Let's be turning to Genesis chapter
17. When we come to Genesis 17 now,
it's been nearly 25 years since Abram heard the voice of the
Lord telling him to leave Ur of the Chaldees. And then from
Ur of the Chaldees he dwelt in Haran, until his father Tira
died. And then he traveled into Canaan,
that land of promise, and settled down near Bethel, where the house
of God, where he worshiped the Lord there, and the Lord appeared
to him. And sometime after he came back
from Egypt, there was a famine, and he went down to Egypt, and
sometime after that, After Lot's rescue from the four kings of
the north, the Lord declared his promise to Abram in chapter
15, showing him that the promise of his inheritance was to be
established by the redemption, by the blood of Christ. It was
a picture testifying of the redemption of Christ. He is the promised
seed. And We point this out constantly. I say this constantly because
these historical events recorded for us in all the scriptures,
in all the Old Testament, all these events are given to show
us Christ. They show us how Christ has fulfilled
all the promise of God made to his people. How Christ, through
the gospel, the good news, has delivered us from the wrath of
God and given us life by himself. And so all these historical events
Even these recorded by Moses from the creation of the world
all the way up here through Abram and all the Old Testament. These
are given to prepare us for the coming of Christ. They testify
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They speak of him. They tell
us what we need to know concerning Christ our Savior. Now, we have
the benefit of looking back to the crucifixion of our Lord.
We have that benefit of looking back to the promised seed coming
and fulfilling that which was promised to us in the garden,
that he would crush the head of the serpent, that he would
give life and restore all things by himself. And so all these
things speak of Christ. In Luke 24, verse 27, our risen
Lord, when he was speaking to those men on the road to Emmaus,
it says there that beginning at Moses, where we are right
now in Genesis here, beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
he expounded unto them in all all the scriptures, all the scriptures,
the things concerning himself. And then he did the same thing
for his disciples. In verse 44, he spoke of the
things concerning himself, the Moses, the prophets, and all
the Psalms, the things concerning himself. And then verse 45 of
Luke 24 says, then opened he their understanding that they
might understand the scriptures. When the Lord gives us His Holy
Spirit and regenerates us, we see Jesus. We see the Lord Jesus
Christ in all the scriptures, because that's what it's testifying
of. He's not just teaching us these things to make us good
little Pharisees, good little moral religionists, dead in trespasses
and sins. He is teaching us Christ because
He is salvation. At some point after that promise
given to Abram in chapter 15, Sarai and Abram turned to the
flesh. They thought, I guess the Lord
is waiting on us to do something here and so Sarai gave Hagar,
her handmaid, to Abram as his second wife to conceive a child. It says in Genesis 16.3, Sarai
Abram's wife took Hagar, her handmaid, or her maid, the Egyptian,
after Abram had dwelt 10 years in the land of Canaan and gave
her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And so that now Abram
left Ur when he was 75. Now he's 86 years old when he
has Ishmael. He got the promise at 85. And
then for 13 years, after Ishmael was born, for 13 years, there's
no recorded communication between the Lord and Abram. There's no further communication
given to us. And that brings us to chapter
17, verse 1. When Abram was 90 years old and
nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the almighty
God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. I was thinking of 13 years. That's a long time span. And
that's really long to us because in our society today, everything
is about immediate, quick, positive results, especially with social
media. We look for those likes, those
little hearts and thumbs ups and likes. And we don't like
dislikes. We want immediate positive results. And, you know, when the internet
was first rolled out, that was in the 90s. I remember I worked
in a factory and the assistant manager, he was elated with computers,
personal computers that were coming out there. And the internet
was rolled out to us here in America and we had dial-up. And you could hit the button
to bring up a website and search for things and go get a cup of
coffee and do a few things and come back. And then maybe the
pictures would render on the screen to you. And if you had
the screen, I mean, if you had to scroll, you might really be
waiting an extra long time. But it was still faster. than
getting in the car, going to the library, using the card catalog
and the Dewey Decimal System, it was still faster in researching
and looking things up. And then it only got faster,
so that today, most of us have 5G. And I can click on a webpage
loaded with pictures, and it just comes up in a second. One
