alright let's go ahead and get started you can turn to Genesis chapter 17 Genesis chapter 17 we looked at the first half last week and we'll look at the latter half this week with some additional stuff from the New Testament the beginning in Genesis chapter 17 at verse 1 when Abram was 99 years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him I am almighty God walk before me and be blameless and I will make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly then Abram fell on his face and God talked with him saying as for me behold my covenant is with you and you shall be a father of many nations no longer show your name be called Abram but your name shall be called shall be Abraham for I have made you a father of many nations I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you and Kings shall come from you and that will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and your descendants after you also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession and I will be their God and God said to Abraham as for you you shall keep my covenant you and your descendants after you throughout their generations this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you every male child among you shall be circumcised and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the Covenant between me and you he who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised every male child in your generations he who is born in your house are bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant and the uncircumcised male child who is not circumcised dinh the flesh of his foreskin that person shall be cut off from his people is broken my covenant then God said to Abraham as for Sarah your wife you shall not call her name Sarai but Sarah shall be her name and I will bless her and also give you a son by her then I will bless her and she shall be a mother of Nations kings of people's shall be from her then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart shall a child be born to a man who has 100 years old and shall Sarah who is 90 years old bear a child and Abraham said to God oh that Ishmael might live before you then God said no Sarah your wife shall bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him and as for Ishmael I have heard you behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly he shall be get twelve princess and I will make him a great nation but my covenant I will establish with Isaac whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year then he finished talking with them and God went up from Abraham so Abraham took Ishmael his son all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money every male among the men of Abraham's house and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day as God had said to him Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin and Ishmael his son was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin that very same day Abraham was circumcised and his son Ishmael and all the men of his house born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner were circumcised with him amen well God the Lord had given many promises to Abram and they're all codified here in this covenant of circumcision remember that's how Steven refers to this particular situation he calls it the covenant of circumcision often we call it the Abrahamic covenant I don't think there's materially any differ there but to use the biblical nomenclature from Stephen it's good to refer to it as the covenant of circumcision so in Genesis chapter 12 initially when God calls Abram out of ur of the chaldeans he gives him a land promise and a seed promise Genesis 13 II we states that promise concerning the seed specifically Genesis chapter 15 he reiterates both seed and land promise and then here in Genesis chapter 17 he indicates that it's not only for Abraham but it's for his descendants after him so there's this promise given by God to Abraham concerning seed and concerning land and ultimately all of this comes to fruition in the great seed of Abraham even our Lord Jesus Christ we see how it moves from Abraham Isaac Jacob and down through the line ultimately to Christ the Lord Ishmael is not cut off fully by God but rather he is not the son of promise he's not the one ultimately entitled to these blessings from God well last week we looked at the the promises reiterated in verses 1 to 8 the sign of the Covenant in verses 9 to 14 which is circumcision now tonight we'll look at the declaration concerning Isaac in verses 15 to 22 and then finally the obedience of Abraham in verses 23 to 27 I don't think it's going to take us very long to move our way through this particular section so as I said some concluding thoughts later on with reference to baptism and circumcision circumcision sort of the connection between the two but in the first place notice the declaration concerning Isaac we have a bit of a renaming ceremony we already saw that with Abraham he goes from Abram to Abraham and here Sarah is Sarah has her name change Sarah is most likely my princess Sarah means princess so not just my princess in terms of Abraham but she is a princess now to the nations of the world that's the the nature of the promise given to her by God notice the significance of this name change is stated verse 