Alright, let's go back to Leviticus
chapter 12 and see what the Lord has for us this evening in this
passage. I've entitled tonight's message,
Man's Ruin and God's Remedy. Man's Ruin and God's Remedy. And this is speaking, this passage,
this short chapter in giving us more details of the Law of
Moses. is showing us how, under the
law, a woman who conceives and has a child, a male or a female,
is to be purified after she has that child. You know, the birth
of a child is a joyous thing. It's something we really anticipate
and we look forward to, bringing much joy to the father and the
mother and to the family. And yet throughout the Scriptures,
throughout the Bible, God's Word, sin and defilement and uncleanness
are always associated with the birth of a child. Most clearly
here in Leviticus chapter 12, God the Holy Spirit reveals that
the birth of a child, male or female, now I know what we were
taught growing up, you know, girls are made of sugar and spice
and everything nice. And boys are made of scissors
and snails and puppy dog tails. But here he groups them both
in the same category, in Leviticus 12, so we know that's nursery
rhyme, that's not God's Word. But the Holy Spirit reveals here
that the birth of a child, a male child or a female child, either
one, is the birth. Now listen to me very carefully
here. And this is not to offend, but it's to be real, it's to
be associated with truth. We read in 1 John 1 there, we're
people of the light. We face reality. So the birth
of a child, male or female, is the birth of one that is so corrupt
and so defiled and so unclean that the woman through whose
womb the child comes was made ceremonially unclean according
to the law of Moses. That's what this is teaching.
And here also, thank God, the Holy Spirit reveals God's remedy
for the uncleanness of the woman. And he shows us that her purification,
her cleansing, could only come through the blood of sacrifice.
Now here is a great, great picture of our ruin in Adam, a great
picture of the defilement of sin that we obtained in our natural
birth, born in trespasses and sins. That's the best of us and
the worst of us, the nicest and the meanest. Isn't that right? Born in trespasses and sin. And
it's a great picture of how the obedience unto death of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the complete remedy for both. Both the guilt
of our sin and the defilement of our sin. both our condemnation
and our depravity. The cure, the remedy, the answer
is the blood of Jesus Christ, the God-man, who himself was
conceived of a woman, yet without sin. And that's a marvelous picture. This is a chapter where it's
so easy to preach the three R's, ruined by the fall, redeemed
by the blood, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. And that's
what I'm going to do. God would keep this ever before
their eyes, the eyes of the people of Israel, in the conception
and birth of a child. Now, you know these things that
we're reading in the book of Leviticus, these laws, when the
natural man reads them, and sometimes even when we read them without
having been taught, they seem just like intricate, tedious
laws that have no necessary meaning. But let me tell you something,
you know and I know that God never does anything arbitrarily.
He does it all by purpose, doesn't He? He has a purpose. He has
a lesson to teach you. Just like when we studied the
dietary laws. We didn't go through each individual
dietary law. That's not necessary. But what
was God teaching that nation? He wanted to set up something
that would daily set before their eyes their sinfulness and His
grace. And that's the same thing in
the birth of a child, something so common, something so glorious
and blessed in the eyes of men, yet God was going to keep before
their eyes the fact of their sinfulness and their depravity
and the only hope of salvation and redemption in the promised
Messiah who is called the woman seed. It's great, isn't it? Let's look at that, verse 1 and
2. He talks about our ruin by the fall, you might say here.
It says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the
children of Israel, saying, If a woman hath conceived seed,
and born a man child, then shall she be unclean seven days, according
to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be
unclean. and uncleanness and defilement
is the result of our fall in Adam. That's where it came from. That's why we are born in sin.
