All right, if you wish to follow
along, we're still in Romans chapter 15, but I will move on
to the next few verses. I want to read this morning as
our immediate text, Romans 15, verses 8 through 12. And Paul
is continuing, of course, and he wrote these words. Now, I
say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth
of God. to confirm the promises made
unto the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for
his mercy, as it is written." So now he begins to refer back
to the Old Testament. As a matter of fact, he begins
to refer back to the only Bible they had at that time, the Old
Testament. That the Gentiles might glorify
God for his mercy as it is written for this cause. I will confess
to thee Among the Gentiles and sing unto thy name and again,
there's another place. He says he saith rejoice ye Gentiles
with his People and again, there's another one praise the Lord all
ye Gentiles and loud him all ye people And again, here's another
one, he says, Isaiah, so that is Isaiah, of course, saith,
there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign
over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust. In the minds of many, or at least I should say some,
In the minds of some, I'm sure this seems to them to be kind
of out of place, especially in light of some of the language
Paul uses. Now this, I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of
the circumcision, but it's of the circumcision for the truth
of God. Do you see it? Not the law, though
the law is God's truth, but it's only a small portion of God's
truth. If all we had was the law, we'd
all be damned. Yes, sir. We'd all be damned.
So I understand. There are some. And I'll try
to let you know more about what I'm talking about about some
of these people. But I don't want this message to be about
hammering against error, although at times we must warn about error. Yes, sir. So let me just begin,
because I have several things to go through this morning. The
ministry of Jesus Christ was, that is, he as a minister, was
a minister of the circumcision. In other words, he was the servant
of the circumcision, that is, the truth of the promises of
God about imputed righteousness, and Paul's already established
this. Now, turn to Romans 4, and I'll
show you what I'm talking about. There are those that teach that God has two peoples,
an earthly people, which is called Israel, okay, with covenants,
circumcision, promises, and then God has another people, and that's
called the church. Enough said about that for now.
Look at what Paul wrote in Romans 4. Even to these people, okay,
And of course it is for us as well. It's fairly lengthy, but
I want to read the whole part. Right up to the whole part. Romans
four verse one. What shall we say then that Abraham
our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found? This is even
Abraham. The Abraham. For if Abraham were
justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. for what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace but of debt, but to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Then he gives two examples. Even
as David, Old Testament, under the law, David was under the
law, even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto
whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are
covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Ah, we'll get into it. Cometh this blessedness then
upon the circumcision only? And he's talking about Jewish
people. Jewish, especially male Jewish people. On the circumcision
only or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say that faith was
reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned when
he was in circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. He was declared to be righteous
by God before he was ever circumcised. Righteousness imputed not only
superseded but preceded. not only superseded, but preceded
the circumcision. You see it? And he received the
sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith
which he had been uncircumcised, that he might be the father of
all them that believe, though they be not circumcised. Now,
this is Old Testament truth, not some New Testament dispensational
church doctrine. Now, do you see what I'm talking
about? There are people who are dispensationalists. I believe
they're different dispensations. But God's always saved men and
women through Jesus Christ or they're not saved at all. It's
always they're brought to faith in Jesus Christ. They believe
God. And it doesn't matter whether
they're circumcised or uncircumcised. The first man ever circumcised
as a seal, as a seal, was declared righteous before he was circumcised. Okay, so again, and he received
the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith,
which he had yet been uncircumcised, that he might be the father of
all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that
righteousness might be imputed unto them also. And the father
of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only,
because if that's all you got, you got nothing. If all you have
is the sign of the seal, the physical circumcision, you got
nothing, you see it? And the father of circumcision,
and the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision
only, but who also walk in the steps of the faith of our father
Abraham, which he had yet been uncircumcised for the promise
that he should be heir of the world, remember? Christ came
for the truth, confirmed the promises made to the fathers.
