Genesis chapter 17. I want us to begin here in verse
1. And I want you to notice this. The last verse in the 16th chapter
tells us that Abraham was 86 years old when he had fell into
this sin with Agar, And the trouble came to this family, him and
Sarah and this servant. And then here in verse 1, as
we pick up this, there have been 13 years that have passed. And
I think there's a lesson for us in that. When Abraham was
90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto
him, I am the Almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between
me and thee. and will multiply thee exceedingly.'
And Abraham fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying..."
Now, we'll look at some more of these verses in a minute,
but I think there's something here in this that we can learn,
in this fact that there had been 13 years past since the Lord
appeared to Abraham, that He talked to Abraham, and since
the Scripture teaches us here that there was 13 years, I think
it would be permitted to you and I to just assume, at least
we're permitted to speculate, that God had hid Himself from
Abraham or hadn't appeared to Him or hadn't spoken to Him.
If that's so or not, I don't know, but I do believe that we're
permitted to look at that and say it's a possibility that this
happened. And as we think of this way,
13 years that Abraham had not heard the Lord's voice, or not
seen Him in a vision. The Lord had not appeared to
him. And as I thought of this, and as I considered what took
place in the 16th chapter, I couldn't help but think, if it had truly
been 13 years, The Lord was teaching Abraham a lesson. He was under
the Lord's chastening rod for these 13 years that he had sinned
him and Sarai against the Lord. And when the Lord chastens us, one
of the ways that he often does it is by hiding himself from
our hearts. It's not that he's not there,
but he just doesn't appear to be there. He just doesn't speak,
and he just doesn't make it so evident. And boy, when he does
this to us, it's a lonely, lonely journey. So often, David, when
he was under the Lord's chastened hand, he often cried like this. Will thou be silent to me, O
Lord, forever? If you be silent to me, I'll
become like those who go down to the pit. Now there's what
David thought about the Lord not visiting his spirit. And he said this in another place,
How long will thou forget me, O Lord, forever? How long will
you hide your face from me? David count that to be one of
the most terrible burdens that he had ever endured. And finally,
he prays this, return, O Lord, return. How long? Forever? And I tell you, if it had been
13 years indeed, then I imagine it had indeed seemed like forever
to Abraham. And the writer of Hebrews says
it like this, no chastening for the present. seems to be joyous
but grievous. Nevertheless, afterwards, when
chastening has corrected us, when it's put us back on the
right road, when it's made us think properly of our sins and
reverence towards the Lord, afterwards, it yieldeth the peaceable fruits
of righteousness. And I like to consider this scripture
this way. that it had indeed been 13 years,
because you'll notice here in verse 3 that I read to you, when
the Lord finally returns to Abraham and manifests himself to him,
look what he says, he fell on his face. He was so full of gratitude
and wonder and amazement that the Lord once again had visited
him and made himself real to him. Something else I wanted
to learn from this, especially here, this verse 1, this passage
here, this whole passage considered, is this, that the Lord is able,
this sovereign Lord, the majesty in heaven, the Almighty God,
as He addressed Himself here, is able and does make Himself
real to His people. The Scripture says here in verse
1, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said unto him. Now, if you
had asked Abraham how this happened, if you had said, Abraham, how
did the Lord do this? Can you explain this to me? How
He spoke to you? Was it an audible voice? Was
it to your conscience? He appeared to you. Explain this
to me. Now Abraham would have probably
said, I can't explain this to you. You'll have to experience
it for yourself. I only know this. I know that
it was the Lord who appeared to me. I know it was His voice
that spoke to me. And as you read this passage
here concerning the Lord's dealings with Abraham, talking to him,
it was so plain there was no doubt in Abraham's mind that
it was the Lord. All this doubt was Dispelled. He was assured that it was the
Lord. And the Lord gave him so much information about this covenant. And He made it so clear to him.
And there's the way the Lord can appear. He has the ability,
and He does, reveal Himself to His creatures, His people. I
think the best example that I can give you of that was those apostles
themselves. When the Lord Jesus came to this
earth and made himself known to those apostles. There were
educated men. Nicodemus is a very good example,
who was basically a theologian, but they did not know the Lord
Jesus Christ. They had no idea who He was.
