Faith is Belief in What God Has Said

Transcript

GR 1151
05/09/1999
Faith is Belief in What God Has Said
Galatians 3:6-9
Gil Rugh

Galatians, chapter 3. The scripture is very clear that the greatest danger to the Church has been and continues to be from within. It has always been satanic strategy to infiltrate among the people of God and raise up those who would claim to be believers in Jesus Christ but who would teach doctrines that are contrary to the truth of the word of God.

Paul met with the leaders, the elders of the church at Ephesus in Acts, chapter 20. And in verse 30 he told them, "From among your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things, seeking to draw the disciples away after themselves." From among your own selves, from within the churches, will rise up men who will teach unbiblical doctrine. And their desire will be to lure Christians away from allegiance to Christ.

Turn over to 2 Peter. Toward the back of your New Testament. Not quite to the book of Revelation, but getting close to the end of your New Testament. The second letter of the apostle Peter, written in the shadow of his impending execution. And he gave a similar warning as the apostle Paul did in 2 Peter, chapter 2, verse 1, where he wrote, “But false prophets also arose among the people.” Referring to what happened in the history of Israel, what we would call Old Testament times, false prophets arose among the people, “Just as there will also be false teachers among you.” Now he’s addressing believers, churches. And if he had just said there will also be false teachers that would not have been so shocking. But when he says there will be false teachers among you, he is also warning them that false teachers will infiltrate among the churches. They “will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.”

The churches at Galatia that Paul is writing to in the letter to the Galatians were experiencing this very kind of situation. False teachers had infiltrated among the various churches in the region of Galatia. How did they do that? Well, one of the ways, very simply is, they claimed to believe the same thing that God’s people believed. At Galatia, the false teachers were Judaizers. The Judaizers claimed to believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah and the Savior. And that disarms us. When someone says, “I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in His death on the cross. I believe in His resurrection from the dead.” We say, well, we’re brothers and sisters in Christ. And I really want us to have everything that God has for us and I want you to know there is more than just faith in Christ. To acquire and receive the riches of God’s righteousness and experience growth to maturity. And we say, well, something doesn’t sound right there. But you did say you believe in Christ like we believe. Yes! Well, that’s what counts. And so, the Church is deluded, tricked, if you will, as Paul told the Ephesians to watch out for the trickery of men in deceitful scheming. And that’s what was happening among the churches at Galatia. They were beginning to fall for this teaching. Well, yes, they believe in the same Christ. They’re simply saying we also need to be circumcised and keep the Mosaic Law. Then we experience the fullness of God’s righteousness and growth to maturity in Him.

With chapter 3 of Galatians, Paul moves into a serious doctrinal consideration and evaluation of this teaching, will cover basically chapters 3 and 4. And he begins by addressing the Galatians very bluntly and harshly, if you will, when he says in verse 1, “You foolish Galatians!” In this area they were functioning like people without minds. It was like someone put them under a spell. Who has bewitched you, deluded you, hypnotized you, that you would believe such mindless dribble? And I have to say, I read this and I say, “That’s shocking! That Paul would address the churches in Galatia and accuse them of functioning in an irrational, mindless way.” The Church today continues to be open to the delusions of false teachers who infiltrate the Church and disseminate doctrine that’s contrary to the truth that God has revealed.

Through a series of questions through the first five verses, Paul drew the attention of the Galatians back to the beginning. How were you saved? How did you become righteous before God? How did you receive the Holy Spirit of God? Was it by keeping the Law? Or was it by believing the truth? And he concluded in verse 5 with that question, “So, then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law or by hearing with faith?” And there is no mixing the two, as the Judaizers would do. Did you get the Spirit by believing the gospel, or did you get the Holy Spirit by doing the works of the Law? Well, obviously, they got the Holy Spirit by believing the gospel.

Paul is now going to turn their attention, he’s not changing the subject. He continues the same subject by turning their attention to the prime Old Testament illustration or example, the man Abraham. Abraham was the key person for the Jews because he’s the father of the nation. Israel had its beginning with Abraham, when God called Abraham and entered into covenant agreement with Abraham and the descendants of Abraham. Abraham was also the key figure for the Judaizers. For Abraham was not only the father of those who had faith, as we’ll see, but he also is the first man that God gives covenant instructions regarding circumcision, and places that responsibility on Abraham.