For the promise that he should be heir of the world was not
to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness
of faith. Do not let modern dispensationalism,
and I say modern dispensationalism, it is relatively modern. Dispensationalism,
or dispensations are not modern. but this modern-day dispensationalism
is dangerous. I mean, there are even some.
I'm not trying to paint all dispensationalists with the same brush, but there
are some dispensationalists who actually believe God saved different
people in different ways under different dispensations. It's
just not so. And when they have this mindset,
then they start picking and choosing which scriptures they think applies
to them and what don't apply to them. therein becomes a real
danger. Because remember, whatsoever
things were written for time were written for our learning.
Well, that applies to the Jew or that applies to the Israel.
That promise applies to Abraham's physical seed. Be careful. Be
careful. Do not let this modern dispensationalism
rob us of hope in God's eternal purpose by their dual seed theory. I was brought up in dispensationalism.
I was brought up in it. Steeped in it. Then forgot, what's
the Bible? Joe has his own Bible. Schofield. Schofield reference Bible. He
was steeped. Schofield was steeped in dispensationalism. We never talked about a dual
seed because we know the Bible talks about there being how many
seeds? One. The promise was made to one seed. Not two seeds, not a promise
to this seed, a promise to that seed. But there is this dual
seed theory that's out there. In other words, as I said, a
Jewish people, then a church people, and then many of them
say that God will go back to the Jewish people again one day.
This is heresy. If it were true, Paul would have
clearly stated it in the book of God. But here he joins Jesus
Christ as being a minister of the circumcision for the truth
of God to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and immediately
says, this included the Gentiles. This included the Gentiles. One
thing different about our day, as compared to the day, say,
of once the law was given, If God saved the Gentile, that Gentile
came in to be a part of the Jewish community. Now when God saves
a Gentile or saves a Jew, there is no Jewish or Gentile community,
there is but one body. One body. One body. And that's the only difference.
That's the only difference. You see, the promise or promises,
whichever way, you can look at a particular promise or you can
look at the promises. The promises of God in Christ
are yea and amen. Any promise God made to anybody
that was conditioned upon that person, those always fell to
the ground. Because they were conditioned
upon fallen man. One of the problems many of these
dispensationalists have is, but Israel never truly had the land
and God promised the land to them. Go back and read the book
of Joshua again. It says God fulfilled all that
he promised to do to Israel in the land in Joshua's day. You see it? Go back and read
it. Go back and read it, it's there.
You see, again, the promises to the fathers. The truth, the
truth is that God's purpose has always been to bless some among
all people together. Go to Genesis 12. Genesis 12. Genesis 12 and verse 1. Now the
Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, into a land that
I will shew thee. And I will make of thee a great
nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and
thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless
thee, and curse him that curses thee. And here it is, even back
then. Even back to Abraham the first
Hebrew were the first Jew those who were from beyond the sea
This is what the Hebrew Hebrew means and in thee shall all the
families of the earth Not just your physical seed All the families
of the earth be blessed. That's the promise That's the
promise this is again confirmed clearly by the apostle paul in
his Letter to the galatians and turn to that galatians chapter
3 This is confirmed by paul that this is so Because the galatians
chapter 3 now before I read that I'll try to illustrate it. You
remember when the Jews came back from Babylon under Nehemiah and
they were going to rebuild the wall? You remember the first
thing they had to do before they could rebuild the wall? They
had to clear out the rubbish. The old wall had been broken
down and just laying there all piled up with rocks and boulders
and stone. They had to clear that out of
the way first. I still got a lot of rubbish. I was so indoctrinated
into this. brainwashed into this, that my
mind in the flesh, just my mind, my brain still operates, Ellen,
in a certain direction. And I have to find myself being
checked by God to hold in check, you know, this thing. Look at
what Paul said, Galatians 3, 7, 8, 9. Know ye therefore that
they which are of faith The same are the children of Abraham.
No qualifications as to race or anything. Do you see it? Nope. The only qualification is what?
