This is Sunday evening, August the 6th, 1972,
in Richmond, Virginia.
Ministry is being given through the blood of
Stephen Cone.
May we have a word of prayer?
O Lord, we do thank Thee for gathering
us together here this evening.
God has promised us that two or three
are gathered together unto my name.
There am I in the midst of them.
O Lord, we do gather together unto Thy
name, because there is no other name for
us.
Thy name is above every name, and to
that name every knee shall bow, and every
tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
Lord, we do come together, confessing Thee as
our Lord, as our King.
And we do gather together unto Thyself.
We want to exalt Thee, we want to
glorify Thee, we want to see Thee, and
we want to be like Thee.
O Lord, Thou art everything to us, there
is no one else.
How we praise and we worship Thee.
We are Thee, Lord, that Thou wilt make
Thy presence manifest to us tonight.
We pray that Thou wilt speak to us.
Thou wilt open Thy word to us.
Lord, and let Thou thus give us the
spirit of wisdom and revelation.
We are not able to know Thee, but
we praise and we thank Thee, because we
please the Father to reveal His Son to
us.
O Lord, we just come in ourselves, and
this time, and Thy word, and Thy work,
all into Thy hand, trusting Thee to perfect
the work which Thou hast begun in us.
That we may be unto the praise of
Thy glory.
In Thy precious name we pray.
Amen.
During the past two times, we have
laid down a general principle.
And the principle is, there is only one
gospel.
The gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
And yet this gospel is presented to us
in the Bible by four evangelists.
Not just one.
As you open the New Testament, you find
the gospel according to Matthew, the gospel according
to Mark, the gospel according to Luke, and
the gospel according to John.
Not that there are four gospels.
Only one gospel.
The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But because our Lord Jesus Christ is so
rich, so full, it takes four evangelists to
present to us a perfect picture of our
Lord Jesus.
These four men are more than historians.
As historians, they have to be very exact
and accurate in their narrating.
And they are.
But they are more than historians.
They are evangelists.
In other words, what they narrate is more
than just some historical fact.
What they, we call it, come out from
their personal experience of the Lord Jesus.
What they tell us about the Lord Jesus
is what they know personally.
The experience.
It is more than just an objective presentation
of Christ.
It is also an objective presentation of Christ.
The Christ that we know today comes from
the reading of the full gospel.
So we must know Christ in the same
way as these evangelists know Christ.
Whatever they know about our Lord Jesus, in
their personal experience, we have to know him
in our personal experience.
We do not read these four gospels as
just historical records.
About a historical Christ.
There is that side to it.
And yet, when we read the full gospel,
we are to experience this living Christ.
And to know him as those evangelists.
In the past, we have fellowship briefly on
the gospel according to Matthew.
Matthew is an intelligent person.
He is involved in politics in his time.
And yet the Lord calls him out to
present to us Christ as the King.
How he obeys the call of Christ.
And how he follows Christ.
Acknowledging him as the King of his life.
So the whole gospel according to Matthew presents
to us Christ as the King.
And what is his kingdom?
We are.
If we live under his authority, then we
are his kingdom on earth today.
And one day, when he shall return, we
will reign with him for a thousand years.
Now the gospel according to Mark.
Mark is a young person.
But has a heart for God.
For how the Lord takes hold of that
young man.
Disciplining him.
Freeing him.
Until he is fit to present to us
Christ as the servant of the Lord.
The perfect servant.
In our union with Christ.
We must not only know Christ as the
servant of the Lord.
But there is a servanthood that we who
are the Lord must learn.
And we must serve God in that fashion.
Now this evening we would like to go
into the third gospel.
The gospel according to Luke.
Let's read a few verses first.
Colossians chapter 4.
Verse 14.
Luke the beloved physician.
Thaddeus and Demas.
Luke the beloved physician.
Philemon.
Philemon is a little verse before Hebrew.
Philemon verse 24.
Mark, Aristotle, Demas, Luke, my fellow government.