They did not understand His divinity when He called Himself the Son
of God. But here are these ignorant and unlearned apostles. You know
what they said about it? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the Living God. And they were simple men, common
men, fishermen, and yet they said, Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the Living God. My Lord and my God. How did Thomas know that? How
could he possibly look upon a man just to look upon There was nothing
uncommon about him. He never had a bow about his
head. His countenance didn't glow. But Thomas said, you're my Lord
and you're my God. How did he know that? There was
no doubt about that. There's what we're saying, that
from the very beginning here in Genesis, we see that the Lord
makes His self real. And he makes himself known to
his people. And he has the capacity, and
he gives us the capacity in our hearts, not only to know him,
but to understand the message that he gives to us. He's able
to talk to us and communicate to us. And brothers and sisters,
that's a marvelous thing to me. It's a marvelous thing. especially
considering us in our fallen state. And let me say that about
this. When God communicates to us as
He communicated to Abraham, if He does it saliently, then it's
always through His Word. It's always through His Gospel.
If He ever communicates unto us apart from His Word, and I'm
not saying He doesn't, He could appear to you in a vision. He could give you a dream. He
could teach you through providence in one way or the other. But
any time God communicates to us, it's never contrary to His
Word. Never contrary to His Word. Now here in the 17th chapter,
the Lord reaffirms the covenant of grace. We've already seen
little nuggets of this covenant of grace already here in the
book of Genesis. But what the Lord begins to do
here in verse 2 is to reaffirm this covenant again. And he begins
with talking to Abraham as this is the first time he's mentioned
it to him. Look here what he says again
in verse 2. I will make my covenant between me and thee. and will
multiply thee exceedingly." But I want you to notice something
now in verse 4. The Lord does this and he changes
the tense that he speaks in. In verse 2 he says, I will make
my covenant. And now in verse 4 he changes
the tense of this. As for me, behold, my covenant
is with thee. It is already. I will make it,
and then he says, it is already. And then here in verse 4, as
for me, behold my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be
a father of many nations. That's future tense. You shall
be a father. But notice now in verse 5, he
changes the tense of that. Neither shall thy name any more
be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham, for a father
of many nations, have I made thee." So he continually changes
the tense. I will make, and yet I have made. I will make you a father of many
nations. I have already did it. Now, take your Bibles and turn
to the New Testament. Hold the book of Genesis. And
turn over with me to the New Testament. And we'll see in Romans
chapter 4, what Paul had to say about this very verse, and look
here how he interprets it and how he comments on it. Look in Romans chapter 4
and look here in verse 16 and verse 17. And this is so important
and is such a blessing, the way the Apostle Paul interprets this
passage of Scripture that I just read to you. Look in verse 16. And this is the very thing that
the apostle is talking about, his promises, the covenant blessing.
Romans 4.16, Wherefore it is of faith that it might be by
grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed,
all the seed of Abraham, not to that only which is of the
law, that is the Jews, converted Jews under the law, but to that
also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of
us all, as it is written. I have made thee a father of
many nations, before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth
the dead, and calleth those things which be not, as though they
already were." Now there's what the Apostle Paul got out of that
verse of Scripture. He said, since God appeared to
Abraham, And he said, Abraham, I have already made you a father
of many nations. He said, it's obvious that when
God speaks of His promises and His purposes and His work, He
can speak of them as if He's already did them. I have made
thee a father of many nations. And here was this man and this
woman that didn't even have a son. Isaac wasn't even born yet. And
yet the Lord speaks of him as if he's already got this great
nation. Paul, when he was speaking of
covenant blessings and covenant promises, he often spoke of them
in past tense. Even though the believers had
never experienced the blessings Paul yet spoke of them in past
tense. And Ephesians chapter 1 verse
3 is a good example of that. God hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places. God hath blessed us. There are blessings that you
and I have not enjoyed yet. But the Apostle Paul said, God
hath already blessed us with them. That's how sure that he
says they are. And then Romans 8, 29 and 30,
you're very familiar with this, the eternal purpose of God. Those
whom He predestinated, them He called. Them He called, He justified. Them He justified, He glorified.