second. And if I have to wait three seconds,
I'm frustrated, if I'm being honest. I'm annoyed. Come on,
what's taking so long? Because I'm trained now, I'm
conditioned for immediate positive feedback. But here, what the
Lord did for Abram, it's been 14 years since he promised him
a seed, a seed. But Abram and Sarai turned to
the flesh and had Ishmael, a son according to the flesh. And it's
been 13 years since Ishmael was born. Abram seems to have thought,
well, this is the sea. This is the sun. This is the
sun that God promised me. And he likely believed that God
was going to establish his covenant through Ishmael. But God waited. He waited to bless Abram. He waited to bless him so that
Abram knew his works Don't work the works of God. God works the
works of God for his child. This is the work of God that
ye believe on the Son whom he has sent. That's God's work,
which he does in his child. We don't bring to pass the promise
of God. God brings it to pass for us. And the purposes of God are not
altered by you and me. God is sovereign. And I'm thankful. He teaches us. He'll make us
to know our faults and our errors and our wicked deeds, but they're
not, his promises are not altered. Because God is, because God changes
not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Because if
it did rely on us, we'd all be wiped out. We would have been
wiped out in Adam. And we'd be wiped out by our
own work. So God waited to bless Abram
to show Abram that God is the one who brings to pass his word
of promise. And it's done in grace, not by
our fleshly works. I love that verse in Isaiah 30
verse 18, therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious
unto you. And the Lord waited. The Lord
waited a long time. God is omnipotent. He's all powerful. That's what omnipotent means.
He's all powerful. And he's going to show us that
we are impotent, without power. We cannot bring to pass the things
of God. God brings to pass his works,
his purpose, and his grace, so that we know, the children of
God know, he's to be glorified. He's to be worshiped. He's the
true and living God. And so the Lord now reiterates
his promise here in this chapter to Abram. And what this chapter
does, it's typifying, it's picturing the covenant that God makes with
Christ, what he makes with his people in Christ, because he
establishes it for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one
who establishes God's covenant of grace for us through his blood
redemption. I want to give you three things
this morning that are declared to Abram here. that are given
to every one of you that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. What
God gives to Abram here, he gives to all his children in Christ
who established this covenant of grace for us with his own
blood. All right, so these are blessed
things here. First, God makes his child to
know that he is almighty God. He is Almighty God. There's nothing
that God is not able to bring to pass. nothing that he cannot
bring to pass. He is God, and whatever he wills
and desires, that he brings to pass. He's not a man like you
and I. We get frustrated. We have a
will. We want to do things. We set
out at the beginning of a day and plan things and expect to
do things, and then things change. And our will gets frustrated.
Our purposes get changed all the time, but not God. Not God. He is able to bring to pass what
He wills. Verse 1 says, When Abram was
ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto
him, I am the Almighty God. This is the first time in Scripture
where God reveals Himself in this name, El Shaddai. El Shaddai means Most Powerful. the almighty God, El Shaddai. There's none greater than him.
There's none like him. There's no God like unto the
true and living God. He is the one eternal God. El
Shaddai promised Abram a son, and he is all powerful and able
to bring to pass what he purposed to do. Abram thought God needed
help. And so he agreed with Sarah,
his wife, and he took Hagar, her handmaid, as his second wife. And he had a child that way.
He thought, I'm going to help God. I'm going to do what God
said. to do, I'm going to have a son, but he didn't wait. And so the Lord waits a long
time to show that Abram and Sarah are now well past years, especially
Sarah. She's unable to have children
according to the nature of man. She cannot have children now.
And then when she could do nothing, God brought the promised seed
by Sarah. When they were both impotent
and without power, God showed himself omnipotent, all-powerful. So Christ told his disciples
something that we need to hear. He said, with men salvation is
impossible. With men, salvation is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. And he was speaking about the
wealth and the riches of the natural man. We are so wealthy,
so rich with self-righteousness, and good works, and thinking
that we're something when we're nothing. We're so full. of our
own works and our own pride and our own arrogance that it's impossible
for us to be saved because we can't save ourselves. We never
will hear the truth. We'll never come to God seeking
grace and mercy by him and trust him. It just will not happen.
