening 4 verses. The teachings of Christ are true. Jesus really did what He said He would do. He really came. He really lived a sinless life. He really died on the cross. He really rose. These things are real and that means that they really matter! God’s Word really is true. But don’t just take my word for it. Brothers and Sisters, there has been a temptation for years to say that your testimony IS the Gospel. In other words, whenever we talk about evangelism and talking to others about Jesus, what some take that to mean is that we just need to tell other people our testimony. Your testimony is something to praise God for! Your testimony is a story to share. But your testimony is NOT the Gospel. Your story might include Jesus radically changing you and saving you… but someone else might not have that testimony. Your experience might be this way… their’s might be another way… We should tell our Jesus story - but we should start with Jesus’ story! Whenever you share what the Bible says, you’re declaring truth. Not your truth. Not what you feel is truth. Look at what John 17 says

John 17:17 CSB

17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

God’s Word is true. This doesn’t mean that it’s always something that we like. Have you ever came across something in the Bible you didn’t like? If your answer is no, you likely haven’t been reading it long enough! Sometimes I hear, “This passage didn’t encourage me.” The Bible doesn’t always encourage. Sometimes it convicts us. Other times it challenges us. But I pray that it always changes us! Whenever we read this in Romans 3:10-12

Romans 3:10–12 CSB

10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one.

Can anyone honestly say that they find this to be incredibly encouraging? This is challenging. But it is true because it’s God’s Word. We are not righteous. We don’t seek God, because we’re lost. We don’t do good. How can this be good news? Because it demonstrates that our salvation isn’t because of the good things that we have done or the greatness inside of us. It’s because of God’s amazing grace. I don’t want anyone thinking that they can earn their way to heaven. I don’t want anyone to think that they deserve heaven. I don’t want anyone to think that God is only love, so everyone will make it to heaven. I don’t want anyone to think that there are multiple ways to heaven. I want people to know John 8:32 in their soul

John 8:32 CSB

32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Luke’s goal, and our goal today, is to share the truth of God’s Word and to not apologize about that truth. Call it conviction, confidence, or foolishness, I don’t care… I believe that when the Bible speaks, God Himself speaks. When the Bible speaks on marriage, the argument is over. When the Bible speaks on church leadership, the argument is over. When the Bible speaks on gender, the argument is over. Some ask, “Why?” Because this is God’s Word! I have that conviction, and I know many of you share that same conviction! But some might press deeper - why do you have that conviction? My answer is not because I have blind faith. It is not because I have abandoned reason. It is not because I have jumped into the darkness and I hope that I’m right when it’s all said and done… no, there is evidence behind this claim that the Bible is true. This is what Luke shares in this opening passage. Look at his sources:

He notes that there are eyewitnesses who have passed things down. Luke and Theophilus never saw Jesus. None of us saw Jesus. We didn’t see His nail-scared hands. What do we have? We have witnesses who shared stories. For Luke, a doctor, he must be completely convinced in the reliability of these witnesses. Luke says that he carefully investigated everything. But his investigation is only as good as his witnesses. If the witnesses weren’t reliable, his findings wouldn’t be reliable. If the servants of the Word weren’t reliable, his Gospel wouldn’t be reliable. So Luke goes into this process asking questions, talking to people, examining his findings. I’ve heard so many say that “You only believe the Bible because you haven’t questioned it.” The Bible holds up to questioning. People will bring up supposed contradictions like James and Paul talking about salvation.

James 2:26 CSB

26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Ephesians 2:8–9 CSB

8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast.

They’ll say, “See! You can’t trust the Bible because it’s full of contradictions!” False. Paul is speaking on salvation being a gift that we can’t earn through our works. James is speaking of the result of salvation. Saying that you have faith and not living a changed life is evidence that you haven’t really been saved. In other words, good works aren’t the root of salvation, they are the fruit of salvation. Why else can we trust the Bible? Have you ever studied the prophecies specifically about Jesus that are fulfilled perfectly? We’re not talking about modern day “prophets” who are vague and say things like “There is someone who has backache in this room who is going to get healed.” In a room of 300, 100 of us have backache and Tylenol does a wonderful job most of the time! No, Biblical prophecies are specific. There are hundreds of prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament - where He would be born, how He would be of the line of David, that He would die in the place of sinners, that He would conquer death. You can look at the prophecies that Jesus alone fulfills in His birth, life, death, and resurrection and come away amazed simply by the evidence that we find.

This book is a miracle. Luke’s goal is to share that we have a reasonable faith that is based on verified evidence. God’s Word is powerful because God’s Word is true. As we go through the book of Luke in the months to come, we’ll see just how powerful our God is.

Some people say that Jesus came to turn the world upside down, but Luke will show us the opposite. Sin turned the world upside down, Jesus came to turn the world rightside up! We can test what we find in Scripture, and we find it to be true.

“I don’t live in this world to present my opinion, I’m here to preach the Word of God.”

God’s Word Really Changes Lives (4)

God’s Word is true - we can evaluate it. We can question it. We can test it. We can verify it. We can look at archeology and see evidence that Biblical events like the flood and the discovery of Hezekiah’s Tunnel. An awesome thing that Luke does in his Gospel, though, is he documents history. The Gospels are historical accounts. Narratives. And because Luke compiled events as he was interviewed people, we see historical facts along the way. Luke talks about dates and people in history.

In verse 5, we see that Luke mentions King Herod and a priest named Zechariah

In chapter 2:1-2, Luke references the census that Caesar Augustus ordered

In 3:1-2, Luke references Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, and other leads in the area.