All of those things are in past tens. How could Paul do that? Well, he learned something from
the way God was speaking to Abraham. If God can speak to Abraham and
say, I've already made you a father of many nations, even before
Abraham had the child, then Paul said, it's obvious that these
covenant blessings are sure and God's purpose can be spoken of
in past tense. You and I aren't in heaven. We're
not glorified yet. But yet the promise of God, the
purpose of God, is so sure that the Lord can say, Those I have
called, I have also glorified. Now that's amazing, ain't it? That's amazing. Only the Lord's
promises are this sure and this certain. And how did Abraham
look upon these promises? When the Lord said to Abraham,
I've already made you a father of many nations. Well, look here
in verse 19 of Romans 4. Here's how Abraham took that
promise, and here's what he did about it. Being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body now dead, which was about a hundred
years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith. giving glory to God, and look
at this, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able also to perform. Abraham just received the word
of the Lord. The Lord said, I've made you
a father in many nations. And Abraham said, I believe it.
I believe it. And that's faith. That's faith.
The promises of God in Christ Jesus. are not yea and nay, but
they're all yea and amen to the glory of God. Not a one of them
have failed. And God can even speak of them
as if they're in fast tents. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning of this world. And they're sure. They're certain. Now back over again in Genesis
17, look here in verse 6. Look here in verse 6, and this has a lesson here. We
can learn something from this too. Here in verse 6, notice here how the Lord just
repeats Himself to Abraham. He just repeats Himself. Each
time He may add just a little. He says here in verse 6, I will
make thee exceeding fruitful, and make nations of thee, and
kings shall come out of thee." But he'd already told Abraham
this. The only thing he adds here is kings shall come out
of thee. But there's a lesson in this.
In verse 2, he said, I will multiply thee exceedingly. In verse 4,
he basically tells him the same thing. Thou shalt be a father
of many nations. In verse 5 he almost tells him
the same thing, a father of many nations have I made thee, and
now in verse 6 I will make thee exceeding fruitful. And here
he does the same thing in verse 2 and verse 4 and verse 7 concerning
the covenant. He keeps repeating this, I will
make my covenant with thee. I have established my covenant
between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, there in verse
7. Now why does the Lord do this? Why does He just repeat these
things over and over to Abraham? Well, there's a good reason for
this, and I think you and I can relate to it. These blessings,
these blessings were great blessings. These were blessings from heaven.
And here they were made to this poor man, poor in spirit. Abraham thought very little of
himself. You only have to read the 18th chapter in verse 25
to see what he thought of himself. As he stood and prayed and spoke
with the Lord, remember what he said about himself. I'm just
dust and ashes. I'm nothing. And here the Lord,
the sovereign majesty, as Luther used to say, the Almighty God,
had spoken to this poor man and said, I'm going to multiply you
exceedingly. I'm going to make you a father
of many nations. I've already done it. I'm going
to make kings of you. I'm going to make a covenant
with you. And I'm the God of wisdom and power, and I have
the power to bring this to pass. Why, this man was overwhelmed.
The promises that were being made to him were so great, they
were greater than the capacity of his heart to receive it. So
what does the Lord do? He just goes on repeating it,
and repeating it to him, until he gets it down in his heart.
How often did the Lord tell His disciples, what I tell you now,
you can't receive. You just can't receive it. You
don't have the capacity. What I'm promising you and what
I'm telling you is so great and glorious, your poor heart just
don't have the capacity to receive it. So he just goes on and repeats
it and repeats it and repeats it. The apostles are one of the
best examples of this. The Lord told them something
and they couldn't grasp it. When the Lord Jesus had raised
from the dead, You remember what a time our Master had of convincing
them that He had indeed raised from the dead. You read the account
there in Luke chapter 24. The Lord Jesus appeared to Mary
Magdalene and Mary and some of the other women and sent them
back there to the apostles that were in that upper room and said,
you go tell them that I have risen from the dead and I'll
meet them in Galilee. And those women went back and
said, He's risen! We've seen Him! And you remember
what they said? Their words seemed as idle tales. We can't believe this, they said.