Turn back to the book of Genesis, if you will, chapter 17. Genesis, chapter 17. Now keep in mind, the Judaizers taught that righteousness before God required both faith in Christ and circumcision and keeping of the Law. God deals with Abraham in Genesis 17 and says, verse 10, “This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you; every male among you shall be circumcised.” So, here we have a covenant relationship. The end of verse 11 says, “It shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.” So, here we have instituted a physical mark of the covenant that God made with Abraham. And this sign of circumcision is to be practiced throughout Israel. That means it’s to be carried out on the slaves and so on that the nation has as well, in verse 12. Every male child born within the frame work of the nation is to be circumcised on the 8th day. The end of the verse 13, “Thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.” So, the physical mark in the flesh is the sign of an everlasting covenant.

“But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.” You see how some of the confusion entered in in the thinking of the Jews with the passing of time. You can’t be saved without being circumcised. And pretty soon they began to equate circumcision with the physical action. You’re saved when you’re circumcised. So, all the Jews are saved because all Jewish males have been circumcised.

Similar to what people have done to baptism today. Give you a parallel thinking. They’ve taken a physical action and equated it with salvation. So, you have multitudes of adults in Roman Catholic and Protestant churches alike taking their babies to be baptized. Why? It relates to salvation. It’s necessary. But it has no support in scripture.

So, here, circumcision is given as an important and required activity for Abraham and his descendants. The Judaizers said, see, it proves it. You must not only believe, but you must be circumcised or you will be “cut off from the people of God.” So, salvation requires circumcision.

All right, come back to Galatians. We’ll be back to Genesis in a few minutes, but come back to Galatians. Paul wants to use Abraham now as the example. And he says, “Even so Abraham.” And that “even so” that begins verse 6 of Galatians 3, connects the faith of Abraham to the faith of the Galatians that he has just reviewed, the end of verse 5. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing with faith? Well, obviously, with faith. “Even so Abraham believed.” Abraham had faith. The word to have faith, or to believe, are the same basic word in the Greek text. “Even so Abraham believed.”

Abraham is a key person in the Old Testament, of course. Genesis chapters 12 to 25 give you the historic life of Abraham. The history of Abraham. Abraham is mentioned more often in the New Testament than any other Old Testament figure except for Moses. Paul mentions him 9 times in the letter to the Galatians. So, Abraham is a very outstanding and important figure in the scripture. And, of course, as I mentioned, he was the father of the nation Israel. And it was God’s covenant with Abraham, the Abrahamic Covenant, that established His relationship with Abraham’s descendants, Israel, the Jews, in an unending, everlasting covenant. Well, we’re told in verse 6, ‘Even so Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to Him as righteousness.” The quote here is from Genesis, chapter 15 and verse 6, and it becomes foundational, not only in Galatians but in Romans, for Paul’s argument that God’s righteousness, God’s salvation is bestowed upon people only by faith alone. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.

Go back to Genesis 15, if you will. Genesis, chapter 15. I want you to see the context of the verse that Paul quotes. God has given Abraham promises. He’s going to do all these wonderful things to the descendants of Abraham. And Abraham’s descendants are going to be like the sand of the sea. The only problems is Abraham and Sarah have no children. And they’re getting quite along in years. And in Genesis 15, Abraham tells God evidently my chief servant, Eliezer, will be my heir. Die childless, then the servant who was the head of your house became your heir. But God said to him, verse 4, “Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘This man will not be your heir; but one who shall come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.’”

I want you to note something here, just so you have it in the background of what we’re going to be talking about in Galatians, the physical descendant is of absolute importance. I believe that the physical descendants of Abraham still have a future, and that’s rooted in the promise given here, and certain of the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant can not be fulfilled in any way except through the physical descendants of Abraham. It has to be “one who comes from your own body.”

