Romans chapter 4, I'm very excited
about this message. I pray to the Lord to bless it
to your heart like He did mine when I was studying it, preparing
it. In Romans chapter 3, we saw the
second thing accomplished through faith in Christ is that the Gentiles
who did not have the law fulfill the law and are justified. This is what's accomplished through
faith. Gentiles who were uncircumcised and did not have the law, fulfill
the law and are justified. They are made righteous through
faith in Christ. He said there, is He the God
of the Jews only? Romans 3, 29. Is He the God of
the Jews only? Is He not also of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also. And here's the point. It's one
God who does the justifying. Who shall justify the circumcision
by faith and the uncircumcision by faith. It's one God who justifies
Jew and Gentile one way through faith in Christ. Now today we're
going to see Paul illustrate this. He's going to use Abraham. We're going to look down at Romans
4.9. He says, cometh this blessedness then. We're talking about that
blessedness David described, that God imputing the righteousness
of Christ to a man without the works of the law, apart from
the works of the law. forgiven him, covered his sins,
will not impute sin to him. He says, verse 9, Cometh this
blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision
also? For we say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. Does God impute the righteousness
of Christ only to the Jew who circumcised in the flesh? Or
does God give this blessing also to the Gentile who's uncircumcised
in the flesh? See, he's illustrating what he
said back up there in Romans 3.29. Is he the God of the Jew
only or is he the God of the Gentile also? Does he justify
the Jew only or does he justify the uncircumcised Gentile also
who didn't even have the law? For we say that faith was imputed
to Abraham for righteousness. We just saw that the blessing
of Abraham is that the faith of Christ, the faith of Christ
was imputed to Abraham for righteousness through Abraham's faith in Christ. It was from faith to faith. The
faith of Christ was imputed to Abraham for righteousness through
Abraham's faith in Christ. Now, what's the significance
of asking if the uncircumcised Gentile also received the blessing? What's the significance of saying,
is it the circumcised Jew only that's blessed with this, or
is it the uncircumcised Gentile also? What's the significance
of asking that question? And what's the significance of
using Abraham to prove it? Well, the Jews took great pride
and they put great confidence in being the sons of Abraham. Being the natural sons of Abraham.
You remember when Christ was speaking to some of the Jews
one day and they said, we're of our father Abraham. We never
were in bondage to any man. That's when Christ said, you're
of your father the devil. But they took great pride and
put great confidence that they were the natural sons of Abraham.
That's what scripture means when it says we're born not of blood.
It doesn't matter who your daddy was. Naturally speaking. That's not what matters. And
the Jews put great pride in fleshly circumcision. They put great
confidence in that circumcision. was the first act that brought
them under the covenant of works. And it obligated them to do the
whole law of God, which they actually thought they were doing.
They thought they were keeping the law of God. They thought
they could actually do it. And so they put great confidence
in their circumcision. and they put great confidence
in all their works under the law. You remember the Judaizers
who came down, we saw this last time from Acts, those Judaizers
that came down, they were insisting that the Gentile who believed
on Christ must be circumcised and keep the law or he couldn't
be saved. There's a host today and churches
claiming to preach Christ today that says the exact same thing.
