The stanza in that song says,
heal my wounded, broken spirit, save me by thy grace. That's
the only way the Lord saves, isn't it? By his grace. By grace
are you saved through faith, and not of yourself. It is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Thank God for grace. This evening, the number that
we're gonna be looking at is the number eight, the number
eight. The eighth day is what I've titled
this. If you'd like to turn to Genesis 17. Genesis 17. Number eight represents God's
covenant to his people. And this covenant was given to
Abraham in Genesis 17. I find it miraculous as we spoke
on time, God's time on Sunday, Abraham is 90 years old right
here. It tells us plainly in the first sentence of this first
verse of the chapter. He's 90 years old whenever he
receives the covenant from the Lord, the promise. This is good
news because as long as there's breath, there's hope. As long
as there's breath, there's hope. The thief on the cross is a great
example of that. He died within the hour or the hours of hanging
on the cross beside the Lord. And the Lord said, this day you
shall be with me in paradise. As long as there's breath, and
our loved ones, there's hope that the Lord may choose to be
merciful to them. Genesis 17, and we're gonna begin
in verse number nine. And it says, and God said unto
Abraham, thou shalt keep my covenant therefore thou and thy seed after
thee and their generations. This is my covenant which he
shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee. Every
man and child among you shall be circumcised. and you shall
circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token
of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days
old, and that's where our title comes from, the eighth day. He
that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every
man child in your generations. He that is born in the house
or brought with money or 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 "'for an everlasting covenant. "'And the uncircumcised
man's child, "'whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised,
"'that soul shall be cut off from his people. "'He hath broken
my covenant.'" Now circumcision was given very simply as a sign
of the covenant between God and Abraham and Abraham's seed. It was to the household of promise. It was just a token of what would
come to pass. It was a token of the circumcision
inwardly that the Lord Jesus Christ would fulfill in the covenant
of grace. It's a cutting away of the flesh.
It represents the flesh dying or being cut away. Christ was
circumcised on the eighth day, fulfilling the covenant physically
speaking, being made under the law, keeping God's law completely
for his people. You remember also Apostle Paul,
whenever he's given his credentials, if you will, he says he was of
the tribe of Benjamin, the stock of Benjamin, it says, circumcised
the eighth day. Do you remember that? So we see
that from Abraham in Genesis chapter 17, all the way up until
Christ, this covenant was to give forth as a token of the
everlasting covenant. It did not save a man. It did
not cause him to be found in Christ, but yet, All of these
things were given as a sign and as a token of the everlasting
covenant. First Corinthians 1.29 tells
us the reason why the Lord demanded that they cut away the flesh.
And it was that no flesh should glory in his presence. Now there's a physical representation
of a spiritual meaning here. And so I wanna look at this circumcision
of the eighth day tonight. I want us to look at it the way
that the Lord intended it to be seen. In Deuteronomy chapter
10, he tells us, circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, your
heart, and be no more stiff-necked, for the Lord your God is God
of gods and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and terrible, which
regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward. This circumcision of
the heart is something that we cannot do. but yet it's demanded
of God. Circumcision is necessary for
salvation, but not physical circumcision, spiritual circumcision. What
the Lord did in crucifying the flesh, we died with Christ on
the cross of Calvary. He put away the sin of our flesh. He took unto him the sin of his
people and therefore put them away by his death on the cross.
This is the spiritual circumcision that was the sign and the token
given to Abraham here. This is what we're talking about.
This is our hope that the Lord hath cut away the foreskin of
our heart, that He hath taken, even though we're stiff-necked
and stubborn, we realize that God doesn't regard persons. He's
not a respecter of persons, that no sin can be found upon us.
We have been made to realize that He will not accept reward.
He's not looking for an offering of our hands. He's not looking
for us to do something outwardly. He's looking at what he done
in the person of Jesus Christ. That's where we rest. That's
why we're here this evening is to rest, to be comforted. And
that's the only comfort to the believer is to know it is finished. Everything that the Lord required,
Christ Jesus accomplished. Only the Lord can circumcise
the heart. He did this in his death. Our
flesh must be crucified, and it was crucified with Christ.
We died in the Lord Jesus Christ, literally, not figuratively.