“Then He took him outside and said, ‘Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’” If you are able to count them. In other words, start counting. Well, you know what it’s like on a clear night. You can’t count the stars. “He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ Then [Abraham] believed in the Lord; and He [the Lord] reckoned to him as righteousness.” You see, the only issue here, God speaks. God makes a promise. Abraham believes what God says, he believes in the Lord. You note that in verse 6. He believed in the Lord. To believe what God said and believe in the Lord who said it is the same thing. God speaks, Abraham believes what God says, God credits that faith to Abraham as righteousness. He declares Abraham righteous. Judicial, legal actions. What has Abraham done to earn that action from God? Nothing! He simply believed God. And God credited to him as righteousness.

Now, we’ll get to this in a moment, but let me just tell you. We’re in Genesis 15, right? Abraham’s circumcision does not occur until Genesis 17. Genesis 17 occurs years after Genesis 15. And we’re over 400 years away from God giving the Mosaic Law on Mount Sinai. So, Paul’s argument is that you can’t read these things back into the action of God in Genesis 15:6. All you have is the word of God and the response of faith on Abraham’s part. And that results is God crediting righteousness to Abraham’s account. All right. Come back to Galatians, chapter 3. “Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”

Now that you’re back to Galatians, back up to Romans. Always have to get back to the starting point, so I don’t forget we’re studying Galatians. In Romans, chapter 4, Paul quotes from Genesis 15:6. He’s basically making the same argument to the Romans that he’s making to the Galatians, but he elaborates more fully. So, I want you to see the elaboration on this point. At the end of chapter 3 he’s made the same point that he made in a more abbreviated way in the opening verses of Galatians 3, that salvation, righteousness, comes by faith only. Verse 28, Romans 3:28, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” Same kind of argument Paul had in the opening verses of Galatians 3. Did you get the Holy Spirit by the works of the law? Or by faith? “We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”

“Is He God of the Jews only? Or is He not God of the Gentiles also? Yes, of the Gentiles also.” Now, be careful, the argument here is important. ‘Since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.” The argument: since there is one God, then He will save Jews and Gentiles in the same way. If there is only one God, there can only be one way of salvation. We’ve been through this many times. Many of you could preach it more clearly, perhaps, than me. But don’t lose hold of it, the Galatians, the Romans got confused on this basic truth. There is only one God, therefore, there can only be one way of salvation.

How did God save, let’s say, Abraham? Chapter 4, verse 1, “What shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?” Paul’s a Jew. He was a physical descendant of Abraham. What happened with Abraham? “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about; but not before God.” In other words, if Abraham was justified by works, he can boast. A boast about what he has accomplished, not boast about what God has done. “For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” There’s our verse, Genesis 15:6. “Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.”

I want you to note the contrast here. “To the one who works,” the one who is trying to be saved by what he does, by keeping the Mosaic Law, by being circumcised. “His wage is not credited, not reckoned.” That’s the same word translated “credited” up in verse 3. “It was credited to him as righteousness.” For some reason we have it translated in Galatians 3, “It was reckoned to him.” Means the same thing, but we’ve used two different English words to translate one Greek word here. It was reckoned, credited, it was not credited as a favor, verse 4. That word “favor” is the Greek word for grace. What is grace? It is unmerited, undeserved favor. So, here they’ve translated the word “grace” by the word “favor.” What you ought to say, his wage is not credited as grace, but as what is due. In other words, if you work hard and someone pays you for what you worked for, he didn’t bestow grace on you, he gave you what you were owed. Many of you go to a job every day and work, and then they give you the pay check. If you got your pay check and your boss said, “Here, I want to bestow this grace on you.” You’d look at him and say, “That’s not grace. I worked for that.” That’s the very argument Paul’s saying here. If you worked for it, it’s something you’re owed. It’s not grace.

So, you see the contrast. You can’t mix works and grace. That’s why later in Romans he’ll say if it’s of works it’s no longer of grace, otherwise, grace would no longer be grace. “But to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” So you note that. It’s not on the basis of works. It’s on the basis of faith. Faith is not viewed as a work in scripture. Sometimes there’s some theological discussion, “Is faith a work?” No, it is not. It is contrasted with works. Faith is grace, because faith is not something I do. Faith is a response to what God has done. God speaks. I believe what He said. I didn’t work. I didn’t do anything to earn anything. I trust that God is true. I rely upon Him. So, the one who doesn’t work, but believes, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Jump down, while you’re in Romans 4, to verse 9. Something we’ve already seen, but you see it in context of Paul’s argument. “Is this blessing then upon the circumcised, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say, ‘Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.’” Well, any Jew knew immediately the answer to that. Of course, Genesis 15:6 was when Abraham was not circumcised. We’re years away from God’s instruction to Abraham regarding circumcision. “How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised?” Was the righteousness of God credited to Abraham’s account before or after he was circumcised? “Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised . . . and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised.” All circumcision was was a seal, a sign, a physical indicator that here is a man who has believed in God and is trusting Him.

