More
Truth to Encourage
Last
week I spoke about the exact truths St. Luke wrote to his friend, Theophilus.
He wrote those truths so Theophilus – and you and I today – might know the
exact truth about the things we have heard about Jesus.
Truth.
That is why we are spending our time once again, looking at the truth the Holy
Spirit inspired Luke to record in his gospel, because the Holy Spirit has
something to tell us in 2022. If ever there was a time you and I needed an
anchor for our souls, something that has been true, and that remains true, and
positive, and will not ever fade away, it is now. Today. Perhaps especially as
we face 2022.
Here is what he
wrote in the first several verses of chapter one: “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an
account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those
who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants
of the word, it seemed fitting for me as
well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to
write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus;
so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have
been taught.”
I said it last week, and I
repeat it because of its importance to our eternal salvation: Not everyone
wants to know truth because truth makes us RESPONSIBLE to follow its direction.
And the truth of the gospel message makes us responsible to God Himself for our
actions. God forces us to take sides. No one can stay neutral in the face of
truth.
So, what is it that God had Luke write to Theophilus
who, many commentators believe was Luke’s friend? What are those truths? Luke’s
letter has 24 chapters of truth. Last week I focused on three of those eternal
truths. Those were, number one: Jesus’ birth was miraculous. Number two: John the Baptist had developed doubts
about Jesus – and why that truth is important for us in 2022 to know. And
finally, number three: Jesus is going to return to earth – not as a baby, but
this time as a Lion.
Today I will
focus my message on three more exact truths which Luke wrote to Theophilus and
which are necessary for us here to know as well:
Number one: God requires of us
holiness in our lifestyles. Number two: Jesus is actively searching for lost
sheep. Number three: An afterlife faces every man, woman, and child. What we do
with Christ in THIS life determines where we spend our afterlife.
So, let’s go back to the first truth for today:
God requires of us holiness. Here is how God inspired Luke to record that exact truth that
Jesus spoke: “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell
you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 Once the head
of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside
and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and
say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ 26 Then
you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught
in our streets’; 27 and He will
say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; Depart from me,
all you evil doers.” (Luke 13:24-27)
The same Holy Spirit inspired
St. Peter to add this command: “As obedient children,
do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your
ignorance,
but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also
in all your behavior; because it is written, “You
shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:14-16) Indeed, anyone familiar with
the Scriptures knows God’s requirement of us to be holy fills virtually every
page from Genesis through Revelation.
Holiness covers many attitudes in God’s view. It means to
be separate from the culture’s view of life and acceptable lifestyles. It means
to be morally pure. It means to be ethically pure. And it will be wholly insufficient to
excuse or rationalize a sinful lifestyle to God at the judgement by saying my pastor,
or my church allows such and such an action.
I
spoke to a man not too long ago who used to justify his acceptance of some of,
for example, homosexual marriage, abortion, and fornication. When I told him
what the Bible said about his view of those damnable sins, he told me his
church does not believe those practices are sinful. He added, as if to further
seal the deal, his church is pastored by ‘intellectuals’ – that was the word he
used. I guess he meant by that, his church picks and chooses what they will
follow when it comes to Biblical morality.
Please
hear me: If your church teaches homosexuality, or abortion, or fornication are
not sins damnable by God, then you need to find a different church. God was
very clear when He said: “Come out of her, my people, so
that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues.” (Revelation
18:4)
And we should also remember what Jesus said to several of
the churches in the second and third chapters of Revelation. For example, here
is His rebuke of the Christians in the church at Thyatira: 20 But I
have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who
calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray
so that they commit acts of immorality . . . 21 I
gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her
immorality. 22 Behold, I will throw
her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her
into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with pestilence,
and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds
and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. (Revelation 2:20-23)
So,
the exact truth about holiness as written for us in Luke’s gospel is this: Don’t
mess with a holy God. Yes, he loves us. But precisely BECAUSE He loves us that
he demands obedience, just as we demanded obedience from our children whom we
loved. Why did we demand obedience from our children? Because we loved them and
wanted to protect them. Even so, and to an eternally greater degree, God loves
us and wants to protect us and those with whom we come in contact.
Truth
number two:
Heaven exists. And – contrary to what too many clergy and theologians want
people to believe, Hell also exists. Here again is that same passage in Luke 13
we looked at a few minutes ago: “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell
you, will seek to enter and will not be able . . . and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not
know where you are from; depart from Me, all you
evildoers.’ 28 In
that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and
Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves
being thrown out.”
Luke 13:24, 27-28)
For further clarification, the
Holy Spirit adds this in a parallel passage in Matthew’s gospel: “Enter
through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads
to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that
leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
I
remember talking to a young atheist nearly fifty years ago. Yes, nearly fifty.
What he said to me as I watched him meticulously studying the open Bible on the
table in front of him has stayed with me all these decades. When I asked what
he was doing he turned and looked at me for only a moment before responding,
“I’m studying the Bible to prove it wrong.”
And
I can’t now help but thinking what the Holy Spirit moved St. Paul to write to
the church at Corinth: “The
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which
are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
And it matters not at all the degrees or the titles of those
who mock or twist or pervert the plain truths of Scripture. The Pharisees and
the Sadducees all had academic degrees from their most prestigious seminaries,
but what did those degrees ultimately do for them? It got them the eternal lake
of fire unless before they died, they repented of their sins and their
rejection of Christ.