Faith. And we know God gives that. Know ye therefore that
they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham,
and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying,
In thee shall all nations be. blessed. You see? All nations
be blessed. So then they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham. Do you see that? And then of
course, we read in Romans, our passage, Romans chapter 15. And again, he said, rejoice you
Gentiles, with his people, do you see that? With the Jews who
believe. That's what he's talking about.
Remember, even in Israel, they're not all Israel, which are of
Israel. And he is a Jew, which is not
one outwardly, in circumcision, it's not that of the flesh, it's
inward. In circumcision of the heart.
And again, he saith, rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.
And again, praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and loud him, all
ye people. And again, Isaiah says, there
shall be a root of Jesse out of a Jew. You see that? Jesse,
and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall
the Gentiles trust. You see it? It's just, so think
about this. Let me give you these few things
here. Before God, Wait a minute, sorry. Before Abraham, I want
to say this exactly right because I'm not trying to beat up on
dispensationalism. I'm trying to preach the truth
of Christ Jesus this morning. Before Abraham, before God called
and saved Abraham, God was saving men and women of all sorts. There
were no Hebrews or Jews before Abraham. Abraham wasn't even
an Israelite. There were no Israelites until
Jacob was born and then his name changed. Then there began to
be Israelites, you see it? And you remember our Lord said
even of one, was it Nathanael? Forgive me if I'm wrong. An Israelite
indeed. A real Israelite. And it had
nothing to do with race. Lineage, nothing to do with that.
Before God even called or saved Abraham. God was saving men and
women of all sorts. Abel, Enoch, Noah. And how did he save them? Not
by conscience, as some dispensationists try to interject, but by Jesus
Christ. By grace. By grace. These were neither Jewish nor
circumcised, nor Israelites. None of them were. None of them
were. Here's the second thing. When
God called and saved Abraham, he was a Jew. He's called, he
was the Hebrew from over yonder, you might say. Over yonder, from
over out that way. He was a Jew, but he wasn't even
circumcised yet. Right? Here's the third thought. When circumcision was established,
it never guaranteed the call of God for salvation. Turn to
Deuteronomy 10. Deuteronomy 10. And even when
God was giving the law, He made it clear that it wasn't the circumcision
that they were to adhere to in the flesh of the male children
that was what really mattered. He wasn't giving them Pass on
the circumcision of the male children, but look at what he
told the Israelites through Moses This is the this is Deuteronomy
the second giving of the law Deuteronomy 10 verse 12. Let
me find my spot Deuteronomy 10 verse 12 and now Israel what
does the Lord thy God require thee? but to fear the Lord thy
God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, to
keep the commandments of the Lord, his statutes, which I command
thee this day for thy good. Behold, the heaven The heaven
and the heaven of heavens is the Lord is the Lord that Lords
thy God and the earth also with all that are therein only The
Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them and he chose their
seed after them Even you above all people as it is this day
Circumcised therefore the foreskin of your heart you see it and
you see it and Be no more stiff-necked. This thing of inward circumcision
ain't just a church dispensation thing. It was even back there,
Jack, under the law. God was telling them, it's down
in here is what really matters. The difficult thing was God here
told him, you do it. can't Paul makes it clear. This circumcision
is a work of God It's work not made with hands It's not it's
not even something a man or a woman does for themselves This inward
circumcision is an act of God. Look at Deuteronomy 30 verse
6 chapter 30 It wasn't just mentioned one time Deuteronomy 30 Verse six. The Lord thy God. Now we have
a little bit of hope coming in now. First time he said circumcise
your heart. Don't be stiff necked, right?
Now look what he says. And the Lord thy God will circumcise
thine heart. Oh, thank God. Thank God. Will circumcise thine heart and
the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest live. You see that? Now we know, according to the
testimony of scripture, we know that God didn't do that for every
Jewish person. He only did it for the remnant.