16 after highlighting the change from Sara - Sara verse 16 says and I will bless her and also give you a son buyer then I will bless her and she shall be a mother of Nations kings of people's shall be from him so it's very much parallel to what we find with reference to Abraham after God lengthens his name he gives him substantially the same promise notice back in chapter 17 at verse 6 verse 5 be for I have made you a father of many nations I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you and Kings shall come from you so the same sort of thing is highlighted here with reference to Sarah and this is significant because all along the way Abraham has been asking that somebody else would be the heir he does not at this particular time think that there is going to be a son from Sarah we see that even as we move through this particular narrative he laughs he falls on his face or he falls on his face and laughs and asks God could it be the case that someone would be born from a couple that's this all so he has asked in chapter 15 that it would be a servant from his household that would become the heir and of course that plan of Sarah in chapter 16 with reference to Hagar and Ishmael we see even in this section that Abraham still longs that Ishmael might live before God that he might be the son of promise according to the word that God had spoken but the Lord says no it is going to come through Sarah he has reiterated this time and again now on Abraham's behalf or in Abraham's defense remember that there's been a lapse of many years notice in chapter 17 at verse 1 when Abram was 99 years old the last reference was in verse 16 of chapter 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram so 13 years had elapsed still no child from Sarah and still no younger on serves bhop or Abram they're not going the right way in terms of you know - sire children they're going the wrong way and so these are definitely challenges to Abraham's faith and he asks God for specific confirmation and when it makes the observation that back in 15 3 Abraham had complained you have not given me descendants since then the Lord has given in the land 1518 and the Covenant 17 - but no son except Hague ours now there is to be a son for him from Sarah indeed the nations and Kings promise to Abraham in verse 6 are to be descended from Sarah so this is very crucial to God's dealings with Abraham of course Abraham laughs in this particular chapter Sarah's gonna laugh in chapter 18 at the proposition that Abraham and Sarah together are going to have a child so having made this name change with reference to Sarah highlighting the promise is going to come through Abraham and Sarah now notice the response of Abraham in verses 17 to 18 he is first of all incredulous now some of the older commentators say the laughter here is just the laughter of joy you know when something good happens to you laughs and and that is the case and I and I suspect that when good things happen to us we we at times do laugh but based on the question that he asks and based on the petition that he offers in terms of Ishmael living before God it would seem that he is incredulous with reference to the proposition not faith less but certainly struggling perhaps or lapsing maybe or challenged is probably the better word again realize that he is 99 years old he is no spring chicken and neither is his wife and for him to think of having babies is probably akin to you and I thinking of having babies when were 99 it's just not coming into our heads and all the while God has been promising that this will in fact be the case so he tells him specifically now that the seed the son the Promised One we come through Sara so verse 17 says Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart shall a child be born to a man who is 100 years old and shall Sarah who is 99 years old bear a child and Abraham said to God oh that Ishmael might live before you he falls on his face and he laughs now the name Isaac means laughter and it's gonna be cracking up here in a moment I'm sure walki says Abraham again stumbles and he really is after his namesake isn't it especially as we look at the narratives here and they dig walki Neil's something that's very appropriate he says Abraham again stumbles in incredulity after the Covenant has been given isaac means he laughs the name is pend upon in chapter 18 in chapter 21 so it's natural that Isaac among us would be a punster and be you know one who likes to laugh but that's what's going on here he falls on his face and he laughs another commentator makes this observation and I think he's right on and one of the things I want to point out later on tonight I'll give you a bit of a snapshot of that or a foreshadowing is God's kindness and God's goodness because when we get to the New Testament say for instance Romans chapter 4 paul doesn't detail the various times in Abraham's life where he did struggle the various times that Abraham's life way did lie the various times in Abraham's life that he would say to God oh that it might be Ishmael God through the Apostle Paul gives us this overarching blessed report concerning Abraham you see that in the history of the kings of Judah specifically they are called at least some of them the ones that did what was right in the sight of the Lord they