Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

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How many of you know your name and birth date? Are you sure about that?

A woman in her 20’s also recently found out that her name was spelled differently than she’s always spelled it. She was applying to get married, and saw on her birth certificate than her name was spelled differently. She asked her parents, and they said that they changed their minds about how they wanted to spell her name after the birth certificate had already been filed. So which was her actual name? The name she’s always gone by, or the legal name on her birth certificate?

A 65 year old woman named Vanessa noticed one day that her birth certificate gave a different year of birth than she remembered. Is she just remembering wrong? Or was the certificate truly wrong, and went unnoticed for 65 years?

How many of you are going to go check your birth certificate when you get home today? If we can get confused about very simple questions such as this, what else might we be wrong about?

One of the fundamental questions that people ask is this: “How can anyone know anything at all?” A lot of people conclude that we can’t! “There are too many variables!” “There’s always the possibility that you’re wrong!” And I would actually agree with these people, if I were to agree with them that there is no God. Without God, we would not be able to know anything! We wouldn’t know why we’re here. We wouldn’t know how we got here. We wouldn’t know what’s going to happen in the future. Even those things which we’re relatively confident of, we could be wrong about.

At one time, nearly everyone in the world thought the world was flat. Popular opinion doesn’t dictate what is and isn’t truth. But there is a God, and He has taught us everything we need to know in His Word.

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:1-4)

Part of Luke’s goal in writing this book was to give his reader, Theophilus, facts about Jesus. There were a lot of rumors circulating about Jesus. That He wasn’t really born of a virgin. That His disciples had stolen His body. And some of His teaching was getting confused with some false teaching circulating. Apparently Theophilus had heard some of these rumors. But Theophilus also heard true teaching mixed in with some of them. So he had questions about what was true and what was false regarding Jesus. So Luke found it necessary to write an orderly account so that the facts would be straight.

Luke was certainly capable of writing such a book. Luke himself was a physician. In fact, by the time Luke wrote this book, Luke had been the apostle Paul’s physician. Like today, you couldn’t become a physician like Luke without a good education. This shows in the gospel of Luke. The words used are those of an educated man. The gospel according to Luke is the most orderly, complete account of the life of Jesus. Luke wrote more than one fourth of the New Testament. Paul wrote more books, many in the form of shorter letters. But Luke wrote two considerably longer books! Luke was certainly an educated man capable of researching the facts about Jesus.

In fact, Luke says that he had been following the news about Jesus closely (v. 2). It’s surprising to me that we don’t read much about Luke himself. He’s mentioned by name only three times in the New Testament (Colossians 4:14, 2 Timothy 4:11, Philemon 1:24). Nearly everything else people say about Luke is speculation. Some say he may have been a freed slave who was taught medicine. Some say he was a Gentile who was familiar with Jewish literature, and possibly a convert to Judaism. Some say he even went to school with Paul, and that’s how they knew each other!

Despite the fact that we don’t read much about Luke himself, we know that he was definitely involved in ministry! He was with Paul ministering alongside Paul during much of his missionary journeys. He cared medically for Paul and probably Paul’s associates as they preached the gospel. This was a dangerous occupation! After all, Paul was stoned, beaten, and shipwrecked! Caring for Paul’s medical needs was a full time ministry! As I already mentioned, Luke wrote much of the New Testament! What a ministry!

We need people like Luke in the church today. He worked hard, but didn’t look for recognition. He took care of those who were out on the front lines. He did what he was gifted and called by God to do. No more, no less.

But Luke’s goal wasn’t just to give facts. It was to convince Theophilus and all of us to follow Jesus. The Bible is not merely a book of stories. It is history. When Luke writes about angels appearing to Mary and Joseph and later to the disciples, this wasn’t some story that evolved over time. It really happened! When Luke describes the miracles that Jesus performed, they were real miracles! They weren’t tricks that had perfectly rational, scientific explanations. Actually, they do have a rational explanation: Jesus is God and can do anything! The same goes for all of miraculous stories in the Old Testament, no matter how fantastical they sound.

If the Bible is history, then it is also truth. Jesus not only did miracles, He taught about Himself. We can’t accept one without the other. So the Bible calls for a decision. Will you believe the history that the Bible puts forth, or the one that our world endorses? Will you believe the truth the that Bible declares, or cut out the stuff that’s difficult for you to accept?

We can have certainty concerning what the Bible tells us (v. 4). Luke wasn’t just playing telephone. He interviewed eyewitnesses and questioned them! He made sure he was reporting the facts. The fact is, Jesus truly did come in the flesh. He really was born of a virgin. He really did reveal Himself as the Lord God through miracles and bold teaching. He really die on a cross for our sins. And He really did rise by His own power from the grave and ascend to Heaven!

There have been many people over the years who have sought to disprove Christianity. Lee Strobel tried disprove Christianity as a journalist. He ended up becoming a Christian. He wrote a book about his experience called, “The Case for Christ.” Frank Morison tried to disprove Christianity as a lawyer He ended up becoming a Christian. He wrote a book about his experience called, “Who Moved the Stone?” Two young agnostics named Gilbert West and Lord Nyttleton tried to disprove Christianity. They were friends who agreed to independently disprove particular aspects of Christianity. When they came back together to share their findings, guess what? They both had become Christians. And they both wrote a book about their experiences. It’s under Gilbert West’s name and is called, “Observations on the History and Evidences of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Christianity stands up against any honest test. We can be sure of our faith in Christ, not because our faith is so strong. We can be sure of our faith in Christ because Jesus is trustworthy. And His Word is trustworthy. Having a certain faith doesn’t mean you never have doubts. It means trusting God through your doubts, because God is greater than your doubts. Trust God. Trust in Christ. Trust His Word, because His Word can be trusted.