Luke, my fellow government.
Second Timothy.
Chapter 4.
Verse 11.
Luke alone is with me.
Take Mark and bring him with thyself.
For he is serviceable to me for ministry.
Luke alone is with me.
The gospel according to Luke chapter 1.
The first four verses.
For as much as many have undertaken to
draw up a relation concerning the matters fully
believed among us, as those who from the
beginning were eyewitnesses of and attendants on the
words have delivered them to us, it has
seemed good to me also, accurately acquainted from
the origin with all things, to write to
thee with method most excellent theophilus, that thou
mightest know the certainty of those things in
which thou hast been instructed.
Luke is very different from Matthew and Mark.
Because both Matthew and Mark are Jews.
Matthew may be a Hebrew Jew.
Mark may be a Hellenistic Jew.
Yet they are all Jews.
But Luke is not a Jew.
Luke is a Gentile, a Greek.
We do not know too much about his
background.
We can only infer that being a physician,
you know, physician at his time, is a
very honorable profession.
Not even today it still is.
To be a physician at that time must
be a very learned, cultured, refined person.
And as a physician he is able to
enter into the noblest of the family at
that time.
He belongs to the elite of society.
We do not know if Luke, before he
comes to the Lord Jesus, first becomes what
we call today a proselyte to Judaism or
not.
We do not know.
We know that many refined, educated, intelligent persons,
Gentiles, at that time, become proselytes to Judaism.
Why?
Because they are attracted by the purity of
Judaism.
So many intelligent people at that time become
proselytes.
And there are two different kinds of proselytes.
One is called a proselyte of the Gentiles.
The Gentiles who embrace the moral teaching of
Judaism and who also believe in the messianic
hope of Judaism.
But they do not keep the ceremonial law
of Judaism.
Now these Gentiles are called proselytes, proselytes of
the gate.
Half proselytes.
And there are another kind of proselytes.
They are called proselytes of righteousness.
Now these people, they not only embrace the
moral teaching of Judaism, but they also keep
the ceremonial law of Judaism.
They are full proselytes.
And very often they are more prejudiced, narrow
-minded, even than the Jews.
So probably this physician Luke, before he comes
to know the Lord, he may be a
half proselyte.
You know, as a preparation for his coming
to the Lord.
We have no record as to how he
comes to know the Lord.
There is no record.
Now some people say that Luke is among
the seven days whom our Lord Jesus sent
out at his time.
Other people even venture to say that Luke
is one of the two disciples on the
day of resurrection of our Lord Jesus who
traveled from Jerusalem to Enos.
One is Cleopas, but the other is unnamed.
So some commentators then out that must be
Luke.
But Luke himself told us very clearly at
the beginning of his gospel that he is
not an eyewitness of the Lord.
There are eyewitnesses, but he is not one
of them.
So he gathered his information from these eyewitnesses
of the Lord.
And he put them together in a methodical
way, in a systematical way.
So he himself refutes all these guesses.
Most surely he has not seen the Lord
in person.
He is not a disciple of the Lord
Jesus while our Lord was on earth.
How does he come to know the Lord?
We do not know.
And anyway, you find the Lord lay his
hand upon that man.
You know, as we look back, we marvel
at the working of God.
Even before the foundation of the world, God
has chosen us in Christ Jesus.
Even though we know nothing about it.
And yet, God has already apprehended us.
You know when a prophet starts to make
a vessel, it begins with the clay.
When he chooses the clay.
Even before the vessel is made, that's where
his election begins.
So even before we are born, before the
foundation of the world, God has already chosen
us in Christ Jesus.
We do not know anything.
Suddenly, Luke does not know anything.
He is a priest.
He is trained as a physician.
He may become a hypostolite, but he had
no knowledge beforehand that one day God would
use him to be an evangelist.
To give us a presentation of Christ.
He doesn't know a thing about it.
And yet, God has already known everything.
So in looking back, we cannot but marvel
at the wisdom and the great grace of
God.