But with God, all things are possible. He is able and everyone
that he saves, he saves powerfully by grace through the Lord Jesus
Christ. And once the Lord delivers us
from darkness, then we can look in the mirror honestly and know
that's true. I was so confident, so cocky,
so arrogant, so proud, so boastful of what I was doing, I would
not hear the true and living God. But in grace, he brought
me to my knees. He put my face in the dirt, my
teeth in the gravel, and brought me to the end of myself that
I might hear him. and be delivered by him and see
his grace and power. And so the more that the Lord
makes us to know this about ourselves, the confidence in the flesh decreases. Like John the Baptist said, I
must decrease and he must increase. And that's what he does the lord
increases to us as we and we decrease we we become nothing
and so that by grace We forsake all other hopes We have the one
true living hope we have everything that we need in him And he gives
that to you his people that's why he brings you here and he
feeds you with this gospel because we forget it so easily and and
we look to the flesh and and we stumble and fall but He's
gracious to bring you here, to feed you, and to nourish you,
and to strengthen you, not in the vain confidences of the flesh,
but in His grace in Christ, in Christ, to show you how perfect,
how sufficient, how wonderful the Lord Jesus Christ is. He's
the unspeakable gift. And the more we see that, the
more unspeakable He is. It's harder and harder for us
to just convey the heart when it's filled and flooded with
his spirit and the joy of what he's done for us. In John 8,
12, our Lord spake again unto those that were there saying,
I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. He gives everything
that we need and anything we need We're given it in Christ
and we come to the Father by Him and in Him and without Him
we don't dare come and approach the throne of God. And so God
spoke His name El Shaddai to Abram to encourage him. And this El Shaddai who spoke
to Abram is the Lord Jesus Christ who speaks to you, who tells
you, look to me, believe me, trust me. The Father has sent
me for your salvation, for your good, to deliver you this day,
to cause you to hear my words, to give you an expected end,
a certain end, a sure, good, lasting hope in me, the Lord
Jesus Christ, in him. And so he encourages him, this
is Christ. Not only is salvation possible
with Christ, but the Lord Jesus Christ cannot fail. He cannot
fail. He is the successful Savior. He accomplished that work. He
came to do. All for whom Christ gave his
life, laid down his life, they are saved. They're delivered.
He teaches them. He shows them. He delivers them
from darkness and brings them into light. He said in John 10,
15, I lay down my life for the sheep. He does not fail. All his sheep whom he gave his
life for, they are delivered. They are given life. He said,
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father which
gave them me is greater than all. He's El Shaddai, most powerful. And no man is able to pluck them
out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. Christ is El Shaddai who spoke
to Abram. Now the carnal man who trusts
his own works, who thinks he is righteous in himself, he's
terrified by a sovereign God. He's terrified by a God who does
his will and brings to pass what he pleases to bring to pass,
and that God doesn't need the will or the consent or the permission
of man. I remember when I was working
in a factory, the Spanish Pentecostals used to tell me, no, no, no,
the Holy Spirit is a gentleman. And he'll never come in unless
you invite him to come in. I said, I'm so thankful that
he's not a gentleman like you or I, but he came in and conquered
my heart and delivered me from death. And that's what he does
for all his people. No man can come unto me except
the father which hath sent me draw him. And that word is drag
like a net. He brings us. Now he turns our
heart and he gives us his spirit and turns this wicked heart,
but he's drawing us, he's dragging us because we would never come. And it's all by his grace that
he's bringing us to Christ and delivering us from death and
darkness. And so the carnal man's terrified
by this, but when he breaks his child, when he opens our ear
and causes us to hear, we're thankful. We're thankful because
we see, Lord, there was no other way. It was impossible for me
to be saved, but you delivered me. According to your purpose
and grace, you delivered me from death. And so he does this to
deliver us from vain fleshly confidences and to give us that
hope, which he gives to all his people in Christ. Now, let's
read verses one and two together. And when Abram was 90 years old
and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am
the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between
me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly. How do you
hear those words? How do you hear those words?
