Galatians chapter 3, entitled this message, The Faith
of Abraham. The Faith of Abraham. I know that we had recently went
over these scriptures, but I don't believe that I expounded enough
about them, so I desired that we should go over them again.
It's a wonderful thing when you attend to the Word of God and
you read and you study that you've not found a bottom yet to this
book. You've not yet found a full understanding,
full knowledge of the truth as of yet. And these are deep minds. deep minds that God has full
of gems stored up for us. And the more we dig into them,
the more we find these precious gems, things that we can hold
to, things that we can cling to while the storms of life roll
over us. And I pray that God would do
that today, give us again these gems, these things that we can
look to. Now, our text will be verse 7
through verse 9. He said, "...even as Abraham believed
God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, know ye
therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children
of Abraham." Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying,
In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. So then, they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham. Now, I better cut this off. You
know how that's going to work. Now the apostle, having established
the truth, having established his argument very plainly, very
clearly, that the gospel of Jesus Christ, that gospel that had
evidently been set before these people, which is what? Christ
and Him crucified. This is the sum and the substance
and the theme of the gospel of God. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That justification Justification
is only by the faith of Jesus Christ. This is the argument
Paul established back in chapter 2 and verse 16. He says, knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but how?
By the faith of Jesus Christ. By the faith of Jesus Christ.
That's chapter 2, verse 16. And that our justification was
obtained by the work of Jesus Christ alone. And the only means
by which the Holy Spirit applies it to the heart of men is through
faith. That's why Paul says in verse
16, he says, even we believed in Jesus Christ. And not by... Even we believed
in Jesus Christ for what purpose? That we might be justified. Isn't
that why you believed in Jesus Christ? That you might be justified
before God? Yes. Yes. Not by the works of
the law. Why? Because the law can't justify
anyone. That's the whole foundation of
this book. If you desire... I believe that
verse is summed up completely, the whole foundation of the whole
book. So then, in beginning in chapter
3, you remember that the apostle now then appeals out of love
and fervor for the people of the Galatian church. He appeals
to their experience, to all those who profess to believe in Christ.
You who profess to believe that you are justified by the faith
of Christ, he said this, Are you so foolish and bewitched
that you've not obeyed the truth by turning back to the law? Now,
you remember foolishness means ignorant. It means, are you so
thoughtless? How can you be so thoughtless?
How can someone bewitched you to move from this gospel? He said in verse 2, did you learn? He said, I would only learn this
if you receive you the Spirit by the works of the law or by
the hearing of faith. Did you receive the Holy Ghost by the
works of the law or by the hearing of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
How did you receive this Holy Spirit? And if this faith you receive,
if we by faith receive Christ through the grace and power of
the Holy Spirit, do you suppose to finish In verse 3, "...are
you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now made
perfect by the flesh?" You suppose you're going to finish this by
obedience to the law. Do you suppose to make the work
of Christ perfect by your obedience? If so, Paul says this, your faith
is vain. He said, you have suffered so
many things. He said, have you suffered so
many things in vain, if it yet be in vain? If you're going to
continue in this, don't you know that all your suffering, all
your faith, all of your profession is empty? If you return from
Christ to the law, if you are begun by Christ and finished
by the law, don't you know that your faith is vain? It's empty. All who would confess salvation
by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, but return to
the law, listen, in any measure. If you return to the law in any
measure for your acceptance with God, This is serious, isn't it? This is very serious. That's
a very serious statement, isn't it? If it yet be in vain, if
you will not repent of this, if you will not turn from this
and go back to the truth and embrace Christ, don't you know
that your faith is empty? That you are yet in your sins
and without Christ? Paul says, I do not frustrate
the grace of God. I'll tell you this, any man that
leans to the law in any portion for his justification, he frustrates
the grace of God. Now, what does that mean, frustrate?
We get frustrated, don't we? Some people just, we want to
do something, and people frustrate our will. That's not what the
word means there. That's not what the word means.
It means to discard or to cast away. I do not cast away the
grace of God. I do not cast away the gospel.