weren't perfect men they didn't do everything on a scale you know from one to ten at a ten they had their blemishes they had their foibles they had their mistakes they had their sins and they had their failures but nevertheless it was said that he did what was right in the sight of the Lord you see that with reference to Abraham he does struggle from time to time there are lapses along the way there are lies there are sins that arrangement in Genesis chapter 16 when Sarah comes up with the plan for Abram to go into Hagar in order to get a sign he shouldn't have done that I mean that wasn't legit that wasn't consistent that wasn't waiting upon God so this particular felt a fellow says this he says in 1812 when Sarah also responded to God's promise with laughter the author shows that her laughter was met with divine disapproval then the Lord said why did Sarah laugh the absence of such a rebuke of Abraham's laughter here in chapter 17 suggested his laughter does not so much reflect a total lack of faith as it does a limitation of his faith in what God must do to fulfill his promise Abraham is not depicted here as one whose faith in God has reached full maturity rather he is one whose faith must still be pushed beyond its present limits I think that's a good way to get at this particular text it's a tough situation that Abraham is facing it's easy for us to jump out of the biblical text to look at this particular situation and say why don't you just trust and believe God when he says that Sarah is going to have a son brethren this is the struggle and this is the trial of faith when you're in the midst of hardship and you're in the midst of difficulty there are those outside of your situation that might say well you just need to knuckle under submit to God and trust in his good promises well it's not always that easy is it it's not always that easy to sort of snap your fingers and say okay I'm gonna actually believe God and and never waver and never doubt and never have any difficulty whatsoever see the Bible is good to us and that God reveals the true struggles and the true reality and even though the emotional challenges for the people of God and we are not to minimize that and we ought not to under appreciate that why I think it is imperative that we as God's people are reading our Old Testaments because you get these sorts of things all over the place and you see that the people of God they go forward to be sure but it's not this going forward that is you know 100-yard dash there's ups there's downs there's eggs and there's flows and you see that in the life of Abraham so he questions God he questions within himself of course Yahweh hears and Yahweh knows shall a child be born to a man who is 100 years old and shall Sarah who is 90 years old bear a child he then offers up the petition at the end of verse 18 oh that Ishmael might live before you he loves Ishmael there's no reason why he shouldn't love Ishmael Ishmael is his son he has grown affectionate of this boy this boy is now 13 and Abraham loves him and as far as Abraham is concerned Ishmael would be a good son of promise but that's not God's purposes according to his election and according to His grace the son of promise is going to be Isaac and he will come from Sarah so the petition is offered up the request of Abraham is offered up and it is intriguing that man oftentimes will try to take into his own hands those things that he judges God is slack on or that God is not able to perform and that's precisely what you see in Genesis 16 the whole plan initially with agar perhaps they both concluded that God was taking too long and he wasn't making good on this promise and the nature of Abraham's Abraham's question here specifically might indicate that God's not able to take an old man and to take an old woman and produce from them a particular sea so this is what man does he tries to short-circuit God's purposes and plans by taking matters into his own hands we ought to learn from this yes we use the means that God's ordained but no we don't try to usurp the authority excuse me and the sovereignty of God Almighty now notice the Lord's response to Abraham in verses 19 to 22 he tells him no Sara your wife shall bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac that's the reality in that statement alone is absolutely glorious go back to chapter 11 for a moment chapter 11 when we first meet Abram and Sarai we get the statement in verse 30 but Sarai was barren she had no child see I would imagine or I believe that this amount of time that transpired between the giving of the original promise and the actual birth of Isaac I would suggest that this all demonstrates the power and the glory of God and the fact that they are both old the fact that they are both passed the day or passed the age when persons typically are babies so that when Isaac is born to Sarah it is an occasion for the people of God to rejoice in the power of God because he's able to overcome every obstacle everything that looks like it may sidetrack the promise God nevertheless overcomes it by his power and by His grace he indicates that this covenant will be operative through Isaac it will be Abraham Isaac and Jacob notice in verse 19 be I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him turned over to chapter 26 chapter 