if you wanna turn in your Bibles to Colossians chapter two. Brad was reminding me before the service in that text of scripture that he read about a woman who lived in the 1700s and was a woman of wealth and influence. And she was a friend of the of many of the preachers in those days. And she said she was very thankful for the letter M because of her position and her wealth. Because the word is not any, but many. It says, not many, Noble, not many wise, not many rich, but doesn't say not any. And so she was thankful for that letter M. What a blessing that is. Aren't you thankful for the word sinner? That the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners?

Just a minute. So we want to consider this today as we do every week. I don't apologize. I actually revel in the fact that all of the wisdom of God, all of the power of God unto salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ and in his cross. Now we should take the utmost comfort in that. God has done this. It seemed good to Him. It, therefore, became necessary. It was necessary to God. It's necessary, therefore, to us. And by the Lord's grace, we find it both necessary and all-sufficient that the Lord Jesus Christ was given and appointed and anointed by God, provided by God, to be all to His people. What a blessing that is.

Now today, we want to look at Colossians 2, verse 11. And in that text of scripture, we're going to see some things, but I've entitled this message today, In Whom We Are Circumcised. Circumcision is a strange, it seems like a strange thing, doesn't it? There's a lot of things in the Bible that seem strange to us, but circumcision is one of those.

But remember this as we look at this today, that God has said in Colossians, in chapter one, he says in verse 18, that the Lord Jesus Christ, that in all things, he might have the preeminence. So in circumcision also, Jesus Christ must have the preeminence, whatever it means. Whatever circumcision means, the reasons God gave it, and what is accomplished by it, whatever that means, Jesus Christ must have the preeminence. If we keep that as our guide, as the songs we sang reminded us, then we won't go astray, far astray, because we can't go astray when the Lord Jesus Christ is everything and we find Him to be so. God's Word says that He is.

In that same text of scripture that Brad read, God says that the wisdom of this world is brought to foolishness. It never was wise, but it's made openly to be seen as foolishness. And God's going to make sure that happens. And it's also going to be brought weak by the weakness of God through the foolishness of preaching.

And only Christ and His power and His wisdom will be left standing and God will get all of the glory. Anything that detracts glory from God is false. All glory must go to Him. He's the only one who is worthy and all of God's glory is given A scene in the Lord Jesus Christ is bestowed upon him because he's worthy, because he has completed, finished the will of God in everything.

All right, so the title of our message today is In Whom You Are Circumcised. And let's look at this together. Now, as I said, circumcision is something that occurs frequently in scripture. It's first mentioned in Genesis chapter 17. That's a long time ago.

It was mentioned because God told Abraham that he must be circumcised, that all his children must be circumcised, and that this was a token of the covenant that God made with him and his children. It was necessary. God said he must be circumcised and his children must be circumcised. Any male among Israel, among the Israelites who were not circumcised were going to be cut off from Israel. So that's why I say it was essential. The physical sign of circumcision in the Old Testament was necessary for everyone in the nation of Israel.

All right, so that's the first mention of it. But in many ways, it's not the first time that it really occurs. We'll see that as we go through this. But I just wanna bring out the fact that how frequently and how often God talks about circumcision. So it begins with Abraham in Genesis 17, and then Moses reiterated it in Exodus chapter 4. Moses was on his way with his wife and his son on their journey to do what God had told him to do, and he had not yet circumcised his son. And so God was going to kill him.

That's how serious it was. And this is in Exodus chapter four, and his wife Zipporah said, I mean, when Moses had her circumcise their son, she cast the skin that she had cut off of her son at Moses' feet and says, you are a bloody husband to me. You are a bloody husband because of the circumcision. All right, so that's a serious thing.

It seemed appalling to Moses' wife that he would require, that God would require, and that Moses, therefore, would command her to circumcise their son. Circumcision was required. It was a sign of the covenant. God started with Abraham and he reiterated it with Moses, and Moses also required the people of Israel to circumcise their children.