That's why we were legally condemned in Adam until Christ took care
of that problem on the cross. Look back at Genesis chapter
3. You remember here when the Lord was pronouncing the curse
He pronounced three curses in Genesis chapter 3. We dealt with
this a couple of years ago when I went through Genesis. He pronounced
three curses. He pronounced a curse upon the
serpent, who is Satan, and he pronounced a curse upon the woman,
and a curse upon the man, and all that was the curse that came
from the fall of Adam, the representative of the whole human race. But
under the woman, verse 16, look at this. Under the woman, he
said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth
children. Many commentators, when they
look at that, they limit it just to the travail of giving birth
to a child. And though that is a travail,
the Scripture teaches that, it is a suffering. That's not all
that it's talking about here. That's talking about the whole
life of raising children. It's a sorrow. There's joyous
times, but there are times of sorrow. And in any event, no
matter how healthy that child is, whether it be male or female,
no matter how good of grades it makes in school, whatever,
the sin nature is going to come out. Fallen human nature. Now, that's what that is. When
we talk about human nature, we're talking about sinful, fallen
human nature. And it's going to come out. It
cannot be suppressed. It cannot be squashed by human
means, human effort, human power, human goodness, because according
to this, the way we're born in sin, there's none good. No, not
one, the Scripture says. Well, why? Because we fell in
Adam. Look over at Romans chapter 5. You've seen this verse so
many times, but look at it again. In Romans chapter 5, the subject
here is our fall in Adam and our recovery in Christ. That's
what the subject of Romans 5 here beginning at verse 12 is. He
says in verse 12, wherefore, or for this reason, As by one
man sin entered into the world, now that's talking about Adam,
and death by sin, you remember God said, in the day that ye
eat thereof ye shall surely die, or literally, dying thou shalt
die. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned, in the original language it would
read like this, for all sinned. In other words, we actually sinned
when Adam sinned. Not personally, but in Adam.
He was our representative. So that when he fell, we fell.
And it says over in verse 18, in verse 18 of Romans 5, therefore
as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation.
All whom Adam represented, when Adam himself, by his sin, fell
under the legal sentence of condemnation, the whole human race fell under
that sentence of condemnation. Condemned in Adam. And he says
in verse 19, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made
sinners. That means many were constituted
to be sinners. And that wasn't based on your
personal sins or my personal sins. That was based upon Adam's
one sin. That's what he said. For as by
one man's disobedience, many, how many? However many Adam represented. Who are they? All who is talking
about in Leviticus chapter 12, who are born of woman. All that
is spoke of in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 16, who are born
of woman, that sorrow of sin, it's going to come out. And that's
Adam's sin imputed to us. Now, as a result of that, when
we're born actually personally into this world, when we're conceived
in the womb of our mothers by the aid of fallen man, our fathers,
who came from Adam, We all receive Adam's fallen human nature in
conception. Now, that's human nature. In
the Bible, the Bible recognized the godly nature. That's the
nature of God himself. That's deity. Has no beginning,
no end. The Bible speaks of angelic nature.
That's the nature of angels. They're a different type of being
than you and I. And the Bible speaks of human
nature. That's what we are. And you're either a fallen human
being or you're a redeemed human being. And when you're redeemed
and when you're regenerated, you're no more than a human being
still. Isn't that right? You see, you're
regenerated, but you're still a human being. And then there's
animals. They're of a different nature too. Well, our nature
in Adam is fallen. Human nature, fallen in Adam.
And we receive that conception, that sin that's transferred from
Adam through the whole human race in childbirth, in conception
and childbirth. And it's stated in the scripture
in so many ways. In Isaiah chapter 64, verse 6,
let me just read these to you. Isaiah says, We are all as an
unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. That's fallen
human nature. In Job chapter 25 and verse 4,
one of Job's friends, his name was Bildad, he asked this question.
He says, how then can man be justified with God? How can man
be made right with God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? How is that possible? We're all
born in sin. In Psalm 51, David, in his prayer
of repentance and remorse, He says in verse 5, Behold, I was
shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. And
I've already quoted what we read in Romans chapter 3, in verse
12. There's none righteous, no, not
one. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. That's the result of sin. And
then back here, go back to Leviticus 12. The next thing that he shows
here is this. Not only are we born in sin,
And that birth that defiles that mother because of the sin of
Adam that is passed down through fallen human nature. The next
thing he shows us is that sin separates us from God. Look at
verse 2. He says, Speak unto the children
of Israel, saying, If a woman hath conceived seed, and born
a man child, then shall she be unclean seven days, according
to the days of the separation. For her infirmities shall she
be unclean." Separation. And in verse 3 he says, and in
the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin, that is of the male
child, shall be circumcised. Now I'm going to come back to
that on circumcision. But look at verse 4. And she shall then
continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days. A total of forty days she was
to be separated. She shall touch no hallowed thing.
Those things that were considered ceremonially holy, she couldn't
touch them. Nor come into the sanctuary.
