Live video and notes for my message at Central Church of Christ in Stockton, CA for October 24, 2021.

The text was Galatians 3:5-9. Most of Genesis 15 was also read aloud during worship.

Live video link is below. Sermon notes are below that.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Paul’s Sunday School lesson: Father Abraham

Last week, we stepped inside Paul’s classroom. I had you imagine him walking in to find the Galatian Christians running wild, like unattended school-children.

And so Paul got their attention by giving them a pop quiz.

Today, I want to build on that. Imagine that Paul is not just any teacher, but a Sunday School teacher.

And he’s going to help those rowdy Galatians get some energy out by singing “Father Abraham” with them.

Who here remembers, Father Abraham had many sons? from Sunday school?

Father Abraham had many sons, 

Many sons had Father Abraham.

I am one of them, and so are you,

So let’s just praise the Lord!

Right arm! Father Abraham …

Okay. That’s enough. You can do the whole song on your own time.

This song has made the rounds of Sunday Schools for at least the past 40 years. 

But who knows why it’s so important that Christians are sons of Abraham? How did we even become sons of Abraham? And why we should praise the Lord for being sons of Abraham?

Well, it turns out that the song is a lot more than just a Sunday School version of the hokey pokey. 

It’s based on our passage today, Galatians 3:5-9. Paul, our Sunday School teacher today, is going to explain what this song is all about, and why we ought to praise the Lord that He has made us Abraham’s children.

Preaching the Gospel from the Old Testament

What was true for Abraham is true for every believer.

What Paul is going to do is preach the Gospel to the Galatians from the Old Testament. And he begins his lesson with Abraham. Way back in Genesis—the very first book of the Bible.

Why is that important? Because remember, the false teachers in Galatia wanted the Christians to go back to keeping parts of the Old Testament Law—like circumcision—to prove they were really saved.

Those misguided teachers had it in their heads that the Gospel of Christ was a new thing—an addition to God’s Law as a way of being saved.

And you could almost understand why they’d have that idea. Jesus’ life, earthly ministry, and death had only happened about twenty years before Galatians was written. The Gospel of Christ felt like a new thing.

So Paul put on his Sunday School teacher outfit, and reached in and put Abraham on the flannel graph for two reasons.

  1. He wanted to prove that the Gospel he preached—that people are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone—was not out of step with the scriptures. That’s exactly how God saved Old Testament saints, like Abraham.
  2. He wanted to make sure they understood the Gospel wasn’t just a new add-on to what God had been doing all along. It was what God had been doing all along. God’s purpose and plan to save sinful humans has always been the same. 

God didn’t give His people a Law, and only had to send Jesus as a Plan B, after—whoops!—He figured out that no one could actually keep it. Paul wanted Christians to understand that the Bible had been preaching the Gospel of Christ all along.

So with that in mind—and with Father Abraham still echoing in your minds, let’s pick up in Galatians 3, beginning at vv5-6.  

In these verses, St. Paul stuck Abraham up on the flannelgraph and explained how God declared Abraham righteous in His sight—even though Abraham was still a sinful man. 

And that’s so important, because what’s true for Abraham is true for every believer.

Paul asks:

So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard—just like Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness?

Galatians 3:5-6 CSB

Paul was asking the Galatians: Did you receive the Holy Spirit through your own efforts at obeying God, or because you believed the Gospel?

And there’s only one right answer to that question: By believing what we heard—the Gospel of Christ, and all its promises, like the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Now Paul points to Abraham on the flannelgraph and says: That’s exactly right; just like Father Abraham, who believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness.

We heard this story in our readings today—Genesis 15. Many years before, God had first spoken to Abraham. 

Even though Abraham and his wife Sarah were childless, and getting up in age, God had told Abraham: I will make you into a great nation … and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you, Gen. 12:2, 3.

God promised many sons—a great nation—to Abraham. And all the nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham’s offspring.

Now years have gone by. Abraham and Sarah have grown old. And they still don’t have a great nation of sons. They don’t have any children.

Since he has no sons to leave an inheritance to, Abraham has made up his mind to leave everything to Eliezer of Damascus—his most loyal servant—when he dies.

But right when Abraham was about to call his lawyer and write up a new will, God appeared again one night and took Abraham outside of his tent.

And God directed Abraham’s eyes to the heavens, and told him: “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them … Your offspring will be that numerous,” Genesis 15:5.

God reaffirmed his promise to Abraham. And how does Genesis 15:6 say Abraham responded to God’s promise? Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

So why did Paul put Abraham up on the flannel board and tell this story? 

Well, there are two really important, practical truths Abraham’s story teaches about how humans are declared righteous in God’s sight.