In John chapter seven, Jesus mentions this. In John chapter seven, he is being persecuted by the Pharisees, and he had just healed a man at the pool of Bethesda, I think it was. And at that place, he raised him up and told him to carry his bed, and he was persecuted because of that. But in John chapter seven, when the people answered in verse 20 and said, thou hast a devil who goes about to kill thee, Jesus said, I have done one work and you all marvel.

Moses, therefore, gave unto you circumcision, not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers, and you on the Sabbath day circumcise a man. So this teaches us that God gave circumcision, first to Abraham, and then again through Moses. And it was so important that even on the day they were prevented, they were not allowed to do any work. On that day, Jesus is telling the Pharisees, he says, on the Sabbath day, you circumcise a man, don't you, because of Moses' law? And then in verse 23 of John 7, he says, if a man on the Sabbath day receives circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken.

OK, so it was part of the law, wasn't it? Are you angry at me because I have made a man every whit hole on the Sabbath day? It's no accident that he He compares the action of the Pharisees on the Sabbath day to circumcise a man to his own action on the Sabbath day to make a man every whit whole.

It was a bloody thing. It required cutting off the foreskin of the male babies and throwing it away, casting it away. It was an action that people performed. It was an outward action. and it was an action of blood, it was an action that was necessary in order for the covenant to be upheld that God made with Abraham.

And so what happened then is that the Jews understood circumcision as being really a sign commanded by God to Abraham, that's how early, continued by Moses, and therefore they insisted upon it. They insisted upon it. In fact, they thought that it made them perfect before God. Back in Genesis chapter 17, where God commands Abraham to circumcise himself and his children, his male children, in Genesis 17 in verse 1, It says, and when Abram was 90 years old and nine, so 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the almighty God.

Walk before me and be thou perfect. And then he goes on, he says, I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. Abram fell on his face. God talked with him, saying, as for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Not just Jews, many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be called Abraham. For a father of many nations have I made thee. Not just a father of many, but many nations.

And he says, I have made thee, meaning it's already done. It's past. God spoke of things past before they were accomplished. He mentions this in Romans 4, verse 17. But in verse six he says, and I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

And 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 to thee and to thy seed after thee. So it's to Abraham and to his seed. Notice then in verse eight, and I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. And God said to Abraham, thou shalt keep my covenant therefore thou and thy seed after thee and their generations.

This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and thy seed after the every man child among you shall be circumcised. All right. And he goes on in verse 11, you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. All right, so this is where the scribes and Pharisees got the notion that circumcision made them perfect.

God gave it to Abraham. God required it from Abraham and to all his children born to him physically. And if they didn't have this sign put on them, they were outside of the covenant. They had no part in Israel. It was a sign that required blood be shed, their own blood, actually. And it signified something spiritual. It signified something spiritual. And that's what we want to understand. Moses reiterated it. And so let me turn with you now to the book of Galatians. This is mentioned so much in scripture that it surprises us. Throughout the Old Testament, they performed this act on their children.

When Jesus was born on the eighth day after he was born, they brought him to the temple and they circumcised the Lord Jesus Christ in his flesh. And so this was something that God required all the way through and until Christ. Until the Lord Jesus Christ came, God required the physical sign of circumcision on all the male children in Israel. And none could be part of Israel unless they were circumcised.

But because God required it, and because it was an outward sign performed by man, It signified something because of the corrupt way, the perverted way that the Jews took the outward sign and used it in a way that was wrong. They began to trust in their own ability to perform what God required and was necessary for them to be part of the covenant. They viewed circumcision as a mark of perfection under the law. And so that they trusted in their own ability to perform what God required. And that outward sign then became a cause in them of distinguishing them from others. And it became a cause of boasting. And it became something they could trust and hope in.

They trusted in their outward circumcision. Something they could perform that God required, something that was necessary, that required their blood in order to keep them in or make that covenant between them and God. And that was a perversion of the sign, the outward sign of circumcision.

But in Galatians chapter 3, I want you to take a look at this with me, because not only in the Old Testament is circumcision mentioned, but in the New throughout the New. We just saw it in John chapter 7, Jesus referred to it himself, and that Jesus himself was circumcised. But do you know that the apostles also, after the resurrection of Christ, talked about circumcision? And obviously in the book of Colossians chapter 2 verse 11, in whom you also are circumcised, he says. You're circumcised in Christ.