She couldn't enter in even to the outer court of the tabernacle
in that state. She separated, you see. Separation,
that's what sin does. It alienates men and women from
God. It separates. And until the days
of her purifying be fulfilled. Until those days of the purification
that she had to go through were done. And then it says in verse
5, look here, it says, but if she bear a maid child, a girl
child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation,
and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying three
score and six days. Now 40 days for the male, and
then it's double for the female, 80 days for the female. She couldn't
touch any holy thing. She couldn't come into the sanctuary,
you see, those things were ceremonially holy. She's ceremonially unclean
and defiled. Now, why is it 40 days for the
male? Well, we're not really given
a specific answer here, but if we interpret Scripture with Scripture,
the term 40 days has some significance. For example, Moses, or for example,
God's wrath was poured out upon the earth for 40 days and 40
nights. during the flood, 40 days of
wrath, 40 days of God's judgment. And then Moses was on Mount Sinai
40 days. What was he doing? He was receiving
the holy law of God. Now, what does that law do to
us based on our sin? It condemns us. It judges us. And then Israel, you remember
when they came to the land of Canaan? On the Brinton, they
sent over the spies, they searched the land out 40 days. That's 40 days of searching.
It's almost like you say 40 days of being lost, trying to find
out where you need to go. And then you remember when they
didn't believe God, God punished them. And then they wandered
in the wilderness 40 years, 40 years of wandering in the wilderness
before they could enter the promised land. And then you remember our
Lord himself, when he started his public ministry after he
was baptized, he was led into the wilderness by the Spirit,
and he was tempted there forty days. Forty days in the wilderness. So this number forty seems to
indicate a symbolic period for God's people to experience separation,
of being lost in sin, and then, after the forty is up, being
brought to salvation, liberty. That's what I believe this is
saying here. Forty days of separation, and then it's over. Then there's
liberty. Then there's cleanliness. Then
there's redemption, you see. Now, it's double for the female.
Now, why? Well, there's different answers
to that. Some say to remind her of what Paul taught over in 1
Timothy chapter 2. Now, don't turn there now. We're
going to turn later on to that passage. But you know, in 1 Timothy
chapter 2, The Apostle Paul makes the statement, he makes the point
that the woman was deceived. Now Adam wasn't deceived. The
woman first sinned. But now her sin did not do anything
except directly relate to her. She was not the representative.
Adam was the representative, you see. It's not until Adam's
sin that the whole human race was plunged into sin and condemnation. But the woman first sinned and
she was deceived and it says the woman was in the transgression
and what she did is lead Adam into it. She was deceived, he
was not. So some say that it's double
for the woman child because of that, the maid child. Others
say it's because she's the weaker vessel. You know, the serpent
beguiled Eve, not Adam. Either way, I'll tell you this
much, all of this was to keep the reality. and the truth of
the fall before her mind. You're a fallen creature. You
have no hope of salvation in yourself. Born that way and everything
about it is defilement and sin and depravity. That's what this
is. Ruined by the fall. My friend,
there is absolutely no hope of salvation in man himself or in
woman herself. Weak, helpless, impotent, sinful,
defiled, praved human beings. That's exactly right. And that's
what all this teaches here. But go on. Look at verse 6. Now
here he begins by showing the remedy. Here's redemption by
the blood of Christ. Here's the second R. Ruined by
the fall. Aren't you glad the story doesn't
stop there? Aren't you blessed and joyous that that's not the
conclusion, but that's only the beginning? Aren't you glad that
that's not how you end up, that's just how you start out? Now he speaks of redemption,
redemption by blood. You see here in Leviticus 12,
the woman's uncleanness, it brings her to the altar at the appointed
time. Look at verse 6. When the days
of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son or for a daughter,
she shall bring a lamb, a lamb of the first year, for a burnt
offering. Now, first of all, notice that
it's the same for the male or the female. In other words, a
man is not saved one way and a female the other. It's the
same for both. We can argue and debate over
that 40 and 80, the days of separation. Somebody may have a different
idea. But I'm going to tell you something, the way of redemption
is the same for all. You see, in Christ there is no
male nor female. In Christ there is no Jew nor
Greek. And it's useless for anybody to say, well, that means that
the female needs more grace than what the male does, or the male
needs more grace than what the female. No, sir. We're all equally
in need of God's grace. There's not one person here tonight
who is closer to the throne of heaven than another, because
our closeness to the throne is by Christ, who is the one mediator
between God and man. the man Christ Jesus. That's
right. And then notice here, it's a
lamb. You know what the lamb represents. That's a picture
of Christ, the Lamb of God, who bears away the sins of the world,
his people, out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation,
a lamb of the first offering, or of the first year, rather.