1. Humans are not righteous before God because of any outward act of obedience we perform. 

Remember, Paul’s opponents were trying to convince the Galatians to be circumcised. They were saying: You must get circumcised to be part of God’s people and keep your salvation. 

Paul’s using Abraham here to prove that’s hogwash. Because you see, Abraham himself did not get circumcised until Genesis 17—two chapters after God declared him righteous in ch15. In real time—it was fourteen years or more after God declared Abraham righteous, before God mentioned anything to him about circumcision.

Do you see Paul’s point? God counted Abraham righteous years before he got circumcised. 

Abraham’s righteousness before God came through faith. He heard the promise of God, and he believed God. He believed that somehow—even though he and his wife were well beyond the age of childbearing—God would come through on His word and give him offspring as numerous as the stars in the heavens.

There’s not a grand gesture God is waiting on for you to perform, and then He’ll declare you righteous. This is why the Gospel of Christ is good news: There are no hoops to jump through. God has promised to save completely whoever comes to Him through Christ. You are righteous in God’s sight by looking to Christ and believing God’s promises in Him.

2. Humans are not righteous before God because of any righteousness we naturally possess.

About ten years ago, Barna Research conducted a poll where they asked professing Christians if a person is generally good, or does enough good things for others during their lives, will that earn them a place in heaven?

And nearly half of the professing Christians who were surveyed said, Yes. If a person is generally good and does enough good things, they will go to heaven.

Church, that’s actually worse than what the Galatians were being taught. Because Jesus Christ didn’t even come up in the question! At least the false teachers in Galatia weren’t saying: Just try to do the best you can. They still taught that you must have faith in Christ. Their problem was they were teaching Christians to look to Jesus as their helper instead of as their Savior. But we need a Savior.

Abraham proves that God declares sinners righteous through faith alone

We need a Savior because none of us has any natural righteousness. Ephesians 2:3 tells us that we are by nature children under [God’s] wrath. Romans 3:10 says that no one is righteous—not even one. Likewise, Ps. 143:2: no one alive is righteous in your sight.

This definition of righteousness—the kind of righteousness that could actually earn you heaven—means perfect, perpetual obedience to all of God’s Laws in all of their particulars. 

Now maybe you’re asking: Where are you getting that from? Surely God understands that no one is perfect. Surely He does not expect perfect, perpetual obedience!

I’m getting my definition of righteousness—the kind of righteousness that would earn you heaven if you actually had it—from the Bible. 

Listen to Deuteronomy 6:25. This is right after Moses gave Israel the Ten Commandments from God. The Israelites said: Righteousness will be ours if we are careful to follow every one of these commands before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.

How could a human be truly righteous—the kind of righteousness that would stand before God’s Judgment Seat? Only if they were careful to always obey every commandment of God.

Right? Perfect, perpetual obedience to the Law of God in all of its particulars. In every detail. In every word, thought, or deed.

And no person besides Jesus Christ Himself has ever fulfilled that definition of righteousness.

Abraham plainly was not declared righteous before God because he had offered perfect perpetual obedience. 

That’s the other reason Paul put Abraham up on his flannel board for Sunday School. Because scripture tells us about Abraham’s moral failures.

Twice he lied to pagan kings that his wife Sarah was his sister—not his wife. Twice he put his wife in danger of being trafficked into the royal harem. Twice these unbelieving kings had to rebuke Abraham for his sin.

Then there was the time Abraham and Sarah—in their unbelief—tried to force God’s promise by their own efforts instead of by faith. They had Abraham take an Egyptian slave girl named Hagar and have a son with her. Then Abraham failed to protect Hagar from Sarah’s abuse.

No, Abraham was not righteous. Not before God or before man. Only he believed God, and God credited it to him as righteousness. God counted Abraham as righteous, even though he was not. Abraham had faith—and even the faith he had was often weak and shaky. But because Abraham believed God, God treated him as though he had perfectly obeyed all Ten Commandments every day of his life. Even though he had not.

In fact, any time you read in the Bible that any mere human is righteous—it’s not because of their performance. It’s because of their faith. It’s because, like Abraham they believed God, and they rested in God’s promises. 

God counts people as righteous through faith alone.

Any time you read in the Bible that a mere human is righteous—it’s not because of their performance. It’s because of their faith.

That’s the heart of the Gospel of Christ Paul proclaimed. Are you tired of me preaching it? It was the heart of every letter Paul wrote, and I’m certain every sermon he preached.

It never gets old for me. It’s like the perfect playlist I could just put on repeat forever. This sinner’s ears need to hear it every day. To the one who … believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness (Rom. 4:5)

It was true for Abraham. It’s true for me. It’s true for you. Indeed, the deeper I fall in love with Christ, the more ungodliness I see in me. I do not need to hear the Gospel less as I mature in Christ. I need to be reminded of it more often.

