Beautifully done, and there's
not a song that I love any more than that song. Turn back to Genesis 17. And
I've been trying to look at each one of those Old Testament stories
and references that Stephen makes in this sermon and ended up costing
him his life. And he devotes one sentence to
circumcision. When the Lord first appeared
to Abraham, he was 75 years old. He had faith then. God gave it
to him. He was a believer. He believed
the Lord and it was counted to him for righteousness. But now
he's 99 years old. That's a very old man. Verse one, and Abram was 90 years old and nine, the Lord
appeared to Abraham. And he once again renews this
covenant that he's going to have a seed as the stars of the sky. Verse nine, And God said unto
Abraham, thou shalt keep my covenant. Therefore thou and thy seed after
thee in their generations. 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. Now who among us has not wondered
about that? What is the significance of this
painful religious rite? Circumcision. Verse 11, and you
shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be
a token, a sign of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that
is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, Every man child in
your generations, I've heard that at eight days old, it doesn't
hurt. I don't know that there's any
proof of that. I can't hardly believe that, but I've been told
that. What a thing to go through. And he that's born in the house
or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed, He
that's born in thy house and he that's bought with money,
a servant that comes in must needs be circumcised. And my
covenant shall be in your flesh 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. Who among us has not wondered
about this? It's unusual to say the least. What does this mean? What do we learn of the gospel
from this religious rite? The sign that God was in covenant
with a man was circumcision. The cutting off of the foreskin. And in the Old Testament, if
you wanted to show somebody a lot of contempt, here's what you
call them, uncircumcised. You remember what David said
to the giant of Philistines? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? The ultimate name of contempt
that he should defy the armies of the living God. Do you remember
how Saul wanted his servant to go ahead and kill him because
he didn't want any of these uncircumcised people to kill him? And so he
asked his servant to kill him. Now, it was never meant for this,
but it became a source of national pride. this thing of circumcision. They thought this differs us
from everybody else. And in the New Testament, quite
often you will read where the Gentiles are called the uncircumcised
and the Jews are called they of the circumcision. But the
Lord clearly told us it was a token of something. It represented
something. And here's what it always represented.
Turn with me to Romans chapter four. beginning in verse nine of Romans
chapter four. Cometh this blessedness, this
blessedness of not having sin imputed, having Christ's righteousness
imputed to you, cometh this blessedness then upon 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 in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision,
but in uncircumcision. This happened 24, 25 years before
the circumcision right was instituted. And he received the sign of circumcision,
a seal. This is what it's always been.
Of the righteousness of the faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised,
that he might be the father of all them that believe, though
they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed
to them too. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
7. This is an interesting verse of scripture. Verse 19. Now Paul says in verse 18, is
any man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised.
Is any man called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. Now
listen to this statement. Circumcision is nothing. And
uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the commandments
of God. Circumcision was part of the
old covenant and it represents salvation by works. Now, it's
the easiest commandment to keep. What's easier, to be circumcised
or to not tell a lie? What's easier, to be circumcised
or not commit any sin? It's easier, and circumcision
represents salvation by law And it represents a circumcised heart
as we're going to see, but as far as commandments go, Paul
said, it's nothing but the keeping of the commandments of God. It's
easier to keep that commandment than it is any other commandment. Circumcised was required in the
Old Testament. You were to be cut off if you
did not have this sign in your flesh. Now, what about the New
Testament? Where does it transition to in the New Testament? Many
say infant baptism has taken the place of circumcision, and
that's why so many churches practice the baptism of infants. And I
was reading one fellow who said the proof of that is when they
were circumcised in the Old Testament, they didn't know it. They were
too young. So what's wrong with baptizing infants when they don't
know what's going on and they're too young? What in the world
kind of proof is that? With regard to infant baptism,
there's no example of it in the scriptures. None at all. It amazes me that people practice
this when there's not even a hint of it. in the scripture. And what it's doing, it's taking
one emblem of the law and replacing it with another emblem of the
law. That's all it is. It's going from one law to another
law, but they still look at this as a law to show something about
the covenant. Now, my thoughts are toward that
is where's your reverence for the scriptures to practice infant
baptism. Turn to Acts chapter 15 for a
moment. This came up in the early church,
verse one. And certain men, which came down
from Judea, that's the church of Jerusalem, taught the brethren
and said, except you be circumcised, After the manner of Moses, you
cannot be saved. Yes, you need to believe the
gospel. Yes, you need to have faith in Christ, but you also
need to be circumcised. Verse two, when therefore Paul
and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation within, there
was an argument that took place. Paul and Barnabas said, no, this
is not so. And so they went down to the
church of Jerusalem. Verse six, they come to the church
at Jerusalem, verse five, and they said, but there rose up,
they talk about this to the church at Jerusalem, there rose up certain
of the sect of the Pharisees, which believed. Now, why wouldn't
you just say believers? The Pharisees, which believed.