All those who were in Christ literally died to death and now
are free, free from the law and free from death. That's why Paul
said, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Nothing can be said against the child of God any longer because
the Lord hath circumcised the heart of his people from the
foundation of the world. Paul said this in Galatians 20,
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. We can't work this work. We can't crucify ourself unto
Christ. Do we see that? Christ is the
one that had to put us in himself. Paul's not saying you must be
crucified with Christ. Certainly you must, but it's
not a declaration that goes out saying you need to do this physically.
Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. That's my only hope is
that when he died, I died. It's not something that I have
done in and of myself or a choice I've made. It's not a decision. It's not a prayer I've prayed.
It's not the outward circumcision that I've done or a work that
I've performed. It's that when he died, my hope
is that I died in him. that he put away the sin of my
flesh, that he gets all the glory in salvation. If he has, I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. That's why it's silly to have
the attitude when men say, I've made Jesus my choice. Men say
that, I've made Jesus my choice. I talked to a woman one time
and she said, she came up to me after the service, I was trying
to preach the gospel to the congregation there, and she put her finger
in my face and she said, I chose Jesus and I made a good choice."
And that was her righteousness. That is her physical circumcision,
if I can say it that way. That's exactly what took place
there. She made a choice. But what we don't understand,
what this woman apparently didn't understand, what the Lord's people
know to be true is that this is a inward circumcision that
the Lord does. You know what that means? He
gets all the glory for it. He gets all the glory for it. He
has cut away the foreskin of our heart. giving us a new heart
that looks unto Christ as all in salvation. God looks at the
heart and the heart must be circumcised before him. That's what this
token represented in Genesis chapter 17. This is what he done
on the eighth day. In Romans chapter 228 says, for
he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit,
and not to the letter, whose praise is not of men, but whose
praise is of God. Do you love the salvation that
the Lord gets all the glory for? I love God's salvation. If he
doesn't get all the glory for it, it's not his salvation. But
he gets all the glory for it, and it is his salvation, isn't
it? This is what he did on the eighth day for his people. He
circumcised our flesh by dying in our stead. Do you know why
men hate the gospel? Because it cuts away the flesh
completely. It cuts the flesh completely out of the equation,
that no flesh should glory in his, that no flesh should glory
in his sight. It cuts every, every single bit,
the tiniest fragment of flesh out of it. There is no flesh
involved whatsoever of you and I in any way, shape or form.
Why? Because his flesh pleased the Father. That's our hope.
Men hate the gospel because it cuts our flesh out of it. It cuts our works out of it.
It cuts our righteousness out of it completely. And it just
leaves Christ getting all the glory and salvation. And only
the Lord's people can rejoice in that salvation. This is not
done with man's hands. This is done with the Lord's
hands. I'm gonna show you that in Colossians chapter two. Turn
with me to Colossians chapter two. And look at verse 9. Now, speaking of Christ, it says,
for in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye
are complete in Him. Don't you love that? You are
complete in Him. Complete. There's nothing left
to do. There's nothing left to accomplish. Complete, whole,
perfect. All these are the same word.
We are complete in Him. Which is the head of all principality
and power, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism. This is what we quote, brethren,
when we baptize. Buried with him in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead, and you being dead
in your sins, In 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, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. Can you imagine the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us? Every sin, that we commit
the sin that we are, the unintentional sin, the thoughts that we have,
all the handwriting of ordinances against us, he took everyone,
every minute, minuscule, tiny, microscopic sin, if I can say
it that way, he took it unto himself, and he suffered for
it, and it's gone, completely gone. There's not one thing that
the Father sees when he sees those who died in Christ, those
who have the circumcision of Christ applied to their heart.
It says in verse 11, in whom also you are circumcised with
the circumcision made without hands. This is what the eighth
day represents, do we see that? This is the good news of the
gospel, the number eight. In putting off the body of the
sins of the flesh for the circumcision of Christ. This is the same exact
reason that we're baptized, is we're confessing that we're identifying
with Christ. We're identifying that we have
to have the circumcision of Christ, not the works of our hands, not
what we have done, but we're confessing Christ is all. It's
not for our salvation. It's a token given unto us. It's
a token, the same as the Lord's table. He said, this do in remembrance
of me. This is the two ordinances that
we, that we take part of as believers, baptism and the Lord's table.