26 you see God's statement to Isaac to this effect in Genesis 26 verse 3 dwell in this land and I will be with you and bless you for to you and your descendants I will get I give all these lands and I will perform the or oath which I swore to Abraham your father and that will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven I will give to your descendants all these lands and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed so you see there's this particular line that this covenant promise is operative through and that's what God's purpose is over in Genesis chapter 28 with reference to Jacob Genesis 28 at verse 13 and behold the Lord God stood above and above it and said I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the god of Isaac the land on which you lie I will give to you in your descendants also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth you shall spread abroad to the west and the east to the north and the south and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed behold I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you so you see all throughout these narratives the Lord continues to reinforce the promise to these particular men remember they don't have a Cambridge goatskin wide margin Bible they don't have a pocket edition of the Old Testament they keep in their pocket so they can survey the promises of God so it's imperative that God comes to them to nurture to nourish to sustain and to strengthen their faith and he does that by His Word now certainly he does that to us by His Word we have the written record of these particular dealings of God with these patriarchs plus we have the rest of the Bible the idea is is that we when we walk the walk of faith we do so based on the promises of God we need that nourishment we need that nurture the other night Sunday night we looked at Colossians chapter one and one of the things Paul indicates that is characteristic of a worthy walk before the Lord a walk that is fully pleasing to him is increasing in the knowledge of God and that increasing in the knowledge of God is absolutely crucial for our faith for our perseverance if we don't know our God and we are not looking to his promises and we are not being sustained by his word we are going to falter we are going to we are not going to persevere as we are it's not simply read your Bible because it's a requirement it is a requirement but read your Bible for the good of your soul and for the perseverance with reference to your faith in Jesus Christ notice as well with reference to Ishmael he highlights the reality that Isaac come from Sara that the Covenant will go through or God continue through Isaac and then he goes on with reference to Ishmael in verse 20 and as for Ishmael I have heard you with a prayer hearing God he not only communicates to Abraham he not only is friendly toward Abraham not only is Abraham the friend of God but God actually hears what Abraham says and God answers what Abraham has requested and its earthly blessing for this man Ishmael notice he says behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly he shall be get twelve princes and I will make him a great nation now from Jacob will descend twelve tribes princely tribes priestly tribes ultimately but with reference to Ishmael in terms of that earthly blessing there will be plenty later on in Genesis chapter 25 verses 13 to 15 it shows us the extent of those nations that that that Ishmael is over that Ishmael is responsible for commenting here John Gill says as the nation of the Turks especially is with reference to the to the great nation he says and the Turkish Empire is frequently called in Jewish writings the Kingdom of Ishmael as the Arabic language is called the Ishmael lightish language so this is an earthly promise in terms of earthly blessing for this man Ishmael for his posterity and for his descendants now it's not an entitlement to the earthly king to the to the heavenly Canaan and to all the spiritual blessings associated with life in Jesus Christ that's not to say no Turks no Arabs nobody outside or nobody within that that that group of peoples is immune to the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord they certainly are savable and God has purpose from every tribe tongue people and nation but God hears Abraham with reference to Ishmael and God promises Abraham that there will be blessing for Ishmael and then notice he reiterates the the covenant with Isaac in verses 21 and 22 but my covenant I will establish establish with Isaac so there's this contrast between Ishmael and Isaac that contrast comes out in Galatians chapter 4 for instance and that's a contrast that is very conspicuous and very particular so my covenant I will establish with Isaac then Sara shall bear to you at this set time next year then he finished talking with a with him and God went up from Abraham so God is communing with Abraham and then God went up now there's no local movement or motion it's a ATM it's anthropomorphism speaking concerning God in the manner of men that he has no longer speaking with Abraham now notice the the obedience of Abraham so Abraham is told reiterated promises here's what's going to happen and here's the sign of the Covenant he's then told that the son Isaac is going to come through him and Sarah