I dare say they did not believe, just making that statement. There rose up certain of the
Pharisees, which believe saying that it was needful to circumcise
them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. Yes, salvation
is by grace. Yes, salvation comes through
faith, but you need to be circumcised and you need to keep the law
of Moses. Now this event is what inspired
the book of Galatians. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
two for a moment. Verse three, but neither Titus
who was with me being a Greek, he was a Gentile and he was not
circumcised. He was, but neither Titus who
was with me being a Greek was compelled to be circumcised and
that because of false brethren, false brethren, unawares brought
in. who came in privileged to spy
out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might
bring us into bondage, to whom we gave place by subjection,
no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue
with you. He refused. They said, Titus
needs to be circumcised. Paul said, no, he doesn't. And
if you circumcise him, the truth of the gospel will not continue.
Look in verse 11 of this same chapter. But when Peter was come
to Antioch, I was stood him to the face because he was to be
blamed for before that certain came from James for before that
certain came from James, the church at Jerusalem, which was
made up primarily of Jewish believers. He did eat with the Gentiles.
He was having a good time. But when they were cut, these
Jewish believers, he withdrew. He became a shrinking flower.
He didn't want to be noticed. He separated himself from the
Gentiles, fearing them, which were of the circumcision. He
didn't want to displease these men of the circumcision. And
he was saying by that action, you can, yeah, you're saved by
grace. Yeah, you're saved through faith, but you can be more pleasing
to God if you're circumcised. More, now let's go on reading. verse 13, and the other Jews
dissembled likewise with him. Dissembled means practiced hypocrisy. The other Jews practiced hypocrisy
likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas was also carried away
with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they walked
not uprightly according to the truth of gospel, I said to Peter
before them all, if thou being a Jew, live as after the manner
of the Gentiles and not as do the Jews, why do you compel the
Gentiles to live as the Jews? We are Jews by nature, not sinners
of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the
works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we
have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by
the faith of Christ. Now that excludes everything
else, including circumcision. And not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law, there shall no flesh be justified
in his sight. Look in Galatians chapter five,
look how strong this statement is. Verse two. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, you're a little bit more pleasing to
God being circumcised. Yes, you're saved by grace, but
this adds, you're more pleasing, more accepted For I testify again
to every man that circumcised that he's a debtor to do the
whole law. Christ has become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. That's
what circumcision means. It's the easiest commandment
to keep. Here's something for you to do. Christ has become
of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law,
you're fallen from grace. See? You can fall from grace. If you look to salvation by works,
you have fallen from grace. You're gone. There's no hope
for you. If you leave the gospel and go
back to works, there is no hope for you. That's the unpardonable
sin he's speaking of. Look in Galatians chapter six,
verse 12. as many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh. And I think that's an accurate
representation of man's religion. A fair show in the flesh. This
looks good. They constrain you to be circumcised
only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ. Now, if you preach pure, free
grace, you will suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. Now,
these fellows are seeking for you to be circumcised to avoid
persecution. And look what it says about them
in verse 13. For neither they themselves who are circumcised
keep the law. They tell you to be circumcised,
but they're lawbreakers, that's all they are. But they desire
to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh.
See what a good influence I've been on that person. See what
I've done for them. I put them in a better position.
I've given them a greater respect for the law. Their salvation's
a little bit better by them being circumcised. All he says this
is, is a fair show in the flesh, but God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look in verse
11 of chapter five. Now, evidently people had been
accusing Paul of preaching circumcision. They said, Paul preaches circumcision.