We do this in remembrance of Him. We do this as a confession
of Him. We do this in a declaration saying,
I have to have Christ. I want to identify with Christ. Christ is all. He's all my righteousness,
all my salvation, all my sanctification, all my redemption. There's nothing
I can do in and of circumcising myself in order to please God.
I must have His. Righteousness applied. I need
a heart transplant and that's what the Lord does for his people,
isn't it? That's what the Lord did. Did it without hands? Did it by his own blood? He kept
this covenant, the one we just read about in Genesis. Every
covenant from Genesis Revelation. He kept the covenants of God
made for the salvation of his people and he accomplished the
Lord's people salvation. Isn't that glorious? There's
nothing for you to do. There's not one thing that he looks at
you and requires of you. Not a thought. Nothing. Not not a breath. He doesn't
even think he doesn't even say it. OK, all you have to do is
breathe. He doesn't even everything required. He accomplished. That's our rest. That's our hope. This baptizing baptism in the
Lord's table. Both were confessing his life
were confessing his death. We're confessing His resurrection.
We're confessing we want to be made alive in Him. Lord, cause
me to find, my life is hid in Christ, is what Paul said. Nevertheless,
I live, yet not I, Christ liveth in me. We just read that a minute
ago. Our life is hid in Christ. Our hope is in Christ, that when
He died, I died. When He was resurrected, I was
resurrected. Everything that the Father requires, Christ successfully
accomplished. The only way that we can rest
in this is because we've been made to. Nobody will rest in
the good news of the gospel unless they've been made to. Most men
will say, well, there has to be something I can do, something
that must be done. This is all religion everywhere,
isn't it? Men are trying to do something to please God. They're
trying to exalt their flesh a little higher than their fellow peer,
their fellow man. I certainly can relate to that
coming out of religion. What I used to think or do, my justification
was based completely upon me not being bad as so-and-so. It
wasn't based upon God's standards. And if any of you come out of
religion, you probably can relate to what I'm saying. I would look
at somebody and think that I was good enough for God because I
wasn't as bad as they were. That means I was just sitting
a little bit higher than they were. All that is is an outward
circumcision, isn't it? God's not pleased with that.
He's not pleased with me sitting higher than my fellow man. He's
pleased with Christ and I must be found in Christ. Having a
righteousness, not of the law, not my own righteousness, but
his righteousness. That's what God demands. Men
everywhere are doing the same things they were doing in 1 Corinthians
1. The Jews required a sign, the Gentiles, the Greeks seek
after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, don't we? To the Jews,
a stumbling block, to the Greeks, foolishness, but unto them which
are called, to them which are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God to them that
are called. Ain't you glad he saved you first and then called
you? To them that are called, if he saved you, he's gonna call
you. That's all there is to it. There's no other explanation.
He saved his people from their sin. Matthew chapter one, call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin.
He saved his people from their sin. And in the fullness of time,
we heard about Sunday, he calls us. And then he keeps calling
us, don't he? And he keeps calling us. And
He never leaves us to ourself before He is. Ain't that good?
He's been made all of our wisdom. We have no other confession besides
Christ. He's been made all of our sanctification. We've been
made perfect and holy in Him. He's been made our righteousness.
We have no righteousness of ourself. Anything that we can produce,
we counted as dung, as Paul did. He's been made all of our justification,
all of our redemption. Because of this, because of this,
because of what he has done. This is the circumcision of the
heart that he sees that he's pleased with because he sees
us in Christ Jesus. We have literally died to ourself
in him. This is what the circumcision
of the eighth day represents, the token that the Lord gave
of the covenant, the everlasting covenant, what he did for his
people on the cross of Calvary. This is so simple and we believe
it. We believe it because we've been
made to, but men misconstrue God's words. A good example of
that, speaking of circumcision, is found in Acts 15. In verse
one, he says, except these men were coming and preaching. They
were preaching this. They were adding to what Christ
had done, and he said, except you be circumcised after the
manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. Except you be circumcised
after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. That's what
these men were declaring. That's literally, opposite of
what the token represented, which is the everlasting covenant,
which is the circumcision of the heart. He tells us that in
Deuteronomy, and yet they were making a work out of it, literally
saying you have to physically be circumcised or you cannot
be saved. That's what these men were saying.