Boy, the argument is so simple and so clear, isn’t it? You say how did the church in Rome get confused on this? How did the churches in Galatia get confused on this? How did the churches of 1999 get so confused on this? We have people who think they have to be baptized to be saved. Let me ask you, was Abraham declared righteous before he was baptized, or after? Abraham was never baptized as far as we know. Well, then, how can baptism be necessary for salvation? Well, as I debated two pastors who came to visit me on several occasions, they said, “Well, because later God said that it was necessary.” Later God said circumcision was necessary, but not necessary for Abraham to become righteous. Circumcision had a place, but it was not required in order for Abraham to be credited with God’s righteousness. Was Abraham credited with God’s righteousness before or after he joined the First Church of Palestine? The Church was 2,000 years away from even starting in Acts, chapter 2. So, church membership is required if you’re going to be saved? Don’t believe it.

You know, the simplicity of this. How does the Church lose its hold? Well, the churches at Galatia were confused. That’s why we end up going back to the basics. Let’s go back and walk through the basics. Let’s go back to an established, Old Testament, historical figure and find out how God saved that man. And we will find out the work of God salvation for every person.

Come back to Galatians, chapter 3. So, Abraham believed God. It was reckoned to him as righteousness. Circumcision is not in the picture. The Mosaic Law is not in the picture. Many years later he will offer his son, Isaac, in an astounding act of obedience and faith in God, but that’s not part of the picture in Genesis 15. All you have is God speaks, and Abraham believes, and God credits to him as righteousness.

Verse 7, “Therefore,” and that word “therefore” indicates that what he’s going to say it the logical conclusion of what was said in verse 6. “Therefore, be sure.” That’s the imperative form of the verb “to know.” Know this! Be certain, be sure of this. “That it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.”

“Those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” Those who are characterized by faith, those who believe God, they are the true sons of Abraham. We’re going to say a little more about this in a moment. Some take a passage like this, and say, “Well, see, it’s not the physical descendants of Abraham any longer, it’s the spiritual descendants. Because all believers have become the sons of Abraham.” That’s a confusion of truth and error.

You have Abraham, the father of the faithful. So here we’re going to draw this out. You put Abraham at the top. Then you put a line down from Abraham, and that line is believers, sons of Abraham. Then the line divides. There are the physical descendants of Abraham who are believers, and there are the non-physical descendants of Abraham who are believers, Gentiles. And that’s inherent in the Abrahamic Covenant from its initiation.

We’re going to look at that in a moment, but I want it to be clear in your mind so you don’t jump on verse 7 and say, “Oh, see the physical descendants of Abraham, they don’t have any future.” No. Physical, being a physical Jew alone was never enough to put you in the line of the Abrahamic Covenant promises. You not only had to be a physical descendent of Abraham, but you had to be a spiritual descendent. Only believing Jews would inherit the promises given to Abraham. That’s the very issue dealt with in so many places: John, chapter 8, Jesus deals with it. He tells the Jews that Abraham is not really your father. You’re just a physical descendent. That’s never enough. You had to be a spiritual descendent as well as the physical descendent if you were a Jew.

So, it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. These Judaizers were coming and telling the Gentiles in order to be identified with Abraham, you have to receive the circumcision of Abraham. And the Jews so convoluted their teaching, and we can study their writings outside of scripture, they taught that Abraham was such a perfect and righteous man, he kept all the requirements of the Mosaic Law 400 years before God gave it to Moses.

So, you see what we do. We decide what we want our doctrine to be, then we just re-write the scripture accordingly. The Mosaic Law won’t even be given for 400 years, but the Jews wanted to make it a requirement for salvation. So, they say, oh, Abraham, he was such a godly, righteous man. He kept all the requirements of the Mosaic Law before God gave it. Abraham was saved by keeping the Mosaic Law. He just kept it ahead of time. Does that make sense? Not to me. And it’s sure a twisting of scripture. It’s heresy. All right. So, those are the sons of Abraham. You can be sure of this.