What does Paul say? And I, brethren, if I yet preach
circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? I wouldn't be being
persecuted for the gospel's sake if I was preaching circumcision. Circumcision is any part of salvation
dependent upon you. That's what it means. It's the
easiest commandment to keep. This is something you can do.
Painful albeit, but it's something you can do. If you put any work that you must do in order
to be saved, you've removed the offense from the cross. Now,
what is the offense of the cross? You know what the word means? The word is where we get the
word scandal from. If you preach free grace, why
that will produce one scandal after another. You're not giving
men any reason for obedience, no reason to fear disobedience. If you don't put law in there,
all it's going to do is bring scandal to people's lives. All
kinds of horrible things are going to take place. You're the greatest scandal I
know. But I'm saved. That is the greatest scandal
that I know. It's scandalous that I would
stand before God without guilt. And yet God has made it that
way in a way that honors his holiness, his justice, his glory. Oh, I don't want the offense
of the cross to cease. It's a scandal for somebody like
me or you to be saved. But thank God for his grace.
Oh, the offense of the cross. Now turn with me to Romans 2. Verse 25. For circumcision verily profits
if you keep the law. There you go. If you keep the
Ten Commandments perfectly, hey, circumcision's a good thing.
It profits. Well, does anybody keep the law? But if thou be a breaker of the
law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore, if
the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his circumcision
be counted for uncircumcision? Yes, he would. And shall not
uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge
thee and condemn thee, who by the letter and circumcision does
transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, Neither
is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. Somebody
says, I've been circumcised in the flesh. That's not circumcision.
God says that here. All that was is a sign. That
is not circumcision. 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. God praises this man who has
this circumcised heart. It's spiritual. It's not physical.
It's not according to the letter of the law. If I'm physically
circumcised, am I circumcised? No! Paul says that's not circumcision. It's that of the heart. And this is an Old Testament
concept. Let me show you some scriptures. Turn to Deuteronomy
chapter 30. 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 thy heart, with all thy soul, and
with all thy soul that thou mayest live. Now, this heart circumcision,
first of all, it's something that only God can do. You can't
circumcise your heart. Turn to Deuteronomy 10. Verse
16. Circumcise therefore the foreskin
of your heart and be no more stiff-necked. And that is in
there several other times in the scripture. Turn to Jeremiah
4. Verse four, circumcise yourselves to the
Lord and take away the four skins of your 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. He once again, when he's speaking to them, he says, circumcise
your heart. Now what does a circumcised heart
look like? We'll turn to Hebrews chapter
eight. Hebrews 8, beginning in verse
6. But now he, the Lord Jesus Christ,
hath obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he
is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better
promises. For if that first covenant that
was represented by circumcision and salvation by works, For if
that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place
have been sought for the second. I think it's interesting that
the writer in Hebrews talks about the law and he talks about the
weakness and the unprofitableness of it. And he says, it's no good. It's weak through the flesh.
It's unable to do anything for me or for you. Verse eight, for
finding fault with them, He saith, Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, when I make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with
the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead
them out of the land of Egypt. Now, how many times have you
grabbed your child by the hand and pulled him in whatever direction
you wanted to take him? You know what? It worked. He
didn't have any choice. She didn't have any choice. You
grab him by the hand, bring him over here, grab him by the hand,
bring him over there. It works. Doesn't change the
heart though, does it? Doesn't change the heart. Kind
of like that man who said, you better sit down to his son right
now and don't get up. And he said, I'm sitting on the
outside, but I'm standing on the inside. Now, this, you can get somebody
to move whatever you want to. God's very powerful. He grabs
you by the hand. He's going to yank you in whatever
direction he wants to do it. But look what he says about this
in verse nine, not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead
them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in
my covenant And I regarded them not, saith the Lord. Just being
drugged by the hand doesn't do anything for anybody. For this
is the covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts. I'm gonna do something
about the heart. And notice he says, I'll put my laws, plural,
in their mind. I'll write them, the finger of
God writing in their heart. Now, when he talks about the
laws, I've heard people look at that and say, well, that's
talking about the Ten Commandments. No, it's not. You're born with
the law written in your heart. Romans 2.16, you're born knowing
the difference between good and evil. You're born knowing it's
wrong to lie, it's wrong to steal, it's wrong to murder, it's wrong
to commit adultery. That's why I've become so aggravated
over religious people saying, you need to teach us how to live.