Speaking of
the well-learned and well-degreed mockers of the truths of Scripture, Sir
Francis Newport, a 17th century head of an English Atheist club, said to those
gathered around his deathbed: “You need not tell me there is no God for I
know there is one, and that I am in His presence! You need not tell me there is
no hell. I feel myself already slipping. Wretches, cease your idle talk about
there being hope for me! I know I am lost forever! Oh, that fire! Oh, the
insufferable pangs of hell! … Oh, eternity, eternity forever and forever! Oh,
the insufferable pangs of Hell!”
Thomas Payne
the leading atheistic writer in American colonies, said this on his deathbed:
“I am on the edge of Hell here alone. If ever the Devil had an agent, I have
been that one.”
Anton LeVey (d.
1997) author of the Satanic Bible and high priest of the religion dedicated to
the worship of Satan. His dying words were: “Oh my, oh my, what have I done? There
is something very wrong…there is something very wrong….”
Yes, Jesus told us through Luke’s record of
truth that the way to hell is broad and wide, but the way to eternal joy is
narrow and small. That is probably why St. Paul also told the Christians at
Corinth, “The preaching of the
cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the
power of God.”
Here
are only a few examples of the power of the cross for a peaceful death: For example, Elizabeth Catez, known as St. Elizabeth of the
Trinity, died at the age of 26. She went to her Lord murmuring a soft chant: “I
am going to the light, to love, to life!’ They were her last intelligible
words.”
When Christian pastor
John Inskip's lay on his deathbed, he pulled his wife close, took her hands in
his and raised them up together. With a countenance beaming with delight, he
shouted, "Victory! Triumph! Triumph." These were his last
words on earth.
St. Teresa of
Ávila’s last words were these: “My Lord, it is time to move on. Well then, may
Your will be done. O my Lord and my Spouse, the hour that I have longed for has
come. It is time for us to meet one another.”
Dwight L. Moody, famous
preacher and founder of the Moody Bible Institute, said on his deathbed: “Can
this be death? Why it is better than living! Earth is receding, heaven is
opening. This is my coronation day”
Mother
Theresa of Calcutta said these words before she passed: “Jesus, I love you.
Jesus, I love you.”
St
Catherine of Sienna “Blood! Blood! Father, into Thy hands I commend my
spirit.”
Augustus Toplady, author
of the hymn, “Rock of Ages,” told those surrounding his death bed: “Oh, what
delights! Who can fathom the joy of the third heaven? The sky is clear, there
is no cloud; come Lord Jesus, come quickly!” Then he closed his eyes and
died.
When I visited my friend
and early mentor, Dan Taub, as he lay dying from liver cancer, he placed his
hand on mine and quoted St. Paul’s last words to Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the
course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is
laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also
to all who have loved His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:6-8)
The
Holy Spirit has told the world through Luke’s pen the exact truth about heaven
and about hell. And only those whose lives are lived with Christ and for Christ
will enjoy eternal life with our savior.
And
finally for today’s message, here is exact truth number three from St. Luke’s
letter to Theophilus: The shepherd is searching for you.
Here is Jesus’ the story of the lost sheep:
Now all the tax collectors and
the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. 2 Both
the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man
receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So He told them
this parable, saying, 4 “What man among you, if he has a
hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in
the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds
it? 5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders,
rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his
friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found
my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I tell you that in the same
way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:1-7)
How
do you shepherds find the lost sheep? I’m not a shepherd. I’ve never been one.
But I can make an educated guess based on life experience. The shepherd hears the
lost sheep crying out in the distance. The lost sheep, dumb as he is, knows
he’s lost. And cold. And lonely. And frightened.
The shepherd hears the sheep’s
plaintive and pitiable cry. And he moves quickly toward it to find and rescue
his lost sheep.
Have you ever cried to God in your
loneliness, or fear, or sorrow? Make no mistake, Jesus heard you. Jesus came to
you. He always hears you. He always comes to you. That is the entire point of
this 15th chapter of Luke – the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.
Of
all the truths that Luke talks about, the virgin birth, the second coming,
heaven and hell, and so forth – of all the exact truths that Luke tells us in
his letter to Theophilus, the one about the Lord’s active search for the lost
is, for me, the most warmly encouraging all the truths Luke speaks of.
I remember being lost. I remember
feeling alone I remember the sorrow that I had for my sin nature, not knowing I
had anywhere to go to be forgiven for them. And I still – to this day, more
than 49 years ago – I remember the joy when I discovered God loves me – ME –
enough to keep seeking for me until he found me.
Do you know that God loves you in
the same way? And He kept seeking and seeking and seeking you until He found
you.
And don’t think for a moment that He
was done when He found you. He STILL seeks you and me as we drift from time to
time – still seeking us, wooing us closer to himself, wanting us to love him
better today than we did yesterday.
Luke told Theophilus, and the Holy
Spirit still speaks through Luke to you and to me 20 centuries later of the exact
truth from God’s mouth to our heart.
Will we believe those truths? And
will we seek to always put those truths into practice.