And so we need to understand, how did this sign, what did this sign signify and how was it applied in the New Testament? According to God's will, why was it so important that it would be used throughout, since Abraham, throughout the Old Testament until the time of Christ? And what did the apostles who were led by the Holy Spirit and taught by the Lord Jesus Christ to understand by this sign of circumcision? What does it mean to us? How is Christ preeminent in this also? Well, this is very important.

But in Galatians chapter three, to completely disarm and break down this consideration, this thought of the scribes and Pharisees that somehow circumcision made them perfect before God by his law, he says this in Galatians chapter three, oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you." Notice what the Apostle is emphasizing here. We preach Christ and Him crucified. Evidently, He was so clearly proclaimed to you through the gospel by me, Paul is referring to his own preaching and by others, that it was as if Christ was crucified among them before their very eyes.

And he says in verse two, this only would I learn of you, received you the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. He goes on, are you so foolish Having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? This is precisely what the scribes and the Pharisees trusted in, being made perfect by the flesh, by what they could do outwardly to themselves and to others in the cutting off of the foreskin of the male. in order to indicate that they were part of this covenant, that they were Abraham's children, and that all the promises God made to Abraham and gave him this token, this circumcision, this sign of it, it would perfect them. And Paul tells the Galatians, are you so foolish?

How did you receive the spirit of God? Was it by something you did? Or was it by the hearing of Jesus Christ? with that God-given faith because of the life given to you. Now, if God so gave you His Spirit without circumcision, why do you think you can be perfected before God by holding to and trusting in and looking to this outward sign that men can perform?

What happened to you was God's work alone. You cannot perform this. And what you do by your hand, or by your will, or by your decision, or by your experience, or anything that is of you or from you, absolutely goes in the face against the revealed will of God, against the work of the Spirit of God.

Now I emphasize this here because what the Pharisees trusted in, they trusted in their circumcision. And it's evident that they trusted in that. You just read the Gospels, read the New Testament, but you can see that circumcision was mentioned by, it was given to Abraham, Moses reiterated it, the Lord Jesus was circumcised, the apostle Paul preached on, he preached about circumcision in the book of Acts, Romans, Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, it's prevalent, isn't it? Why? Why did God put so much emphasis on this outward sign of circumcision? That's the question. Why does the Bible talk so much about it? What is God teaching us by this? It's significant, isn't it?

To give you another background, a context of this, I've mentioned to you what God told Abraham, but I have to give you the Apostle Paul's own experience as the next level of our consideration of this to understand circumcision. Look at Philippians chapter three, the Apostle Paul. I mean, if anybody, We could believe if anybody understood the gospel, surely he did. What did the apostle Paul say about his own circumcision? Well, in Philippians chapter three, he talks about it. He says in verse one of Philippians three, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.

Beware of dogs. I remember a dog could not be allowed in the congregation of the people. Not allowed. He says, beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. That means someone, it's a made up word, it means to mutilate by circumcision. Beware of them.

He says, for you, for we, for we are the circumcision. In other words, this is a name assigned to the true Israel. The circumcision. Historically, the Jews called themselves the circumcision. It was unique to that nation. And everybody else was called the uncircumcision. And so the apostle Paul says, no, you are the circumcision. We are the circumcision.

Notice, here's what those who are truly circumcised do, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. We don't put any confidence in what we do, what we can do, nothing, no confidence whatsoever. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, verse 4, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof, he might trust in the flesh. Notice what he's saying about physical circumcision here. I more circumcised the eighth day.

I was. He says, of the stock of Israel, I was actually physically descended from Abraham. Of the tribe of Benjamin, I can trace my lineage through Benjamin back to Jacob. A Hebrew of the Hebrews, that means his education was, he was the top, the top. As touching the law, a Pharisee. Someone who insisted on and trusted in circumcision. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church. touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless. In my own opinion and in the opinion of others, I kept the law. But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ." You see what he's saying here? I put everything on the scales of my own doing.