and all of his hopeful fears and doubts are waged by God and certainly Abraham responds in obedience to the - to God in verses 23 to 27 notice in the first place the circumcision of its household verse 23 so Abraham took Ishmael his son all who were born in his house and all were bought with his money every male among the men of Abraham's house and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day as God had said to him so we see here very clearly that Abraham did instruct his family in religion later on God is going to say he has commanded his family with reference to religion and this is evidence of that if you go back to verse 14 and the uncircumcised male child who was not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin that person shall be cut off from his people he has broken my covenant verse 13 he who is born in your house and he was brought with your money must be circumcised and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant so last week I had pointed out that was reference to adult servants or adult slaves that Abraham had just he couldn't force them to be circumcised the Jews said they'd get about a year if they didn't some submit to circumcision you had to get rid of that particular slave but the fact that all of his household submits to this is a very good indicator that Abraham was the real deal that he did walk blameless blamelessly before the Lord and that he preached the true religion to all those in his family all those that he had purchased all those that made up his household sort of retinue they all submit to circumcision and it's very intriguing as well to notice the manner of compliance with reference to Abraham's obedience look at the end of verse 23 it says that he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day he didn't wait for you know a few days didn't wait for a few months he didn't wait for a few years you didn't have Bible studies to instruct them first and foremost on all of this he circumcised them that very same day and then notice as well his obedience was exact as God had said to him he didn't play games with the Lord Most High God spoke Abraham obeyed he did this because of his faith commitment in the living and true God and as a result of that when God says circumcise your household Abraham circumcised as his household now verses 24 and following indicate the ages of Abraham and Isaac Ishmael at this particular time and it sort of serves to cap off the the de chapter it's called an inclusion at the very beginning we have a reference to Abraham's age at 99 and at the very end we have a reference to Abraham's age at night abraham's age at 99 so it kind of closes off the chapter gives us that that that closure here specifically and it tells us that he engaged in that obedience to God on that particular day and he did it precisely as God had commanded him so that's the covenant of circumcision with reference to Abraham in Genesis chapter 17 and one get a few things in terms of practical application first the Covenant of circumcision remember last week I mentioned that that Abraham functions in a dual capacity or double capacity Nehemiah Cox said Abraham is to be considered in a double capacity he is the father of all true believers and the Father and root of the Israelite nation God entered into covenant with him for both of these seeds and since they are formally distinguished from one another their covenant interest must necessarily be different and fall under a distinct consideration the blessings appropriate to either must be conveyed in a way agreeable to their particular or peculiar and respective covenant interest and these things may not be confounded without a manifest posit to the most important articles in the Christian religion essentially what he is saying the covenant of grace was revealed to Abram we see that according to Paul in Galatians chapter 3 but the Covenant of circumcision is not the covenant of grace so the covenant of grace is revealed to Abraham in terms of blessing in terms of seed in terms of God's purposes with reference to a spiritual Kingdom so Abraham receives those promises from Almighty God but what is going on in Genesis chapter 17 is the Covenant of circumcision it is not the covenant of grace remember the covenant of grace is initially given as a promise in Genesis chapter 3:15 that promise is then moved along through the Old Testament but what our confession calls farther steps and the full discovery of the final realization of that that that promise is in the new covenant of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so what Cox is saying is that if we take the covenant of circumcision and we say everything that is true of that is true of the covenant of grace we're going to have big problems because remember that one of the key identifiers of this covenant of circumcision was a conditionality Lord you had to be circumcised in order to be included in this covenant of circumcision then we might have to say there's some sort of a work that we must perform in order to be among the covenant of grace but if we do that it's no longer a covenant of grace so that's what cots is saying you can't take the covenant of circumcision the covenant of grace and sort of mingle them together because you'll end up with neither of them and it will do