Alright brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. 1 Corinthians chapter
7. And let's begin reading in verse
17. As God hath distributed to every
man As the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches."
He's teaching us here to abide in whatever vocation we were
in when God called us. whatever station in life we were
in, whatever married state, whatever unmarried state, wherever we
were when He called us. He's saying abide therein. And
He's not saying you can't move from that state. He's saying
don't think that you have to move from that state in order
to be accepted with God. Don't think that you know, abide
in that state. Don't think you have to change
something. An example he gives to us first is circumcision and
uncircumcision. You know, the Jews were represented
by circumcision and the Gentiles are represented by uncircumcision. We would be represented by uncircumcision. He says this to us now, verse
18. Is any man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? Let him not become circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and
uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments
of God. Let every man abide in the same
calling wherein he was called. Now, during Paul's ministry,
religion was divided into the same two groups that it's divided
into in our day. There were those who were truly
saved that held to the truth of salvation, all of the Lord
by God's grace. And then there were those who
trusted in their works. They trusted in either their
law keeping for justification or their law keeping for sanctification.
But they trusted, somewhere along the way they trusted in their
works. in their works. And so Paul says here circumcision
is nothing. This man who looks to circumcision,
looks to his law keeping, this man is looking to his will and
his works. And that's nothing before God.
That won't save him. That won't avail before God.
And then uncircumcision is nothing. The man who looks to the fact
that he does not depend upon the law. Now hear me, uncircumcision
were men who never were under the law of Moses. And that man
who looks to the fact he's not under the law and has confidence
that I'm not like that wheel worker, I'm not like that Pharisee,
I'm not under the law, I don't look to the law. And that man
takes confidence in that, he's a will worker just like the man
that looks to the Lord. A man can be an idolater who
never does bow his knee to an idol. How so? Putting confidence in the fact
that he doesn't bow his knee to an idol. That man's an idolater
the same as the man who bows his knee to an idol. Circumcision's
nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. But, Keeping of the
commandments of God, that's something. That is something. Keeping of
the commandments of God. Now circumcision was appointed
by God and it was appointed to be observed by all the children
of Israel throughout all their days under that old covenant.
They were to circumcise their child when they were eight days
old. That's what they were to do. But it was only a sign. That's all it was. It was a seal.
That's all it was. It was a sign of a better covenant
established on better promises by a better high priest, Christ
Jesus. It was a sign of grace worked
in the heart through the blood of Christ. That's what it was
a sign of. Now Abraham was the first one who was ever circumcised. He's the first one God ordered
to be circumcised. Now turn to Romans 2. I tell you all the time, I've
showed you this Sunday actually, that circumcisions are work in
the heart. It's a work in the heart. It's
a work done that Christ did at Calvary when He put away our
sin by the shedding of blood, and it's a work done in the heart
through the Holy Spirit. Now look here in Romans 2.28
one more time. He's not a Jew which is one outwardly. He's not the true circumcision
which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. Now that's what God called Abraham
to do, to circumcise his children in the flesh. Abraham was circumcised
and his children were. But, here's what it pictured.
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. This is the work God does. Alright,
now go to Romans 4. God gave fleshly circumcision. to Abraham as a sign, a token
of what God had done in his heart. What he'd done in his heart.
I want you to start reading up in Romans 3. I think it's good
to connect this. Look here in Romans 3. Romans
3 and verse 30. He says, it's one God which shall
justify the circumcision by faith, He's going to justify His Jewish
elect by faith. And He's going to justify the
uncircumcision through faith. The word by and through mean
the same thing. You can put through in either spot or you can put
by in either spot. It doesn't matter. He's saying whether you're
a Jew or a Gentile, when God justifies His child, He does
it through faith. Through faith in Christ. It doesn't
matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile. Now look, Do we then make void
the law through faith? That's what we're accused of.
You say that you don't love the law and you don't honor the law.
We do love the law. The law is holy and just and
good. We delight in the law. We want
to see the law established. And we don't make void the law
through faith. It's through faith, through trust in Christ that
we actually do establish the law. You get what I'm saying? It's through Christ through believing
Him, trusting Him, that we really do establish it all. He established
it. Now look, what then shall we say that Abraham, our father,
he's our father as pertaining to the flesh, what did he find? What did he find? For if Abraham
were justified by works, he would have whereof to glory, but not
before God. God won't allow that. He's not
going to allow anybody to glory that we did anything to justify
ourselves by our works. For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God. He believed God. God preached
the gospel to Abraham. He preached Christ to Abraham.