And then I see Christ and I say, this is rubbish. This is dung. I must have Christ. And so he forsook, he abandoned, he looked with loathing and repudiation, even nausea, at his own ability to do anything. that would gain approval from God, that would secure blessings from God, that would attach him in any relationship to God. He says, it's all dumb. He goes on. I counted it loss, yea, doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them dung. that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, seeing it's in him, the righteousness which is of God by faith. All right, so the Apostle Paul is saying this. Look at Acts chapter 9, the book of Acts in chapter 9. I want you to see the apostle.

He refers to what he had. It seemed like a good thing, and yet he was willing to relinquish it. He had circumcision. He was of the stock of Israel. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He was, you know, tracing his lineage to Benjamin. All these things. He was blameless in keeping the law. At least he thought so, and others did too. He was admired.

Acts 9, verse 1, Saul, breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way of Christ, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem, and so he goes. What is being described here? What was the Apostle Paul's condition before He knew Christ. He was circumcised. But what was his attitude towards Christ then? Kill him. What was his attitude towards his people? Kill them. Stop them.

He did everything in his power to destroy the gospel and Christ and his people. If he could have, he would have taken Christ from his throne and put himself on the throne. He preferred his own obedience to Christ's obedience. whatever you call it, asceticism, this denying himself fleshly pleasures or fleshly necessities. He preferred that to the sacrifice of Christ in his own blood.

You see, this was a man who hated God. He did not love God. There was no love of God in Paul. But he thought he loved God. He thought he was doing his will. He was zealous. He was so zealous he was persecuting the people of God. But spiritually, he was blind. He could not see.

And that's when Jesus Christ appeared to him. He wasn't in a church hearing the gospel and thinking, I got to make this decision. I gotta take the next step. God has offered me salvation, and all I have to do is pull the trigger, sign the dotted line, complete the transaction. That was the furthest thing from his mind. He was heading 180 degrees opposed to Christ.

And then, in his self-righteousness, in his works that he had trusted in all this time, his circumcision was sort of like the kingpin of it all. And when he was thus hateful and hating others in the mercy of God, not by works of righteousness which he had done, not by any predisposition in his own heart, but entirely by the sovereign grace of God, Christ appeared to him.

Now this is the same one who tells us in whom you are circumcised. Look back at Colossians chapter two again. in whom you are circumcised. He says this in chapter 2, verse 10. He says, you, he's referring to Christ, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are It's a present state.

Your present condition is you, you who trust Christ, you who are looking to Him, you who are coming to God by Him. Remember Jesus said, Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. If you believe Christ, you've come to Him. If you look to Him, you have come to Him. You are complete right now. No additions, not a process where you progress and finally reach some threshold that now you can say, look, look, I am a Christian. No, you are now complete, not in yourself, in Christ. Then he goes on. He goes, which is the head of all principality and power, in whom also, in Christ.

Now, how was Abraham circumcised? Well, someone took a knife, someone cut the foreskin of his flesh off, cast it away, blood was shed, an outward sign performed by a man on a man. But no, he says, this is how you were circumcised. In Christ, you are circumcised. Notice verse 11, with the circumcision made without hands. This is not a human act. This is God's work. Man doesn't contribute one part to it. God does it. It's necessary for you to be part of the true Israel, for you to be part of the covenant. This has to be put upon you. It's necessary because your heart is naturally uncircumcised. And we'll look at what that means.

We see it in Paul, spiritually blind, opposing Christ, hostile toward God's own son, hostile towards his blood, hostile towards his name, towards his gospel, towards his people, towards his throne. The apostle Paul. And he says, no, in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. Notice, how is this? How does God do this? This is how. What does it mean? In putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, how? By the circumcision of Christ. By the circumcision of Christ. Now, underscore in whom? And then put that together with the last part, by the circumcision of Christ.

You see, when God says that it pleased Him to make Christ the fullness, that all fullness should dwell in Him, that He should have the preeminence in all things, and what Brad read to us from 1 Corinthians 1, that God, of God are you in Christ, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. There's no boasting in our flesh. That means anything we can do is not going to contribute one iota to our salvation. Not in the beginning of it, not in the middle of it, not in the perfection of it. Because God, the Spirit of God was given to us when we were in our sins. And how could God who is holy do that?

