Turn with me, if you would, to
Colossians chapter two. Colossians chapter 2, it's been
a little while since we've been in Colossians and in just turning
back and reading where we were and reading where we're going. I read verses 9 and 10 again,
and we're not going to do it, but it made me want to just start
over and look at those again. Colossians 2 verse 9 says, for
in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you
are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality
and power. This morning, we're gonna look
at verses 11 and 12. And I'll go ahead and tell you
that I've titled this Bible study, Circumcision and Baptism. I want us to have a Sunday school
lesson. I pray the Lord might teach us something about circumcision. And baptism. I want us to see
how similar they are and their reason for being given to us. I want us to see what they represent. I want us to see what they don't
represent. And I want us to see what the
scripture has to say about them. Now, the last word in verse eight
tells us that this is all speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
very last word in verse eight is Christ. Verse nine says, for
in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Verse
10 says, and you are complete in him. which is the head of
all principality and power. Verse 11 says, in whom? In the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is all in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all in Him. In whom? Verse 11 says, in whom also ye
are circumcised. In Christ, You are circumcised. And I know that naturally speaking,
this applies to men, but he is speaking of all saints here. He is speaking of all the saints
and verse 11 says in whom also you are circumcised with the
circumcision made without hands. in putting off the body of the
sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. That ought to tell
us something right there. Verse 12, he says buried with
him in baptism. wherein also ye are risen with
him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised
him from the dead." He just explained circumcision. And baptism circumcision
was given to God's people in the old Testament. It was a symbol.
It was a token in the old Testament. Baptism was given to God's people
in the new Testament. And what is said about circumcision
that was declared all through the old
Testament and in the new Testament, some things were said about it.
And what was said about circumcision applies to baptism. We're going
to learn something about baptism through what is said about circumcision. And he said in Christ, you are
circumcised with a circumcision that is not made by the flesh. It does not, what he's talking
about is not pertaining to the flesh. And he said, in Christ,
you are baptized, you are. Not you will be, you are baptized
with a baptism that is not made by the flesh. It does not pertain to the, it
doesn't pertain to the flesh. It does not pertain to the flesh.
So what he's saying here is, stop thinking about the flesh
and start thinking about Christ. That's what he's saying right
here. Stop thinking about the flesh and start thinking about
Christ. Stop thinking about our physical
condition in our bodies and start thinking about our spiritual
condition in him. Now, let me show you an example
of this. All right, turn with me to John
chapter three. John chapter three, a Pharisee
named Nicodemus came to the Lord to ask him some questions. Verse
three, John chapter three, verse three, Jesus answered and said
unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto
him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Nicodemus is thinking
of his physical condition in his body. And that's what men
and women do with baptism. That's what men and women do
with baptism. People are not really concerned
about circumcision anymore. Nobody is. Religious, religiously speaking,
nobody is concerned. Nobody even thinks about that
anymore. Baptism is the new Testament token ordinance that was given,
but that's what men and women do with baptism. They think of,
they associate it with the physical condition of their body. At this
moment, right here, Nicodemus is confused because he's trying
to rationalize the spiritual things of God. in his physical body, and that
can't be done. That cannot be done. And our
Lord told him that in verse five, Jesus answered, verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. He said, I'm not talking
about your physical body. I'm talking about your spiritual
soul. Verse six, he said, that which
is born of the flesh is flesh. Set it over there. And that which
is born of the spirit is spirit. The physical flesh of man does
not accomplish the spiritual work of God. And I'm going to
repeat that statement. The physical flesh of man does
not accomplish the spiritual work of God. Circumcision was
given to Abraham back in Genesis 17. It was a token of a promise
that God made for a work that God would do. God said, Abraham,
this is what he told him. I choose you and your children
to be my people. Not all of your children, but
all of your children who I give light, precious faith to, and all who are not your physical
children. Who I give like precious faith
to Jew and Gentile. Thank God. Aren't you so glad
that, that all the promises of God are not contained in the
borders of the country. Israel. Aren't you so glad for
that Jew or Gentile? He said, circumcision is a sign
that I choose you to save you. And to redeem you for my own. That's a sign. Circumcision is
a sign that God has a particular people. The sign was not the salvation. The salvation was the salvation. The sign was the sign that which
was flesh was flesh. That which was spirit was the
salvation, not the deeds of man, but the deeds of God. And that's
what Paul meant when he said in our text, you are circumcised
with a circumcision made without hands, without the hands of man. Salvation is a spiritual operation,
operation. It's a spiritual operation, not
a physical operation. But God gave us a physical token
for us to see and to remember, and to better understand this
spiritual operation that he has performed on his people. And
the spiritual operation is this. If we want to know what it is,
it's this, the token represents this. Why did he give circumcision? This, this act of circumcision,
why that? Why that? Here's the reason why. Our sins have separated us from
God. Our sins have cut us off from
the life of God. And because of that, in order
