That's good singing tonight.
I don't know if you've ever noticed how many hymns in a hymn book
have to do with the ocean. There was a period of time when
a lot of the hymns were written, I assume, in England. A lot of
the believers there who went out on the ocean. And that was
a very dangerous, very precarious job to be a sailor. Many times the ship would go
down and all on board would be lost. And there's just a number
of hymns in our hymn book that speak to us along that line. Throw out the lifeline. Remember
that hymn? Throw out the lifeline. That's
what we do when we preach the gospel, isn't it? Throw out the
lifeline. Well, let's look again tonight
in Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6, and beginning
tonight with verse 11, we looked at the first 10 verses last time. You see how large a letter I
have written unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to
make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised,
only less they should suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ. For neither they themselves who
are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised,
that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. And as many as walk according
to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel
of God. From henceforth let no man trouble
me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren,
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. The Lord willing, we will look
at most of these verses that I've just read next week. But
tonight I want us to look only at verse number 10. This will
be my text. Verse number 11, I'm sorry. This
will be my text. You see how large a letter I
have written unto you with mine own hand. Now men have differed
as to what the Apostle Paul meant by these words. How large a letter
I have written to you in my own hand. The word which is here
translated large properly means how great, how great. Some believe that this refers
to the size of the letters, the size of the letters in the manuscript
that Paul sent to the Galatians. You remember back in chapter
4 and verse 15, he said to them, where is then the blessedness
you speak of? For I bear you record that if
it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes
and have given them to me." This has led some to believe that
the Apostle Paul suffered from very poor eyesight. Some believe
from malaria. And this would have caused him,
as a person with poor eyesight, no glasses would have naturally
caused him to write this letter and use very large letters. Others believe that this refers
to the length of the letter and the fact that it was all written,
the length of this letter of Galatians, it was all written
by hand by the Apostle Paul. Now, this letter isn't as long
as Romans or 1st and 2nd Corinthians, we recognize that. It isn't as
long, but those letters Romans and 1st and 2nd Corinthians,
those letters were written by Paul using what they call a manusis,
which is just a big word, I believe, for secretary. In other words,
that the Apostle Paul dictated the letters, all of them, except
this one. He dictated the letters and someone
else did the writing for him. Let me point out a few verses
to us. Back in Romans chapter 16 and
verse 22. Now everyone knows, who wrote
the letter of Romans? Well everyone knows that the
Apostle Paul did. But notice here in chapter 16
and verse 22, I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you
in the Lord. Paul wrote, Paul was the one
who wrote the letter, he was the one who was inspired by God
the Holy Spirit, but he dictated the letter. Now, if you will
look over at another verse in 1st Corinthians 16, the close
of this letter, 1st Corinthians 16 and verse 21, The salutation of me Paul with
mine own hand. In other words, all he wrote
in 1st Corinthians, this long letter, he wrote the salutation
in his own hand. The salutation of me Paul with
mine own hand. We still say Paul wrote the first
letter of Corinthians as well as 2nd Corinthians and these
other letters, but he did so using a secretary, someone to
write for him. Also in Colossians, if you look
to the letter of Colossians in the last chapter here, and verse 18, the salutation,
by the hand of me, Paul. He wrote the salutation, by my
hand. Now, look in 2 Thessalonians
with me, 2 Thessalonians chapter, well first look in chapter 2,
2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 1. Now we beseech you brethren
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together
unto him that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled
neither by spirit nor by word, now notice, nor by letter as
from us as at the day of Christ is at hand. He warns them or
encourages them not to be troubled by any word or letter supposedly
written by him. Now look at the next chapter
in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 17. The salutation of Paul
with mine own hand, notice which is the token in every epistle
so I write. There were spurious letters,
false letters being circulated in the early days of the church
and of course to get, to make sure a letter would be read,
they'd just sign the name of an apostle, the apostle Paul,
the apostle Peter. And these churches, when they