Those that were elected according to the election of grace. God told both Isaiah that and
God spoke that to us through the Apostle Paul in the very
letter that we're studying now. But now look at Jeremiah. Even
Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter four. Verse three and four. Circumcise
yourselves to the Lord and take away the foreskins of your, what? Heart, do you see it? Heart,
ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my fury come
forth like fire and burn that none can quench it because of
the evil of your doings. Declare ye in Judah, and publish
in Jerusalem, and say, blow ye the trumpet in the land. Cry,
gather together, and say, assemble yourselves, and let us go into
the defense cities. Set up the standard toward Zion. Retire, say not, for I will bring
evil from the north and great destruction. So if men won't circumcise their
own heart, what's going to happen? Destruction. Even if they're
Jewish. Right? And Paul says, has God
cast away his people? He says, God forbid. Not the
ones he foreknew. But he did break some natural
Jewish people, Israelites, out of the root stock of the blessing
of the circumcision. Paul says, in our very own blood. later. Paul's not giving some
little secret thing out there, and we're to parse this, where
Jesus first came and offered the kingdom to the Jews, and
since they rejected it, God postponed the kingdom for the Jews, but
God had this other thing already in his mind, and he started saving
some Jews and Gentiles by Christ, and then once that's done, he's
gonna go back to the Jews again. That's made up in men's minds.
That's made up in men's minds, but I was steeped in it. Here's
number four, what God is doing now in the church age. And I say specifically, I will
term it this way, the New Testament church age. Even the New Testament
talks about the church in the Old Testament. Sometimes the
word is congregation. It's the same word in Hebrew
the congregation what God is doing now in this a the church
age is Exactly what God purposed to do? I'm not gonna read it
all but we've already looked through it Romans 11 verses 1
all the way through verse the whole chapter This was no surprise. This this is exactly what God
had ordained to happen I have said it before, others that I
care about, that I love, that knew the gospel have said the
church is a parentheses. It is not. It's exactly what
God ordained from the beginning to take place. And some Jews
were broken off, but they were broken off because of unbelief,
not some arbitrary act of God toward some good people. They
were broken off because of unbelief that we might be what? Grafted
in by the grace of God. So that lets me know I'm a part
of Israel. You're a part of Israel if you're
in Christ, yes? The Israel of God. If there ever
is to be a piece of land over there that God's people inhabit,
it will be God's elect people. I don't know about a lot of that
stuff. I just know this, the promises of God were made to
men in Christ Jesus. Number five, Christ ministered
to confirm. And that's the word that really
sets this off. Christ, that's what he puts here,
right? To confirm the promises made to the fathers. In dispensationalism,
we were taught that means he preached, he just offered it.
He preached it. That word, if you look it up
in a Greek concordance, It means to stabilitate, to actually establish. So Paul is saying, now I say
that Jesus Christ, W-A-S, was, now not that he ceased to be,
but he's saying this has already happened. You see what he's getting
at here for us? Not that he did it and it's kind
of done, it don't matter no more, no, but it is already done. Now I say that Jesus Christ was
a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to establish
the promises made unto the fathers. The question is, do I believe
that or not? Or am I looking for it to be
fulfilled sometime in the future or not? Two big differences there. a faith that puts everything
yet to be realized, or a faith that says Jesus Christ came and
accomplished the will of the Father and established the promises. And thank God it says promises. All of them, right? Not just
one or two. The promises, the promises. He did establish that. Look at
Romans four. We're still on that one point.
Romans four again. Pardon me. Romans four, verse 13, and we read part of
this. For the promise that he should be heir of the world was
not to Abraham or his seed through the law, but through the righteousness
of faith. Remember that preceded even circumcision. Circumcision
preceded even the giving of the law, but it was incorporated
into the law. Okay? They which are of the law,
for if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void,
and the promise made of none effect. That's pretty serious,
isn't it? Because the law worketh what?