That's too amazing. He was upon the cross. They took
Him down and put Him in the tomb. He's been dead for three days.
And then the Lord Jesus in that same chapter appeared to those
two that went on the road to Emmaus. made Himself real to
them, and they walked back to Jerusalem. And they were there
with those other apostles in the upper room, and said, We've
seen Him, He's appeared to us. And then about that time, the
Lord Jesus Himself appeared to them again, and said, Peace be
unto you. And you remember what they did?
They were scared to death. They thought they'd seen a spirit.
He had a terrible time convincing them. And then he showed him
his hands and his feet. Said, it's not a spirit. I've
got flesh and I've got bones. Look at me. And still they didn't
believe. And he said, do you have any
meat? I'll sit with you and I'll eat with you and I'll talk with
you. But he had a terrible time convincing them and the scriptures
in that very chapter tells us why. Tells us why. They believed not for joy. The joy of it was too great.
They thought their hopes had been dashed to pieces, that He
was now dead, He was gone. They hoped that He was the Redeemer,
but all of that is gone now. But suddenly, here He is, standing
before them. And it was almost unbelievable.
It's like that old saying we have, it's too good to be true.
It was good, but it was true. But all the time they had. So
what did he do? He just kept on repeating, I'm
here. Handle me. You got any meat?
To convince them that he was indeed alive. The Almighty God appears to this
poor childish couple and says a multitude of nations will come
out of your loins, even kings. And the promise of that was so
great, he had to keep repeating it to him to get it down in his
heart. I don't know of any other reason
why he had to do that. If someone asked me, can you
imagine yourself in heaven? You know, to be honest with you,
it's difficult. It's difficult for me to imagine
myself in heaven. Not only to be with the Lord
Jesus Christ, but to be like Him. To walk with Him in white. To
sit with Him in His throne. To have the company of elect
angels that outshines the sun and glorified saints. And not only to be there a million
years, but forever. And when I think that God before
all time chose me to that end, sent His Son to secure that precious
promise to me, and redeemed me at a great cost to
Himself and called me out of my darkness, can I imagine myself
in heaven? I believe I'm going there by
His grace. But oh, I tell you to get that
in my heart. because of the joy of it all,
the glory of it all. And what I have to do, I have
to just keep reading this Bible over and over again and look
at those precious promises. And I have to keep persuading
myself, poor Bruce, listen, these promises are to you. I know they're
glorious. I know they're grand. And I know
Him that giveth to you is the sovereign God of heaven. But
they're to you, and they're true. Believe them. These things were
written that you might believe, and that believing you might
have life through His faith. Are you that way? You know, you
talk to this religious generation, and it seems like they're just
sprouted wings already. And they're just fluttering around
flying. At any time, they could fly off to heaven. But none of
them have a good ground of hope. And here you and I are, poor
sinners that we are, so low and we see heaven so high. We sometimes
wonder, will we make it there? Could that place be for us? And
we have to go back just like Abraham and say, Lord, repeat
that to me again. Tell me again. More about Jesus. Let these same words be spoken
to me again. Speak to my heart, Lord. And here in verse 7, the Lord
tells Abraham something else concerning this covenant. I will
establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after
thee and their generations for an everlasting covenant to be
a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. Now he gives Abraham
some more information here on this covenant of grace. And what
he tells him is this, not only am I establishing my covenant
with you, but I've established my covenant with your seed after
you. And just as I'm your God, the
God of Abraham, I'm going to be the God of Isaac, your son.