Christians are Abraham’s children by faith

Paul’s opponents in Galatia were putting Jesus behind a paywall.

In Sunday School, we used to sing: Father Abraham had many sons—and daughters! I am one of them, and so are you.

Listen to what Paul says in vv7, 9: You know, then, that those who have faith, these are Abraham’s sons … Consequently, those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith. (CSB)

Paul’s opponents in Galatia had been trying to convince the young Christians—who’d not been raised as Jews—that they must be circumcised to be part of the chosen people of God. They were putting Jesus behind a paywall.

But Paul taught them to sing Father Abraham had many sons / I am one of them / and so are you—by faith! 

You know that song we sing sometimes: Oh God you are my God, and I will ever praise you … ? It’s actually the chorus of a song by Rich Mullins.

And in one of the verses, he sang: Sometimes I think of Abraham, how one star he saw had been lit for me.

Every Christian is God’s promise to Abraham come to life. God has declared you and I righteous in His sight the same way He declared Abraham righteous—through faith alone.

The Gospel in the Old Testament: The Lord is our righteousness

Yes, Father Abraham has many children—I am one of them, and so are you. So let’s all praise the Lord!

And that brings me to v8. It says:

Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you.

CSB

Here’s what I want to focus on. The Bible has been preaching the Gospel of Christ of Christ almost from the beginning, since Genesis 3:15.

Right there in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve first sinned, God promised salvation through Christ. He promised that a Son would be born of a woman—that’s a virgin birth—and this Son would defeat the serpent Satan. He would crush Satan, sin, and death.

Paul says that God proclaimed the Gospel ahead of time to Abraham—that people of every nation under heaven would be counted righteous by God, the same way Abraham was: because we believe God. By faith alone.

When you and I came to believe—God credited it to us as righteousness. He treats us as if we have always perfectly obeyed all of God’s commands, in all our words, thoughts, and deeds. Just like he did for Abraham—our father in faith.

I want you to pay attention to that word credited. It’s a financial term. God imputed righteousness to us. He added righteousness to our account, when we have none of our own.

Where did that righteousness come from? I assure you, God is a God of honest money. He didn’t just print off trillions of extra dollars of righteousness currency and put it to our account.

It’s real righteousness God credits to us. It’s just not ours. It’s Christ’s.

When we place our faith in Christ, and in His finished work—when we believe God’s promises and look to Christ alone to save us—God credits Christ’s perfect righteousness to us.

You know how I know that? The Bible tells me so. It actually tells us in many places. But this is probably my favorite. Jeremiah 23:6:

This is the name he will be called: [who is He? Christ!]

The Lord Is Our Righteousness.

CSB

You know how we sing that song sometimes that says Jesus is, My one defense / My Righteousness? That’s what it’s talking about. This verse. Before God’s Judgement Throne—you and I have no righteousness of our own. If we stood before God with our own works, our own efforts, our own obedience—God would condemn us, and we would have no defense.

But through faith—listen—God joins us so closely to Christ, that His righteousness is our righteousness, too. 

You see, before Jesus died for us—He lived for us.

That’s why Jesus was born as a baby, and grew up into adulthood. That’s why He didn’t just drop down full-grown and get on a cross for us. Jesus said He came to fulfill God’s Law for us (Matt. 5:17). He came to fulfill all righteousness (Matt. 3:15). So that God would credit His perfect righteousness, His perfect obedience, to us.

That’s why the Gospel of Christ is such good news. It’s not just that Christ zeroed out our debt with God—that’s what He did when He died. But God actually pours out Christ’s perfect, infinite righteousness into the accounts of all who believe.

Christ is our Righteousness before God. His righteousness is our inheritance that He earned for us. Yes, we are declared righteous in God’s sight by works. Only it’s by Christ’s works—not our own.

It’s real righteousness God credits to us. But it’s not ours. It’s Christ’s.

Here’s the cool thing that happens once you know Christ’s righteousness has hit your account. You will want to live for Christ, the One who died and lived for you.

I want to live a godly life. I want you to live godly lives. I’m sure that you want to live godly lives. 

But when you fail—and we all do, daily—when you feel yourself backsliding, when you feel far away from God, when you have wandered like a straying sheep—and we all do—your first inclination will be to get busy and try harder. Pray more fervently. Read your Bible more. You’re probably going to panic and try to start doing more stuff to draw closer to God.

But the secret to godly living is not your own righteousness. It’s Christ’s righteousness. That’s when you must pray: Lord, I believe in You. Help Thou my unbelief. Remind me that, like Abraham, I have believed in Your promises to completely save me in Christ—and you count that as my righteousness. Teach me to rest in the Sinner’s Substitute—who lived for me, who died for me, and who lives to intercede for me. That’s living by faith, and it’s the only truly godly living there is.