received those letters, they would know, they would recognize
the name of the apostle, so surely they would read it and take heed
to it. But Paul, you see, he learned
that he had to with his own hand write the salutation so all of
the letters which he wrote would all be marked and they would
all be genuine as coming from an apostle of Christ. The letter of Galatians, back
to our text tonight. You see how large a letter I
have written unto you with mine own hand. By the way, I believe
this last is the truth. I believe that he is saying,
you see how large a letter, not that it's large in length compared
with the other letters, but in comparison to what he wrote with
his own hand, it's long. Because usually he just wrote
the salutation. But this one, He wrote from the
beginning to the end in his own hand. And that shows the importance
of it, doesn't it? That shows the seriousness of
the letter of Galatians. I read one time someone was the
opinion that the only reason Romans is put in our Bible before
Galatians is because Romans is longer. But both of these letters
deal with this very, very important matter which always has to be
emphasized. And that is justification is
by faith apart from the works of the law because that teaching
is always here. It's always here and it's always
threatening to come in among God's people because men just
naturally, I mean we're just born naturally with the thought
there's something we can do to contribute to our own salvation. There's something we can do,
something we can add. When the scripture is very clear
that for by grace are you saved, And grace simply means unmerited
favor. We do not contribute one iota
to our salvation other than we provide the sinner. God does
all the saving. He does all the saving. He plans
salvation, He purchased salvation, and He applies salvation. Salvation
is by grace through faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. both salvation, grace, and faith,
all the gift of God. But this letter of Galatians,
along with the 65 other books or letters, which make up what
we call one book, the Bible. These 66 books were originally
written in three different languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, just
a small portion in Aramaic. But the bulk in Hebrew, the Old
Testament, Greek, the New Testament. And this letter, now I'm not
just talking about Galatians, I'm talking about the long letter,
the Bible, 66 books. It was written by over 35 men. And over a period more than a
thousand years, over a millennium, the Bible was being written. And here are three truths I want
to, I know you are familiar with what I've just said, but here
are three truths I want to bring out about the Bible. And my friends,
we should be so thankful tonight. I know we grow cold, we grow
indifferent, We take things for granted. We've always had a Bible,
and we just assume we always will have a Bible. And we don't
realize that many people, even today, live in places where it
would be almost impossible to procure a Bible. And we have one. I have several. I'm sure you do too. Several
different translations. How thankful we should be. This
is God's Word. This is God's Word to us, and
men have been burned at the stake for translating the Scriptures
into the language of the common people. So here are three truths
I want to bring out to us tonight about this large letter. First
of all, the Bible has one author. The Bible has one author. You
might say, wait a minute, preacher. I heard you just a few minutes
ago say that God used at least 35 men to write it. And now you
say the Bible only has one author? Yes, the Bible has one author. Turn with me to 2 Timothy. 2
Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. And verse 16, all scripture is given by inspiration
of God. All scripture. All scripture. As one author, all scripture
is given by inspiration of God. The word scripture, we talk about
the Bible, although you never find that word in the Bible,
The word Bible comes from a word which means library. Biblioteca
in Spanish, but it means library. It's a collection of 66 books,
but they all make up one book and one author. And that one
author is God the Holy Spirit. Now, I said the scripture, Paul
said, all scripture, the Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles
They always referred to what we know as the Word of God. Now
sometimes it is called the Word of God, but the Lord Jesus Christ
and his apostles in the Scriptures, they speak of the Word as the
Scriptures. The Scriptures. For instance,
in Luke chapter 4, the Lord Jesus Christ, you remember he had been
raised in and Nazareth and after he was baptized he went back
to that place and on the first Sabbath after he returned he
went into the synagogue and they gave him the roll and he took
it and he found the place where it was written the Spirit of
the Lord is upon me Isaiah chapter 6 to 1 but notice what he said
when he closed the book or rolled the book up and handed it back
He said, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. This scripture. And then in John
chapter 10, I believe it is, he said the scripture, the scripture
cannot be broken. So the Lord, he referred to the
Bible, what we call the Bible, as the scripture, the writings.