And I'm going to be the God of Jacob, your grandson. And I'm
going to be the God of all your seed I will be their God. There's the covenant blessing
that he promised Abraham. Now it's not only to Abraham,
but it's to all of Abraham's seed. Now, as you and I begin
to read about Abraham's seed, if we don't go back to the New
Testament again, we're going to be confused, aren't we? Look
over there again. Look at Romans 9. Somebody just
read this. Look at Romans 9. I'm so thankful that God has
given us these apostles and given them the Holy Spirit to interpret
the Old Testament Scriptures for us, because we'd be in a
mess if He hadn't. Paul had been speaking here in
Romans 9 about all the blessings that God had bestowed upon the
Jewish nation. And look at it there in verse
4. He said, who are Israelites,
to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants,
and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises,
who are the fathers, and of whom as concern in the flesh Christ
came, who is over all God blessed forever. And yet Paul said in
verse 1 and verse 2, he said they're lost. God hath blessed them. And yet
he said, I have great heaviness in my conscience, continuous
sorrow. I could wish that myself were
cursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the
flesh. In the 10th chapter, he said they're lost. They're lost. Well, the question that arises
is this. If they're the seed of Abraham,
and God had promised Abraham that I'll be the God of your
seed. Has the Word of God been of no effect? What about the
promise? God said, Abraham, I'm your God,
and I'll be a God to your seed. When the Lord Jesus come, He
said, I know you're Abraham's seed, but you're of your father,
the devil. Remember that? God is not your
God. You're of your father, the devil.
So the question is, and it's a legitimate question, what about
that promise God made to Abraham? Well, Paul interprets this for
us, and the way he interprets this for us is answering this
question, who are the seed of Abraham? If you can find who
the seed of Abraham is, then you can say, God is their God. Well, look what he says now in
verse 6. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect,
for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Neither
because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children,
but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are
the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God,
but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." Who
is the seed of Abraham? Those that God has given to His
Son, promised to His Son. That's what he explains to us
there if you continue reading in the ninth chapter of the book
of Genesis, the book of Romans. If you be Christ, then are you
Abraham's seed. If you be Christ by election,
if you be Christ by gift of the Father, by redemption, by calling,
if you're Christ by faith, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs
according to the promise If you belong to Christ by faith, then
God is your God. You're the seed of Abraham. That's
so important, isn't it? Look back over again at Genesis
chapter 17 and verse 8. Now this is in regard to Abraham
and his seed inheriting the land of Canaan. And here's another
promise, look what he says in verse 8. 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. Now there's a mystery behind
this, and some of it's a little bit difficult to rightly divide
and understand, because you and I are certain that the children
of Israel the natural seed of Abraham, and even his spiritual
seed among the Jews. They inherited the land of Canaan. It was several hundred years
after this, but they did indeed inherit the land of Canaan, Palestine.
They possessed it. Sometimes they would lose it,
be carried off captive. The Lord would restore them to
the land. They'd sin and the Lord would let them be taken
captive. They'd be brought back again.
But they did possess that land for a time. Now, is this land, the land of Palestine,
does that still belong to Abraham's natural seed? I imagine it does. Even though so many hundreds
of years, until 1948, They never possessed that land. Couldn't
call it their own. Now they're flooding back in
there. Does the Lord have a purpose in bringing them back and giving
them that land again? I don't know. I don't know. It seems that He does, Brother
Larry. But I don't know. I hope He does. And I hope He regathers those
Jews and saves them. I hope He does. But having said
all of that, Abraham and his spiritual seed in the Old Testament
were not content in just inheriting this land of Canaan. They had
their eye to a greater inheritance. I imagine one of the reasons
they valued this physical land of Canaan is what it represented
to them. But we've got to go back to the
New Testament to see this. Now look over here in Hebrews
chapter 11. Look at this. Hebrews chapter 11, the land
of Canaan. Look in verse 8. Hebrews chapter
11 and verse 8. By faith Abraham, when he was
called to go out into a place which he should after receive
for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out. not knowing whether
he went. And by faith he sojourned in
the land of promise, as in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For
he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and
maker is God." He wasn't looking for an earthly city that man
had made. But he was looking for a city