Unless you come back under the law and keep the law, you can't
be saved. But what this is saying to us,
brethren, is if God imputed righteousness to Abraham through faith in Christ
before he was ever circumcised, then that means that circumcision
and the law nor any works done by the sinner have anything to
do with us being made righteous before God. You get what he's
teaching here? If this blessing was given to
Abraham before he was circumcised, and we know it was done 430 years
before the law came, So what did the Jews have to fall back
on? All but it was done through circumcision. Now he's showing
now this was something done at least 17 years before Abraham
was ever circumcised in the flesh. And so proving this, he's going
to show our works have nothing to do with being made the righteousness
of God. So he says here verse 10, How
is it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision or
in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. Abraham was an uncircumcised
Gentile. When God called him and worked
this work in his heart and brought him to faith in Christ and imputed
the righteousness of Christ to him. It had nothing to do with
the circumcision. So the Holy Spirit here makes
it abundantly clear, brethren, that righteousness is imputed
to the sinner through faith in Christ apart from any work done
by the sinner. And there's something else he
makes clear here. This is how the believer is a child of Abraham,
a true child of Abraham, as God regards a child of Abraham. And
this is how we are made heirs of God. Through faith in Christ. Believing on Christ apart from
our works. Faith is put in opposition to
works. Faith is not a work. Faith is
a gift God gives. Faith is the total opposite of
works. Faith is laying hold of Christ
and trusting His works to make us righteous and justify us from
all our sins. So I want to show you two things
this morning. I want to show you first of all
what outward circumcision typified, and secondly, the reason it was
given. Now first of all, Abraham's outward
circumcision was given to Abraham to typify, to remind him of what
God had already done for him while as yet he was outwardly
uncircumcised. This was a mark that God gave
him to remind him, typifying what God had done for him inwardly
while as yet he was uncircumcised. Look here in verse 9. I think
Ishmael was 17 years old, if I'm not mistaken. 15, 16, 17,
somewhere in there, when he was circumcised. Sixteen, seventeen years before
that, God worked this blessedness in Abraham's heart. He worked
this grace in his heart. And then, fifteen, sixteen years
later, verse eleven, he received the sign of circumcision. A seal. Now let me tell you what a seal
is. A seal is simply a token. That's all it is. A seal is a
type. A reminder. In our hometown in Tennessee
there was a statue in the circle, in the town circle there, there
was a statue on the square. That statue was a token and all
it was was to remind you of a battle that took place in Franklin,
Tennessee. That's what it was for. It was a token. When you
saw that you were reminded men lost their lives here in a battle
that was fought. That's what it was a reminder
of. Well, this was a seal. It was a token. It was a type. When Abraham saw it, it reminded
him of something. What did it remind him of? Of
the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised. That word, the righteousness
of the faith, that's put for the whole work that God worked
for him. That righteousness of faith,
You could say there it was given him as a sign, a token, to remind
him of Christ, his righteousness, which he laid hold of by faith.
You could say it that way. Because that's what it reminded
him of. It was given as a reminder, a token, of the grace God had
worked in his heart already, whereby he was given faith to
believe on Christ, and God imputed righteousness to him. That could
be put there. The righteousness of faith is
put for Christ and all the work of grace that God did for Abraham. And so God gave him this sign,
this outward mark of circumcision to be a token, a picture, a type
to remind him of the righteousness of the faith which he had when
as yet he was uncircumcised. Now, his fleshly circumcision
typified first and foremost above anything else that fleshly circumcision
It was a seal of some temporal things too. But that's not what
Paul is talking about here. Paul is telling us what it was
a type of spiritually. What it meant to Abraham spiritually
when he looked at this, when he saw this. It was spiritually
first and foremost, it reminded Abraham of Christ, his righteousness. of whom his faith laid hold of. The righteousness of his faith
was Christ. And that's what it reminded him
of first and foremost. I want you to turn over with
me to Colossians 2. Colossians 2. By faith, Through
faith, through believing on Christ, what Abraham believed, trust
in Christ, was that the whole body of his sins was removed
by the circumcision of Christ. That's what circumcision, physical
circumcision, removed the filth of the flesh. And Abraham, when
he saw this outward mark, this outward sign, it was a type to
him reminding him of the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteousness
of his faith, who circumcised him by putting away the whole
body of his sins. Look here in Colossians 2.9.
For in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality
and power. Now let me tell you something
that's good news. See that word, all the fullness of the Godhead,
and see that word, ye are complete in Him. Those phrases are translated
from the exact same word. In each one, it's the exact same
Greek word. What it means is, as fully as
Christ is the fullness of the Godhead bodily, that's how complete
you are, believer, in Christ. Now that's complete. However
fully Christ is the fullness of the Godhead in a body, that's
how complete you are in Christ. We have complete atonement, we
have complete righteousness, we have complete acceptance in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's because we're circumcised
in Christ our head, representatively. As our head, we were in Christ.
You remember when we saw when Christ was eight days old? They
brought him to the temple, that's when a child was to be circumcised.
When he was eight days old, they brought him to the temple to
be circumcised. And Paul said, and if you're circumcised, you're
a debtor to keep the whole law of God. And we were in Christ. We were circumcised in Christ.
We fulfilled that law in Christ. And Christ went about fulfilling
all the law of God, even to the death of the cross. And all His
people were in Him. And we fulfilled all righteousness
in Him. All righteousness in Him. Verse
11. In whom also... What about our
sins? What about the body of our sin?
In whom also you're circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ. When did that happen? It happened
back there when Christ went to the cross and we were buried
with Him in baptism. Let me tell you something about
being buried with Him in baptism. First of all, it's not just Him
going into the grave. First of all, it's when He was
immersed in the just judgment of God. We were immersed with
Him in that baptism. Remember He said, I have a baptism
to be baptized with and how I'm straight until it be accomplished.
