The same trouble still exists. People take the sign for the substance, the end for the means. They see that righteousness reveals itself in good works; therefore, they assume that the good works bring the righteousness. Righteousness gained by trusting, good works wrought without working, seem to them impractical and fanciful. They call themselves “practical” men, and believe that the only way to have a thing done is to do it. But the truth is that all such men are highly impractical. A man absolutely “without strength” can not do anything, not even so much as to raise himself up to take the medicine that is offered him; and any counsel for him to try to do it would be impractical. Only in the Lord is there righteousness and strength. Isa. 45:24. “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass. And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light.” Ps. 37:5, 6. Abraham is the father of all who believe for righteousness, and of those only. The only practical thing is to trust, even as he did. [Sidenote: The Gospel to the Gentiles.] “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand unto Abraham.” This verse will bear much reading. An understanding of it will guard one against many errors. And it is not difficult to understand; simply hold to what it says, and you have it. (_a_) For one thing, the verse shows us that the Gospel was preached at least as early as the days of Abraham. (_b_) It was God Himself who preached it; therefore, it was the true and only Gospel. (_c_) It was the same Gospel that Paul preached; so that we have no other Gospel than that which Abraham had. (_d_) The Gospel differs in no particular now from what it was in Abraham’s day; for his day was the day of Christ. John 8:56. God requires just the same things now that He required then, and nothing more. Moreover, the Gospel was then preached to the Gentiles, for Abraham was a Gentile, or, in other words, a heathen. He was brought up as a heathen, for “Terah, the father of Abraham,” “served other gods” (Joshua 24:2), and was a heathen till the Gospel was preached to him. So the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles was no new thing in the days of Peter and Paul. The Jewish nation was taken out from among the heathen, and it is only by the preaching of the Gospel to the heathen that Israel is built up and saved. See Acts 15:14-18; Rom. 11:25, 26. The very existence of the people Israel always was and still is a standing proof that God’s purpose is to save a people from among the Gentiles. It is in fulfilment of this purpose that Israel exists. Thus we see that the apostle takes the Galatians, and us, back to the fountain-head,—to the place where God Himself preaches the Gospel to us Gentiles. No Gentile can hope to be saved in any other way or by any other gospel than that by which Abraham was saved. [Sidenote: Blessed with Abraham.]