That's a young lamb cut down in the prime of life. And it
was understood here that this was to be a land without spot
and without blemish. This is for a burnt offering.
And you remember the laws of the burnt offering had already
been established. He just doesn't repeat it here.
But boy, did he repeat it all through the first chapters of
Leviticus, without spot and without blemish. This is a picture of
Christ. Now, this blood of the Lamb,
see, was ceremonially offered by the woman after the days of
her separation were up. And that shows that this purification
will be brought by the blood of the Lamb. And it says, and
a young pigeon or a turtle dove for a sin offering, that's the
offering of consecration, you see. So you have the blood of
atonement, you have the blood of consecration, both here. So
here's a sinner coming before God on the basis of the shed
blood, offering that Lamb, that turtle dove, you see, offering
the blood of atonement, and dedicating herself to the worship and service
of God through the blood. That's what that is. And it says,
you'll bring it unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
You see, the days of her separation, she couldn't even come to the
door. She couldn't come into the sanctuary. But here she comes
to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. She gives
it to the priest. And that priest is a picture
of Christ, our mediator, our high priest. And it says in verse
7, "...who shall offer it before the Lord." This was an offering
unto the Lord, as all offerings were. She wasn't offering it
to a man. She wasn't offering it to the nation. She wasn't
offering it to her husband. She's offering it to God. God
is the one who has to be satisfied. God is the one who has to be
expiated. Christ is the propitiation. In
other words, Christ is the satisfaction. God must be pleased with the
sacrifice. God must be honored, you see.
Her dealings are with God, and that's the way it is in salvation. Our dealings are not with men,
they're with God through Christ. And make an atonement for her.
That's the covering of sin which pictures the future, future satisfaction
for sins by the cross of Calvary, Christ on the cross. And it says,
and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. ceremonially
cleansed, and this is the law for her that hath borne a male
or a female." It doesn't matter what kind of child she has, this
is the law for her. Now, verse 8 is simply one of
God's precious, precious provisions for the poor. God always has
a provision for the poor. It says, "...and if she be not
able to bring a lamb," if she's a poor person and doesn't have
a lamb, "...then she shall bring two turtles," that's two turtle
doves, or two young pigeons, the one for the burnt offering
and the other for a sin offering, and the priest shall make an
atonement for her, and she shall be clean." Now, it doesn't mean
that when that poor person brought a turtle dove or a pigeon that
her purification and her cleansing was less in degree than the one
who brought the lamb, because I want to tell you something.
The turtle doves and the pigeon represented and symbolized and
foreshadowed the very same Savior that the Lamb symbolized and
foreshadowed. You see, it's Christ. That's
what this picture is. And it's redemption by his blood.
So here she comes. The woman in Leviticus 12, her
uncleanness brought her to the altar at the appointed time.
And I know that what we see here is, listen, when the Holy Spirit
convinces us of our sinfulness and our depravity and our wretchedness
and our uncleanness, it's not to leave us there. It's not to
leave us in depression and in sorrow and in despair. It's to
drive us to Christ, our altar, for relief, for redemption, you
see. Don't wallow in the mire of your
sin. Look unto the Lord. That's what
he's saying here. We have the blood of the crucified
one. Don't keep your eyes focused
on the inward parts where you see nothing but sin and depravity.