To return to the law in any measure is to cast away the gospel. These
two will not mix, is what Paul is saying. These will not mix. It is to defile the sacrifice
of Christ. Don't you know that adding anything
to Christ defiles Him? It is like Uzzah that put his
hand to the ark. God killed him because he would,
by his strength, steady the ark. How many people are trying to
steady Christ? Boy, they're trying to... They
can't answer questions, and so what do they do? They make up
stuff. They add to. And all this with probably the
best intention. Listen, God don't need your help.
God is His own interpreter. He'll make it plain. We don't
need to excuse things. We don't need to try to find
excuses for God. We don't. And so then if your own experience
is not sufficient, so then what does Paul do? He goes to Abraham.
Last week we saw Abraham's faith in such a way as a pattern, as
a pattern for our own. If our faith is the same as Abraham's
faith, then we are justified. We are justified. Paul gives this instead of just
experience. The apostle refers to the infallible
Word of God and gives us the immutable and infallible evidence
of what he has testified of, that justification by faith,
and he uses Abraham as an illustration, as an example. Verse 6, "...even
as Abraham believed God." Now what did he believe God for? What was this that he believed
God? Well, he believed God's Word. That's what he believed.
When God spoke to Abraham, God spoke to him concerning a promise. God gave him a promise. And this was his promise, that
in thy seed, in thee, in thy seed, shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed. Which seed, we know, is Jesus
Christ? The seed of Abraham, the seed
of Isaac, the seed of Jacob, and even as God testified in
the beginning, He should be the seed of the woman. The seed of
the woman. This only is Jesus Christ. And
as Abraham believed God, he heard God, and he believed God. He believed God concerning the
seed. And what does it say? Look at your text. It. It was
accounted to him for righteousness. Now, it is not his faith. His faith was not accounted to
him for righteousness. It was the righteousness of Christ
that was imputed to him for righteousness. You see, believer, our faith
merits what? Does our faith merit righteousness? That's what Armenians believe.
That's what Free Will Works religion believes. They believe that faith
is the grounds, is the cause for regeneration, is the cause
for righteousness. But that's not what the Scripture
is saying. It is not the faith of the man that is imputed. It is the righteousness of Christ
that is imputed for our own righteousness. So by faith we receive this. Faith is necessary. Faith is a wonderful gift, isn't
it? It's a grace of God. It's a mercy. We were, by nature, unbelievers. Now, by grace, we are saved through
what? Faith. And faith is not of ourselves. It's a gift of God. Not of works,
lest any man should boast. Faith is a miracle of grace. It's not a decision that man
makes. It is something God puts into
our hearts by which we can do nothing else. I could do nothing
else but believe, could you? I must believe. I do believe. And it is through faith that
the righteousness of Christ is imputed to me. So we do not diminish
faith by no means, but we do not exalt faith either to be
the cause or the merit of righteousness. And so by faith the righteousness
of the seed is accounted to as our own." Now, then, as we see
this, we must ask some questions here. Why does Paul use Abraham?
Why not use David? Why not use the illustration
of Moses? All of these were saved. These
were wonderful men of God. And you can go through the whole
list of people there in Hebrews chapter 11. You can use Abel.
He was the first one on record that believed God. Why use Abraham? Well, because Abraham was the
source of the error here. He was the one that God gave
this matter of circumcision. The Galatian believers at this
time, they were being duped into believing that salvation was
by faith in Christ plus circumcision. So what does Paul do? He goes
back to the first man who was circumcised. And he asks this
question. He says, when was Abraham justified? Was he justified before or after
circumcision? And so this is why he uses Abraham,
because he is, as God said, the father, the prime example of
all who truly believe. And as we see Abraham, we can
also ask this, was he justified? Was Abraham truly justified? Was the righteousness of Christ
accounted and imputed to him? Now consider this. That righteousness
of Christ was not yet obtained. Christ did not yet come. And
yet it was as good as done. It was already as good as done.
It was so done that God imputed it to Abraham before Christ even
came into the world. He was justified. He was justified. For God testifies of it. Abraham
believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Go
over to Romans chapter 4. This is another place that we
can see this same thing. Romans chapter 4. Look at verse 1. What shall we say then? What shall we say then? that
Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found." Concerning
justification, Paul is dealing with this matter of justification
by faith versus justification by the law, and he goes back
to Abraham again here, and he says, well, what did Abraham
find concerning justification before God? What was his testimony? It says, "'For if Abraham were
justified by the works, he hath whereof to glory.'" But listen,
not before God. You see, if you claim to be justified
by works, you might glory among men. I'm sure that you can be
more moral than I am. I'm sure that you can exalt yourself
above some other man. But that's not the issue, is
it? How will you stand before God?