For many in religion, this is an if-then statement. That's a coding statement. If
this, then that'll happen. If this is true, then these things
will follow. If you walk before me and be
thou perfect, then I will make my covenant between me and thee.
And so religion hears that as a condition of mercy based on
what you do or don't do. And it puts all the emphasis
on carnal man's obedience. But we know the scriptures have
concluded all under sin. We're not obedient. We're rebels.
We're sinners. We're dead in trespasses and
sins by nature. It's impossible for us to obey
the Lord perfectly, to obey him in all things, and to be blameless.
That interpretation, an if-then statement, is confusion, and
it's darkness. And the Lord delivers every one
of us from thinking that way, because we all think that way.
And in the flesh, it's still there. We still think that way.
We still put the emphasis on us, but that word perfect means
without blemish, perfect, without spot, blameless, blameless. None of us by our works are blameless. None of us by our works are spotless. The translators put in the margin
there uprightness and sincerity. But it's rarely ever translated
that way. It's translated blameless. And
in this spot, it means blameless. It means perfect. But even if
it was sincerity, who of us is perfectly sincere at all times? We're not. We do things with
crooked motives all the time and with insincere motives a
lot, all the time in his flesh. That's all this flesh does is
work through the works of the flesh. It's only in the new man
that we bear the fruits of righteousness unto the Lord. And so none of
us is blameless. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And God does not accept the works
of man. He does not receive us based
on what we do or don't do. He receives us in grace. That means it's entirely in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me convince you that
this is not a if-then statement. Let me just remind you that what
the Lord establishes here with Abram is a covenant of grace,
not a covenant of works. And so it cannot depend on Abram's
obedience here. We also know that God is sovereign. The Lord teaches us in his word
that he saves by sovereign electing grace. He chooses whom he wills. He gave them to Christ before
the foundation of the world, before the children did any good
or evil. God made choice of whom he would
and gave them to the Lord Jesus Christ for his inheritance. We're reminded when he speaks
to Moses in Romans 9, 15, and 16, he said, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, it's not your free will, nor of him that runneth, it's
not your good works, but of God that showeth mercy. Therefore,
this cannot be an if-then statement because if it comes down to me,
I'm going to hell for all eternity. It's not what I do. It's what
the Lord Jesus Christ came and did. I come to the Lord in Christ. That's my hope. That's my confidence
is in Christ because I cannot save myself. Instead, El Shaddai,
the Almighty God, is making his effectual will and purpose known
to Abram. This is a blessing that God is
declaring to Abraham. As we saw last week in 2 Timothy
1, 9, who had saved us and called us within holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace. He's made known his purpose and
grace to us. in Christ, as he said, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And so
he says, I am the almighty God. Walk thou before me and be thou
perfect. He's declaring his will and purpose
for Abram. He's declaring his will and purpose
for you that are his people by his grace. This is the blessing
of God given to Abram and to all Abram's children who, like
Abraham, come to God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This
covenant is made with us in Christ. He made this covenant of grace
with Christ who established it for us by His own death, with
His own blood to obtain all these blessings of God's grace for
His people. Christ obtained all of it for
His people by His death and resurrection. And it's apart from our works
because it's a holy calling. It's a righteous calling. It's
just and righteous. So Almighty God gives to sinners
what He requires of us. That's good news because I can't
give to God what He requires. But Christ can, and Christ did.
He gave everything. He gave himself to give to us
all the blessings of God for his people, all the blessings.
And so we read in Ephesians 1, 3, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us, his church,
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, which is
speaking of the atonement When God made a firmament on the earth,
a covering for all living things to dwell in the beloved atonement,
pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ, in heavenly places in Christ. And so the Father gave us Christ,
our surety, and gave us to him, and he obtained and accomplished
everything so that all the blessings of God are freely given in the
Lord Jesus Christ, to whom he will. to you who this day know
I'm the sinner. I cannot save myself, but he
gave his son for me. Lord, save me. Wash me in his
blood. Receive me, not in my own works,
but receive me in Christ, your son, whom you sent. That's how
we come, seeking him, trusting him. Listen to what our Lord
said in Matthew 5.20. He said to those gathered round,
I say unto you that except your righteousnesses shall exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no
case enter the kingdom of heaven. And we're not gonna outdo the
scribes and the Pharisees who grew up under the law, who perfected
the outward works of the law, though they couldn't change their
heart. And he says on top of that, he teaches us, for God
hath made Christ to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God by him. He was made sin for us to deliver
us from our sin, to put that away and deliver us from the
wrath of God and to make us righteous in himself, so that if God be
for us, who can be against us? Who can be against us? So the
righteousness of Christ exceeds the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, and his righteousness is the righteousness of the believer.