Verse 8. Now verse 8, in the Greek text, has a connecting particle, we call it. It’s a little, two-letter proposition word. Doesn’t get translated into English, but what it shows is that what he is saying in verse 8 is connected to verse 7. I just want you to see that Paul is following a very closely reasoned argument here of one statement builds upon the next. builds upon the next. He’s taken them back to the beginning and walking them through
“The Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed in you.’”

First, I want you to note here that God and the Scripture are equated. The Scripture is personified. The Scripture foresaw. The Scripture preached the Gospel. Well, it was God who spoke to Abraham. It was God who told Abraham all the nations will be blessed in you. But you personify the Scripture, because the Scripture and God are inseparately joined. “All Scripture is God-breathed,” 2 Timothy 3 says. It is God speaking. Second Peter 1 says that holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So, just another example that permeates the scripture. This is God speaking. When you disagree with this book, you are disagreeing with God. There is no disassociation from God and the scripture, prominent in the liberal theology, as though the scripture is not really God speaking. It may contain what God says. No, it is absolutely equated. When the scripture speaks, God is speaking. That’s the equation here.

“The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith.” And the issue here: justify the Gentiles by faith. The Old Testament Scriptures, all the way back to Abraham, we have the proclamation that it was God’s intention to justify the Gentiles by faith, even as He would justify the Jews by faith. In fact, when God spoke this to Abraham, there were no Jews, because Abraham still didn’t have any children. So, in all intense and purposes, the Jewish nation had not come into existence yet. But God is announcing His intention to save all nations by faith. That would include the Gentiles, as they would be distinguished from the nation Israel.

God foreseeing that God would justify. The word “justify” means “to declare righteous.” “The Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham.” Now, we sometimes, with our New Testament, see this word “gospel,” and say, oh, that must mean the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. So some take from this that God told Abraham about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

Well, the particular word for “gospel” used here is not used any where else in the New Testament or in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It’s used in some other Greek literature. And it means “to proclaim good news in advance.” I think, if we translated the word, “preached the good news in advance to Abraham.” So, he proclaimed what would be the good news, the joyously good news that all nations will be blessed in you. That was the good news: all nations will be blessed in you.

We need to be careful about reading back into this, and that means Abraham was told about the death, burial and resurrection of the Messiah, and the necessity of faith in Him, and that’s what Abraham believed. That’s not so! Genesis 15:6 said, “Abraham believed the promise about the descendants he would have.” And when he believed what God said, he was believing in God, and that brought about his salvation.

So, here, God simply announced ahead of time good news for the Gentiles. And that good news is all nations will be blessed in you, in Abraham.

Go back to Genesis 12. Genesis 12. Here we have the initial statement of the Abrahamic Covenant, God’s covenantal agreement with Abraham and his descendants. Verse 2, “I will make you a great nation. I will bless you . . . make your name great; . . . you will be a blessing; . . . I will bless those who bless you . . . the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

You note, it is an inherent part of the Abrahamic Covenant: God’s blessing upon the physical descendants of Abraham; God’s blessing on the non-physical descendants of Abraham. Any idea that because the Jews rejected Christ at His first coming, therefore, all the promises to physical descendants have been nullified, and they’re all now carried over to spiritual descendants is biblical foolishness! The Abrahamic Covenant gave guaranteed promises to both the physical descendants of Abraham and the non-physical descendants of Abraham.

And for both groups, they had to be spiritual descendants of Abraham to inherit the promises. To be a physical Jew was not enough, you had to be a physical Jew who had the faith of Abraham. To be a non-Jew was not enough, you had to be a Gentile who had the faith of Abraham. So I say, the connection to Abraham is faith. And then that Covenant includes physical descendants, Jews, and non-physical descendants, Gentiles. And one promise of the covenant, of this covenant does not nullify the other promises.