Because God will judge you. And he said, look, if you find
justification by works, you won't find it before God. For what saith the Scripture?"
Ah, here's the foundation of our faith and practice, isn't
it? The Scripture. What does the Scripture say about
justification? It says, "...Abraham believed
God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Now to him
that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt."
Isn't that so? If you're trying to be justified
by works, Don't you realize that you're saying God is indebted
to you? That God owes you? Oh, but no, the reward is reckoned
of grace, not of works. but of him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
to him for righteousness." That is, the object of his faith is
counted to him for righteousness. It's exactly what he's been saying
in Galatians. The faith of Jesus Christ is
counted for our righteousness. Now look, look, sinners, and
behold then the object of Abraham's faith. If Abraham was justified,
should we not desire to know how, how he was justified? He was justified by the object
of his faith, Jesus Christ. Behold Jesus Christ, who is more
clearly and plainly displayed now than he was in Abraham's
day. Don't you see more and know more about Christ than Abraham
did? Don't we have more revealed about
Christ than Abraham did? Yes. We have the full revelation
of God revealed to us and given to us concerning Christ. Do you
believe on Jesus Christ? Sinners look to Him. Believe
on Him, and you know what you'll find? You'll find what Abraham
found. You are justified. You are justified before God, even as Abraham. Is this not a comforting gem
that you can hang on to? This is something that we should
grab hold of and maintain with all of our hearts and look. Behold the Word of God and believe
the Word of God, even as Abraham. So it is with you who are justified. You are justified by the faith
of Christ. And to be justified, you have
believed in Christ. We who have believed the Word
of God. What is it to believe Christ? It is to believe concerning
His whole... To believe the Word of God is
to believe everything concerning His Son. Isn't that what John
said? That you should believe our record. The sons of God,
those who are born again, believe the record that we have concerning
God's Son. concerning His person, that He
is the only God-man mediator. He is God, very God, condescended
to become man, very man, so that He might represent us before
God as a high priest. We believe Him concerning to
be our mediator, the only mediator. Between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus, we believe his righteous obedience to the law.
We believe that he in thought, word, and deed did everything
pleasing to God. He only is the righteous man. He only is the righteous man. Obeying the law of God without
spot and without blemish. And we believe in His substitutionary
death for the sins of His people. We believe in the atonement of
sins by the death of the Son of God alone. That's the only
way my sins is ever atoned, redeemed by the blood of the Son of God. That by His one offering, He
hath forever put away our sins, perfected forever them that are
sanctified." And if we believe the record of His victory over
death, we believe that God raised Him from the dead. Do you believe
God raised Him from the dead? Listen, if you believe God raised
Him from the dead, then where is He? Where is He? He is seated on the throne of
power and dominion ruling over all things for the salvation
of His people. All things are being ruled by
Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? Do you know that? You do if you have faith in Him. You know this. to be true. Therefore,
we have come to Him, how? How have we come to Him? As sinners. We have come knowing this very
truth as God has recorded in His Word, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in His sight. You understand
that. You know that. True faith knows that to be true,
not just in academic, but in our own experience. We know,
in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. We know that no man is
righteous or can obey the law of God. Therefore we understand
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in the
sight of God. Therefore we have fled to Christ
for refuge. Therefore we have fled to Him
to be justified." How? By faith, by believing on Him. And what have we found? What have you found? Did you not find what Abraham
found? Abraham found justification by
faith in the faith of the Son of God. Believer in Christ, I want you
to grab hold of this. You are justified. I want you to know that you were
justified before you realized you were justified. And then
I want you to know the moment of faith, the moment God gave
you faith, you were justified before God in the experience
of grace. And we are blessed with Abraham
by the same grace of God, by the same blood of Christ, by
the same gift of faith. We have received this blessing
and there is therefore now no condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation. And there is therefore now no
condemnation." You keep saying that and saying that over and
over every second of every day. Why? Because there is no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. Who what? Walk not after the...
flesh, but after the Spirit. What is the walk after the flesh?
The law is to walk after the flesh. That's what Paul is saying.