This is true with Luke, and certainly it
is true with us.
You know, as you look back, where you
are born, how you are born, into what
family you are born, how you are brought
up, what education or not you have received,
everything.
Even before you know the Lord.
All these things are in the hand of
God.
Not that he takes us up after we
are saved.
He has taken us up before we are
saved.
Even before we are born.
For everything in our lives you can see
that God is behind it.
And he is apprehending us with a purpose.
Now brothers and sisters, if you can see
this, it would draw much worship from our
hearts.
It would take away all the questions, all
the strains of life.
Knowing that we are in his hand, and
it will help us to yield ourselves more
fully to the potter.
Otherwise, we may repent.
We may fight against his hand, thinking that
it is contradictory to God's purpose.
But if you can see that even before
the foundation of the world, he has chosen
us in Christ Jesus with a definite purpose.
Anyway you find Luke.
How does he come to know the Lord
Jesus?
We don't know.
We only know that he becomes a constant
companion to Paul in his many trials.
You know when Paul, Barnabas and Paul, when
they go out on their first missionary trip,
Luke is not there.
It is only in the second trip Paul
takes with Silas.
You remember there is something between Paul and
Barnabas.
So Barnabas, he takes John, Mark, and go
off, you know.
And then Paul, he chooses Silas, and they
started to go out.
In the second trip, missionary trip of Paul,
there you find Paul meets Luke in true
way.
I don't know if you remember that.
You see Paul, he goes forward with Silas.
And after he has traveled a distance, the
place that he has visited before, you know,
then he is thinking, well, maybe I'll go
to Asia.
Because Asia is a Roman province.
Very popular.
So Paul said, well, there is great need
in Asia, so he is thinking of going
to Asia.
But the spirit of Jesus does not allow
him to go.
So then he thinks, well, maybe instead of
going south, I'll go north to Byznia.
And Byznia is another big province.
But the Holy Spirit does not allow him
to go north.
So he cannot go south, and he cannot
go north.
He can only go west.
So he just goes west until he comes
to Truos, which is a seaport.
Because that is the last place he can
go.
Beyond that is the Aegean Sea.
He has to come to the sea.
There is nowhere to go.
So when he comes to Truos, he doesn't
know what to do.
And that night, he had a dream.
A Macedonian appears to him in a dream
and says, Come over and help us.
Do you remember that story?
And immediately after that, in the book of
Acts, chapter 16, verse 10,
And when he has seen the vision, immediately
we start to go forth to Macedonia, concluding
that the Lord has called us to announce
to them the glad tidings.
This is the beginning of the We section
of the book of Acts.
Paul gets a vision in the night.
And the next morning, we conclude.
Now who are the we?
Why the we?
Because Luke is the narrator.
So he is there.
He is with Paul at that time.
So he says, we conclude that the Lord
has called us to go to Macedonia to
announce the glad tidings.
Now that is the beginning of the We
section of the book of Acts.
Normally, Luke narrates the events impersonally because he
is not involved.
But starting from here, you find he is
involved.
So he says, we, we, he is there.
That's right.
So some people think, well, I have to
go back a little bit.
Some people think, probably, Luke is a Syrian
of Antioch.
Why?
Because, you remember, in the book of Acts,
he seems to know Antioch very well.
He seems to know the church in Antioch
very well.
He even tells us that the disciples are
called Christians, it begins at Antioch.
And even when, in chapter 6, he gave
the name of these deacons, you know.
They choose seven deacons.
He gave all the names, but with Nicholas,
he said Nicholas of Antioch.
He is very much acquainted with Antioch.
So possibly he is a Syrian of Antioch.
We don't know.
But anyway, you'll find, we find him in
Truett.
And there he joins with Paul.
He becomes a fellow companion, a fellow worker
with Paul.
Then they cross the sea.
They enter into the first port, first big
city, Philippi.
And you remember the story in chapter 16,
how the Lord begins to work in the
city of Philippi.
It begins with a woman.