Why would Luke do this? Because he’s documenting real people, that really existed. This adds to the fact that we can trust what we read in the Bible. But, if we’re honest, there’s a far more powerful reason: The life of the earliest Christians. In the book of Acts, we learn how the church began to grow after the ascension of Jesus Christ… but after a season, problems began to arise. Needs weren’t being met in the body, and we see the need for what we call deacons today

Acts 6:2–4 CSB

2 The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

What did these deacons do? They served, because that’s what deacons do. They don’t dictate. They don’t demonize. They don’t distract. They don’t dominate. They defend the shepherds. They serve the congregation. Their work was vital so that the pastors could be devoted to what is called the “ministry of the Word.” The proclamation of the Gospel. What was the Gospel doing throughout the book of Acts? Changing Lives! How can we trust that the Bible is true? The earliest Christians were changed people. In Luke 22, Jesus is arrested and everything starts to change. Peter denies Jesus 3x. John’s Gospel tells us that the disciples were hiding and afraid for their lives after the death of Jesus. The disciples went from hiding and denying to thriving and dying. What changed? Why were they willing to die for their faith in Christ? They saw the resurrected Christ.

Not only did they believe themselves, but they shared this message with others. Acts describes the growth of the early church in great detail. From 120 in the upper room to tens of thousands in a short period of time! From Jerusalem to much of the Roman Empire. Why? Because these men and women knew for certain that this was true and they wanted others to experience the freedom and life that Jesus provides. Today, what prevents us from not sharing this life changing message with others?

Fear of rejection

Feel unqualified

Think people are fine as they are

Think it’s someone else’s job

Don’t want to come across as judgmental or mean

The earliest Christians weren’t primarily concerned with what other people thought of them, they were most concerned with what God said. As you look at your life today, what changes have you seen as a result of faithfully responding to God’s Word? Maybe you haven’t seen that change yet. Whenever you truly understand the message of the Bible and the glorious good news we call the Gospel, something changes.

Colossians 1:13–14 CSB

13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 14 In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

You can summarize the Gospel in 3 glorious words: He Rescued Us! Salvation isn’t you rescuing yourself. Salvation is the realization of your sinful condition and turning in desperation to a Savior, and receiving transformation through His gracious invitation! Do you see how God’s Word changes us? In the Gospel we receive what we could never deserve and because of this gift we call grace, we live a changed life. We let our lights shine bright.

We live in a skeptical world. A world where people question everything. We question people. We question products. We question policies. We question pastors. In a sea of skepticism, there is a rock of certainty called Scripture that will hold us fast. It will not be moved. It will not change, though the world does. As Dustin Benge recently shared, “Agreeing or disagreeing with the Bible doesn’t affect its truth.” Maybe today this is you. You’re questioning the claims of the Bible. The reliability of the Bible. The truthfulness of the Bible. Does it still apply? Is it really important? Is it right?

Acts 2:36 CSB

36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

Certainty Changes Everything! Certainty gave the earliest Christians confidence in the 300s AD to not only stand firm, but to boldly share the Gospel even though doing so meant that they could be put to death during the persecution under Emperor Diocletian. Certainty gave people like Adoniram Judson, William Carey, Lottie Moon, and Jim Elliot confidence as they left the “first world” for the ends of the world to share the Gospel. This wasn’t wishful thinking. This wasn’t blind hope. It was a rock solid confidence in the claims of Scripture that is the result of being changed by God Himself. This changes everything! We can have certainty in a sea of skepticism. How should this change us?

Application

In a Stressful World, Speak the Truth in Love

God’s Word is truth. It can be easy in a stressful world to water down the truth or to avoid speaking the truth entirely. It can be easy to fall into one of two ditches as Believers. We speak the truth in anger… or we speak half-truths in love. These are dangerous! Ephesians 4:15 calls on Christians to speak the truth in love. Because God’s Word is true. Because the Gospel is good news. Because Jesus really does save sinners. We must speak the truth in love… and not the way the world defines love, but the way that God does. The world says that if you don’t affirm my actions, you’re being hateful. That to be loving means you must be affirming. God says that affirming sin is hateful. We speak the truth of Scripture because Scripture has changed our life.

In a Emotion Driven World, Evangelize Well

In a “life your own truth”, “you do you”, “follow your feelings” world - the field is ripe for evangelism! We look around and we see a crazy world and we wonder, “What can I do?” Your job is not to change the world, it is to change someone’s world. How do we do this? Live on mission. Evangelize well. The Gospel of Luke will show us over and over how God’s plan of salvation is good news for ALL PEOPLE. Luke is a educated gentile, interviewing Jewish fishermen, writing how Jesus came to seek and save men, women, children, Jew, Gentile, Slave, and Free, Rich and Poor. You will not meet a single person this week who is NOT made in God’s image and that God does not love. Our responsibility is to share this never-changing Gospel message with those God puts around us.

In a Skeptical World, God’s Word Provides Strength

We live in a post-modern world where people are skeptical of everything. Where truth is relative. Where facts change. Where trust doesn’t exist. In this world, God’s Word provides us with strength. Stability. Structure. Hope.

Our faith isn’t random… it is reasonable. It isn’t blind… it’s based on evidence. Because Scripture is God-breathed, we can be certain that when the Bible speaks, God speaks. That He doesn’t stutter. That He is right. That Scripture is authoritative. Today, let’s be a people who submit ourselves to the authority of Scripture. Many of us are good at following 99% of what the Bible says… but there’s that 1%. Sharing the Gospel. Practicing generosity. Being humble. Looking to God first during difficult times. Whatever that 1% is, submit to Scripture. Be obedient. Give that to Jesus today!

JC Ryle, “The saddest road to hell is the one that runs under the pulpit, past the Bible, and through the middle of warnings and invitations.”