Look over in chapter 18 of Genesis. God speaks to Abraham. Says He is going to tell Abraham what He’s about to do at Sodom and Gomorrah, verse 18 of Genesis 18. “Since Abraham will surely become a great and might nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?” You see what he reiterates, both promises here. “I will make Abraham a great nation. And I will bless all the nations in Abraham.”

And as that is interpreted in the New Testament, two things are involved. Number one, God will justify Gentiles by faith. The same kind of faith that Abraham had. That’s what He’s talking about in Genesis (Galatians) 3, He preached the good news to the Gentiles. What is He talking about? Well, God foresaw that He would justify the Gentiles by faith. Good news, Gentiles! You can have the righteousness of God, too. That’s included in the Abrahamic Covenant. It’s included in the promise: All nations will be blessed in you. What is the blessing? Justification by faith. Isn’t that the context here? Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. So, those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham. And some of the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant are directed only to the physical descendants who are sons of Abraham, spiritual and physical descendants. Some of the promises are directed to the non-physical descendants, who will be the spiritual sons of Abraham.

So, God foreseeing that He would justify the Gentiles, He said all nations will be blessed, will be justified by faith in You. In other words, this justification by faith will be given to all the nations. Not every single person, but it will cross national lines. It’s not just for Jews, like the Jews thought. It’s not just for certain Gentiles. There are racial lines and we see the wars and battles being bought, being fought over religious issues and national entities. Well, the gospel transcends it. You must be justified by faith, whatever your nationality, or you cannot have the righteousness of God.

It also includes, as other passages in scripture would, “In you all other nations will be blessed,” the promise of the coming Messiah. Paul will deal with this coming Messiah in the Abrahamic Covenant as we precede through Galatians.

So, there’s two aspects to this promise: in you all nations will be blessed. It incorporates justification by faith as Paul is arguing it here. It also includes the provision of the Messiah who would be a physical descendant of Abraham. So, all nations will be blessed in you. By virtue of being in Abraham, verse 7, “those who are of faith as sons of Abraham.” So, when you were in Abraham by faith, identified with Abraham by having the same kind of faith, you’re blessed with Abraham. So, to be in Abraham, here, refers to those who are the sons of Abraham, those who are faith. And also carry our attention to the coming Messiah, who is the Savior, a physical descendant of Abraham.

Look at verse 9, conclusion, “So then.” I mention each of these verses, 6, 7, 8 and 9 here, had a connecting word. Verse 8 didn’t translate it, but it’s there. Now you have “even so,” or “so then.” Here’s the conclusion of what I said in verses 6, 7 and 8. “Those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer.” Justification by faith that Abraham received is also received by others who believe. So, if you believe, God will credit it to your account as righteousness.

So then those who are of faith, those who believe, are blessed with Abraham. What’s the blessing of Abraham? Abraham believed God. God credited it to him as righteousness. You are credited with God’s righteousness when you believe, just like Abraham was credited when he believed. “Are blessed with Abraham, the believer.” The King James version translates this, “Abraham, the faithful.” That’s a poor translation, and I think, just about every grammatical commentator that I noted, noted the incorrectness of that. The context we’re talking about, not the faithfulness of Abraham’s life. Just the opposite. The focus of Abraham believing God and what God said, going back to verse 6. So, very simple. You believe God, you will be blessed with God’s righteousness, just as Abraham was. Could it get any simpler?

You note how Paul has taken it back and walked them through the basic issues? You see what happens to the Church? It happened to the church at Rome, happened at the churches at Galatia, happens today. People get confused on the very foundational things. We don’t pay attention to the details of the foundation because we’re sure, I know that, I’ve heard that so many times. But all of a sudden now we have Evangelicals having dialogue with Roman Catholics about whether we can work together because we agree on so much. Except we don’t agree on whether you’re saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. But on a lot of other things, we do. What kind of nonsense is that? What kind of stupidity is that? Paul, in fact, says we have nothing to talk about, because the Judaizers have to repent. And you want to have a dialogue? You get the idea from reading the letter to the Galatians Paul is saying, “Judaizers, we’ve got to dialogue. We have so much in common?” Not at all!

Let me walk you through four points from these four verses. They’re very profound. Number 1, Abraham was justified by faith. Verse 6. Abraham was justified by faith. That settles it. The only way for salvation is by faith. Nothing that God further reveals later in history can alter that fact. Salvation will always be by faith in God alone.