Paul attends a prayer meeting of the woman.
There are not enough Jewish men, you know,
according to the Jewish tradition, and even today
it's still true.
Anywhere there are ten Jewish men of leisure,
you can organize a synagogue.
If you have ten men, Jewish men of
leisure, that is, you have the time to
do that, then you can organize a synagogue.
Now in the city of Philippi, there must
be some Jews, but there are not ten
men of leisure there.
So you have only a woman's prayer room
there.
They don't even have a synagogue.
Now Paul hears about that, for he attends
a woman's prayer meeting.
And during that prayer meeting, you'll find Lydia,
the dear sister, and his family, and her
family, get saved.
They are all saved.
And then later on, you remember, Paul is,
and Silas are put in prison.
And then the jailer comes, and his family
gets saved.
So that's how the church in Philippi begins.
Anyway, you'll find during that time, not only
Paul is there, Silas is there, and Luke
is there too, and Timothy is there too.
Then afterwards, a short while, Paul does not
stay there very long, just a very short
time, and then Paul, and Silas, and Timothy,
they leave for Thessalonica.
So starting from chapter 17, verse 1, And
having journeyed through Amphipolis and Amphilonia, they came
to Thessalonica, where was the synagogue of the
youth.
Now you notice, they.
Why?
Because Paul, and Silas, and Timothy, they go
forward, but this young church, who will help
this young church?
They leave Luke the physician behind to take
care of the young church.
We never know from the writing of Luke
directly that Luke is ever healthy, has ever
helped the church in Philippi.
We don't know that.
He is so humble, he always remained anonymous.
As a matter of fact, probably he helped
that young church for seven years.
For the next time we find the we
section is in chapter 20 of the book
of Acts.
He joined Paul again, but it's seven years
later.
So probably during that seven years, this dear
physician remains behind in Philippi, anonymous, but
he is faithfully helping this young church to
grow up in the Lord, and what a
church it becomes.
You know, of all the churches that are
connected with Paul, the church in Philippi is
one with whom Paul has the closest ties.
He can open his heart to the church
in Philippi, to the brothers and sisters in
Philippi, without being afraid, without the fear of
being misunderstood.
And the church in Philippi, how they open
their hearts to Paul.
And you know, it is the work of
God, so that beloved.
Then you find in chapter 20, he rejoins
Paul.
Chapter 20, verse 6.
But we fell away from Philippi after the
day of unleavened bread, and we came to
them to cure us in five days, where
we spent seven days.
And from then on, you'll find the we
section to the end of the book of
Acts.
Luke rejoins Paul at Philippi.
During his last visit to him, and he
is with Paul almost all the time.
He goes to Jerusalem with Paul.
He is with Paul in Thessalonica, where Paul
was imprisoned for two years.
And when Paul is sent to Rome for
the trial, Luke goes with him.
And when Paul stays in Rome for two
years, that's where the record of Acts.
So here you'll find Luke is with Paul
all the time.
Before Paul died, Paul said, look alone to
Philippi.
Luke has never left, and you know how
much Paul needs Luke.
Paul is not strong physically.
By reading his epistles, you know that Paul
is very weak physically.
Very weak.
In his constant traveling, how much he needs
a physician to take care of him.
And how well that physician must have taken
care of him, because he's a beloved physician.
You know, sometimes we have to have our
physician, but we don't like to have our
physician.
They may be very skillful, but they are
not too sympathetic sometimes.
But here you'll find this beloved physician to
Paul.
How Luke means it.
As Paul means it.
We do not hear Luke say a word.
We do not see Luke mention him in
his name himself.
When he writes the gospel according to Luke
and the book of Acts, he does not
even mention his name.
He remains a prophet.
And yet, at a ministry, he has rendered
to the great apostle Paul.
We can even say that without Luke, Paul,
Paul is helpless.
Paul is able to do what God has
called him to do.
Partly because there's Luke.
Luke is taken care of all the time.