a great disservice to the various to the most important articles in the Christian religion we looked last week at Galatians chapter 4 remember where Paul says Abraham had two sons there's a son of promise and then there's a son according to the law one man Henry Lawrence on Galatians 4 says here you have a distinction as it were of two abraham's of begetting abraham and the believing abraham and also of two seeds the children of the flesh that is by carnal generation only and the children of the promise and that is precisely what Paul is doing in Galatians chapter 4 and what he calls their an allegory or he speaks in terms of symbolism with reference to the covenants the Old Covenant in the New Covenant the old is represented by Ishmael it's a law covenant the New Covenant is represented by Isaac it's a promise or a covenant it's a blessed covenant full of grace and mercy and kindness so the role of Abraham as the father of all true believers is certainly taught in the New Testament that the covenant of grace was revealed to Abraham we have no doubt based on Paul's writings in Galatians chapter 3 but the role of Abraham as the father of the Israelite nation that's what specifically in view here in Genesis chapter 17 and so this circumcision was into the covenant people of Israel now as we see with the circumcision of Ishmael it wasn't necessary that one be a believer in order to bear that covenant 'el sign he had Isaac who was a believer and you have Ishmael who wasn't a believer but both bore the sign in their foreskin and both were good members in the old covenant community now if the Bible doesn't tell us anything otherwise than perhaps we would assume the new covenant would operate just like that but Jeremiah 31 does not tell us that the new covenant operates that way only those who benefit of the partake of the Covenant blessings will partake in the Covenant sign which is baptism in the new covenant and then the revelation I'm sorry the covenant of circumcision as foundational to the Israelite nation and ultimately contingent on obedience 17:14 is a works principle in the Abrahamic covenant you cannot you cannot miss that the uncircumcised male child who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin that person shall be cut off from his people he has broken my covenant he can't be a part of the Covenant if he doesn't get circumcised we can't say that about baptism for instance in the New Testament you can't say that about any work that you or I do with reference to the New Covenant it's based on the work of Jesus Christ and his perfect obedience by which we are made partakers of all those blessings of the covenant of grace now secondly look at Colossians chapter 2 Colossians chapter 2 as we consider the connection between circumcision and baptism excuse me this connection between circumcision and baptism I'd love to be able to spend time here and you know try to deal with everything going on in Colossians 2 but we can't and we're not but just a couple of main thoughts with reference to this sort of enigmatic portion of Scripture it's not an ting to anybody but a paedo Baptist for Baptists it makes you know perfect sense it's an argument from Paul based on what believers have in the one who is or that is their sufficiency in Jesus Christ but notice specifically in Colossians 2:11 and 12 he says in him you also are you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ buried within baptism in which you also were raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead now the first thing we ought to observe here is the type of circumcision in view in Colossians 2:11 Colossians 2:11 is not dealing with the cutting off of the male foreskin Colossians 2:11 is not dealing with the cutting off of the male foreskin Colossians 2:11 is not dealing with physical circumcision Colossians 2:11 is dealing with spiritual circumcision spiritual circumcision is highlighted in both the Old Testament and the New Testament fact turn to the book of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy chapter 10 while you're turning there perhaps you'll remember Sunday sermon in the morning in the morning hour when Stephen rebukes his audience circumcised men he says you were uncircumcised of heart and ears so the physical circumcision was the badge the identification badge for membership in Old Covenant Israel but physical circumcision also pointed to the reality of spiritual circumcision and that spiritual circumcision had to do with the heart and if you notice in Deuteronomy chapter 10 at verse 16 Deuteronomy 1016 therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be stiff necked no longer again these are circumcised people physically circumcise members of Old Covenant Israel and yet they are being admonished to circumcise the foreskin of their heart and to be stiffed net no longer no longer be idolaters no longer be caught up with the various God's around you turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 30 Deuteronomy chapter 30 which actually is pointing forward to new covenant blessing Deuteronomy chapter 20 I'm sorry Deuteronomy chapter 30 verses one to ten speaks very specifically of the New Covenant and in Deuteronomy 30 at verse 6 and the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul that you may live so you see