Told him that in your seed, in Christ that promised seed, all
the nations, every one of God's elect scattered in all the nations
were going to be blessed. And Christ said, Abraham saw
my day. And he rejoiced to see it. He
saw it through faith. Abraham believed God. He believed
he'd be saved by Christ, fulfilling the law for him, putting away
his sin for him, justifying him, making him righteous. He believed
God. And look, and it was counted,
it was imputed unto him for or because of righteousness. He was righteous. Abraham was
righteous in Christ's surety. And God, for that reason, God
brought him to believe on Christ. And God reckoned Abraham to be
exactly what he was in Christ's surety. He reckoned him to be
righteous. He imputed to him righteousness. He said, you're
righteous through faith. Now watch. Now, to him that worketh
is the reward imputed Not imputed of grace, but of debt. See, if
we're working for salvation, we're saying we earned it. And
it's not grace then, it's debt. Some owed to you. But to him
that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted because of righteousness. Or you could
say righteousness is imputed to him through faith. See what
I'm saying? His faith is counted for righteousness. It doesn't mean that God's counting
and looking at his faith and saying, now that's going to be
a substitute for righteousness. No. It means the object of his
faith is his righteousness. Christ is his righteousness.
That's what he believed. I believe Christ is my righteousness.
And through that faith, God reckons me to be the righteousness of
Christ. He says, imputes to me righteousness,
which Christ worked out for me. Now look. Even as David also
describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works." That word imputeth and reckoned
is the same word. God imputes righteousness to
him without works. He didn't do anything to earn
it. Saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven
and whose sins are covered. That's what it is to be made
righteous, to be justified of all our sins, past, present,
and future. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Law's got nothing else to say
to him. He's righteous. Law wasn't made for a righteous
man. And this is describing a righteous man. Alright, now watch this. Now here we come to Abraham.
Verse 8. Now verse 9. Cometh this blessedness
then upon the circumcision only? Is it just on the Jews or is
it upon the uncircumcision also? Is it also to the elect Gentiles? For we say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. Well then, he says, how was righteousness
then reckoned? When he was in circumcision or
in uncircumcision? You get the question? Was Abraham
circumcised when God imputed righteousness to him through
faith? Or was he uncircumcised when God imputed righteousness
to him through faith? Which one was it? This is going
to determine whether we ought to put any confidence in circumcision
or in our law keeping. Watch now. Which one was it?
It says when he was not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. Abraham
wasn't circumcised. God circumcised Abraham, told
him to be circumcised, I think it was somewhere around 12 or
13 years after God had already called him. God called him out
of Ur of Chaldees when he was an idolater, preached the gospel
to him, taught him Christ, and Abraham believed God. And it
was long after, even after he, him and Sarah tried to make the
seed come through Hagar, it was after that that God appeared
to him and told him to be circumcised. So what was God telling him when
he told him to be circumcised? Look here, verse 11. He received the sign of circumcision. You see there, it was a sign,
a token, a reminder. He received the sign of circumcision,
a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he already had,
yet being uncircumcised. You see, this was like on a Sunday,
we take the Lord's table. That's an ordinance God ordained.
And that bread is a sign, it's a reminder of Christ's broken
body. And that wine is a reminder of
Christ's shed blood. That's what circumcision was
to Abraham. It was a token of something God
had already done for Abraham in Christ's surety and in his
heart by giving him a new heart. And he did that, it says there
in verse 11, that Abraham might be the father of all them that
believe. The father of all them that believe,
though they be not circumcised. That righteousness might be imputed
unto them also. And that he might be the father
of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only. That throws men for a loop. How
is he the father of circumcision to men who are not circumcised?
It means He's the Father of all true believers. He's the Father
of everybody who's the true Israel of God. He's the Father of everybody
who's the true, chosen, redeemed, regenerated people of God, even
them who are not circumcised in the flesh, even Gentiles.
That's what He's saying. Now read on. He says, But they
also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham,
which he had being yet uncircumcised. See, we're saved just like Abraham
was. Abraham was saved and trusted
Christ and had righteousness imputed to him before circumcision
or the law ever entered in. And now we're on the other side
of the law. It's all fulfilled by Christ. It's all blotted out
by Christ, honored, magnified by Christ. And now we're on this
side of it as Gentiles and we're saved the same way Abraham was.
It gives us faith to trust Christ and shows us that we're righteous
in Christ by what he did. See here now, look, for the promise,
verse 13, that he should be the heir of the world, the promise,
the everlasting covenant that he should be the heir of the
world was not to Abraham, or to his seed to his children through
the law but through the righteousness of faith. You see that? So let
me make another point to you. Abraham couldn't be saved by
the law. You know why? That time there when Abraham
was circumcised, well actually back 12 or 13 years before that
when God brought him to faith in Christ, the Lord at Mount
Sinai didn't come for 430 years later. Romans 5.13 says there
was no law between Adam and Moses. No law. Men didn't sin the same
way Adam did between Adam and Moses because they didn't have
a direct law like Adam had. So he couldn't have been justified
by the law, could he? Well then, how did he fulfill
the law? He didn't even have the law.