You that believe in him, it's because God has imputed to you
the righteousness of Christ. He's given you the life of Christ. He's given you his spirit, which
has regenerated you, given you a new birth, a spiritual birth,
so that you stand in Christ, the last Adam. That first Adam
and his inheritance and the things governing him have no bearing
on you. He's under the law and under
the curse of the law and his inheritance is a miserable eternity. But you that stand in Christ
stand in his inheritance. and all the blessings that God
has given to him are yours, because you're his child, and you're
his bride, you're his family, and everything that's his is
given to you freely in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the grace of
God in Christ. Believe him, trust him, look
to him. Don't have any confidence in
yourself, but have every confidence in Christ. Now lastly, we see
that God's will was effectually wrought in Abram, in Abraham. It says in verse three, and Abram
fell on his face and God talked with him. God worked this effectually
in him. He fell on his face and God talked
with him. The question for us is, do I have an interest in
what God said to Abraham? Would God speak these blessed
words to me, a sinner? Do I have a part in this blessed
covenant of grace with Abraham? Is God speaking to me as He spoke
these blessed, comforted words to him? Are they for me? Are
they for me too? A sinner? Well, you that believe
in Christ, whose hope is fixed in Christ's righteousness, who
trust Him and believe Him, you do have an interest. Because
God has given you that hunger and that thirst for His righteousness. He's given that to you. He's
revealed your need of Him. What God said to Abraham are
the words of God's covenant made with us in Jesus Christ. And how do I know? Because he reveals faith in your
heart that looks to Christ and believes Christ and cannot depart
from him. He makes it known. He manifests
them that are his by revealing that fruit of faith because that's
of the spirit that he gives to his child. and only to his child. So you that believe by faith,
you are the Lord's, and you do have an interest. So listen up,
because you have an interest in this covenant. I'll show you
four things. I won't be that long, but I'll
show you four things about this covenant. First, this covenant
was made with many. Not just with Abraham, but the
many who, like Abraham, come to God by faith. through the
Son, Jesus Christ. Genesis 17, four and five. As
for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, God says. And thou
shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name anymore
be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham. For a father
of many nations have I made thee. When the Lord saves us, he gives
us a new name. He gives us his name. Now this
Abram means great father and the H put there in his name,
it means that he's a great father of a multitude who like him come
to God by faith. And Sarai means princess and
the H that he put in her name means that she's the princess
of a multitude of nobility. And our Lord makes us kings and
priests unto God so that we worship him. We are the children of God
who worship him in spirit and in truth. And this covenant is
outlined for us in the gospel, in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It speaks to everything that God has done for us in Christ.
Our election of God choosing us, our redemption of Christ
purchasing us with his own blood, It speaks of our regeneration,
being born again by the Holy Spirit, because that's God's
gift to us. It speaks of our calling and
our adoption, that's what Christ works in the hearts of His people. It speaks of our life and our
inheritance in Christ, because that's His promise to you that
are His children. And so this gracious covenant
of God is made with us in Christ. Not your works, but in Christ's
work. Not your obedience, but in Christ's
obedience. And he made it with many. Romans
5.19 says, as by one man's disobedience, the first Adam, many were made
sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. All whom Christ represented are
made righteous through imputation. This covenant is a righteous
covenant. Genesis 17, 7, the Lord says,
I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed
after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to
be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And so here
again, we see it's not Abraham's obedience that makes this covenant
effectual between us and God. It's the obedience of Christ.