Now, brothers and sisters, in the sovereignty of
God, we may be trained in different ways.
Our professions may be different.
God does not call everyone to be a
preacher or a missionary.
We are trained very differently.
But whatever our profession may be, one thing
is certain.
We must serve God with our profession.
In other words, our profession is just to
maintain our living.
For what purpose?
That we may live for God.
Our profession should not be the most important
thing of our life.
Our profession is just something that goes alongside.
That we may serve of all life.
No matter what our profession is.
Your profession may be a housewife.
That's an honorable profession.
I'm almost tempted to say that is the
most difficult profession of all professions.
Or you may be called to be an
engineer.
Or you may be like Luke.
In God's sovereign provision, he is a physician.
But see the difference.
Luke as a physician, he can settle down
in one big city, build up his profession,
and accumulate his wealth.
Physicians are very few.
Even now.
He can easily settle down in one place,
build up his profession, accumulate lots of wealth,
live a luxurious life, and enjoy himself.
He can well do that.
And many do.
But look at Luke.
He puts his profession under the surface.
He is willing to travel here and there
with Paul.
He is not practicing as a physician for
money.
He is still a physician.
The beloved physician.
And most likely, God still uses his skills.
If not with other physicians, at least he
has a very famous patron, Paul.
And he has done a good job.
But anyway, you'll find he serves God in
his profession.
Instead of making his profession serve himself.
Brethren and sisters, this is one thing we
have to see.
Whatever our profession may be, it is not
to serve ourselves.
It is to serve God.
If we can see this, then all professions
are noble.
If we do not see this, even the
profession of a preacher, a minister, can be
so professional that it can be the most
secular of all professions.
The whole difference lies here.
When you take up a profession, are you
serving God?
With it, or you try to use it
to serve yourself?
That's all it is.
If God should call Luke in such a
way, he has to travel.
He cannot build up his profession in one
place.
Why?
If God so wants him to stay in
one place and have his profession built up,
fine!
If he serves God.
It is not a matter of outward ways.
In other words, God does not really want
every one of us to throw away our
home, our profession, and all go out and
preach the gospel.
Now, if the Lord so calls us, that's
fine.
Fine.
But it may not be so.
Even in our profession, whatever God has trained
us, this is where we can serve him.
It does not contradict with his service.
It's complementary.
Our profession should not be a hindrance.
Our profession should be to the service of
God.
Luke is more than a beloved physician.
He is Paul's fellow workman.
Now, do not think because he is a
physician, therefore he cannot be a workman, a
fellow workman.
Now, today our impression is if you want
to be a servant of the Lord, you
have to leave your profession and all sorts
of things.
You have to leave your profession and you
go out and be full time, and then
you become a preacher or you become a
minister and so forth.
That is not found in the scripture.
Some do, but not all.
You can be a fellow workman while you
are a preacher.
Not only the Lord would use, the Lord
uses Luke in a physical way, he uses
Luke in a spiritual way.
He is the one who builds up the
young church, a fellow workman.
I remember a dear brother in China, in
Shanghai.
You know, I I was brought up in
Shanghai.
I mean, that's my native city.
And when I first came to meet with
the brothers and sisters there, there was a
physician there.
He was an eye specialist, but he loved
the Lord so much.
And he was one of the responsible brothers
in the church there.
In order that he may serve the Lord,
you know what he did?
He could earn lots of money in Shanghai
as an eye specialist, but he didn't.
The Lord first.
He wanted to serve the Lord, to serve
the church.
So he just opened a private clinic in
his home.
And he would see patients just half a
day.
Just enough to maintain his living.
That's all he wanted.
And he used his time for the Lord.
And do you know that this brother, he
was so greatly used by the Lord.
Not only in Shanghai, but sometimes he went
out, visited different churches.
And the Lord had given him such a
life with the Lord.
He helped many, many people.
I was one of them, among us.
He was one who really knew what life
was.
I almost want to say he specialized in
life.
He knew the life of Christ.