the physical circumcision pointed to in one way I mean physical circumcision did a lot more than just this but it also pointed the spiritual realities of the necessity of heart circumcision what we might call regeneration or the new birth or gods having dealt with us in a converting sort of a way Jeremiah chapter 44 speaks to this same sort of reality again amongst a circumcised or physically circumcised people people in the Old Covenant people in the Commonwealth of Israel Jeremiah 4:4 circumcise yourselves to the Lord and take away the foreskins of your hearts you men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem lest my fury come forth like fire and burn so that no one can quench it because of the evil of your doings now turn to the New Testament specifically in the book of Romans Romans chapter 2 again just highlighting the emphasis in Colossians 2:11 is not on physical circumcision but on spiritual circumcision it's important that we get that so we can see what Paul is doing in Colossians 2 11 and 12 but if you look at Romans 2 verse 28 he says for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not from men but from God you see there's a big distinction there between you know the physical circumcision in the male for skin and the circumcision of the heart and then turn over the book of Philippians Philippians chapter 3 Philippians chapter 3 verse 1 finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord for me to write the same things to you as not genius but for you it is safe beware of dogs not canines Judaizers not big dogs that terror into your leg but people that teach you bad doctrine see Jews referred to Gentiles as dogs and Paul is turning that over on that he's saying Judaizers those coming to the churches saying that it's okay to believe in Jesus but you also must be circumcised he calls those people dogs so he says beware of dogs should beware of evil workers beware of the mutilation they preach circumcision Paul rightly its mutilation that's what's happening here with reference to these persons and then he says in verse three for we are the circumcision the new American Standard renders out we are the true circumcision I think that's a good good interpretation we are the true circumcision who worship God in the spirit rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh so going back to Colossians 2 verse 11 deals with spiritual circumcision it's very specific in him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ so Colossians 2:11 speaks of the circumcision that Christ does on the hearts of his alack when he puts off the body of sins he puts off the flesh he puts off wickedness we call this regeneration we call this conversion Johnny D says it is plain that the spiritual circumcision is not different from regeneration or the putting off the old man and putting on the new man he goes on to say the mark in the foreskin was the token of being a Jew but the off sewn body of the flesh was the index of one's being a Christian so that's the spiritual reality in Colossians 2:11 now let's look at verse 12 he says buried with him in Baptism in which you also were raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead so the baptism of verse 12 is the outward sign or the visible representation or the symbol that the truth of verse 11 has occurred in the person okay whenever we baptize somebody we try to make it known that when they go into that water there's no magic they don't go into that water a dirty Center and come out of that water a clean redeemed Center the the baptism is a symbol it's an emblem I usually call the kids up there there have been times where I've said that ISM is like a picture book beautiful BC you don't need any words you just open and you see the pictures and it communicates to you how beautiful BC is that communicates to people that what happens in their heart has happened as a matter of God's grace and that that baptism is an outward sign that speaks to that inward reality that's the connection between verses 11 and 12 those who are regenerated the language used by Paul here is circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ buried with him in Baptism you're buried with him in Baptism is the outward sign of the internal reality that's occurred according to verse 11 in the circumcision of Christ so this beautiful picture buried with him in Baptism sets forth the reality of regeneration regeneration is simply described here in verse 11 as circumcision made without hands it's the same concept that you see in Deuteronomy 10 Deuteronomy 30 and Jeremiah chapter 4 when God tells them to circumcise their hearts the idea is is to be born again to be regenerate to be made anew be made alive to be born from on high Malone says therefore with reference to Colossians 2:11 and 12 circumcision was a prospective sign it was prospective looking forward it was a prospective sign of the need of heart circumcision while baptism is a retrospective sign of that heart circumcision already received and confessed this is the biblical connection between the two signs so Old Testament circumcision along with being the badge of identification as an Israelite pointed to the necessity of regeneration baptism in the new covenant points to the reality of regeneration so there's connection between circumcision