Everybody already knows how to live. Everybody does. The law
is written in your heart. You know what to do. We need
to be taught to live. You already know. You're just
trying to look for an excuse to your disobedience. You already
know. When he's talking about these laws, plural, he's talking
about the laws of the new nature. Now, you're going to obey your
nature. That's why free will is so ridiculous.
You obey your nature. Now, a tiger Could eat grass
if he wanted to. Would you stop him? Couldn't
eat grass. There's a law against that. No, you couldn't stop him.
But it's against his nature, isn't it? It's the nature of a pig to wallow
in the mire. They enjoy it. They wouldn't
be comfortable in any other way. It's their nature. It's the nature
of a cat to want to remain clean. People follow their nature. If all you have is a sinful nature,
that's the nature you're gonna follow. But if God gives you
a new heart, you have a new nature. And I appreciate the way the
word law is placed in the plural in this passage of scripture,
his laws. And I find six laws in the New
Testament that are the laws of the new nature. I mean, if you
have a nature, you're going to obey the laws of that nature. Why does a tiger eat meat? Because that's his nature. He
wouldn't do anything else. Now we read in Romans chapter
7, you can write these down. I'm not going to look to them
because I want to get through this as quick as I can. But we
read in Romans 7, 23 of the law of sin. If you have a new nature, you got a law that you must obey
that makes you think in and of yourself, you're nothing but
sin. And that's the work of the new nature. The work of God's
law is written on the heart. You really believe yourself.
You say with Paul, I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. We read in Romans 9 30 of the
law of righteousness. If you have a new nature, you
can't be satisfied. Your conscience can't be eased
with anything but perfect righteousness before God. That's the only thing
your conscience can find any comfort in, is perfect righteousness
before God. And the only way you're going
to have that is Christ as your righteousness before God. And
then we read in Romans 3 27 of the law of faith. You cannot not believe. It's
your nature to believe the gospel. Try not to believe. Try to not
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. You can't do
it. Try to not believe that his substitutionary
sacrifice on Calvary's tree is not enough. You can't do it. You know it is. It's the law
of faith. And it's your nature to believe
that way. There's the law of love we read
of. It's the nature of a believer to love God. And we love everything
about Him. We love every attribute. We love
every characteristic of God. There's no part that we don't
love. We've been given a new heart,
a new nature. And then we also read in James
chapter two of the law of liberty. Do you know a believer cannot
handle being put under bondage? given what this is what you need
to do that can handle it. There's a law in my heart of
liberty. I must have the freedom that's
in Christ Jesus. I must know that I owe nothing. You give me some debt that I
owe. You've taken away my freedom.
If you give me something to do, you've taken away my freedom.
I look to Christ only. There's a law in the heart of
every believer that they must have liberty. And then I love
the law of Christ. If any man's overtaken with a
fault, you at your spirit shall restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted." Whatever
it is that you're getting aggravated at your brother at. And we have
reasons to be aggravated. Don't forget this, you're just
as bad. And if you're put in the same
place they are under the same circumstances, you'll do the
same thing. Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law
of Christ. that God places these laws. Take us by the hand, doesn't
change the heart, doesn't change the understanding, doesn't change
the mind, but oh, when he puts his laws in our mind, there's
some understanding. Now go back to Hebrews 8, let's
keep reading. Verse 10, I'll be to them a God and they
shall be to me a people. These People that I put my laws
in their heart, they're going to be my people, and they're
going to see me as their God. I'll be to them a God, they'll
be to me a people. And they shall not teach every man his neighbor
and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall
know me, from the least to the greatest. Why shall they all
know me? Because I'm the one that's going to do the teaching.
They shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and learned of the Father cometh to me. For, verse 12,
I will be merciful, I will be propitious to their unrighteousness. I'll put it away by the sacrifice
of myself and their sins and iniquities will I remember no
more. And then you say, if the new
covenant heath make the first old, now that which decays and
waxes old is ready to vanish away. Turn to Philippians 3.