that God had built. Through faith Sarah herself received
strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when
she was of past age, because she judged him faithful to her
promise. Therefore spring there even of one, and him as good
as dead, as many as the stars in the sky for multitude, and
as the sand which is by the seashore enumerable. These all died in
faith. not having received the promises,
that is, the fulfillment of them, but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed
that they were pilgrims and strangers on the earth. For they that say
such things declare plainly that they seek a country." And truly,
if they had been mindful of that country from which they came
out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But look in
verse 16. Now they desire a better country. That isn't a heavenly country. They valued the land of Canaan. No doubt they did. But there
was a heavenly country that they desired. Wherefore, God is not
ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them
a city." So it wasn't Canaan so much that Abraham looked to
to inherit, and it wasn't even the seed, the spiritual seed,
the believers among the Jews that so valued this land of Canaan,
that they just looked to that alone. But it seems like they
looked at that and said, Yes, this is an inheritance, but there's
a greater inheritance beyond this. This is what God has promised
us naturally, but there's a heavenly inheritance. And the reason I say that, because
as you continue to read the 11th chapter of Hebrews, he talks
there in verse 31 and 32 of Gideon and Barak and Samson and David
and Samuel and all of these prophets. And those men were in the land
of Canaan. They dwelt there and enjoyed
that place. But here's what's said of them
in verse 39. Look at this. And these all,
having obtained a good report through faith, received not the
fulfillment of those promises. If the promise that Abraham and
his seed was going to merely inherit the land of Canaan, Then
why did he say here they still hadn't received the fulfillment
of the promise? There was a promise of an inheritance that was greater
than the land of Canaan. And he said in verse 40, God
hath provided a better thing for us that they without us should
not be made perfect. And look here in Hebrews chapter
13. Look in Hebrews chapter 13. I think this has something to
do here with the promise that Abraham and Jacob and Isaac and
all the seed of Abraham, the spiritual seed of Abraham, in
the Old Testament was looking to. And they never received the
fulfillment of it. Not only to the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ, to his literally obtaining redemption and the
Holy Ghost being poured out in a most miraculous way, and the
Gospel being sent to the nations, the nations saved. But here's another promise that
they were looking to, and that was the end of time, when there
would be a new heaven and a new earth. And Peter said, according
to his promise, We look for a new heaven and a new earth. Now,
that's what the Old Testament was looking for, too. They were
looking to the first coming of Christ. You and I look back to the first
coming of Christ. But they, with us, look still
to the second coming of Christ. That's the promise of that eternal
inheritance, where there will be a new heaven and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness. And look what the writer of Hebrews
tells us here in the 13th chapter, in verse 13. Let us go forth
therefore unto him without the count, bearing his reproach,
his shame. For here we have no continuing
city, but we seek one to come. So did Abraham. And so did Isaac
and Jacob. And so did all the spiritual
seed of Abraham. There's a greater city. There's
a higher city. There's a heavenly city. And
there's what they were looking for. And it's the same city we're
looking for. A new world. A new heaven and
a new earth that the meek shall inherit. So when he speaks here
of Abraham and his spiritual seed inherited in the land of
Canaan, whatever fulfillment that may have in the days to
come, I'm not for sure of, but I think it represented to Abraham
and all his spiritual seed a greater promise. Now, we've got to go
on right quickly and we'll finish. Here in Genesis chapter 17, in
verses 9 through verse 14, he speaks of something else concerning
this covenant. Let me read it to you there in
verse 9. And God said to Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant,
therefore, Thou and thy seed after thee in their generation.
And here's what he's speaking about in verse 10. This is my
covenant which you shall keep between me and you and thy seed
after thee. Every man child among you shall
be circumcised. And you shall circumcise the
flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token of the covenant
between me and you. It will be a sign that I've made
a covenant with you. And he that is eight days old
shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generation. He that is born in the house
are bought with the money of any stranger which is not of
thy seed. He that is born in thy house
and he that is bought with thy money must needs be circumcised.
And my covenant shall be in your flesh, that is the sign of it,
for an everlasting covenant and the uncircumcised man-child whose
flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall
be cut off from his people. He hath broken my covenant."