That's that baptism. When He was baptized in the justice
of God in the place of His people, you and I were judged by God.
All His people were in Him. And it says, when that took place,
He put off the body of the sins of our flesh by the circumcision
of Christ. We were buried with Him in that
baptism and then we were buried in the grave. And it says, then
also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of
God who has raised Him from the dead. Now hold your place right
there. This is just what Paul was telling us in Romans 6. He
said if we have been planted together in the likeness of His
death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.
Knowing this, our old man is crucified with Him that the body
of sin might be destroyed. That's what He's calling circumcision. Just like circumcision put off
the filth of the flesh, Christ's circumcision that He accomplished
on the cross put off our body of sins completely. And it says
that we henceforth should not serve sin for He that is dead
is freed from sin. He that's dead is justified from
sin. Now if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with Him. Knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead, dieth no more. Death has no more dominion
over Him. For in that He died, He died
unto sin one time. But in that He liveth, now He
lives unto God. And Paul says now likewise, Reckon
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now we can live unto God.
Now we can live under God. We're alive under God forevermore. Now also, when Abraham saw his
fleshly circumcision, he saw a type of the work of grace that
God had performed in his heart by which God gave him the righteousness
of faith. Look at Colossians 2 and look
at verse 13. And you, being dead in your sins,
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together
with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His
cross. What's this work of circumcising
us in our flesh? What's this work? Moses described
it back in the law. God told His people about it
back in the law. He was telling them back then,
this is what your physical circumcision pictures. Deuteronomy 30 verse
6, He said, The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and
the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine
heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest live. You see, all
God's elect come into this world, spiritually corrupt sinners,
filthy, vile sinners by conception from Adam. I was conceived in
sin. That doesn't mean my mama was
doing something illicit when I was conceived. It means by
my very conception being from Adam, all I was was sin in the
womb. And so is you. And so we got
to be circumcised in the heart of God. Christ has got to be
made sanctification unto us. We got to be given a new heart.
Physical circumcision cut away the filth of the flesh. Spiritual
circumcision cuts away the filth of the heart. Physical circumcision
used a knife and spiritual circumcision uses the word of God. Physical
circumcision was by the hands of men. Spiritual circumcision
is by the hand of God. Our natural heart is enmity against
God. We hate God by nature. The God
of the Bible. The true and living God. The
God who gets all the glory for salvation. We hate that God by
nature. But by the spiritual circumcision,
the Spirit of God produces love to the Lord our God in our heart.
Brings us to submit to Him and trust His will and His work and
all of salvation. And that's from a new heart that
we've given in circumcision. The spiritual circumcision. Naturally,
we're dead in trespasses and in sins. We're dead. And a dead man can't do a thing.
But by this spiritual circumcision, we're regenerated. We're quickened.
We're made alive by Christ our life. And so then by the power
of the Holy Spirit, brethren, sin's not allowed to have dominion
over us anymore. We're made to put off something
and to put on something. Ephesians 4.21 says, if so be
you've heard Christ and you've been taught by Him as the truth
is in Jesus that you put off concerning the former conversation,
the former conduct, the old man. You put him off which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lust. and you renewed in the spirit
of your mind and you put on the new man, which after God is created
in righteousness and true holiness. This begins with believing on
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the first work of putting
off the old man and putting on the new. We couldn't believe
on Christ before because sin had dominion over us. And when
He comes and takes up ownership in your heart, sin won't have
dominion over you anymore. Now, through the gift of God,
you can believe on Christ. And you can also love your brethren
because you put love in your heart for the first time. So
this is what Abraham, when he looked at that physical circumcision,
he saw this spiritual circumcision that God had worked in his heart.
And then also, when God gave him this fleshly circumcision,
he reminded Abraham of a covenant. When he gave him that physical
circumcision, you can go over there in Genesis 15 or 17, I
believe, read about it. When he gave him that physical
circumcision, he made a, Genesis 17, he made a temporal covenant
with Abraham and with his temporal natural children. Well, that
was all a type to Abraham because he had spiritual discernment.