Peter declares this in Acts chapter 10. Peter opened his mouth and
said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons,
but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness
is accepted with him. So these misconstrued individuals,
and Peter certainly not being one of them, but men will take
Peter's word right here, and they'll apply it, and they'll
say, so you're saying all I have to do is be circumcised and work
righteousness, is that right? We can't. We can't be circumcised
in the heart. It's a spiritual matter. It's
not a physical matter, and we can't work righteousness. If
you've been made to be a sinner, you know that that's true. There's
nothing that you can do, nothing that you can produce that is
pleasing unto God. That's what righteousness is,
is what God will accept. pureness, perfection, holiness,
unblameableness. Christ Jesus is the only one
that did that. But men will literally say, you
need to work the works of righteousness. You need to physically do something
in order to make God or to make what Christ did effectual for
you. That's not true. That is not true. Christ gets
whoever is his, he's already got them. He called, he saved
them, then he called them. He that feareth Him and worketh
righteousness is accepted by Him. Is that true? Absolutely,
absolutely. But we have to understand that
fear and righteousness comes from repentance and faith. Fear
comes from repentance. God gives us a changed mind about
who God is and we fear to come before a holy God. And yet at
the same time, He gives us faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and
that is where the righteousness lies. the faith of the Lord Jesus
Christ. If you've been given the faith
of the Lord Jesus Christ, you've been made righteous. So Peter says
this again. I want to say this to us again.
I probably should have had his turn there, and I'm sorry. He
says, in every nation, he that fears him and worketh righteousness
is accepted with him. So you have to fear him and you
have to work righteousness. Well, how do I do that? Well,
you don't. Christ does. Christ did. And he does it in
you by giving you repentance towards God in faith to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Isn't that glorious? Everything that he requires,
he bestows upon his people. He did this all for his elect.
This is what the eighth day represents. He fulfilled all the law's demands.
We no longer try to keep a covenant, do we? In any way, we no longer
try to keep this covenant before God. We no longer try to keep
the ordinances of the scripture in the Old Testament. As far
as the ceremonies go, Christ, Fulfill all of that, we rest
in Christ Jesus. We've been given liberty in Christ. We've been given liberty in Christ.
That means we've been made free. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
five a few pages back. In Christ is the only true freedom.
Men talk about freedom in this world, but there's no freedom.
There's bondage even in this world. You have to pay taxes,
don't you? There's no freedom in this life, but there's freedom
in Christ. Free from the law. Free from the sting of death. Free from the consequences of
sin. Why? Because He put away our sin. Isn't that good news?
Galatians chapter 5. Look at verse 1. Stand fast,
therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Now there's
two sides, brethren, to this statement. Two natural possibilities
or two natural responses when a man reads this. Now I'm not
talking about a spiritual or somebody that's been born again,
a believer. I'm talking about just a natural
response from a human being that reads this. Stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Both of the
natural responses are wrong. The first one is they make the
term stand fast a work. Stand fast, they try to make
it into a work. All you have to do is stand fast. That would be the natural response
of a man. Okay, well, I can do that. I can stand fast. What
they don't understand is those who stand fast in the liberty
of Christ have been made to do so. Do we see that? Now, the
second response to this is also wrong, and it's an antinomian
mentality. Antinomians are the lawless,
the anti-moral. They have no standard or no law
that they go by. We are not lawless people, brethren. We are not antinomians by any
stretch of the imagination. We love God's law. Do we try
to keep it? No, certainly not. Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness, but we delight in the Lord's
law. We delight in what thus saith the Lord. We treasure his
covenants that he given forth and his statutes that he's placed
in. We know that there's consequences according to the flesh. I know
that if I am not faithful to my wife, there's going to be
consequences. Is that not right? It's that simple. Now, these
men would say, well, I have the liberty to do whatever I want
to do because Christ put away my sin. Perish the thought. Should we continue in sin that
grace may abound? What did Paul say? God forbid.