Wrath. For where no law is, there is
no transgression, do you see it? There is no transgression,
therefore it is of faith, and it always has been. Abel, by
what? F-A-I-T-H, right? Noah, by faith, believe God,
right? All of those Old Testament people
even before the law, faith. Even under the law, faith, Hebrews
chapter 11, correct? Faith, therefore it is of faith
that it may be by grace to the end the promise might be sure
to all the seed. Not to that only which is of
the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all, all who believe, of course, who have
faith, as it is written, I have made thee a father of what? Many
nations, not just one. Not just one, before him, whom
he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things
which be not as though they were, who against hope believed in
hope that he might become the father of many nations according
to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. Number six, the legal constraints
of law. Turn to Galatians three first.
Just turn there, that way you'll be there and I can move on with
this. Galatians chapter three, we're almost at the end here.
There's a sixth thing, the legal constraints of law cannot disannul
the promise and make it futile. Galatians chapter three, verses
17 and 18, I say this, and I say this, that the covenant that
was confirmed before of God in Christ The law, which was 430
years after, cannot disannul that it should make the promise
of none effect. For if the inheritance, now he
uses the actual word that's used concerning land. You see it? Land, your inheritance. For if
the inheritance be of law, it is no more of promise, but God
gave it to Abraham by what? Promise Promise there's number
seven the legal constraints of law. We're not even opposed to
the promises The legal constraints of the law were not even opposed
to the promises now we were opposed to them Yeah, we could not keep
them. We are fallen miserable wretched
corrupt ungodly sinners and But the legal constraints of law
were not even opposed to the promises. Same chapter, same
place, Galatians 3, verse 21. Is the law then against the promises
of God? God forbid. For if there had
been a law given, which could have given, here's the real deal,
life. Because we are all dead, Jew
or Gentile. When Adam fell, all of humanity
fell in him, not just the Gentiles. Not just the Jews, all humanity
fell in him. God forbid, for if there had
been a law given which could have given life verily or truly,
righteousness should have been by the law. Why would God slaughter
his son if righteousness could be had by the law? If life could
be had, but why would God slaughter his son? But the scripture hath
concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus
Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith
came, we were kept under the law, shut up under the faith
which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster."
It wasn't opposed to the promises. God used it. God used it. We're for the schoolmaster to
bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by what? Faith. But after that faith has come,
we are no longer under a schoolmaster for you're all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus. That's the way it's always been.
And that's the way it'll always be. If God does turn back to
Jewish people again, in some Jewish national way, it'll still
be by the faith of Jesus Christ unto them that believe and nobody
else. Nobody else. You see? God's never
changed this way. He didn't say this people that
way, this people that way, this people that way, this people
that way. No. Look, for as many of you
as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is
neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither bond nor free. There's
neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus.
And if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed. And remember, Paul stresses this. It's singular, because it's all
in Christ. He's one seed. But even we're called what? Not
seeds. we're still one seed. There's not two seeds. There's
no dual seed. There's no dual seed theology
here. And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs
according to the promise. You see God ordained one seed,
Christ. Even at the get go, right after
Adam fell and Eve fell in him and we fell in him. God said the seed of the woman,
right? One seed. Christ, all blessing,
all salvation, all the promises in any and all dispensations,
whatever they may be, have been found are to be found and will
ever be found in Christ Jesus only. Galatians 3 Look at this
Galatians 3 same same chapter Same book right now Galatians
3 verse 15 brethren. I Speak after the manner of men
though it be but a man's covenant. Yeah, if it be confirmed No man
disallowed or added thereto now This is a very similar if not
the exact word when it talk claim to confirm the promises made
to the father If it be confirmed, even if it's just a man's coming,
if it be confirmed, you can't add to it or take away from it.
Right? Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds as
of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which was Christ. And this I say, that the covenant
that was confirmed, again the word, before of God in Christ
the law, which was 430 years after it, cannot disannul, that
it should make the promise of none effect. Amen.