Look to Christ. That's what this whole thing
is for. And here she comes with a burnt offering for atonement
and then another offering for consecration. She brought the
required sacrifice, the sacrifice that God appointed, the sacrifice
that God also provided. And she brought it to the place
that God appointed, to his altar, and she offered it to the priest
of God to be accepted. Now what a great picture of a
sinner seeking mercy through the blood of Christ. All of it. Now look over at 1 Timothy. Turn
over there with me, 1 Timothy chapter 2. I'll show you something
here. We talked about it before. Paul's
making a very valid point here. 1 Timothy chapter 2. Look at
verse 13. He's talking about the man having
authority over the woman. That's his subject here. And
he takes it back to the garden. In verse 13 he says, For Adam
was first formed, then Eve. Adam was appointed to be the
head. And it says, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being
deceived was in the transgression. Verse 15, notwithstanding, she
shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and
charity and holiness with sobriety. Now that phrase, she shall be
saved in childbearing, what is that talking about? That's not
talking about that women who have children will be saved,
and women who don't shall not be saved. That's not saying that
at all. What it's talking about is speaking of the woman as she
is the bearer of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
identified back in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 as the woman's
seed. And you see, it's looking back
to the provision of redemption that God purposed before the
foundation of the world, revealed right there in Genesis chapter
3 in the midst of pronouncing curses God's curse upon the serpent,
which is the woman's seed who would bruise his head, the woman's
seed now. And you know as well as I do,
if you've studied anything about science and biology, the woman
has no seed. It's the man who has the seed,
but here he's the woman's seed. You see, the seed would come
not from man, not from fallen man, not from fallen human nature
or fallen human flesh, but be conceived by the Holy Spirit
in the womb of the Virgin Mary. and which God provided in his
Son, and the salvation would come as the God-man, conceived
of a woman in the virgin birth without sin, would walk this
earth and keep the law and go to the cross of Calvary and die
for our sins." Christ was born of a woman, but not of Adam.
Christ was not born a sinner. He did not contract any sin in
his life on this earth, and he did not contract any sin on the
cross of Calvary. Our sins were laid upon him,
and he bore them away." He satisfied law and justice. He was born
of the Spirit without sin. Let me read you what one commentator
said about that verse in 1 Timothy. He said, "...notwithstanding
the fall of man by the means of the woman, yet there is salvation
for both men and women through the birth of Immanuel, God with
us. The child born, the son given,
at whose birth the angels sung peace on earth and goodwill to
men, through the true Messiah, the deed of the woman, through
the incarnate Savior who was made of a woman, there is salvation
for lost sinners. And he was born of a woman. He
came into the world in order to obtain salvation for his people. He has worked it out. And it's
in him, and for all who come to him seeking mercy, and with
all true believers, men and women, shall be saved through him, the
seed of woman." Isn't that something? You see, there's hope. There's
a cure. There's a cleansing. There's
a washing. And it's totally the powerful
and gracious work of God in redemption by the blood of Christ. Zechariah
prophesied it in Zechariah chapter 13 and verse 1. He said, In that
day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
And that fountain is Christ shedding his blood. That's the verse of
scripture that William Cowper took and wrote that great hymn,
there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins
and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stain. We read it in 1 John chapter
1. It's the blood of Jesus Christ
that cleanses us from how many sins? All sins. Ephesians chapter 1 speaks of
Christ in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his grace. In that same psalm
in which David prayed in repentance over his sin, he said, purge
me with hyssop. Psalm 51 verse 7. You know what
hyssop was? That was the brush that they
used to put the blood of the lamb over the door. at the Passover. And he said, Purge me with hyssop,
and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. God said through Isaiah, Come,
let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they'll be white as wool. Though they be red like crimson,
they'll be white as snow. The book of Revelation portrays
our sovereign Savior in verse 5 as him that loved us and washed
us from our own sins in his own blood. Look back at Leviticus
12. That's how she shall be saved
in childbearing. Isn't that an amazing thing,
though? Her childbearing that comes from Adam, through Adam's
seed, is really sorrow. It really is. It's a matter of
sin and depravity and uncleanness. But through that very same means,
without the aid of men, but by the Holy Spirit, comes our salvation. through the womb of the Virgin
Mary, the woman's seed." I don't know, that just amazes me how
God in His wisdom and in His power shows that salvation is
of the Lord. Look back at Leviticus 12. Now
look up at verse 3. Now it talks about the male child
here. It says, "...in the eighth day
the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised." Now that's speaking
of circumcision of the child, which goes all the way back to
Abraham. And it was continued on in the
covenant of God on Sinai, Moses and the children of Israel. Circumcision,
as you know, mainly is a type or a picture of regeneration
and conversion, the new birth. But there are other contexts,
and I want us to see this as a transition. Look over at Colossians
chapter 2. Now, if you were here, I think
it was Sunday night. It may have been Saturday morning,
I can't remember. Brother Ken Wymer brought this out, and I
told him I'd been studying on this passage, too, because for
this message here. Now, you know sometimes that
there are religions that take circumcision, Old Testament circumcision,
that God gave to Abraham as a sign of the covenant with Abraham.