He didn't even know what the Ten Commandments were. How did he
fulfill it? How did he put away a sin that he committed in the
garden in Adam? How did he do that? Same way
you and I do it. Through faith in Christ. Christ
did it for him. That's how Abel was saved. That's how Enoch was saved. That's
how Noah was saved. That's how Lot was saved. That's
how Abraham was saved. Everybody between Adam and Moses.
Men are always talking about, you know, well, what about holiness
now? What about holiness? And what
they mean by that is, what about taking a believer back to the
Lord now so he can be sanctified? Well, what about Abel? What about
Noah? They had that holiness without
which no man would see the Lord. They didn't even have a law.
It's Christ formed in you. You see what I'm saying? So there's
where circumcision entered in. Abraham was saved the way we
are. So our text says this, if a Jew is called by the Spirit
of God, called by God's free grace, to faith in Christ, his
former circumcision, his former self-righteous work whereby he
thought he was saved, he says, put all that away. Just forget
it. Just put it in a path. That's what repentance is. It's
being turned from our works and our will and our way to rest
in Christ. He said don't let him try to
conceal the fact he was circumcised or that he was once under the
law. Just forget it. You've been brought out from
under it. Forget it. And then the same is true of
a wheel worker today. If you've been saved by sovereign
grace, you just forget the things that are behind. Remember what
Paul said? We saw that in Philippians 3.
He said, all those things that I thought were gain to me, he
said, I counted them all loss. for Christ. I let go of all that
for Christ, that I might be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is by the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ. And if a man can't let go of his works, he keeps looking
back to something he did, and putting confidence in something
he did, he hasn't repented yet. He hasn't let go of that and
laid hold of Christ. God made me let go of that and
hold on to Christ only. We got a lot of self-righteousness
in us still, And we far too often as believers look to our works. We still do, and God still saves
us from that. But I'm saying if a man can't
let go, and it's his righteousness, it's what he thinks is his righteousness
and his goodness that's keeping him from Christ, that man hasn't
repented yet. But then on the other hand, he
says now, if a man's uncircumcised and God saves him by His grace,
brings him to faith in Christ, then that man's not to go back
to the law and be circumcised. Or let any man bring him back
under the law. Remember they would say, except you be circumcised,
you can't be saved. are men in our day. There's a
lot of folks in our day who take baptism, for example. There's
a whole denominations that say, except you're baptized, you can't
be saved. You can't be brought into an everlasting covenant
with God unless you're baptized. Or they'll say, well, it's not
the everlasting covenant. You got to be brought into a
covenant, a household covenant, a church covenant. And you can't
do that unless you're baptized. Some men say that you can't be
regenerated unless you're baptized. It doesn't matter, anything they
say that isn't except you do this, adding to Christ's work,
throw it out. It's no good. We're not saved
with Christ plus something. We're saved by Christ only. Christ only. But now look at
verse 19. He says, circumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing. But the keeping of the commandments
of God, that is something. That is something. God will not
save you and me. He will not save you and me unless
we have obeyed God perfectly. I don't mean giving it a good
shot and attempt it. I mean we got to obey God perfectly
with no sin whatsoever. Now that just automatically throws
us all out of contention for God's acceptance, doesn't it?
Because we all sinned in Adam. I mean, everything we do is mixed
with sin, is full of sin. We can't even... Our thoughts
are so full of sin, we can't keep the law of God. But now,
here's the commandments that were kept by another. Look here,
Colossians 3 again. I mean, Colossians 2. I know
I showed you this Sunday, but I do want you to see it before
we move on. Now the keeping of the commandments
of God, the establishing of perfect righteousness, that had, that's
something, that had to be accomplished. And the only one that did it,
that's Christ. Look here, Colossians 2 and look at verse 10. You're complete in Him, which
is the head of all principality and power. in whom also you are
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, and putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ." Christ did that. We were buried with Him in baptism. What's He talking about right
there? Can you hold your place right there and go back to Romans
6. I'll show you. I've told you before. He's not
talking about water baptism right there. I know some folks think
he is, but he's not. He's talking about that baptism
all God's elect experienced when we were in Christ before we ever
knew anything about it. Look here in Romans 6 and look
at verse 6. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead
is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ,
we believe we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead dies no more, death has no more dominion
over him. For in that he died, he died
to sin once, but in that he lives, he lives unto God. Likewise reckon
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Now compare that with
what we're reading here in Colossians 2. He says, you're circumcised,
verse 11, with a 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. when
He went in the grave, wherein ye also are risen with Him. This
is through the faith of the operation of God who raised Him from the
dead. That happened when He was raised
from the dead. And then He came to us, and you, being dead in
your sins and in uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened
together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, and blotting
out all the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. He took
that law that was contrary to us, He fulfilled it, He honored
it, He magnified it, and He nailed it to His cross. It's accomplished. All those works are accomplished.
