For the many, many Christians who reject Paul’s distinct apostleship for today, this is an amazing reality to consider: When you don’t respond positively to the truth of God’s Word, hardness develops in your soul and it’s like a callous.

I’m currently re-reading Bible scholar C.R. Stam’s 1950s expose book The Controversy, in which he details the apostate nature of so-called fundamental Bible-believing preachers from Stam’s day, including the one-time nationally famous Philadelphia preacher Dr. Donald Barnhouse.

Stam writes, “. . . depend upon it, God will never give us further light on the Word until we stand true to the light we have already received.”

A few pages earlier, he assessed, “But where financial need does not cause men to capitulate, ‘the fear of man’ often does, and where ‘the fear of man’ fails to silence them, love of position and popularity often succeeds, as it did with certain spiritual leaders of our Lord’s day.”

Stam then quoted John 12:42-43: “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”

*****

Another big thing that separates the gospel of Luke from the other three accounts is his focus on Jesus Christ’s prayers, all of which reveal the extent of His human dependence on God.

Apart from the prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, the book of Matthew only records Christ praying one time. The book of Mark only records two prayers outside of Gethsemane. But in Luke, Christ’s praying all the time; it runs through the book like oxygen.

“Only in Luke are you told the Spirit of God descended on Him and when He did, He was praying,” says Jordan. “In chapter 6:12 of Luke, what do you reckon Christ was praying for when He was up on that mountain? Who do you reckon He was praying for?

“Why, the next day He’s going to go down there and choose 12 men out as His disciples. In John 17, He said, ‘I don’t pray for the world; I pray for these you gave me.’ You see, when He chose the 12, He didn’t just walk in off the street and say, ‘You, you, you and you’; it was after an all-night vigil of prayer with His Father.

“Luke paints the picture of the Saviour as one who is completely and totally dependent on His Father—not working in His own power but as the Spirit-anointed Son.

In Luke 9:18, it says Christ was alone praying when His disciples came upon Him and He asked them, “Whom say the people that I am?” They answered, “John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again.”

Christ asked them again who people said He was and Peter answered, “I know who you are; you’re Christ, the Son of the Living God!”

Jordan explains, “Luke tells you something about that (event) that Matthew didn’t tell you. Matthew 16:17 says, ‘And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.’ Luke tells you that the Lord was alone praying and His disciples come. Who do you reckon He was praying for? These disciples come and He asks, ‘Who am I?’ meaning, ‘Have you got it yet? Is your spiritual perception there yet?’ You see, He’s in prayer.

“In verse 29, you see what came next. It says He ‘went up into a mountain to pray and as he prayed the fashion of his countenance was altered and the raiment was white and glistening,’ and so on and so forth. That tremendous transfiguration of the Lord, where God the Father demonstrated His kingdom glory and glorified humanity—it was as He prayed! And you only learn in Luke that that occurred.

“. . . You go over to Calvary and you’ll see that the first cry Christ made from the Cross is recorded in Luke and it’s a prayer, and the last cry that He prayed from the Cross is recorded in Luke and it’s a prayer. From the beginning to the end, our Lord demonstrated His humanity and His complete human dependence on the Father by praying.

“But not only that. You go down to Luke 11 and you see Him telling His disciples how to pray. You remember the guy who needed some help and some food and went to his neighbor and the guy said, ‘Shut up, it’s late; I’m not getting up!’ but the guy just kept beating on the door, and beating on the door, and finally the neighbor got up and gave him what he wanted just to get rid of him? Importunity.

“In chapter 18, Christ says, ‘Men ought to always pray and faint not,’ and then he tells about the little woman who went to the judge, and the judge gave her what she wanted because he knew that if he didn’t she’d never leave him alone. And Christ said, ‘That’s how men ought to pray. Constantly.’ His teaching about prayer is that you ought to be constantly and totally dependent on it.”

*****

Not only is prayer prominent in Luke’s gospel account, but the Holy Spirit is mentioned in his book more than in the books of Matthew and Mark put together! It’s mentioned more than it is in John too.

“The Holy Spirit is tremendously important in the book of Luke,” says Jordan. “Chapter 1:35 is probably the most important reference. The angel answered and said unto Mary, ‘The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.’

“The virgin birth was the work, the miracle of the Spirit of Almighty God. That’s how He came. You see when His ministry begins in chapter 4 that He’s full of the Holy Ghost and He goes out in the wilderness to be tempted, and the temptation in the wilderness is not a sign that He was not filled with the Spirit, but it’s a sign that He was, for He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil.

“You see Him come back from that temptation in chapter 4:14 in the power of the Spirit. So He first goes out into His ministry with the Spirit and then in the last chapter of the book, Luke has a final reference to the Spirit when Christ tells the disciples to ‘tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high,’ which is the Holy Spirit, of course. So Luke constantly puts all this together.”