No, we're not moralist people, certainly not. The Lord's given
us these ordinances and we look to Christ as all in our salvation. Neither of these are a response
of faith. Neither of these are crying out for mercy from the
Lord, are they? The Lord says, stand fast. Therefore, in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, we must understand
that we've been made free in Christ, and therefore we are
standing. As Paul said, stand therefore,
having your loins girded about with the truth, having on the
breastplate of righteousness your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the
Spirit, the shield of faith, for with it shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. That's how we stand. It's completely
in Christ, completely in his finished work. All of the things
that is mentioned come from him. It's not something that we have
done. That's how we stand. Paul was addressing the Corinthians
with an issue. They had taken the Lord's table
and they had turned it into something frivolous. They had turned it
turned into something useless. They had turned it into a party
is what they did. And he addresses this issue. They were coming
together. and they were drinking in abundance.
The scripture says they were drunken, they were eating, they
were becoming gluttonous, so to speak. And Paul addresses
them and saying, do you not have houses to do this in? Or despise
ye the church of God and shame them that have not? What shall
I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? I praise you not.
Brethren, there's a time and a place for all things, isn't
there? There's a time and a place for all things. We are not antinomians
thinking that there's no consequences. When we come to this place, we
are coming to worship the one true and living God. We are not
coming to get our bellies full, are we? Because if we are, that's
probably all that's gonna get full. We know that there's consequences
according to the flesh. Our responsibility is to come
wanting to hear what God has to say, wanting to feast on the
bread of life. Wanting to feast upon the wine,
his blood, wanting to drink of the fountain of living water.
That's why we come here, isn't it? That's our desire. That's
why you're here tonight. We're not here to eat and drink
and be merry, are we? We're here to hear. We're here
heree to hear hear of the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished
work for his people. That's why we're here. Now, and let's read a few more
verses here. First one again, stand fast,
therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I pause
saying to you that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For
I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is
a debtor to the whole law. Christ has become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are
fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit, wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ,"
now here it is, brethren, for in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision
availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. What does it mean to be entangled
again unto bondage? Well, that means that we're trying
to produce something in and of ourself that God would be satisfied
with. Trying to do something that we
may sit a little higher than our peers. We've certainly been
made to rest in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we certainly do not
look to the outward things that we do in order to please the
Lord. We look unto Christ. If we do try to do something
to earn favor with God, then Christ profit us us nothing.
It's that simple. But we don't try to accomplish
salvation. Christ did that, didn't he? This
is where faith comes into effect for the child of God. We just
look to Christ as all in our salvation. We are constrained
by the love of Christ. We are kept by the power of God
to salvation. I love the idea that this is
a weak analogy, but. I don't. Our love is is not unconditional. Our love is conditional and even
the Lord's love is conditional. It's totally found only in the
Lord Jesus Christ. But as me and my wife continue
to grow older together and I continue to, I don't know if you say you
love each other more and more. I don't know. Does it? Does it
become more deep? I don't know how to exactly explain all of
that, I love her dearly, more than I loved her when I first
married her, for sure, in my mind, in my heart. But if she
didn't love me in return, if she was not faithful to me, if
she hated me and despised me, got a restraining order, well
then I'd be considered a maniac for trying to pursue her, wouldn't
I? Aren't you glad that the Lord's love in the Lord Jesus Christ,
when it comes to you, if you're in the Lord Jesus Christ, it's
never gonna change. It's never going to change. This
circumcision of the heart that he has done for his people. in
presenting them perfectly righteous before God. No matter what you
do, no matter what you think or where you go, if you are in
the Lord Jesus Christ, you can't get out of the love of God. Isn't
that glorious? Paul said, neither depth, nor
height, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate you from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus. That is good news to me. That's what constrains
the believer, isn't it? That is the constraining grace,
the love that God has given us. We don't stand up here and browbeat
the sheep and say you need to submit and get an order and do
this and that. We preach the love of Christ and he constrains
his people. My efforts unto my wife are based
upon her love towards me. I want to work for her because
she loves me. She loves me. And more than that,
God loves me. Think about that. God loves his
people. The wretched, vile, disgusting
creatures we are by nature. He truly loves us, not a love
like we love, a perfect love, a holy love. That's good news
to me. This is what the circumcision
of the eighth day represents, brethren. Now, lastly, I'll look
in the same chapter at verse 18. But if ye be led of the spirit,
you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are
manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, immolations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness,
revelings, and such like, of the witch I tell you before,
as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. So what he's saying here is all
that we have to do, all that we have to do in verse 18 is
to be led of the Spirit and will not be under the law, is that
right? Absolutely, but the thing about it is is you and I can't
choose to be led of the Spirit. They that have the Spirit of
God are the lords and he leads his people according to his will.
