What kind of man will God say you are? David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam 13:14; Acts 13:22). Ahab, king of Israel, was a man who did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any king before him (1 Kings 16:30). Moses was a man who was faithful in all of God’s house (Heb 3:2). Antipas was a man who was martyred in Pergamum, and Jesus called him his faithful witness (Rev 2:13).
Our sermon is titled, “The Man Of Faith.” And that designation belongs to none other than Abraham. Abraham was not only a man of faith, but he is regarded by Scriptures as THE man of faith – verse 9 says “So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” The hall of fame of faith in Hebrews 11 spends more time on Abraham than any other individual mentioned.
Here in Galatians 3:6 Paul introduces Abraham into his message to the Galatians. Who is Abraham? Abraham is the father of the nation of Israel. God often identified Himself to the nation by his association with Abraham, saying: “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Abraham is not only the father of Israel, but he is also the father of faith – meaning he is the model of faith in the scriptures. He is not only the father of Israel, but he is the father of everyone who has faith. Paul informs the Galatians they are children of Abraham because of their faith – both the Jews and the Gentiles (7-9, 29).
The chapter started out in verses 1-5 with Paul pointing out that it was by faith the Galatians had received the Holy Spirit. Now starting in verse six Paul is going to point out that faith has always been the basis of blessings from God. Not only was the promise that the Holy Spirit would be by faith (1-5), but faith would be the condition for other blessings too: being co-blessed with Abraham (7-9), then justification, righteousness and life (10-13), and then redemption (14) – (and he tells them again in verse 14 that the Spirit is given to them because of their faith, just like he said in verses 1-5).
What Paul is now entering into here in chapter 3 and 4 is a historical argument for faith as the basis of righteousness and receiving the promised blessings. Being right with God has always been by faith, and it has never been by works of the law or any other works. Before God ever gave the Law in history Paul points out that Abraham was credited with righteousness because he believed God. The promises God gave to Abraham were based on faith, not on the Law.
All of chapters 3 and 4 relate to the whole point of Galatians in this way: the Galatians were turning from faith back to following the Law and Paul is writing to rebuke them and correct them for that error. Everything that God has given them and done for them was done because of their faith, not their following the law. As a matter of fact they had to leave the law in order to put their faith in Christ in the first place. They began with the Spirit (with faith in Christ) and now Paul was alarmed over their turning back to the flesh – meaning following the Law. He is telling them that their relationship with God is based on faith, just like Abraham’s relationship with God was based on faith – Not the law. God made promises to Abraham and Abraham believed God – promises like “I will bless you, you will have many descendents, they will possess forever the land I am giving you, through Abraham’s seed the nations would be blessed, and more. Abraham believed these promises.
Then in chapter 3 he is going to answer and explain the question: what is the purpose of the law then? Why was it given? How does the giving of the law affect the promise given to Abraham and his seed?
LIKE ABRAHAM
Paul says, “So also Abraham…” Paul is drawing a comparison between the Galatians and Abraham. He is pointing out what the Galatians had in common with Abraham. The Galatians had faith. They “believed what they heard” (v5) and that is just like Abraham, who “believed God” – who believed what he heard from God.
Paul is putting them in the same category as Abraham – and this is the difference between heaven and hell – literally. There are those who have faith, like Abraham, and there are those who do not have the faith Abraham had. Those who have faith are the children of Abraham. In the bible, to say someone is your child is to say they are “like” you.
Jesus told a Jewish crowd in John 8 that while they were physical descendants of Abraham, they were not children. Turn to John 8:33-41 with me and follow along…READ. Notice very importantly that while Jesus confirms they are Abraham’s “descendents” (v37), He says they are NOT Abraham’s “children” (39). These are two different words. Descendents is the Greek word “sperma” and simply means physical human descendents – “Abraham is our grandpa.” But that is different than being “children” of Abraham This is a different Greek word, the word “teknon,” and it is used to describe people who are “like” Abraham – they have faith like Abraham and they act out of that faith like Abraham. Notice verse 37 “I know you are Abraham’s descendents” and then verse 39, “If you were Abraham’s children then you would do what he did.” But they don’t, because they’re not.
We see this same distinction between being a descendent of Abraham and a child of Abraham in Romans 9:7, “Nor because they are his DESCENDENTS are they all Abraham’s CHILDREN.”
What makes someone a descendent? They’re born physically in Abraham’s line. What makes someone a “child” of Abraham? Faith in God like Abraham. Romans 4:11-12 says, “So then, Abraham is the father of all who believe who are not circumcised (Gentiles), and he is the father of all those who believe who are circumcised (Jews).” “Understand then,” Galatians 3:7 says, “that those who have faith are children of Abraham.”
The significance for the Galatian churches was this: it is faith that makes them a child of Abraham, not the law. They possess everything promised to Abraham because of faith – not the law. Therefore, they were not to turn back to the law.
Furthermore, they were not to segregate from each other based on the law – like Peter did in Antioch (2:11-14). People teaching such things needed to be rebuked and ignored.
APPLICATION: Do not let yourself be pressured into following the Law as a Christian. This is a growing issue today in the Church – people insisting we follow the law as Christians. Its not just 7th Day Adventists, but we have Torah Keepers as a movement as well. They say Christians are obligated to keep the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, referring to the Law of Moses – from Sabbath keeping, to a restricted diet, to the Mosaic calendar and holidays, and more.