And then the apostles, The Apostle John, this is just one example
in chapter 19, he wrote this concerning the crucifixion. He
said, they said therefore among themselves, that is those soldiers
who were around the cross, they said therefore among themselves
let us not rend it. They took his cloth, his robe,
and they said, let's don't tear it into four pieces and everyone
get a piece. No, let's not rend it, but cast
lots for it. Let's roll the dice and see who
wins this. Whose it shall be. That, now
this is what John said, that the scripture might be fulfilled. Which saith, They parted my raiment
among them, and for my vesture they cast lots. Now how in the
world did David, writing the Psalms 600 years before Christ
came into this world, how did he know that they were going
to take our Lord's robe and cast lots for it, rather than tear
it into pieces and divide it up? How could he have known that? I tell you how he knew it. You
know how he knew it. The author, the one who inspired
him to write, is God the Holy Spirit. All scripture, Paul says,
is given by inspiration of God. The literal meaning is, all scripture
is breathed out. Expired, breathed out by God. Look with me, if you will, in
2 Peter. The apostle Peter tells us that the man who wrote this,
2nd Peter chapter 1, I want to begin with verse 15. 2nd Peter chapter 1 and verse
15. Moreover, I will endeavor that
you may be able after my decease, after I die, to have these things
always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly
devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his
majesty. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son. in whom I
am well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. We
have also, now notice, Peter gave his experience along with
James and John. They were on that mount when
the Lord Jesus Christ was transfigured before them. And then they heard
God speak from heaven. this is my beloved son hear ye
him but notice Peter says now we have also a more sure word
of prophecy more sure word of prophecy how could it be more
sure well they they were eyewitnesses they gave their testimony but
they were they were alive Peter James and John they were alive
at this time But a more sure word of prophecy, think about
the fact that Moses wrote a thousand years before Christ came into
the world. How the Holy Spirit, through
prophecy, foretold the things that took place. You cannot doubt
the Word of God. No, you can't. We have a more
sure word of prophecy. It was written down. Years and
years, yes centuries before it took place. Where unto you do well that you
take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until
the day dawn and the day star rise in your hearts. And can't
you testify to that tonight? I know I can. The Word of God,
it shines more and more. As we grow in grace, as we study
the Word, as we go along in life as believers, as trusting in
Christ the Word of God, it just shines more and more. It becomes
more clear, more clear as we go along. Knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. And I know there are several
ways to look at that, but listen. No scripture is of any private
interpretation. You don't take a scripture here
out of its context and teach something that the Word of God
doesn't teach. It all fits together. It all
goes together just like the glove fits the hand. The Word of God,
it all fits together. And if people misuse the scripture
when they take a verse out of its context and teach something
that the analogy of faith does not support at all. Let me finish that verse. For
the prophecy came not in old time, By the will of man, they didn't
just sit down and say, you know what, I think I'd like to write
a book, and I'd like to call it Ezra. I'd like to name this
book after myself, Nehemiah. No, that's not the way. That's
not the way the Word of God came. Not by the will of man, but holy
men of God, the scripture says, spake as they were moved. by the Holy Ghost. They spake,
they wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. There is
no other way to account for this many men, 35 men plus, over such
a long period of time, writing their different books and they're
all put together and there's no contradiction and as we'll
see next, they all have the same subject. Before we look away
from 2nd Peter, I want you to turn to chapter 3 in 2nd Peter
and see what he said about Paul's writings. Because we see that
the Apostle Peter puts Paul's writings, letters, on the same
level with the Old Testament scriptures. Notice that in 2nd
Peter chapter 3 and verse 14. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found
of him in peace, without spot, and blameless, and account that
the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved
brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him,
hath written unto you. Now notice, "...in all his epistles,
speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard
to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable
rest, as they do also the other scriptures." You see what I'm
saying? Peter puts the writings, the
epistles of Paul, on the same level with the other scriptures,
which would have been the Old Testament. We should also remember
the Lord's promise to his disciples concerning the work of the Holy
Spirit. The Lord Jesus declared that
the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth. All truth. Someone comes along 300 years
later after the canon has been complete, and they say, well,
I've got a message from the Lord. Don't believe it. Don't believe
it. He's the Holy Spirit. Our Lord
told His apostles, the Holy Spirit shall guide you into all truth,
and that all truth implies the completeness and the perfection
of the Word of God, the Scriptures, the Bible. In vain do men look
for a new word from Christ, for we have all truth. And we understand
that by all truth, it means all truth bearing, you know, fools. Fools will come up and they'll
say, well, do you mean to tell me you have all truth, that you
can read that book and find out how to do open heart surgery?
