theWord Commentaries

Fortner Don – Discovering Christ in Luke

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• June 25, 2023November 7, 2023
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Fortner Don – Discovering Christ in Luke

Foreword

The purpose of Luke’s Gospel is supplied in the first verse of the first chapter of the book. Luke tells his friend, Theophilus, of his plan to “set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us”. Pause for a moment and reflect on this. Luke is telling Theophilus that if he wants to know what Christians believe he can read it in this book. Furthermore, he is telling us, too, that all who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ must also believe these things. For these things of Jesus Christ “are most surely believed among us”.

We live in days when many people claim to be Christians. They say they are followers of Jesus, yet they definitely do not believe the things which Luke says were once “most surely believed” by the apostles and disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. This should not be the case. Christian teaching is not a hotchpotch of ideas or a jumbled bag of doctrines where followers pick and mix what they choose to believe.

On the contrary, Luke clearly states these are the things “most surely believed”, and in twenty-four chapters of holy scripture Luke sets out the beliefs of the Apostolic church concerning the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus. He gives no quarter to doubts, disbelief or duplicity. Luke will not allow us to identify with the Lord Jesus and claim to be his followers while denying what he did and taught.

We also encounter others who tell us it is not helpful to be dogmatic about what we believe. They tell us it is not possible to clearly establish what one has to believe to be a Christian. They say things such as “God knows the heart” or “There are different views upon this matter” or “It is not necessary to be overly emphatic on these points.” Well, to such we repeat what Luke says. Here, in his gospel, are “those things which are most surely believed among us”.

Let us take some examples: Luke tells us:

1. The grace of God is sovereign: in chapter 4:25–27 Luke shows that God’s goodness is directed only to certain individuals and it is discriminating. It had been so in the past in the times of Elijah and Elisha, it was now, in the time of Christ. The people of Nazareth wanted a miracle but would receive none. Those in the synagogue to whom Christ spoke understood precisely what the Master was saying. God is not at the beck and call of man. The favors of God, and the grace of God, are dispensed sovereignly according to the will of God and not the will of man. This simple fact of God’s sovereignty so angered the people of Nazareth that they tried to kill the Son of God almost before his ministry was begun. Yet sovereign grace was one of the things most surely believed.

2. Salvation is to be found in Christ alone: speaking of Simeon’s testimony of Christ in chapter 2:30 Luke tells us how this old saint of the Lord looked for the “consolation of Israel”. He was waiting for the Messiah to be revealed. Then one day he held in his arms the child Jesus. Full of the Holy Spirit he blessed God and declared, “Mine eyes have seen your salvation.” Our Lord tells Zacchaeus, “This day is salvation come to this house”. Christ is Salvation. This was another of those things most surely believed.

3. Eternal election: when the Lord sent out seventy preachers in Luk_10:1 they appear to have stormed Satan’s citadel with the gospel message. They saw amazing things “and returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through your name.” However, the Lord’s reply directed them to rejoice in their election; God’s choice of them from everlasting. This shows that God’s election to eternal life is of particular Luk_10:1 known by name; that it is sure, and certain, and irreversible. It was one of those things most surely believed.

4. Salvation is God’s work alone: when a rich young ruler met Jesus in Luk_18:1-43 it became clear that obtaining salvation was eluding, naturally speaking, this most eligible of men. The disciples were astonished and asked if not this man “Who then can be saved?” The Lord Jesus answered, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Salvation in the life of any sinner requires an act of divine proportions to change the heaLuk_18:1-43 us the desire of the soul upon Christ overthrow all human self-righteousness. That only a spiritual work of God will bring a man to deny himself, take up the cross and follow Christ was another of those things most surely believed.

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