Men will take these words and say, so all that I have to do
to not be guilty of all of this is work, to do something. Some
kind of outward expression, some kind of confession, some kind
of a prayer. Maybe it's time given to the
church. Maybe it's going out and trying to be soul winners.
I remember hearing that so often preaching false religion, being
soul winners for Jesus. The Lord's going to get his people.
He's already got them. He's going to get them in his
time. He's going to bring them to the knowledge of Christ. That's
what I mean by get them. I think it's a Tennessee thing, and I
apologize for that. The Lord's going to bring his people. You
and I certainly should talk about the good things of the Lord,
and we do. That's what we want to talk about with people. That's
what we desire to talk about with people, but we're not sitting
there thinking that their feet are hanging over hell and we
have to make the difference by trying a little harder for God.
That's not how it works at all, is it? We rest in the finished
work of Christ. We rest in the finished work
of Christ for the salvation of his people. If you are led by
the Spirit of God, it's because He has circumcised your heart,
your heart. And He gets all the glory for
it, all the glory. The good news of this, the good
news of this is that you and I have been made perfect in Christ. And even though we are guilty
of committing every single one of these sins that you see right
here in this chapter, In God's eyes, we're not guilty of committing
those sins. They've been put away. They've been put away by
the death of Christ. They've been put away by His
own blood. Let's read the rest of this in
verse 22. This is what the child of God produces in the Lord's
sight, the fruit of the Spirit. It's love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against
such there is no law, and they, that are Christ's have crucified
the flesh. They that are Christ's have crucified
the flesh with the affections and lusts. What is he saying?
If you're Christ's, he's crucified the flesh. He's put away your
sin. He has circumcised the heart.
That's good news to me. It's not what we have produced
on the outside. And yet he's saying here, this
is what we produce in his sight. Goodness, meekness, temperance,
love, faith, the faith of Christ. And they that are Christ have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live
in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Let us not be
desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Brethren, We should strive to
pray to ask for these traits to be more predominant in our
life. I was thinking, Lord, do I really exhibit meekness and
temperance? Do I really exhibit love? Not
like I want to, not like I should. So what should we do? Just say,
well, I'll produce whatever the Lord's purpose. No, we should
beg for these, shouldn't we? Lord, cause me to love my brethren.
Scripture says, you know that you pass from death unto life
because you love the brethren. Lord, make me love you all more. Lord, cause you all to love me
more. Let's beg the Lord Lord. Give us this heart, the heart
of Christ that looks into him and that puts each other before
ourself. We look to Christ is all. That's
how we're. That's how we walk by the Spirit.
That's how we're led by the Spirit as we're looking to Christ is
all in our salvation that there's no glory for the flesh. He's
caused all this on the 8th day. His covenant was fulfilled in
Christ. He bought our pardon. He saved His people and He makes
us produce fruit. What has He left undone? Nothing.
Nothing. He saved His people from their
sin. He sat down. He sat down. It's finished. It's
finished. Therefore, brethren, we neither
work... That means to add to anything that the Lord Jesus
Christ has done. We do not work to add to anything Christ has
done, Do we approach frivolously the worship of God or the things
of God? That means to take away or to devalue Christ. We come
unto Him as mercy beggars, don't we? Come unto Him as mercy beggars. And He will in no wise cast us
out for that reason. We, the Lord's chosen people,
rest with great fear and stand fast in Christ as all. And He
gets all the glory for it. This is the circumcision of the
heart on the eighth day. That's what it represents. And
we rest in Christ's finished work. Amen. Father, thank you
for accomplishing everything in our salvation. Take your word
and apply it according to your will. In Christ's name, amen.