You know, our Lord, what he meant by all truth. All truth that
relates to faith and practice you will find. The Holy Spirit
will guide you. We're not talking about various
sciences, but all truth that relate to faith and practice. The Holy Spirit will guide you.
And so, being guided, they clearly, plainly, powerfully writing the
Scriptures. And our Lord also said to them
in that same passage in John, He shall teach you all things,
now listen, and bring all things to your remembrance. All things
to your remembrance. Years later they would write
a narrative of the life of Christ. He shall bring all things to
your remembrance whatsoever I have said to you. And then concerning
the epistles and the book of Revelation, our Lord said, He
shall guide you into all truth, and He shall show you things
to come. In other words, He covered the
whole Word of God, the Bible. He shall bring things to your
remembrance. He shall guide you in all truth. He shall show you
things to come. That's the New Testament. That's
the New Testament. Now in the original manuscripts,
the Holy Spirit so directed, He so directed man to write what
is nothing less than the Word of God. When I take up this book
and I read it, I'm reading God's Word. Aren't you? Aren't you convinced of that
truth? And aren't you thankful tonight? Well, so-and-so thinks
this. That doesn't matter. What does
the Bible say? Well, I've heard other people
say, that doesn't matter. What do the scriptures say? To the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this, there's no light in them. That's what the scripture says
in Isaiah chapter 28. Man, I took a long time on that
first point. The Bible has one author, the
Holy Spirit. Amen? Amen. Alright, number two,
the Bible has one subject. Look with me in Luke chapter
24. The Bible has one subject. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ, or concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, beginning
with verse 15, on the day of his resurrection. It says, And
it came to pass that while they communed together, these two
men, on the road to Emmaus, and reasoned, Jesus himself drew
near and went with them. But their eyes were holding that
they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner
of communications are these, that you have one to another
as you walk, and are sad? They just looked sad. This should
have been the happiest day of their life. And they were sad. They were sad. They even looked
sad. The Lord recognized they were sad. And one of them, whose
name was Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Art thou only
a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which
are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them,
What things? And they said unto him, Concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and
word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and
our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have
crucified him. But we trusted that it had been
he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this,
today is the third day since these things were done. Yea,
and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which
were early at the sepulchre. And when they found not his body,
they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels,
which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were
with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women
had said, but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools,
and so of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken,
ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into
his glory? Now notice, and beginning at
Moses. This is Genesis 1-1. beginning
at Moses, the first five books of the Bible. And all the prophets,
he expounded unto them in all, A-L-L, in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village,
whither they went. And he made as though he would
have gone further. Now look down to verse 44. Luke
chapter 24 verse 44, and again our Lord appears to
the eleven, and he said unto them, These are the words which
I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things
must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses,
and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concern me. Then opened
he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures. The subject of the Word of God,
the Scripture, is Christ. He is the subject. It's not a
book of science. The Bible, it's not a book of
science, yet it contains nothing, nothing contradictory to proven
science. Have you ever thought about the
fact that Moses, as I just said, he wrote the first five books.
