The Gospel According To Luke

Here’s a devotion I shared at Hillview Baptist Church during a Christmas Sing-Along on 14 December, 2024

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

In reading the Bible we should consider what is said about Jesus, yes, but we should also consider what is said by Jesus. The first recorded words that Jesus spoke follow the incident where His parents, Mary and Joseph, think they have lost Him. They retrace their steps and find in Him in the temple. Upset, worried and concerned they ask him why he had remained.

And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” (Luk 2:49)

The account tells us that Mary and Joseph did not understand what he meant. The surprising thing is that Mary had been explicitly told that she was to bear the Son of God.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he
will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).  (Mat 1:21-23).

But she and Joseph still did not know what Jesus meant when He said He had to be in His Father’s house, carrying out His Father’s business. And we can be like that sometimes. Not understanding why it was that Jesus came. Sunday in and Sunday out the gospel is preached in our hearing but we still miss it or don’t appreciate in times of need.

But what was His Father’s business? Why was Jesus born? Why was it imperative that the son of the Highest, the heir to the throne of David, the one with a kingdom with no end come down to earth?

1.       He Was Here To Preach

Several times in the book of Luke we see him doing this.

And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” (Luk 4:42-43).

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luk 4:18-19).

Paul in writing to the church at Rome asks them, what fruit were you getting from the sin of which you are now ashamed for the end of those things is death. Before the Lord Jesus Christ opens our eyes through His word and the preaching of it, we do not see our sin for what exactly it is, a shameful thing. We are still chained or captives to the sin we hold on to so dearly.

We have been in Ecclesiastes for some time now in the main service. Vanity of vanities says the preacher, a chasing after the wind. A drink that will never satisfy or quench thirst. A world with its desires that are passing away.

This is not God saying there is good stuff out there that He wants to keep away from us. That’s the lie of the serpent. But He says that looks good to you, you may even enjoy it, but in the end you will perish.

How many times have we seen that sin does lead to death? How many times have we seen the horrible consequences of sin in our lives or the lives of our friends? And that’s not even the end of it.

Sin leads to eternal separation from God. God looks us at and tells us that He loves us, and in loving us wants us to abide in Himself, to remain in Him and to not perish and so that in the end Christ will have the full reward for which He came.

But unless Jesus Christ is born, unless He comes into our lives, unless He proclaims the good news to us, unless He proclaims liberty to us, unless He sets the captives free, unless He helps the blind to see, we will not. We will remain on the fastest track to hell. 

Despite all this, we are told: When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. (Luk 4:28-29).

That’s what the love of the world will do to you. You will hear the gospel unto salvation and want nothing to do with it.

2.      He Came To Die

Towards the end of the book we see Him get to the crux of the matter. We see the severity of what was before Him. He goes up to the Mount of Olives and in His agony He prays. It says there

And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, (Luk 22:41-45)

At this point Jesus Christ knew what was about to befall Him and He prays against it. But thankfully in answer to His prayer, God sends an angel to strengthen Him.

Then we see Him die at the cross.

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luk 23:39-43).

Here we see three crosses.

The first one was the cross of rejection.

We see the first thief asking Jesus for help but he had the wrong view of Jesus and consequently of himself. He did not acknowledge His sin. He didn’t want forgiveness, he wanted escape. He didn’t want to get to heaven, he just wanted to get off the cross.

How often do we come to Jesus like this? All of the sudden our faith is strong, we are having devotions, praying every day, showing up to cell group meetings, showing up for events like this one, all the while only wanting something from Jesus, and not a relationship with Him.  

And once we get what we want or see that the answer is taking forever we go back to our old ways, leaving Jesus at the cross.

The first thief saw Jesus, just as you are in this moment and still went to hell.

Then there was Jesus in the middle. At the cross of redemption, holding the power to forgive sin and to justify sinners.

He hang there because of the Father’s great love that loved us before the foundation of the world and while we were yet sinners. And this is love, not that we loved Him, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sin.

This Jesus we are gathered here for today was born to commit His spirit into the hands of the Father in death, that we may have life.

The other thief, on the cross of reception, acknowledged his sin.

He understood that he had fallen short of the glory of God. He understood that he was receiving the due penalty for his error. He understood that his sin had led him to death. He understood that he couldn’t save himself. He didn’t wait to become perfect or better than he was. He knew that in him dwelt nothing that could satisfy God. He understood that while we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ died for us.

Being broken by his sin, he turned to the Savior because he understood that the one who had done nothing wrong is the only one who could save him. And putting his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he asked Him to remember Him. And Jesus did.

We stand guilty before a Holy and Righteous judge. But in God’s goodness and mercy and love, His son was born.

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every star on Earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade

To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky

Oh, love of God, how rich and pure
How measureless and strong
It shall forevermore endure
The saints and angels song

God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. All we like sheep had gone astray, each had turned to his own way but God laid upon Him the iniquity of us all, the Just for the unjust. What can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus, what can make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus. The bible still promises today that all who repent and put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ He will in no way cast out. That’s the reason for which he was born. As far as the east is from the west, an infinite distance, is how far he travelled, was born and was crucified, so that placing our faith in Him, we may have life.

Amen!