You sitting here today, you're understanding, you who have spiritual
discernment, who have been circumcised in the heart, you're understanding
what I'm saying because he's given you spiritual discernment
to see the type. Those that haven't been circumcised
in their heart, they're scratching their head saying, where is he
getting all this? But when he gave Abraham this
discernment, so Abraham, even in that temporal covenant, Abraham
was reminded, it was a seal, it was a token, a reminder to
him of a better spiritual everlasting covenant of grace. And in that
covenant, in that temporal covenant, God said, you do this and I'll
do the other. But in this everlasting covenant
of grace, God comes and says, I've done it all. It's ordered
and sure in all things. It's yes and amen in Christ Jesus
the Lord. He didn't leave a thing for us
to do. That's why it's everlasting. That's why it's a covenant of
grace and not a covenant of works. All the promises of God are in
Him. Yea, and in Him. Amen to the
glory of God. So when He circumcises us in
the heart and He brings us to hear this gospel and believe
on Christ, The Spirit of God actually does seal us. Actually
does seal us. In our text, our text is not
speaking of this necessarily. It's talking about a token and
a reminder. But Abraham had this seal of
the Holy Spirit. He was sealed. And what it is,
is the Spirit Himself becomes an earnest to us. Becomes a foretaste. of what's to come. The Spirit
of God gives us a guarantee that Christ is going to return and
take out of this world His purchased possession, that He's purchased
with His blood. Listen to Ephesians 1.13. In Christ you also trusted, after
that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also, after that you believed, you were sealed with
that Holy Spirit of promise. The Holy Spirit of promise. We're
going to see at the end of the message why He's called the Holy
Spirit of promise. But you were sealed with that
Holy Spirit of promise. And the Holy Spirit is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession
unto the praise of His glory. So all of this is what Abraham
was reminded of. Now, just like Abraham's physical
circumcision, it was a distinguishing mark. That's what a sign means,
a distinguishing mark. And that physical circumcision
was a distinguishing mark upon Abraham and upon all his physical
natural descendants. And it distinguished them from
all other people in the world. It set them apart and distinguished
them from all other people in the world. What is the distinguishing
mark that circumcision of the heart makes that distinguishes
believers from everybody in the world? We have this distinguishing
mark. We are different than any other
religion in the whole world. Do you know what the distinguishing
mark is? Listen to this, Philippians 3,
3. We are the circumcision. Here is the distinguishing mark.
Which worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh. You won't find any other religion
in the world that has that distinguishing mark with those that God has
circumcised in the heart. Everybody else puts confidence
in their flesh somewhere. And when you put confidence in
your flesh, you're not really rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the reason you do all that is because you're not worshipping
God in spirit. You hadn't been circumcised in
the heart. This is true of those God births again and circumcises
in the heart. Now, be sure to get Paul's point
in our text. He said all of this, he's showing
us this, and this was done in Abraham's heart before as yet
he was circumcised in the flesh. And so that means his works.
His works. Any kind of work you want to
include. Circumcision stands for all the law of God and all
the works of men. All His works, none of His works
had any contribution whatsoever to Abraham being made the righteousness
of God and being justified from his sin. That's the point Paul's
making. It was all by the free grace
of God given to him freely in Christ Jesus the Lord, worked
out by Christ Jesus the Lord, and he even gave him the faith
to believe on Christ, whereby righteousness was put to his
account. All of this was through the grace
of God. Every bit of it. Now, I want
to show you a second thing. I want to show you the reason.
The reason God did this. The reason that God gave Abraham
circumcision was to give Abraham assurance that God would work
the same grace in the hearts of all his elect. It was to give Abraham the assurance
that God would work this same grace in all God's elect. And so it would make us who God
does this work in, it would make us Abraham's spiritual children
and make Abraham our spiritual father. And it would make us
all heirs of God. That's what he was assuring Abraham
of. He had told Abraham, that He
made Him a Father of many nations and that He was heir of God and
joint heir with Christ. And so God promised Him that
He would give Him a seed that no man could number. It would
be a spiritual seed, spiritual children. Christ Himself, the
seed would come through Abraham's lineage and then all those that
Christ redeemed, this work of circumcision of the heart would
be performed in them so that those born of God would be His
spiritual children, children of Abraham. And they would all
together be heirs of God. Now let me show you how some
of the old writers read our text, Romans 4.11. Let's read it again. I'm going to show you how they
said this should be read. John Gill especially was one
that said this. It says, He received the sign
of circumcision, a seal, a type of the righteousness of the faith,
that inward work of grace, Now watch this, "...which shall be
in the uncircumcised elect of God." That's how they say it
ought to be read. He received this sign to be a
type of the righteousness of the faith which shall be worked
in the uncircumcised who are the elect of God. That He might
be the Father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised
in the flesh. that righteousness might be imputed
to them also, and that he might be the father of that spiritual
circumcision to them who are not of the fleshly circumcision
only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father
Abraham which he had being yet uncircumcised. When you go back up there to
that phrase where it says that he received the sign of circumcision,
a seal, a type of the righteousness of the faith of that inward work
of grace which shall be in the uncircumcised elect of God. The
rest of that makes a lot more sense. He gave Him that sign
to remind Him that that same work of grace that had been worked
in His heart is going to be worked in all His spiritual seed. And
that's how He's going to be their Father. It's going to be through
faith. It's going to be through faith.