Stephen in Acts chapter 7, and we know this from Exodus, remember
Pharaoh had given the command that all the boy babies were
to be destroyed. And Moses was born and his mother
and dad looked at him and they put him in an ark and put him
out there in the water. And luckily, you believe that
don't you? Here comes Pharaoh's daughter
down to bathe. And she sees that out there and
fetches that for me. And there's a little baby in
that. And she takes that baby and takes him back to the palace,
wherever she lives. She was a princess. And Stephen
tells us that he was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt. He was schooled. He was there
in the palace, just like the Pharaoh's children were taught,
he was taught. But when he writes the account
of creation, he doesn't bring in or use any of that foolishness
that the Egyptians believed and taught concerning the origin
of the world. No, he strictly stays because
he's inspired of God. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. I don't know if you've ever had
people to tell you, well, you know, people, men who wrote the
Bible, they believed the world was flat. Well, I don't know
if they did or not, but I do know this, they didn't get that
from the Bible. I know that. They didn't get
that belief or teaching from the Bible. They may have believed
it, but they didn't get that from the Word of God. The only
verse of Scripture that speaks to us about the shape of the
earth is the one found in Isaiah chapter 40 in verse 22, it is
he that God that sitteth upon the circle, the circle of the
earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers that stretcheth
out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent
to dwell in. Do you know men still speak of
the sun rising and setting? I could go buy, and I will, God
willing, buy me a farmer's almanac. I like to buy one every year.
This is August the 31st, 2016. If I had one tonight, I could
open it up August the 31st, 2017, and you know what I would find?
I would find when the sun is going to rise and when it's going
to set. Now, do I believe that those
people who prepared that almanac believe the world is flat? Just
because they speak of the sun rising as though the sun revolved
around the earth? No. No, I don't believe that. But my point is, the Bible is
not a book of science. The Bible is a written record
of the revelation of God. It tells us what God has said
and done down through the years to make Himself known. to make
Himself known to sinful man as our Lord, as our Judge, and yes,
as our Savior. Starting from the creation and
fall, the Scriptures trace the story of the acts of God from
that very first promise, the seed of the woman shall bruise
the head of the serpent, all the way through, and show us
what all God has done to bring that to fulfillment. And the
word in the Old Testament was, he's coming, he's coming. And the word in the Gospels,
he's come. And in the officials, he's coming
again. It's all about him, Moses. Moses
wrote about Christ. Our Lord said, Abraham saw my
day and rejoiced. He didn't write any of the scripture,
but he lived before Moses, and he knew about Christ. David,
he wrote about Christ in him. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. Isaiah, he was bruised for our iniquities
and the chastisement of our peace was upon him. He wrote about
Christ. Malachi, the last book in the
Old Testament, spoke about him. The messenger of the covenant
would suddenly come to his temple. It's all about him. And the apostles, here's something
we should note, the apostles referred to the Old Testament.
Now, some people say, well, I don't like that Old Testament. Well,
I do. I do. Some preachers say, I could never
preach from the Old Testament. If you can't preach from the
Old Testament, you don't know the Gospel. That's all you can
say. Any man who cannot preach the
Gospel from the Old Testament doesn't know the Gospel. That's
for sure, because the gospel has never changed. It's been
the same. There's only one gospel. But my point is that the apostles,
in writing the New Testament, they said all these things happen
unto them, that is the Israelites, for examples, and they are written
for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Someone said the Old Testament
without the New Testament is like a foundation without a building. And the New Testament without
the Old Testament is like a building without a foundation. This large
letter has one author, the Holy Spirit, has one subject, Christ.
And here's the last thing. This large letter, this Bible,
has one purpose. Look within John. I know John
chapter 20, I know he says this concerning the gospel of John,
but what he writes here is true of all the word of God. John
chapter 20, beginning with verse 26. John chapter 20, beginning with
verse 26. And after eight days again his
disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the
doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be
unto you. Then said he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and
behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into
my side, and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered
and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him,
Thomas, Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not
seen. We've never seen Christ. We've
never seen the marks in his hands, the side that was pierced. We've
never seen that with these eyes. Blessed, our Lord said blessed,
are they that have not seen and yet believed, yet have believed. Now notice, and many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book, but these are written, here's the purpose,
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And believing You might have life through His
name. That's the purpose, isn't it?
That's the purpose of the Bible. That's the purpose of preaching.
That's the reason I'm here tonight. You know, people can study and
get a lot of information out of the Bible, and no doubt it's
very interesting in parts, but listen, if you miss Christ, you've
missed everything. The purpose is that you might
believe, and believing in Him, you might have eternal life. I pray that God would bless this
word to all of us here tonight. Let's sing.