for God's people to be brought back in, Christ had to be cut
off in their place. In the physical task, in the
physical operation of circumcision, something is cut off. Isaiah 53 says, he, Christ, was
cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. That's what circumcision, if
I can say it right, represents. That's what it represents. A
particular people who Christ would be cut off for. Baptism
is a token. It is a symbol of us being cut
off and getting what we deserve in him. Baptism shows us how God could
justly and rightly cut Christ off. You know, he cried, why
have you forsaken me? How could God justly and rightly
forsake a spotless, holy, innocent man? It's only because we were
in him. That's the only way. How can
sinners be saved? Well, how could Christ be forsaken? That's what we say. How could
you save a center like me? A greater question is how could
you forsake a man like that? Here's how we were in him. Our sin was in him. We got what we deserved in him. We were judged in Him. We were condemned in Him. We died in Him. We were put that man six feet
under the ground. We were buried in Him. Thank
God we arose in Him. He was cut off for our sake. We are accepted for His sake. And that's what Christ did for
us. That's what He did. That's done.
That is the operation that God has already performed for us.
That operation has already happened. It's over. It's it is finished. It is complete. And the tokens
that God has given to us, they are just tokens to remind us
that the operation is over. The tokens are not part of the
operation. They are just reminders and we
don't hold to the tokens. We hold to the great physician. We hold to the great substitute,
the one who the tokens point us to Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, let me prove what I'm saying
with the word. All right. I want to see and
prove that we're not clinging to the tokens. we're clinging
to the Christ of the tokens. So turn with me to Acts chapter
15. Acts chapter 15, verse 1, it says,
And certain men, which came down from Judea, taught the brethren
and said, except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you
cannot be saved. Now that is the common error
of false religion, adding something to the work of Christ. That,
that is the error. That's the error of false religion,
adding something to the work of Christ. They came and they
said, except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you
cannot be saved. Verse two, when therefore Paul
and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they
determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should
go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.
And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through
the Nicey and Samaria declaring the conversion of the Gentiles. Now circumcision was given to
the Jews. That was a token given to the Jews, spiritual Israel. All right. So the Gentiles were
not born. The law was not the eighth day
circumcised on the eighth. That wasn't given to the Gentiles.
But Paul and Barnabas came to declaring the conversion of the
Gentiles and they caused great joy under all the brethren. Verse
four. And when they were come to Jerusalem,
they were received of the church and of the apostles and elders,
and they declared all things that God had done with them.
But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees, which
believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them and
to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and
elders came together for to consider of this matter. And when there
had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men
and brethren, you know how that a good while ago, God made choice
among us that the Gentiles, by my mouth, should hear the word
of the gospel and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts,
bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did
unto us. What he's saying is, we preached
it and they believed it. When the Holy Ghost, the Holy
Spirit of God comes to a person, He brings faith, He points them
to Christ, and they believe on Him. And they cast their all
on Him. Verse 9 says, And He put no difference between us
and them. Purifying their hearts by faith. We all believe the same thing.
We're all hoping in the same thing. Verse 10. Now therefore,
why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? Why are
you telling them that now they have to keep the law in order
to be saved, when you know good and well we don't keep the law,
and our fathers didn't keep the law? Verse 11, I love this verse. He said, but we believe that
through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved
even as they. Then all the multitude kept silence
and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul. declaring what miracles
and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. And that
was that. Salvation is not by any work
of man's flesh. Salvation is by the work of Christ's
flesh alone. Timothy, whose father was a Gentile,
Timothy's mother was a Jew, and grandmother was a Jew, and his
father was a Gentile, and therefore he was not born under the circumcised
on the eighth day law, and came to know the truth, and Paul was
gonna take him to preach the truth, and in obedience to the
ordinance, and to remove all hindrance, he was going to preach
to the Jews, He was circumcised and they went on their way. This situation right here happened
to a young man named Titus. And they were saying, if you're not circumcised, not
only are you not saved, you can't, not only can you not preach,
you're not even saved. Paul said, we're not doing it. We're not
doing it. It is not salvation. We're not
doing it. We're saved by the blood of Jesus
Christ alone. The choice of the Father, the
death of the Son, the calling of the Spirit. This is what Paul
right there in that same chapter went on to say. He said, I do
not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness comes by
the law, Christ died in vain. And our Lord Jesus Christ did
not die in vain. When he died, he saved his people. And the token is just an acknowledgement
of that. This is what Romans four tells
us. I was going to have you turn to some of these places, but
it gets a little tedious. I'm just going to, you can look
it up yourself, but Romans four tells us that Abraham already
had the promise of God. And his seed already had the
promise of God to them before any of them were ever even circumcised.