Notice that last line. He calls Gentiles who were not
circumcised, who were given faith in Christ, He calls us those
who walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which
he had being yet uncircumcised. You know what that means? Abraham
walked by faith being yet uncircumcised. When God called him out of earth,
he was a Gentile. And when God worked this grace
in his heart, he hadn't been circumcised yet, and God hadn't
even called him a Jew yet. He was a Gentile, uncircumcised. There was no such thing as a
Jew until God said, okay, now you're a Jew. No man even knew
what that was. And most don't even know what
it was meant to picture. which is what we're going to
see here in a minute. But Abraham, physically speaking, he was uncircumcised
in his flesh when as yet he was walking by faith, walking by
the rule of faith and the rule of love. That's what circumcision
avails nothing nor uncircumcision but a new creature being circumcised
in the heart and made new which walks by the rule of faith which
works by love. That's the rule we're under.
You don't have to have the law of Moses, you have the rule of
faith in Christ. And you walk by the rule of love,
constrained by the love of Christ in your heart. But look here
now, God promised Abraham that he's going to be the father of
a great host of children, spiritual children, and that together they're
all going to be the heir of God. But God made that promise to
him, not through fleshly circumcision, and not through the works of
the law. Meaning, God wasn't telling him, now all these natural
sons you have, that are fleshly circumcised in the flesh, I don't
mean they're going to be your spiritual children, they're just
your natural sons. God was saying, what I'm saying
is, those that this has worked in their heart and they're brought
to faith in Christ, Abraham, they're your spiritual children.
They're heirs of the world with you. Because look at this, look
at verse 13. For the promise, there's where
we get the Holy Spirit of promise. The promise that the Spirit brings
And when he circumcises the heart, that promise that he should be
the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through
the law, but through the righteousness of faith. That's the second thing
he's showing us here. He's showing us that he had a
promise to be the father of all believers and to be the heir
of all things. But that promise was not made
to him through circumcision. It wasn't made to him based on
his works. It was made to him through the
righteousness of faith. That's what he's showing us here.
And so therefore, brethren, it was not fleshly circumcision
that made Abraham a true Jew. We're not told it in Scripture.
It could have been that God made it known to Abraham that he was
a true Jew when as yet he was uncircumcised in the flesh. Because
he was. He was. He was made a true Jew
while as yet he was uncircumcised in the flesh. And the fact of
the matter is all Abraham's spiritual children, God's elect, are made
true Jews the same way as Abraham was. even though they may be
uncircumcised in the flesh, or though they may be circumcised
in the flesh. None of that avails. Whatever
is done in your flesh doesn't avail anything. That doesn't
make us a true Jew. What makes us a true Jew is what
God does in the heart. Just what made Abraham a true
Jew. Turn to Romans 2 and look at
verse 26. Paul was telling the Jews here,
the natural Jews, who put all their confidence in circumcision
and all their confidence in their law obedience, he was telling
them that they didn't keep the law. He was telling them, you've
not kept the law. You're as sinful as these Gentiles
I just described who are so foul and awful. You're just as sinful
as they are. And then look what he says. Romans
2.26, Therefore, If the uncircumcision keep the
righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be imputed
for circumcision? Shall God not count him to be
a true Jew? Here's what he's saying. If an
uncircumcised Gentile, now get this now, who he never was circumcised
and he never even had the law. Not at all. But if he keeps the
righteousness of the law, shall God not impute him to be
what he really is? And that is a true Jew? Truly
circumcised? You say, well, but you just said
he's not circumcised in the flesh. We ain't talking about the flesh. Well, you say a man can't keep
the righteousness of the law himself. We're not talking about
a man doing it himself. We're talking about faith in
Christ. If an uncircumcised Gentile who never ever had the law keeps
the righteousness of the law, God will impute him to be what
God's made him to be, and that is a true Jew. A true Jew. One truly circumcised in the
heart. Look, verse 27, And shall not
uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge
thee, who by the letter and circumcision does transgress the law? Christ
told us this. He said, He says, Shall not the
uncircumcised Gentile, if he fulfill the law, if he is righteous
according to the law, shall he not one day sit and judge the
world? Even those who called themselves
Jews, even those who attempted obedience to the letter of the
law and by their fleshly circumcision transgressed the law. Remember
Christ said, you are going to sit with me and you are going
to judge the twelve tribes of Israel. You are going to judge
those who think they are true Jews and who have transgressed
my law by their circumcision and by their attempts to keep
the law. And that's what this uncircumcised Gentile in the
flesh, that's what he's going to do. How in the world? That's just reserved for Jews.