Here's the answer, by the circumcision of Christ in whom you were circumcised. And how were we circumcised in Christ? By putting off the body of the sins of the flesh. So there's two things about circumcision that the New Testament teaches us. Number one, Christ is preeminent in it. And because Christ is preeminent in it, when we think of circumcision, we must understand that everything in the Old Testament that spoke of circumcision leads us, must lead us to and find its finality in Jesus Christ. The end of the law, Christ is the end of the law, the termination of it, the fulfillment of it, and the end of it. He is. It says in Romans chapter 10 verse 4, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.

And that's what Colossians 2.10 is saying. In him, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. You are complete in him. Complete in him. In Genesis 17, God told Abraham, walk before me and be thou perfect. How? How can a man be perfect before God?

Ecclesiastes 7 verse 20 says, there's not a just man on earth who doeth good and sinneth not. There is not a just man. Abraham seemed like a just man, and yet he was a sinner too. He's not a just man. There's not a just man on earth who doeth good and sinneth not. Sin is with every man. This is consistent throughout scripture, the Apostle Paul, a wretched man that I am. So you can see that perfection didn't come by circumcision. How are we then made perfect? Why did God tell Abraham, walk before me and be thou perfect? How can we be made perfect by circumcision?

You see, all of the all of the meaning then comes to its head and finds its fulfillment in Christ. and in Christ alone, and therefore it is ours in Him. It's ours in Him. Whatever God has for His people, whatever God requires of His people, He performs His work in Christ for them. They don't contribute to it. This is amazing grace, isn't it? This is phenomenal grace. Why was this oak required? Well, two reasons. One, because of our condition, and two, because God found it necessary by His grace.

In Acts chapter, I'll just read this to you, in Acts chapter seven. In Acts chapter seven, Stephen is preaching. And he's killed by those who heard him. The apostle Paul, not yet converted, stands by and approves and holds the clothes of those as stone, Stephen. This is the apostle Paul before when he was physically circumcised, but before he was spiritually circumcised. In Acts chapter seven, though, in verse 51, listen to what Stephen tells the Jews who did not believe Christ. He says, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do you.

So uncircumcision tells us something about our nature. The uncircumcised boys, that's what they were naturally. That's why it seems so weird. Why would you do this? This is not natural. That's true. It's not. It's not part of your natural self. It wasn't natural because in our natural condition, we're stiff-necked. We're uncircumcised. We resist the Holy Ghost, as did all of the Israelites. But they were circumcised outwardly. Why were their hearts so stiff-necked? Because they were not inwardly circumcised. How then do we become circumcised?

This is the work of God. This is the work of God. Look at Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy, under the law, God revealed that this was his work. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 10, first. See how God tells us what to do and then he tells us where to look to find what we need and he requires for us to be done. Genesis chapter 10 and verse 16. I'm sorry, Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 16. He says, this is God speaking to Israel through Moses.

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiff-necked. And Deuteronomy 32, verse 20 says, children in whom is no faith. In our natural condition, we're uncircumcised in heart and body, for that matter. And that represents a heart condition of no faith, stiff-necked, idle worshipers, resisting the Holy Spirit, That's our natural condition. And God says, circumcise your heart.

How? Look at chapter 30, Deuteronomy chapter 30. See how gracious God is here. He says this in verse six. He says in verse six, and the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest live. All right, so first of all, unless we're circumcised, we don't live. God has to do this so we may live. Secondly, unless we're circumcised, we have no love for God. God has to perform this work for us to love God. You can see it in Paul. Before he was converted, he hated Christ. After he was converted, he loved the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, and who performs this work of the heart circumcision? God himself.

God requires it, he tells us to do it, yet only he can do it. This is the lesson of all of scripture. God requires of his people what he must perform, and they are to look to Christ for it. So essential that we understand this. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth, who look to him to be all that God requires for us in his life, in his death. So this is so important, isn't it? God has referred to it throughout Scripture, both Old and New Testaments.