He's saying not in a moral sense to walk after the Spirit or do
good and obey the law. No, that's not. That's what the
world's religion says. This is talking about walking
after the flesh is walking after law. We don't walk after the
law. We walk after the Spirit, which is pointing men to where?
Christ. Christ. Therefore, David says this, Blessed
is the man whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord, listen, will not impute sin. Now, you got that? What is God willing to do? God is willing to justify you.
How do I know that? Look at the cross. God was willing
to justify me. I know because Christ died. I
know He accomplished justification because He rose again. I know
what God is not willing to do also. He is not willing to impute
my sins to me. How do I know? He imputed them
to Christ. They were imputed. They were
charged. They were not charged to me. They were charged to Christ.
So the answer is Abraham justified, yes. Abraham was justified by
faith of Jesus Christ. Through faith, he received the
Word of God, and God testified that he was justified. Even so,
we who believe in Christ are justified. Now, the apostle could
have surely used, like I said, many other pictures, but he used
Abraham for this purpose, because he is the father of the faithful,
the salvation, was intended of God to be a rude example for
all the saints. Now in this church, as I told
you, they were dealing with this matter of circumcision, and Abraham
was truly the first man that God instituted the covenant of
circumcision with. So then the question, why did
Paul put Abraham here, We must ask, was Abraham justified
before or after circumcision? When was Abraham justified? We
know Abraham was justified. We know how Abraham was justified. When was Abraham justified? Was
it before or after circumcision? We know this according to the
Scripture in Genesis 15. That's when that was accounted
Him that's when he believed God and it was accounted to him for
righteousness in Genesis 15. It was not until Genesis 17 that
God instituted this ordinance of Circumcision now, what is
circumcision? What was it for? circumcision
like all of the other parts of the law were typical of They
were tokens of something God had promised. They were physical
tokens of a spiritual thing. And the cutting away of the flesh
surely pictured the cutting away of sin, the cutting away of the
old flesh, the deeds of the old man, and the renewing of the
Holy Spirit. And so by using Abraham the apostle,
what does he do? He nullifies all those legalists. He dismantles their argument
completely for the necessity of circumcision to be justified.
He said, look, Abraham was justified without it. So how do you suppose
now to impose this law upon others, saying you must be circumcised
in order to be justified? And not only that, but Abraham
was 430 years before the law of Moses was given. So by the
example of Abraham, he easily dismantles all the arguments
of those using the law for justification. Now, I want to be clear about
this, and I want you to understand, anyone that uses the law, as
a rule of life or in any means to make you closer or more acceptable
to God. I want you to understand what
they're saying. What these legalists are saying is that Christ's death
was not sufficient. Christ's death is not sufficient
to bring you close to God. You need something else to make
you closer to God. And therefore, they turn to the
law. And so Paul, in verse 7, what
does he do? Look at this. Paul, in verse
7, excludes all legalists from the family of God. Look at this
in verse 7, "...know ye therefore that they which are of faith,
the same are the children of Abraham." Now, who are the children
of Abraham? They're children of promise.
They're the ones to receive all the promises of God. The Jews
thought they, because they were the children of Abraham, they
thought that they should receive all the blessings of God, because
they were physical descendants. Here Paul cuts that off completely. He says, no, only those that
are of faith are the family of Abraham, children of Abraham.
Only those who are justified in the same way Abraham was justified
are the children of Abraham and no one else. Our Lord Jesus did
the same thing in John chapter 8. You remember He said, if the
Son shall set you free, we shall be free indeed. And they said,
we be Abraham's seed. We've never been in bondage to
any man. That was a load of mess, wasn't it? How much history have
they been in bondage to men? They were in bondage even when
they said that. They were in bondage to the Romans. And Jesus said, he said, no,
if you were Abraham's children, you'd do the works of Abraham.
What are the works of Abraham? He believed God, and it was accounted
to him for righteousness. Now that's the children of Abraham. The apostle in Romans 9 says
it plainly. He says, that is, they which
are the children of the flesh are not the children of God,
but the children of promise are counted. for the seed. Only those which are of faith
in Christ alone are the children of promise. Believers, we are
the elect of the Father. We are chosen to be His sons,
not by merit, but by grace. We were eternally loved of God.