It was a physical outward sign of identification with Abraham
and the God of Abraham. There are some denominations
who take that and say, well, that In the New Testament, the
replacement for that would be baptizing babies, and that's
not so. There's no place in the New Testament
where it says that infants were either baptized or should be
baptized. There's no place in the New Testament
where circumcision is even used as a type of baptism, water baptism
that is. But this is one of the verses
they go to because it mentions a baptism. In Colossians chapter
2, look at it with me. It says in verse 9, it says,
for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now that's
speaking of Christ. In him. In this person. God and man in one person dwelleth
all the fullness of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
In this person. If you want to see the Father,
look to Christ. That's right. If you want to
see the Son of God, look to Christ. He's the Son of God incarnate.
If you want to deal with the Holy Spirit and see the glory
of the Holy Spirit, look to the Son, for it is the Holy Spirit's
work to point you to the Son. And it's the Father who reveals
the Son. It's the Father who said, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him. You
can't go into the Father without Christ. And if you don't go to
Christ, I'm going to tell you something, it's not a work of
the Holy Spirit. Mark it down. If you don't go to Christ, if
you don't exalt him and rest in him and love him and follow
him, it's not the Holy Spirit that's motivating you. It's an
evil spirit. But he says, "...in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Verse 10, you're complete
in him. which is the head of all principality and power. And
it says, in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by, now listen, by the circumcision of Christ. Now,
we know that's not talking about when Joseph and Mary took him
on the eighth day and circumcised him, which he was. But that's
not what that's talking about. Well, what's it talking about?
Look at verse 12. Buried with him in baptism. Now what baptism? It says, wherein also you are
risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath
raised him from the dead. It's talking about his death,
his burial, his resurrection. Read on, verse 13, and you being
dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened
together with him. Ken brought this out. If this
were talking about the actual circumcision of the humanity
of Christ, we weren't circumcised together with him then. And if
it were talking about the regeneration of the Holy Spirit in the new
birth, all of us here, we weren't regenerated together at different
times. Some of you all sitting here
tonight were regenerated long before I was. See what I'm saying? That happens, that's the process
of salvation when God in his given time confronts you under
the preaching of the gospel. So what is he talking about,
buried with him in baptism? That's his death. That's his
death. Look on. He says, quicken together
with him, verse 13, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. Now that's
the law that was against us, that condemned us, which was
contrary to us, and look here now, and took it out of the way,
nailing it to the cross." Now, what's he talking about? He's
talking about what Christ experienced on the cross. Christ told his
disciples that that was a baptism that he must face, which was
a baptism of fire. What's he talking about all that?
He's talking about on the cross of Calvary there was a circumcision,
there was a putting away, a cutting away of the filth of the flesh
in the sense that God redeemed us and justified us to the point
that God's law is no longer against us. He took it out of the way.
He fulfilled it. So there's one time that circumcision
is used to refer to our union with Christ on the cross. When
He died, we died. When He was buried, we were buried.
That's our sins. We're taken away. When He arose
again the third day, we arose in Him. And the law cannot condemn
us. But now look over with me at Romans chapter 2. Now, what this is showing here
is this, that this circumcision has to
do with our identification with Christ, but in time. And this
is what I believe is taught in Leviticus chapter 12. It's talking
about regenerated by the Holy Spirit. That's our spiritual
circumcision right there. You see, Adam, when we fell in
Adam before we were ever born, And when we're born into this
world, Adam's fallen human nature is given to us at conception.
That's what David said in Psalm 51.5, Behold, I was shapen in
iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. And we were born
in sin. Now that's why Christ told Nicodemus
in John chapter 3, you must be born again. That's what he said. You can't enter the kingdom of
heaven. You cannot see it. You must be born again. You're
spiritually dead. You don't have spiritual eyes
to see and love spiritual things by nature. You don't have spiritual
ears to hear and know and understand and love spiritual things. You
don't have a spiritual heart. that draws out your affections
toward Christ. You see that? You've got to be
born again. He says, that which is born of
flesh is flesh. That's all flesh can produce.
It's kind produces kind. We must be born from above. We
must be born of God, born of the Spirit of God. And look here
in Romans 2 and verse 28. This is what he's talking about.