They had God's word, they had God's promise, who cannot lie.
Paul told the Philippians, I was circumcised the eighth day. And he went on to say, I counted
all dung, and here's the reason why. He said, I was trusting
in it for my salvation. And that's where we go wrong.
Galatians 5 says, if you put your trust in circumcision, it
will profit you nothing. And that's how it is with baptism.
It's not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, as 1
Peter 3 words it. That's not what it is. A man
came to Brother Tom Harding one time, knocked on the door of
the church, he was there studying. Tom opened the door, he said,
I want you to baptize me right now. And Tom said, well, you
know, I don't even know you and haven't talked to you. He said,
I want you to baptize me in that river right there. Tom said,
well, we do all our, we have a baptistry. He said, no, I want
it to be in the river. He said, I want you to baptize
me and I want the flow of the river to wash my sins downstream. Tom said, I think you better
just come hear a message first. It's not the putting away of
the filth of the flesh. Tap water doesn't save us. Tap water doesn't save us. It's
the Lord of glory that saves us. The one that we have been
immersed into by the Holy Spirit. The word baptism means immersion. That's what it means. And it
is the blood that poured out of Emmanuel's veins that has
completely covered us. We are immersed in the blood
of Jesus Christ. You are, that's what he's saying,
you are immersed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that's what saves us. And baptism is the beautiful,
wonderful, glorious, loving, sweet, special picture of that. After being very, very careful
to explain what baptism is not, I want to be very, very careful
to explain what it is. Baptism is such a precious token
of our salvation. It is such a precious token of
our salvation, the Lord of glory entered into it Himself. You
know, whenever we whenever we establish the truth of this and
we tear down the false idols that men have built these things
up and they start worshiping the ordinance rather than the
Christ who gave it and endured it. We tear all that down, but
it sounds like we're shunning. It sounds like we're looking
down on, no, not at all. It is so precious the Lord of
glory entered into it himself. And we gladly enter into it.
I'm so glad that the Lord has called me to preach and has allowed
me to go into the water with saints who want to confess the
Lord in baptism. Because if I could, I'd confess
Him every day. The Lord didn't tell us to, and
that's why we don't. But I would confess Him every
day. It's an ordinance that He gave for us to physically, you
know, our Lord, knows what he's done for us, and he reveals to
us what he's done for us. And we acknowledge it to him,
but we acknowledge it to each other. We're acknowledging to
everybody his love for us. Look at what he did. Look at
what he endured. We're acknowledging his life.
Not mine. We're acknowledging His death.
Thank God, not mine. We're acknowledging everything
that He endured to save us. And it is a precious ordinance. It is such a precious ordinance.
And it's one that all of God's people thank Him for. In the
same way that our Lord said, when He said, when you partake
of the Lord's table, you are showing the Lord's death till
He comes. It's the same with baptism. We
are showing. Thank God we were crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, we live yet. Not us, but Christ lives in us. As we died in Him, He lives in
us. And the life which we now live
in the flesh, we live it by the faith of the Son of God who loved
us and gave Himself for us. So that hopefully will explain
our text in Colossians 2. Let's just read it one more time
in closing. Go back to Colossians 2. Verse 11 says, In whom also you are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ buried
with him in baptism. Wherein also you are risen with
him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised
him from the dead. When we observe that ordinance
of baptism, what we are saying is thank God. That's what we're saying. Thank
God. If a person wants to know what
am I saying in that? This is what we're saying. Thank God.
We're not saying I have decided to save myself. We're not saying,
I have decided to let Him save me. What we're saying is, thank
God. Thank God for the saving work
of grace that He's already done and freely given to us. Our Lord
gave us a wonderful way to show that and say that, and we thank
Him for it, don't we? All right, you're dismissed.