This is such an important passage of scripture. Philippians chapter 3, verse 3, for we are the circumcision.
Now, how plain can this be? We are the circumcision, not
the Jews who have have the physical right of circumcision, but they're
not circumcised because circumcision is of the heart. It's not the
physical act. It represents something. We are
the circumcision. And he gives three marks that
are so clear. Number one, We worship God in
the Spirit. Now, we realize that there's
no worship of God without God, the Holy Spirit, without a spiritual
nature. My flesh can't worship God. And
that's why I never, ever say to an unbeliever, come worship
with us. I don't know that you can do
that. As a matter of fact, I know you can't unless God has given
you a new nature. I say, come hear the gospel. Come with us,
we'll do you good. We want everybody to hear the
gospel, but as far as saying, come worship with us, you can't
worship unless you have a spiritual nature given to you in the new
birth. And what do people do who worship
God in the spirit? I love what the Lord said. In
John chapter four, he said, God is spirit and they that worship
him must Worship Him in spirit and in truth. There's no worship
of God without the Holy Spirit. There's no worship of God without
this spiritual nature. There's no worship of God without
the truth. The truth of how God saves sinners
by Christ. Now you can just forget it. There's
no real worship without that. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit. We worship him for who he is.
We love everything about him. We love all of his glorious attributes.
Well, what's the evidence you're really worshiping God? We rejoice
in Christ Jesus. We look nowhere but Christ. We don't rejoice in our works.
We don't rejoice in our experience. We don't rejoice in the things
we do or the things we intend to do. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. All my salvation, all my hope
of acceptance before God is in Him. Paul said it this way, God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, you know what people do
when they rejoice in Christ Jesus? Third thing, I have no confidence
in the flesh. None. None. I don't have any confidence in
my flesh. Anything that has anything to do with me, I have no confidence
in it. Anything that has anything to
do with you, I have no confidence in it. We have no confidence
in the flesh. I love what Charles Spurgeon
said. He said, with regard to my good
works, And with regard to my bad works, I see such a wonderful
similarity between the two. I can't tell the difference. And here's what I'm going to
do. I'm going to bundle them all up and throw them overboard
and go into heaven on the plank of pure, free, sovereign grace. I like that. One final scripture, Colossians
chapter two, verse 11. In whom also you are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Now hold
on there for just a moment. Here he's not talking about spiritual
circumcision. Now in physical circumcision,
something is removed. In the circumcision of Christ,
something was removed. The sins of God's elect, that
whole body of sin became his sin. And it was removed by the
sacrifice of himself. That's called the circumcision
of Christ. And that's how your sin was removed. Him being circumcised
on Calvary's tree. That's the way Paul describes
it. Something was removed. Something was made to be gone. And that's what he did. He removed
our sins. He separated as far as the East
is from the West. He cast them behind his back.
I love that term because God doesn't have a back. But to let
us know that he doesn't, they're gone. They're cast behind his
back. Something was removed. The putting off of the body of
the sins of the flesh because of the circumcision of Christ.
Now let's go on reading. buried with him in baptism, wherein
also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who has raised him from the dead, and you being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us and was contrary to us and
took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross and having spoiled
principalities and powers, he made a show of them, openly triumphing
over them in it. Now, three circumcisions, the
circumcision of the flesh, And if that's the route you go,
Christ shall profit you nothing. If you think salvation has anything
to do with something you do, Christ shall profit you nothing.
The circumcision of the heart, where you worship God, rejoice
in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. and
the circumcision of Christ. Here's why you had that circumcision
of the heart. Here's why God did this. He got
rid of your sin. It's gone. And now God can do
for you what he would never do had you any sin, but Christ put
it away. Well, I hope we have a little
bit more understanding of circumcision. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would perform this operation on us, the circumcision of our
hearts, that we might be enabled to worship you in spirit, to
rejoice in our blessed son, and to have no confidence in the
flesh. Lord, how we thank you for the circumcision of our Redeemer,
wherein he put away our sin. the whole body of sin and made
it to be no more so that you can have mercy and grace upon
us. Lord, bless this message to our understanding. Lord, we
won't understand anything unless you're our teacher. As we face
this coming week, we ask that we might be enabled to walk with
our dear son. In his name we pray.