This all comes from a profound ignorance of the New Covenant we are in through Christ, of grace, of faith, of the Holy Spirit, of justification and sanctification, of the cross, and of everything taught in the NT. Do not be led astray by the Torah-keeping movement. Everything is ours through faith – not the law. We are in league with Abraham by faith – not the law.
ABRAHAM’S FAITH
Next we see Abraham’s faith. “So also Abraham ‘believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.’” Paul is quoting Genesis 15:6, the most important soteriological verse in the whole bible. Turn there with me and follow along in verses 2-6….READ
What did Abraham believe? It says he believed God. But what did God say that he believed? God said that even though he is old and has no children God is going to give him a son from his own body – his own flesh and blood – to be his heir. But God also said that this man who was old and had no children would not have just one son, but his offspring would be so many they would number as many as the stars in the sky. It wasn’t like Abraham was in his 20’s and just beginning his marriage to Sarah. At this point Abraham is at least in his 80’s and he and Sarah had NEVER been able to have children. Romans 4 emphasizes that Sarah was long past the age of being able to have children. So Abraham had a choice in the face of God’s promise: to believe or not to believe. THAT is the question. And the man of faith believed God.
Turn to Hebrews 11 with me because I want to point out 3 brief aspects of Abraham’s faith.
First, his faith was seen in his obedience (v8). See how it says “by faith…he obeyed.” Obedience cannot be done in the flesh apart from faith. Living the life God calls us to live demands faith and is impossible without it.
Second, his faith looked forward (v10, 13-16). He looked forward to the promises of God – even when they weren’t received in his own lifetime. He went to his death believing that after death, in an age to come, God would fulfill His promises. Faith focuses on the future. This forward looking aspect is one of the most definitive characteristics of biblical faith – because when you do not possess what God promised right now you still keep trusting that God will come through in His perfect timing – even if it is after this life.
Third, his faith becomes the basis of his reasoning (19). And so Abraham saw impossible possibilities with God. How? Because his perspective was not limited to mere human limitations. It did NOT make any sense – humanly – to kill the one and only son he had that God gave him, because this son was the very son God promised all those blessings would come to him through. How could all those promises come about if this one and only son was dead? But notice it says, “He reasoned…” When Abraham didn’t know HOW God would do something he promised, his belief that God would still do it somehow did not falter. When it made zero human sense to do what God said, because he reasoned from his faith he saw that if his son was dead then God could and perhaps would raise him from the dead so as to fulfill all those promises that depended on that son. The point being that Abraham reasoned from his faith, not from his limited human perspective. Tell me that does not preach to you?
ABRAHAM’S RIGHTEOUSNESS
Finally we see Abraham’s righteousness, “So also Abraham ‘believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.’” Abraham had his faith credited to him as righteousness. Lets point out two things
First, the meaning of righteousness. Righteousness means being in the right before God. It means God determining that you meet His righteous standard. It is the opposite of being condemned, meaning to be in the wrong before God and sentenced to divine judgment. Righteousness means that you are approved by God as “right” in His eyes.
APPLICATION: Faith in Jesus Christ requires first admitting you are wrong before God. Admitting you are wrong because of your sins is necessary for belief in Christ. You cannot accept the gift of God’s forgiveness if you don’t accept the truth that you are morally wrong before Him! If your faith in God is for any other reason than that you are wrong in your sin before the Holy God of heaven then you need to seriously evaluate your faith to see if it is real saving faith.
Second, this righteousness was “credited” to Abraham by God. God gave Abraham the status of being righteous. Even more can be said, that Abraham’s faith was equivalent to him having met God’s standard of rightness”(Moo, 191). God considered Abraham’s faith to be equivalent to meeting everything righteous that God required. Notice what the verse says: “IT was credited to him as righteousness.” WHAT was credited? Abraham’s faith. “Abraham BELIEVED God, and IT [his belief] was considered by God to be his righteousness.”
Paul’s point here is that the same transaction that happened between Abraham and God happened between the Galatians and God: they believed and therefore God considered their faith as their righteousness. God looks at their faith and God regards their faith as being their righteousness.
APPLICATION: There is no other way to be counted as righteous by God. Believing God is the one and only way for you to have God see you as righteous. This does not mean believe whatever you want about God. It means believe what God commands us to believe: that Jesus Christ is His Son who died on the cross for our sins and was raised again. Believe that only by looking to Jesus and putting our faith in Him can we receive forgiveness for all our sins, and receive the gift of eternal life. Believe that there is no other way – not the law, not good works, not a “spiritual” life, not being a good person or a better person. But believe there is no other way than the one and only way: faith in Jesus Christ.
APPLICATION: Being credited righteousness is the opposite of earning righteousness. Earning righteousness means you worked for it and therefore God owes it to you. But righteousness is a gift, unearned, which God gives to us apart from any works we do. He gifts us righteousness by crediting it to us and considering us to be righteous when we have in no way earned it – we’ve earned condemnation actually – the opposite of righteousness.
CONCLUSION
What kind of man will God say you are? Be a righteous man. You can do that only by becoming a man of faith.