His perfect obedience. Because as David said, it's all
my salvation. It's ordered in all things and
sure. He's done this. I rest in what he's done completely
because it didn't come down to me doing it, but it comes down
to what Christ has done. So all the blessings of God promised
to us in Christ are secured in perfect righteousness. It's a
righteous covenant because it's established by Christ. Romans
3, 24 through 26, being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God had set forth
to be a propitiation What's a propitiation? It means that Christ came and
took the anger and wrath of God that was against me for my sin,
and he turned it from me to himself. So that Christ bore the wrath,
my wrath, in his own person. He propitiated God by turning
God's wrath away from me to himself through faith in his blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remission or forgiveness
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare,
I say at this time, His righteousness, that He, God, might be just and
the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. And so I emphasize
that it's Christ's righteousness, because God's forgiveness of
us who are by nature sinners and rebels against Him, God is
just to forgive us, to justify us because of what Christ has
done faithfully as our shorty, as our mediator, as our substitute. And so God's just to do it. There's
nothing wrong with God forgiving us in Christ. Now third, this
covenant is a gracious covenant. Look down to verse 18 and 19.
And Abraham said unto God, oh, that Ishmael might live before
thee. And God said, Sarah, thy wife,
shall bear thee a son indeed. And thou shalt call his name
Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting
covenant and with his seed after him. You know, Abram, he didn't
understand it fully. He would have been content for
this to come through Ishmael. but that was his work of the
flesh. That was according to what he
did. God's not gonna receive that. He's not going to bless
what he did in the flesh. We look back and see that now
very clearly. That's why it wasn't through
Ishmael, but through the Son of Promise, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who came through that seed of Isaac, because it's by grace.
That's what the Lord is emphasizing. It's grace, grace, grace. It never comes down to your works
or mine. It's always resting on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and that's why it never changes. That's why
God's love for you never changes. That's why His promise of eternal
inheritance to you will never change, never be altered because
it rests entirely upon Christ. who was faithful in all things
and accomplished this salvation. For it's written in Galatians
4 that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other
by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman,
that Ishmael was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman,
Isaac, was by promise. And he tells us these things
are an allegory For these are two covenants, the one from Mount
Sinai, which gendereth the bondage, and that's Hagar. And then he
says, but we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
We come by faith. That's how God has worked it
in our hearts to deliver us and to give us life. And then fourth,
this is a covenant of circumcision. all God's people, men and women,
are circumcised in the heart. It speaks of the regeneration,
that birth that we are given by the Holy Spirit. That's what
this pictures. It pictures our regeneration
by God giving us the gift of His Holy Spirit to deliver us
from spiritual death, from darkness, from doing foolish works and
worshiping God according to the flesh. He delivers us from that,
and it's the visible mark that distinguishes God's people from
all other people in the world, working and laboring according
to the flesh in religion. He gives us a new birth. Listen
to these scriptures, Romans 2.29, But he is 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. Colossians 2.11 In whom also
ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ. Our Lord does that for all his
people. This covenant of circumcision
is speaking of and picturing the covenant of grace that he
works in the heart of his children established for us in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so God has established this
by Christ because of his faithfulness, all his seed are secured in God's
righteous covenant of grace. It will not change. It cannot
change. Christ does not fail. What he
did, he accomplished it, and it's eternal. It's forever. And therefore, we that believe
God do keep God's covenant. We guard against it. We're jealous
for it, as God is jealous for it, because he's given us his
spirit. We watch for it. Our ears are tuned to hear grace. They're tuned to hear Christ.
We don't want to hear works. We don't want to hear whippings
and beatings and threatenings and thunderings and lightnings.
We delight in Christ. We're comforted by Christ. We're
inspired and moved by Christ. We're turned and taught and corrected
by Christ. That's who the Father has given
to us. He feeds us. He's our husband. He's our friend. He's our all. He's everything to the believer. And he does this because it's
the will of Almighty God for us. I'll close with Genesis 17,
9. God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant, therefore,
thou and thy seed after thee in their generations. We shall,
because El Shaddai has willed it to be so. What he wills comes
to pass, always, without fail, because Christ is the successful
Savior. Believe him. Believe him. Trust him, brethren. Amen.