Now, this is the first time circumcision is mentioned in the Bible. Now,
if you'll read some commentaries, bless their heart, the first
thing they'll try to tell you is no doubt many people were
circumcised before this. And some of them with the same
commentaries that tells us it rained before the flood and there
was a rainbow before that. But this is the first man that
was circumcised. And God gave this circumcision
to him as a sign and a seal of the covenant Paul said that he
had made with Abraham. He said, Abraham, I'm going to
give you a sign that I've made a covenant with you. Circumcised. your foreskin. And all the seed
of Abraham from this day forward, Abraham and all his descendants
were circumcised when they were eight days old. And I read to
you here, he said if they're not circumcised, they'll be cut
off. This is the sign of the covenant. And the sign that you've been
taken into this covenant is you're circumcised. The sign is in your
flesh. And it was an awful sin. And
you'd be cut off if you weren't circumcised. The Lord sought
to slay Moses. And you remember why. Moses was
negligent about circumcising his children. And his wife, the
mother of his sons, circumcised her sons with a sharp rock. And
she was so aggravated at her husband, she thought the Lord
was going to slay him. She said, you're a bloody husband
to me. You know God requires the Jews to be circumcised, and
He did. And this is why the children
of Israel couldn't get away from circumcision. God had commanded
it, and He said, It's a sign unto you of the covenant that
I made with you. Now, what do we have to do at
this point? We have to go back to the New Testament to understand
what the New Testament says about Old Testament circumcision. If
we don't, we won't understand what it is. What is circumcision? What does it represent to us?
Well, we have to go to the New Testament to find out. A very
familiar Scripture. But you mark this if you haven't.
Look in Romans chapter 2. Look in verse 28. In the passages that were studied,
circumcision was for a sign and it was in the flesh. And when anyone asked what circumcision
meant, why do you circumcise your children? They said, well,
this is the sign that they're children of the covenant. They've
been circumcised. Nobody else did that. None of the nations
of the world circumcised their children, only Abraham and his
descendants. and those that were bought with
his money. But here is what circumcision represented. Verse 28, For he
is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. But look what he says in verse
29, But he is a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision
is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter,
whose praise is not of men, but of God. Circumcision in the Old
Testament was just a picture of what God was going to do in
the heart in the New Testament. The breaking of the heart. The
giving of a new heart. and making clean, making a new
creature, whose praise is not of men, but of God. And here's
another familiar scripture, and I'll quote this to you in Philippians
3. We are the circumcision. We are the circumcision. We who
have had this work of grace begun in our hearts, whether we're
Jew or Gentile, We who have been given a new heart and a new spirit,
we are the circumcised who worship God in spirit and rejoice in
Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Turn with me to
another passage just on to your right in the book of Galatians.
Look at this in Galatians chapter 6 and look in verse 15. Look in verse 15 and verse 16. Here's what Paul says about circumcision
and really what it represents. Galatians chapter 6, look in
verse 15. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. A new creature. A new heart. and a new spirit. That's all
that availeth anything. Faith in Christ. And as many
as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy and
upon the Israel of God. Peace be upon them who are new
creatures in Christ. Why does he say that? Because
that's the sign of the covenant. That's the sign of the covenant.
Just as circumcision in the flesh was a sign of the covenant and
a seal of the covenant back in the Old Testament, a new heart
and a new spirit is the sign now that you are a child of the
covenant. Do you have a new heart? Has
God given you a new spirit? Has He made you a new creature
in Christ? Then you are a child of the covenant.
You have the sign of it, the seal of it in your heart. If
you can put your finger on a new heart and a new spirit, you can
say, God has gathered me out of this world. He sprinkled clean
water upon me. He's given me a new heart and
a new spirit to know Him. And my praise is of God and not
of man. My confidence is in Jesus Christ
and not my flesh. And you're a child of the covenant.
There's the seal of it in your heart. God has put it there.
And you never have to doubt it. And you're heir of all of these
promises. Now, He didn't say baptized.
If you're baptized, you've got the sign of it, didn't you? We
don't find baptism in any of these scriptures that I've looked
at. Circumcision. Back in the Old Testament, it
was in the flesh. But now it's in the heart. That's
what it represented to us. The heart. God bless His Word. Let's pray.