That's what circumcision of that baby refers to. It says, for
he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one
inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit,
not in the letter." That was on the eighth day, the little
child. That's the letter of the law. But he says, "...whose praise
is not of men, but of God." That's what it's talking about. Titus
refers to it over in the book of Titus in chapter 3. He refers to it when he is talking
about the love of God and our Savior toward man appeared, verse
5, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Savior. Jeremiah prophesied of it. When
he prophesied of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31, he said, I'm
going to put my spirit within him. I'm going to give him a
new heart. I'm going to give him ears to
hear. I'm going to give him eyes to see. All those things in the new covenant.
When a sinner is brought to see his sins and he's called to look
to Christ for all of salvation, that is a cleansing by the washing
of the water of the word. It's applied to him. Now, what
about the order here? Now, look back at Leviticus 12.
Somebody asked this question one time. Why? Why is the circumcision
here stated out before the atonement? Well, now remember, circumcision
is symbolic of the new birth. But what about the order here?
You see, the order of things in God's word is this. In God's
dealings with sinful men and women, his people, is redemption
first, justification first, and then comes the new birth. Christ
said it to his disciples in this way in John 16. He said, If I
go not away, the Comforter will not come. There will be no work
of the Holy Spirit unless Christ does his work on the cross. You
see, the work of Christ on the cross in our redemption and our
justification is the ground and cause of our salvation. The work
of the Holy Spirit in the new birth is the fruit. That's the
effect. You see, that's what Christ earned
for us. But what about this order? Well,
Christ worked first, the work of the Spirit comes as the result.
Circumcision is put here in this order, in Leviticus 12, because
in our experience of it, We don't see what Christ has already accomplished
for us until the Holy Spirit opens our eyes and shows us.
And what does he cause us to do? He calls us to look back
to Christ and him crucified, doesn't he? That's already been
done. Paul said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he opens our eyes and he
shows us our sin and our depravity, but he doesn't leave us there.
He drives us to Christ. for redemption, for justification,
for cleansing. This circumcision, it was a sign
and seal of God's covenant. Well, the work of the Holy Spirit
in us in the new birth, giving us spiritual life, is a sign
and a seal of the new covenant, our union with Christ. It was
a sign of righteousness imputed, as revealed In the case of Abraham
in Romans 4.11, circumcision was performed upon a child by
the hands of another. The child didn't do it himself.
And that's the way the Holy Spirit does his, it's not done by us.
We don't do it. It was something done to us.
Nothing that we did. It was not something for which
the male child volunteered. They didn't come to these babies
and say, now how many of y'all want to be circumcised? Or would
you just please let me circumcise you? No, that's not what happened. They didn't volunteer. It was
something that somebody else volunteered him for, his mom
and his daddy. And that's the way it is in our
new birth. We didn't volunteer for it. God volunteered us. Circumcision portrays our experience
of grace. God purposed it before the foundation
of the world. Christ worked it out on the cross
of Calvary 2,000 years ago. But we're going to experience
it, and we must experience it. And like circumcision, the new
birth is a painful thing, isn't it, when you come to see your
sin and depravity? Like circumcision, the new birth
is distinguishing. That was a distinguishing mark
put on the male children of Israel to distinguish them from the
heathen. Well, God puts his mark upon our foreheads, as Revelation
says, upon our hearts. And it's the mark of one who
knows their frame and knows they have no hope but salvation by
the grace of God in Christ. Like circumcision. You know,
when they circumcised that baby, that was it, wasn't it? That
was permanent. They couldn't correct it. Didn't need to. Well, the new birth is permanent.
Once you're birthed again, you won't be unborn. Couldn't happen. Like circumcision, the new birth
seals us in the covenant and seals the covenant to us. That's
our interest in the covenant. How do I know God chose me from
the foundation of the world? How do I know Christ died for
me and justified me and righteousness was imputed to me at the cross?
How do I know that? How can I make such a claim?
Spiritual circumcision by the Holy Spirit. I'll tell you how. I don't want to hear anything
else. but Christ in him crucified. I don't want to look to anywhere
else. Do you? You got somewhere else to look
to or to go? Like circumcision, the new birth is a sign of righteousness
that's already been worked out and provided and given. Like
circumcision, the new birth is cleansing. Like circumcision,
the new birth is something done to us by another. It's the work
of God. All of this, you see, performed on the eighth day of
that male child. God applies to us spiritually
in His given time. He gives to us and He shows us
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.