It was necessary as a sign because of the covenant, and it required bloodshedding, and it was something that was necessary because of the condition of our heart. We perform it on the outside, but it didn't have any value in that, except that it pointed forward to Christ, in whom we would be circumcised, and God must perform this operation on our heart. How does God do that?

According to Colossians chapter two, in whom you also are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, not your doing, God's doing, putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. When was Christ, when were our sins, the body of our sins put off and cut off and cast aside by blood? When was the body of our sins cut off, cast away by blood in the Lord Jesus Christ in his death? This is the only time where scripture talks about us, the body of our sins were laid upon Christ.

He bore them. He endured the wrath of God for them. And Isaiah 53, verse 10 says, he was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression of my people was he stricken. He was cut off. And so we see that this cutting off refers to being separated from life by blood and cast away.

And this is exactly what happened in the death of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ bore our sins in his own body up to the cross, up to the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live into righteousness by whose stripes we were healed. You see, that's the first thing that's required in circumcision. Our circumcision, the true circumcision, the fulfillment of the law of circumcision, was fulfilled by Christ without our participation, but because God joined us with Him in His death and laid our sins upon Him. And in His death, the body of our sins was cut off, cast away by His blood.

And in this act, the covenant also was ratified. In Hebrews chapter 13, it says this about that covenant. He says, In Hebrews 13 verse 20, listen to the words here and just think about how this echoes Genesis 17. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. How did he do that? How did he bring again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep?

Through the blood of the everlasting covenant. The covenant was made in Christ's blood. Jesus held up the cup at the Lord's table and he says, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. It made the covenant. Every blessing was given to us because of His blood. That covenant that God put in place depended upon and it hinged upon the blood of Christ, and only the blood of Christ, and it was shed. When He shed His blood, it made the covenant. He says that by the blood of the everlasting covenant, verse 21 of Hebrews 13, make you perfect.

That's Genesis 17.1, isn't it? and every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. That's what Brad was reading to us. All glory be to Him. It's His work in us. First, His work for us.

We were circumcised. In whom in Christ we were circumcised by the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ by Christ being cut off in death for our sins laid upon him and because Because we are circumcised in his death The body of our sins being cut off then what happens? Well the Spirit of God has given to us You see There's no life without righteousness But before life was given, righteousness was established. Before life was given, before we had any spiritual life, Christ already had been cut off and we already had been sanctified, been made holy by His blood.

Hebrews 10.10 says it this way. In fact, I'll read from verse five.

He says, Wherefore, when he, Christ, cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. This is the body that's going to be cut off. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God, Above, when he said, sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin, though it's not, neither has pleasure therein which are offered by the law, the Old Testament. Then said he, the law having said all this stuff, then he said, lo, I come.

Christ is the only one who kept the law. That's why he came in a body God prepared for him. He was made, born of a woman, made under the law that he might redeem those who were under the law. when he was made a curse for us in obedience. Verse 9, then he said, lo, I come to do, to actually complete and finish thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that Old Testament, the shadows that he might establish the second, the true, the everlasting.

By the witch will, by God's will, we are sanctified. You see, God chose us in Christ before time. That was an act of God. God set us aside to be His, to be His children, to be members of Christ's body. And therefore, we had to be made holy by God even in that choice, in that determination, that will of God, that purpose of God, that act of His decree. When He put us in Christ, He made us holy before time, but then, in time, by that same will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

One time offered, perfectly completed, never to be repeated. That's what the tense of the words are here. Christ offered himself to God for our sins and God received that offering and therefore we were sanctified by his blood. And then in verse 14, he says this. Well, let me just read from verse 11.

Every high priest standeth daily ministering, standing daily ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, which was himself, he sat down on the right hand of God because it was done, it was finished, it was complete.

The sins were put away. God received full answer to his will, a fulfillment of it from henceforth expecting Christ, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool because he accomplished the work. God would do it. He would subdue all enemies under his feet and the feet of his people.