That hidden life with God.
And when the church there at one time
was in deep waters, was in trouble, it
was his ministry of life that pulled the
church.
When the communists came, you know, they wanted
to wipe out God's testimony in China.
And you know what he did?
One day, they rounded up all the leading
brothers and sisters in Christianity where the Lord
had chosen them.
They are physicians.
Certainly he has served God much better than
some who are supposed to be full-time
ministers.
I'm not minimizing the other side.
But I'm trying to show you this man
Luke is a physician.
He is Paul Seligman.
And what a work he has done.
And he is not only Paul Seligman, but
he is chosen by God out of all
these believers.
He was one of the four who are
privileged to write the life of Jesus, to
present to us the life of Christ.
Think of that.
What a privilege, isn't it?
Why?
Because he has learned Christ in a way
that is very, very He's seen as if
nobody else learned Christ in that particular state,
in that particular aspect as well as this
physician Luke.
And because of that God uses this physician
to present to Christ Christ to us in
that particular aspect.
Think of that.
What he has learned.
How much he must have known of Christ
in this.
Dear brothers and sisters, that should encourage us,
you know.
That should encourage us if we really put
ourselves in his hands.
He knows what to do with us.
He knows how to make us into a
that that is safe for his and
so far so much for his men.
Then let's just begin a little bit on
his message.
You know, the man and the message are
very closely related.
If you are giving a living message, you
have to live it in you first.
Otherwise, it will be just a feast.
For in giving us the gospel according to
Luke, you'll find that it is more than
just presenting to us an objective historical Christ.
He is to share with us the Christ
that he knows so easily.
And what a Christ he knows.
We say that Matthew knows Christ as the
King, his Majesty, his Authority, his Glory.
And to him we bow.
Mark knows Christ as the servant of the
Lord that comes to serve and even to
give his life a ransom for men.
What aspect of Christ does Luke know intimately?
He presents Christ to us as the Son
of Man.
The Man after God's own heart.
You know, as a physician he is always
interested in man.
You know, as an engineer you may be
studying something else, but as a physician you
study man.
But of course, you study the physical body
of man.
And today, of course, you have to study
also his psychological reaction and so forth.
But actually man is a complete man.
And anyway, you'll find as a physician he
has always been interested in He makes man
his subject.
He observes man.
And here you'll find God thus makes use
of his training as a physician and turns
his eyes to observe the man.
Behold the man.
As a physician he has studied man and
he has found sicknesses of all kinds in
man.
It's very negative.
But here you'll find the Holy Spirit turns
his eyes towards the man and it's all
positive.
So he is the one who is most
fitting to write the life of Christ as
a son.
You know the term the son of man
is a very special term.
It doesn't mean man's son as we ordinarily
would say.
The son of man in the scripture means
that he is the beginning of a new
mankind.
To put it in another way he brings
us back to the man in God's original
thought.
Still another word he is the man.
He is the pattern.
As of him we shall all be conformed.
And this is the emphasis in the gospel
according to it.
Dear brothers and sisters God is always interested
in man.
He has more interest in man than anything
else.
You think God is interested in an elephant?
He is.
You think God is interested in a tender?
He is.
But God's interest is centered upon man from
the very beginning.
You know, sometimes we are so tired to
be man.
We want to be angels.
We want to be spirits.
Oh, we often say now, oh, we want
to be spiritual.
So spiritual that we are no longer human.
Do you think I'm joking?
I'm not joking.
I'm telling a sad truth.
We do not know what God wants.
We do not know God's purpose.
We do not know God's delight is with
man.
We don't know that.
So we want to be somebody else.
We want to be something else.
If we become something else we miss God's
whole purpose and whole desire.
Dear brothers and sisters, be man.
Don't be angels.
Don't be spirits.
Because God's purpose concerning us is that we
may be man.
That's God's purpose.
Oh, sometimes we think if we be spiritual
the more spiritual a person is the less
human he must be.