See, the commandments of God are something. Every word God
speaks had to be fulfilled. Had to be fulfilled. Isn't it
going to be something when we get to glory and we see how that
Christ honored and magnified every single commandment of that
old covenant. He did. In some regard, it all
pointed to Him. Even the things we can't see
and understand, it all pointed to Him and how He magnified and
honored it. One day we're going to know that.
We're going to see it and fully understand how He magnified that
law fully. But He took our sins and He laid
down His life and He put away that sin. All right, now look,
I want you to... He said now circumcision is nothing,
uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments,
now that's something. Now turn to 1 John 3 and I'll
show you what these commandments, as far as we're concerned, what
these commandments are. He doesn't call us now and send
us back to Mount Sinai to keep the law. He gives us a light
and easy yoke. The yoke of grace is light and
easy. Here's our yoke, 1 John 3, 23. This is His commandment, that
we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love
one another as He gave us commandment. There's our commandment. Now
that's something. Believe on Christ and love one
another as He gave us commandment. Now look at Galatians 5 and look
at verse 1. He says our text, the same thing
He said in our text, He says it here in Galatians 5. He says
it a little different way, but it's the same meaning. What he
said there in John, that's the same meaning. Uncircumcision
doesn't mean anything. Circumcision doesn't mean anything.
But the commandments of God, that means something. Believing
on Christ and loving one another. Now look here, Galatians 5.1. I'm going to read a little extra
for you because I just want you to get the context. Stand fast
therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. Be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul,
say unto you that if you be circumcised, if you have to add anything to
what Christ did, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify
again to every man that is circumcised, he is a debtor to do the whole
law. If there's any work of the law
or any work by you that you have to do or you can't be saved,
then you're obligated to fulfill the whole law. Look here. Look
here. He says, I testify again. He's
a debtor, do the whole law. Verse 4, Christ is become of
no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law.
And you put sanctified there too. One and the same. You've
fallen from grace. For we, now here's true, true
believers. We through the Spirit wait for
the hope of righteousness by faith. Now, watch this verse
6. Exact same thing Paul says in
our text. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love."
There's those commandments. Faith which works by love. Now,
this is not by some external act. And this is not by some
work done by us at all, that we even believe on Christ and
love one another. This is all to the praise and
glory of God. Now look over Galatians 6. He
says the same thing again as our text. Circumcision is nothing,
uncircumcision is nothing, but the commandments of God are something.
He said there, circumcision is nothing, uncircumcision avails
nothing, but faith which works by love. Now look here what he
says here. How are we brought to believe
on Christ and love one another? Verse 12. As many as desire to
make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised. Are we constrained by men? Are
we constrained by law? We're not motivated by law. We're
not motivated by men. We're not constrained by men.
We're not constrained to go back to the law, to the old covenant.
They do that only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross
of Christ. For neither they themselves who
are circumcised keep the law." You see circumcision and keeping
the law, that's one and the same. He said, they don't keep the
law, but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh.
But now listen, God forbid that I should glory. God forbid that
I should glory in anything save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. There's the only place we're
going to glory. Right there, in the cross of
Christ. By whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto
the world. Now here's our text again, said
a little differently. In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision
avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but being made a new creation
by God. That's what matters. And as many
as walk according to this rule, men are always saying, what's
the believer's rule of life? What's our rule? What's our measuring?
How can we measure whether or not we're really believers and
really say, here's our rule right here. A new creation. So that you believe on Christ,
rest in Christ, and love one another. Pope John said, this
is how we know we're of God, by the Spirit He's given us.
Now what I'm saying to you is this, brethren, when God creates
us anew, when He makes a new creation, He gives us faith.
When He gives you faith, that's when you behold, just like Abraham
did, that Christ has fulfilled the law. He's fulfilled all the
commandments of God for His people. And He gives you this one commandment.