and Tiz 'm but to say that the one has replaced the other is to go too far and in fact Johnny D makes that observation and Johnny D is a pedo Baptist or he was a paid O Baptist Johnny D and his life and ministry was a paid O Baptist he lived in the 1700s wasn't he 1700 Scottish Presbyterian a fantastic exegete he's got you know commentaries on Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians and Thessalonians a fantastic phenomenal exegetical work on the new town on the on those New Testament books and a committed paedo Baptist and I think what he says here is very telling he says the Apostle looks on circumcision and baptism as closely connected the spiritual blessings symbolized by both being of a similar nature though probably it would be straining the connection to allege it as a proof that baptism has been in all points ordained for the church instead of circumcision that's a very judicious very honest and very good admission on his part as one committed to about a peyto Baptist interpretation he realizes that while there are similarities and while there is connections it's going too far to say that the one has fully replaced the other that is an exegetical misstep that is more to the doctrine of or rather the practice of paedo baptism than it is to the actual text of Scripture so you get that you get a practice that then overrules exegetical considerations and makes things fit where they were never intended to fit and then if you look specifically at Colossians 2:12 notice something else that's kind of fundamental to this whole situation he says buried with him in Baptism in which you also were raised with him notice through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead now I believe Paul assumes the faith on the part of the person baptized you can't just smuggle babies in there you cannot just say well in there children that's a theology driving an exegetical sort of observation you have to have good reason why babies are in Colossians 2:12 when he specifically highlights faith this goes along with the conspicuous pattern that we see throughout the Bible we have this belief then baptism and the emphasis on faith relative to baptism further strengthens that case this circumcision made without hands this circumcision by Christ where and he puts off the flesh this is regeneration regeneration is pictured by or symbolized by the waters of baptism those in the waters of baptism are there through faith in the work of God so all of this tells us that to find infant baptism in Colossians 2:11 and 12 is to find something that we have to first put there and we're not supposed to put things there we're supposed to uncover what is there and then the final practical observation I'd like to make with reference to Genesis 17 is the emphasis on Christ the emphasis on Christ when it comes to the promise made to Abraham and to Sarah we learn with reference to Abraham kings shall come from you verse sex and kings of peoples shall be from her verse 16 this points to Christ it points to the kingship with reference to relative to the line of June with specific reference to the Lord Jesus Christ John Gill says kings of people shall be of her as David Solomon and others and especially the King Messiah and when you get to the Shiloh prophecy specifically or when we get to the Shiloh prophecy specifically later on in the book of Genesis that's all about King Messiah it's all about Jesus Christ we ought not miss Christ in Genesis 17 I mean he's in other places too that's a specific emphasis with reference to Christ I had mentioned already the kindness of God when you read romans 416 222 and hebrews 11:8 212 it is akin to what we find concerning those kings in judah you know he did what was right in the side of the Lord even though we know at times he didn't always do what was right in the sight of the Lord right we went through first and second Kings we saw the the good kings of Judah and there were several but they weren't perfect Kings but at the end in terms of summary they did what was right in the sight of the Lord same with Abraham the treatment given to him in the New Testament Paul doesn't say well he lapsed here he lied here he did this here he did that no no who contrary to hope in hope believe he didn't waver the promise through unbelief but he he strengthened himself this is the language the Apostle Paul sees is true of Abraham in terms of the overarching trajectory of the life of faith well let's close in a word of Prayer father we thank you for your word and we thank you for this covenant of circumcision we thank you for what it teaches us concerning our Lord Jesus what it teaches us concerning Abraham and the various ways he functions in the Bible I pray that you would encourage our hearts as we read these things as we see Abraham C responds to your promise as he as he looks to you in faith God may you cause us to reflect upon this to grow in our own faith to grow in our own understanding of your promises and not to waver at these things through unbelief we ask that you would go with us now bless and strengthen each one in our church again we pray for those who are physically going through physical trials and challenges now we just commit them to you and to the word of your grace and we pray through Christ our Lord amen [Applause]