How can he do that? He didn't have the law. Here's
how, verse 28. He's not a Jew, which is one
outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. But he's a Jew, which is one
inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit,
and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of
God. And when that work is performed,
brethren, over in Romans 9, he says the Gentiles, who didn't
even have the law, Because they were circumcised in the heart
and brought to faith in Christ to trust Christ alone, they've
attained to the righteousness of the law even though they didn't
even have the law. That's how an uncircumcised Gentile
who never had the law can keep the law. God circumcises his
heart and gives him a new spirit and gives him faith and he lays
hold of Christ and the righteousness of Christ is imputed to him. And so this one, he's imputed
by God as being a true Jew because that's what he truly is. He's
a true keeper of the righteousness of the law because in Christ
he's truly kept it. And so he's the one that'll judge
all lawbreakers who broke it by trying to fulfill the law
themselves rather than bowing to Christ. That man, that true
Jew will sit with Christ and judge this whole world. And see,
this is how Abraham was made a true Jew. And this is how Abraham
was made the father of all his spiritual children and how we
were made spiritual children of Abraham through this circumcising
work of the heart. This is how we were brought to
fulfill the law. This is how Abraham fulfilled
the law before he was circumcised and 430 years before the law
was given through faith in Christ. Now let me show you this, Galatians
3.13. I got four scriptures I want to show you and they're all in
Galatians and we'll be finished. I'm going to back up everything
I just said. Back up everything I just said. Abraham was circumcised in the
heart, and in Christ's surety, Christ's righteousness was freely
imputed to him through faith in Christ. That was the blessedness
Abraham had. How can you and I, who are Gentiles,
have this blessing? How can we have this blessedness?
That's what he's proven here, that we can have it. Even if
we were uncircumcised Gentiles and never ever heard of the law
of God given at Mount Sinai, we could attain to the righteousness
of the law too. Now, Galatians 3.13, Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree, that the blessing of Abraham, this blessing we've been looking
at, might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. What is
it? That we might receive the promise,
or the promise made by the Spirit, through faith. What promise is
that? Galatians 3.22. Galatians 3.22. The scripture hath concluded
all under sin that the promise would be by the faith of Jesus
Christ, by His faithfulness, accomplished by His faithfulness,
and be given to them that believe. And so then, verse 26 says, You're all the children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. And verse 29 says, And if you
be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to God's
promise. You see what he said? Christ
came and fulfilled the law for His people. He broke down the
middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile and made His
people one in Him. making us righteous in Him, fulfilling
the whole law for us. And then He comes and circumcises
our heart and brings us to cast all our care on Christ. This
is that blessing Abraham had. This is why he redeemed us, so
that we might be given this blessing by the Spirit of God through
faith. That's why it's so ridiculous when men say, and there are some
out there who say, if you're elect of God and Christ died
for you, it don't matter if you ever hear the gospel or not,
believe on Christ because you're going to be saved anyway. That's
ludicrous because the very reason Christ redeemed us is so that
we might receive the blessing Abraham received and be circumcised
in our heart and brought to faith in Christ. That's the very reason
he died. And so it's by this work of grace,
brethren, that Abraham is the father of every believer and
every believer is a child of Abraham. You see, being a fleshly
Jew or not being a fleshly Jew doesn't matter. That has no bearing
on anything. What matters is, Paul said, being
made a new creature, being circumcised in the heart and brought to believe
on Christ and rest in Him. And He said, and as many as walk
by this rule, by the rule of faith which works by love, by
the rule of grace, salvation by grace, as many as walk according
to this rule, peace be on them and on the Israel of God. They
are the Israel of God. They are the true Jews. Is that
clear? I hope that's clear. That blessed
my heart so much to see that. I was walking around on tippy
toes this week. I pray you get a blessing from
it too. Alright brethren, Brother Art if you come lead us in a
closing hymn. And when he's done singing, when
he's finished singing, Brother Russell will you close in prayer?