Verse 14, for by one offering. Abraham, walk before me and be thou perfect, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. God required perfection. Christ perfected. You see, this is so essential. God requires of you righteousness. Christ fulfilled that righteousness. God requires of you an answer to his holy law in justice. The outpouring of his wrath, the guilty cannot go free. Christ himself took your sins and answered God's justice and bore the wrath so that they're no more guilty, but they're made clean, washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness.

This is the work of Christ. God did it in him. Now, because of this work, what happens? Well, because of this work, Because of this work, God raises us to life. Look at Romans chapter four. Romans four. Oh look, we have a whole hour to go. Romans chapter four, verse five.

To him that worketh not, does not work, but believes on him. In other words, he looks to Christ for the work. the work God requires, the work needed to justify him. But he that believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, that would be those uncircumcised people in heart and mind, his faith is counted for righteousness. The one he believes, God accounts to him as his righteousness. That one who believes, God sees He receives from Christ a full answer and a full fulfillment of his law and he says, that is righteousness and that only is righteousness. And I'm counting it to those set aside in the eternal everlasting covenant in Christ, that's their righteousness.

Even as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness without work, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven. That's part of the righteousness. Whose sins are covered, that's also part of the righteousness. God clothed Adam and Eve, clothes us with the blood of Christ. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, cometh his blessedness then upon the circumcision only. Outwardly circumcised. the Jews, or upon the uncircumcision also, the Gentiles.

For we say, notice, faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. When he believed Christ, when God spoke to him about how Christ would justify the heathen by faith, then God counted it to him for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? Verse 10, when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision. When was Abraham counted righteous by God? when he had already been circumcised or before he was circumcised?

The answer is, not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received, notice very carefully, the sign of circumcision, a seal, of the righteousness of the faith which he had, he had been uncircumcised. So that Abraham's physical circumcision was a sign of something. And what was it a sign of? Righteousness given before circumcision and without circumcision. In other words, righteousness without the works of the law. His circumcision actually signified righteousness by Christ in Christ on his people without any works on their part. That's what it meant. You see how it was distorted? And this was done that he might be the father of all them that believe. Period. Though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also. But look at the last verse.

Christ was delivered for our offenses. That's when he was circumcised and we were circumcised in him. And then he was raised again for or because of our justification. There's no life without righteousness. No life without righteousness. And until God justifies us in Christ, he is not going to give us his spirit.

But when He gives us His Spirit to see Christ, then we enter into. He has applied to our hearts that circumcision we received at the cross. He applies it in time by His Spirit when He causes us to come to Christ, to look to Christ, to find our all in Christ. He becomes preeminent to us because He's preeminent to God. He becomes our righteousness because that is God's righteousness, what He did. He becomes our circumcision and it's applied to us by the Spirit of God inwardly.

It's only His work to take away the heart of flesh and to give us a new heart, a heart that knows God and loves God because we see what God has done for us when He said, God will provide Himself a lamb. We talk about circumcision, we normally emphasize the internal work of the Spirit of God to create a new heart in us. But in order for us to have this new heart created, Christ must die for us. He must take away our sins. And then He must send His Spirit to give us life by the preaching of His Word. Without righteousness, there's no life. But where the blood of Christ is spilled for us, then the Spirit of God will bring that blood to us and apply it to our hearts.

When Abraham believed God, that was evidence of that inward circumcision. He was already righteous and the circumcision was already applied to his heart. The result of that inward circumcision, the result of the Spirit of God is that Christ became all of all that he trusted and all that he looked to for all of his salvation. So the effect of inward circumcision is to see Christ as our circumcision in all that that means.

Our sins cut off by his precious blood shed under the wrath of God for us who were in our hearts stiff-necked and without faith, and always resisting the Holy Ghost, as did those Old Testament Israelites. It's so essential that we understand the connection between the work of Christ and the work of the Spirit of God.

It all began with the Father. It was fulfilled by the Son. It's applied by the Spirit. And Jesus even prayed this. He said, I sanctify myself that they might be sanctified through the truth. The truth is the gospel. In his death, he sanctified himself. We are sanctified by his blood. And then it's applied to us. What a blessing this is.