We were redeemed and justified by Christ. And though we were
born in sin, now we have been raised by the power of the Spirit
of God, heirs of God, and join heirs with Jesus Christ, and
blessed with faithful Abraham. And the evidence of our justification
is not our obedience to the law, but what? Faith in Christ alone.
There's the evidence. There's your evidence that we
are the sons of God. Now, I'm going to make this applicable
to us. Why is all this vitally important? When God imparted the righteous
nature to us in the new birth, we were justified experimentally. We now believe that on Christ
is all our justification now. We know our sin, we know Christ,
we know our standing before God, we know the promises of God,
that they are yea and amen in Christ. And that is by faith,
And that we are saved by faith, and that by grace, that the promise
may be sure to all the seed. But knowing all this, are you
yet perfect? Are you yet perfect? We know that God did not remove
this flesh. did not remove this flesh. We
confess, though justified through faith, the nature of sin still
remains in all of us, so that in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. For to do good, to love God, to serve God is present
with me, but how to perform it I find not. O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from this rotting, stinking corpse? In the covenant of grace God
promised to all his people after the new birth, listen to what
God said would happen after he saved you, listen to this. Then,
Ezekiel 36, 31, then shall you remember your own evil ways and
all your doings that were not good, and you shall loathe yourselves
in your own sight. You who are justified, do you
have any experience with that? You do. And so we look upon our sins,
our flesh, and we loathe ourselves in our own sight. Our best efforts
to worship and serve God are still full of sin and selfishness. Our love is so cold and at best
indifferent. Our faith is so full of unbelief
so that we are brought down to the dust and made again and again
to cry for mercy unto God. But I want you to know what else
happens when we are brought down to the dust. What does the flesh
do? We long to feel the presence
of God again. We long to know our standing. Like Asaph. Asaph said, I know
God is good to Israel. I know God is good to Israel,
but as for me, I don't know. As for me, I don't know. It is in this lowest state, in
this weakened moment, our weakest moment, the flesh and Satan would
tempt you to return to the law. Not in full. They don't want you to return
in full. They know that you're not even
tempted by that, to return in full. Just a little bit. Why? So you can have some measurement
as to determine your standing. We are tempted to go back under
the law so as to measure ourselves to see if we stack up or not. Trying to find some assurance.
Anybody try to find assurance? You know, if you're looking for
assurance, you don't have any. Otherwise, why would you look
for it? The temptation of the flesh is to look for assurance
in self. By measuring ourselves to others,
or measuring ourselves to the law, or measuring, making rules
and regulations to live by, so as that we might draw closer
to God. The law only appeals to the flesh. It does. And if
you deny that, you're in trouble. The pastor once told me, he said,
be very careful. The law, the whip of the law
feels good to the backs of your people and it will feel good
in your hands. It will. Because the flesh craves
law. It craves some kind of measurement
so as I can put myself above you. Or you can put yourself
above me. Now, the dead soul will not feel
the sharp blade of the law, but only the believing soul feels
its cuts and its wounds. But we who are of faith cannot
then abide under the law. So where do we go in this cast
down state? Where do we go to find assurance? of our standing before God. Where
do you go to measure your righteousness and acceptance? The same place
you went to be justified, looking unto Jesus. How do I know I'm
justified? I look to Him who died in my
stead. Only there you will find assurance. No place else. Am I sure I'm
justified? Is He sitting on the throne?
Then I'm justified. Has He been moved off the throne?
No, I'm still justified. I'm still justified. And you
know what? I'm sure of it. Why? because God's Word said
it. Listen, Martin Luther said, feelings
come, feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. My warrant
is the Word of God, not else is worth believing. Though all
my heart should feel condemned for want of some sweet token,
there is one greater than my heart whose word cannot be broken.
I'll trust in God's unchanging Word till soul and body sever.
For though all things shall pass away, his word shall stand forever. And what does his word say? Even
as Abraham believed God and was counted to him for righteousness,
so then they that are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. That's the Word of God. So where's
my assurance? It's in the Word of God. Not how I feel about it. May God ever cause us to stand
on His Word. What is that? We're justified
by faith, by the faith of Christ, and we receive this justification
through faith in Christ. Therefore, I am justified. And so are you if you believe
in Christ. I pray God bless you.