Now, with the passing of time we have what we call progressive revelation. Just say, “Well, look, do I believe the same thing that Abraham believed? Abraham believed he was going to have a multitude of descendants and become a great nation. Are you telling me that’s what I have to believe to be saved?” No. What I am saying is the way you were saved is believing what God has said, and what God has done. So, the content has changed as God has progressively revealed Himself. And now He says salvation is in His Son, Jesus Christ, the One who died on the cross, was buried and raised from the dead. You must believe in Him to be saved. You see, my response is the same: faith! Same response Abraham had to what God said. My response the same: faith!

We say, “Well, now he talks about baptism. So, I must also believe and be baptized to be saved?” No. No. No. No. No. Any more than several years later God would tell Abraham to be circumcised and to circumcise His descendants, and now it meant that Abraham had to believe God and be circumcised in order to be saved, and everybody had to be circumcised to be saved. No! Our response is still the same: Believe what God has said and done and you will be credited with God’s righteousness. Don’t blur the picture. That’s how you are saved. That’s the only way anyone ever can be saved. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. What you must believe is God. That’s why we present the scripture to people, so that they might hear and believe and be reckoned as righteous by God.

Number 1: Abraham was justified by faith. Number 2: Those who have faith are sons of Abraham, verse 7. “Be sure that is is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.” Whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, to be a son of Abraham you have to have faith. Being a physical descendant of Abraham never put you in the line of the Abrahamic covenantal blessings. Even physical Jews had to have Abrahamic faith to be in the line of the covenantal promises.

Number 3: God told Abraham the good news of justification by faith for the Gentiles, verse 8. That goes all the way back. It’s rooted in the Abrahamic Covenant. The salvation of the Gentiles by faith. It’s there. It was God’s plan. It is part of the Abrahamic Covenant just as all the promises to the physical descendants of Abraham are part of the Abrahamic Covenant. And how we proud Gentiles just decide to write the Jews out of the Covenant boggles my mind! What we say is we want to nullify the Abrahamic Covenant, at least as it pertains to the Jews, and we’ll take it all for ourselves. Well, who are we to nullify the covenant? Well, God’s saving Gentiles now. That must mean He’s done with Jews. Don’t be so stupid! Go back and read the covenant. From day one it included the physical descendants of Abraham and the non-physical descendants of Abraham. Period. And God’s plan was to save both by faith and to carry out the promises He gave to each.

Number 4: All who believe are justified with Abraham, verse 9. All who believe are justified with Abraham. That’s it! There’s two kind of people in the world today. Four thousand years after Abraham, there are two kind of people on the earth. There are those who are justified. There are those who are not. There are those who have believed God just as Abraham believed God. There are those who have not believed God.

Now, remember, there were a lot of Jews who had been circumcised, who were doing all the sacrifices of the Mosaic Law, and were not justified. We’ve got a lot of people who go to church, who have joined churches, who have given a lot of money, who have been baptized, confirmed, and fill in the blank, and they’re not justified, because you must believe what God has said, what God has done, in order to be saved. That’s it! And if you add anything else to that, Paul says you are anathema, Galatians 1, you are under a curse, you are condemned to hell. There is no variation on this. There is nothing so important than this basic issue: How are you to be righteous in the sight of God? Two alternatives. By your works? Or by faith?

The answer has already been given by the Judge of all men. The one who believes will be justified. The one who does not believe will be condemned. That’s the simple account and testimony of the life of Abraham.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your graciousness in reaching down to us in our helpless, hopeless condition. Sinners, justly condemned and on our way to an eternal hell. But, Lord, in grace you intervened on our behalf, provided a Savior in the Person of your Son, who loved us and died for us, who was gloriously raised from the dead so that we by simple faith might be cleansed, forgiven, declared righteous. Father, such a beautiful plan of salvation, so simple and clear, yet as a testimony of our sinfulness, we continue to reject it. But by your grace, I pray, that some even here today, might for the first time have their eyes open to see and believe in this wonderful Savior. Lord, may we as a church who have laid hold of Christ by faith, not be confused, or allow ourselves to come under the spell of false teachers who would delude us and lead us away from the simplicity of purity of devotion to Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.