The more unlike man he is, the more
I remember how your brother Watchman, he said,
if you cannot be human how can you
be spiritual?
Spirituality is built on the foundation of if
you do not know how to be human
you have no right to be spiritual.
To be spiritual and to be human are
not contradictory.
The world is built on the other.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you know one
thing?
We are sub-human today.
That's the problem.
We are not human enough.
And the redemption of Jesus Christ is to
redeem us from that sub-human position into
human ever.
That's redemption.
Redemption does not make us less human.
Redemption makes us real human because we have
been sub-human.
That's what redemption is.
It redeems us that we may be man
after God.
Oh my God.
A man.
Don't forget, it's man.
Oh brothers and sisters, you know, often we
think, well, if I'm a spiritual man, I
shouldn't feel anything.
I am as fully as a rock.
I should have no feeling at all.
Oh, I shouldn't think.
Like a tree.
Oh, I shouldn't have a will of my
own.
Like a weed.
Or a wreath.
Grow by the weed.
Or some people, even if you're spiritual, you
become very inhuman.
You cannot sympathize with people anymore.
You're stoic.
These are false concepts of spirit.
Because God presents to us through the gospel
according to Luke that he was man.
And that man is after the image of
Christ.
A man.
As you read the gospel according to Luke,
it is the loveliness of Christ that attracts
you.
More than anything else.
You see how human.
He is a man.
Truly a man.
And he is not ashamed of that.
I don't know if I should continue.
If I continue, it may be too long.
But anyway, let me conclude.
God wants man.
He wants man after the pattern of Christ,
the Son of Man.
And you know what Christ comes to this
world for?
He comes to this world that he may
recreate us into a new order of nature.
We are a new species.
God is man.
Still homo.
Still man.
There is very much involved here, you know.
You can see there is a lot involved
here.
How to be human as God originally intends
us to be.
And it is only when we are human
in the real sense then you find spirituality
beginning.
Our Lord Jesus is the most spiritual person
because he is the most human person.
We are not spiritual because we are, of
course, human.
Not because we are human.
It is only that we may be human
in heart.
And this is the redemption of the Lord
Jesus.
Do you know one thing?
We say we believe in the Lord Jesus
and we have life.
Do you know what is the nature of
that life?
We say the life we receive is God's
life.
Yes.
It is God's life.
But more.
It is God's life.
But it is also has been lived on
earth as a man.
In other words, the life of Christ that
we receive is more than God's life.
It is a God and man life.
An Emmanuel life.
And because it is God and man life
in us.
Therefore, you find there must be a blending,
a perfect blending of the divinity and the
divinity.
So the human side, the humanity side, is
not divinity.
It is divinity.
And it is joined to the divine side.
That we may express God in human flesh.
And that is the whole approach of the
gospel according.
So I do hope that as a foundation
for us to build up later on.
Let's see this.
Brothers and sisters, I don't know how to
reemphasize it, but I feel that we need
to see this.
Because the lack of such knowledge will in
a sense tilt our spiritual concept and will
divert us from the right straight path before
God.
So anyway, we thank God for this dear,
beloved physician who presents to us Christ as
the man, the most human of all human
beings.
And this is what God wants us to
be in union with Christ.
Shall we pray?
Our heavenly Father, we do praise and thank
thee because thou hast presented to us through
thy servant, Luke, our Christ as the man.
The man after thy own heart.
A man indeed, the most human of men.
We praise and we thank thee because thy
redemption is to redeem us out of our
subhuman condition, that we may be restored to
be that human, that man that is in
thy heart.
We praise and thank thee because thou hast
done it not only on the cross, but
thou hast put this life in us.
And this is what thou requires of us,
that we may be as human as Christ
is.
O Lord, do impress upon us and lead
us all that our whole understanding of thyself
and of our past before us may not
be in any way twisted or unbalanced.
We offer ourselves to thee again for thy
Spirit's continual working in and among us.
And to thee we give our thanks.
In the name of our Lord Jesus.
Amen.