He gives you power. He gives you the gift of faith
to do this one commandment. Just rest in Him. Don't look
anywhere else but to Christ. And all the laws established
for you by Christ. And that's where we rest, in
Christ. We look to Christ. And when He gives you that faith,
you're not constrained by men to look to Christ. These men
standing up and begging folks to walk an aisle, or begging
folks to give their heart to Jesus, and just pleading with
men to do something for little Jesus. I don't have to be constrained
by man. You don't have to be constrained
by man to believe God. We're not constrained by man.
We're constrained by the love of Christ. If you ever behold
Christ and what He's done for His people in making His people
righteous, you won't have to be begged to do anything. You'll
come falling at His feet. That's just so. When He gives
you this faith to behold Him, then we're constrained by Christ
and we rest in Him. We believe Him. And then also
when He creates this new Spirit in you and He gives you, He puts
His Spirit in you. John said God is love. And he
that's born of God loves because he's born of God's Spirit. He
makes us a partaker of the divine nature so that now we have that
Spirit of God in us. We have that Spirit of love in
us. So that he said, you see how God loved us? You see how
He sent His Son to lay down His life for us? Now he says, brethren,
we ought to lay down our lives for one another. And so he gives
you this heart to want to... those fruit of the Spirit we
saw, love, patience, long-suffering, forgiveness, temperance, these
things that make you want to bear one another's burdens because
you're constrained by the love of Christ to do it. That's what
He gives in the heart of His people. And this is a work, brethren,
not by us. It's all by the sovereign, irresistible
grace of God. I can't make a new creation in
me or in you. We could give each other external
rights and ordinances to jump through and do and all, and when
we've done them all, He's still just a dead sinner inside. Might
be whitewashed on the outside, but He's still the same old creation
inside. We've got to be created anew
in spirit and in truth. Now His grace is going to produce
some effects outwardly. It will. But do we glory in those
works? No. We glory in Christ only. Because without Christ, we're
nothing. He said, just like a branch that's cut off from the vine,
it can't bring forth any fruit. And you wouldn't bring forth
any fruit either if we weren't connected to Christ. None of
us would. So, we're circumcised by Christ
now. So if any man says, accept you,
keep the law, or accept you, be baptized, or accept you, do
anything, we say with Paul, no. No. That would give me room to
glory. And I only have room of glory in one, that's Christ.
He is the salvation of His people. He's our righteousness, our holiness. He's our all. Now let me show
you one more thing and we'll be done. One more thing. Look back at Galatians 3. Now you know people who have
substituted baptism for circumcision, and they say now that when you
circumcise your child, eight days old or however old they
are, you're bringing them into a covenant with God. They all
say only God can bring them into the everlasting covenant, but
you're bringing them to a covenant, household covenant, church covenant,
what have you. Well, let me tell you something.
Only God can bring anybody into a covenant. And you know when
Abraham, he had a bunch of sons and daughters. But Romans 9 says
they weren't all the seed. They were Abraham's natural children,
but they weren't all the seed of Abraham. That is, they weren't
the elect of God. They weren't the chosen seed.
They weren't. But the true seed of God are
those God chose. and Christ redeemed and the Spirit
regenerates. Those that rest in Christ and
love one another and are constrained by Christ only. We don't have
to be constrained by law. We're not motivated by law. We're
not ruled by law. It's a heart. Don't you have
a heart, man? You want to obey God. Don't you? I'll be so happy when I'm done
with sin. When it's over and we won't have
sin anymore. Don't you hate it? I mean, I
do. I hate it. And you know, there's
an old man with me that loves it. And I hate that old man. I hate that spirit. But we want
to be done with it. We don't want to do something.
God, we see what He's done for us. We want to honor Him. Well,
I'll tell you what, those that He's given that heart, That's
the true seed of Abraham, and those are the ones that God makes
His everlasting promise unto, and He shall say. Look here now
at Galatians 3.28. He says, there's neither Jew
nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free, there's neither male
nor female, for you're all one in Christ. That's what He's telling
us in our text, brethren. Circumcision is nothing, uncircumcision
is nothing. We have no outward carnal distinction
between us anymore. We don't look to Jew and Gentile. We don't look to bond or free.
We don't look to male or female. You're all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ, put in
Christ by God in divine election, redeemed by Christ, and now you
got the Spirit of Christ in you. If you be Christ, then are you
Abraham's seed. That's to be circumcised in the
heart to be Christ. Christ formed in you and you
in Christ. Then you're Abraham's seed and you're heirs according
to the promise. That's the true children of the
covenant right there. That God's worked that work of
grace in the heart. Only God can do that. So he says
forget your circumcision, forget your uncircumcision, look to
Christ only. He's kept the commandments. Now
you just believe Him and love one another by His grace. All right, Eric.