Genesis 071 – A Circumcised Heart

Genesis 071 – A Circumcised Heart

By Dr Andy Woods – 02/27/2022

Genesis 17:22-27

Alright! Well, good morning everybody. If we could, take our bibles and open them to Genesis chapter 17. Genesis chapter 17, and verse 22 (Gen 17:22). The title of our message this morning is “A Circumcised Heart”. A circumcised heart. The circumcision of the heart, what God is really ultimately after in people, and this comes up because we are continuing our verse by verse study through the book of Genesis.

GENESIS STRUCTURE

1. 1. Beginning of the Human race (Gen. 1‒11)
   2. Beginning of the Hebrew race (Gen. 12‒50)

1. 1. Genesis 1-11 (four events)
      1. Creation (1-2)
      2. Fall (3-5)
      3. Flood (6-9)
      4. National dispersion (10-11)

1. 1. Genesis 12-50 (four people)

1. 1. 1. Abraham (12:1–25:11)
      2. Isaac (25:12–26:35)
      3. Jacob (27–36)
      4. Joseph (37–50)

Genesis, 1 through 11 we completed. It’s a description there of the beginning of the human race, featuring four events: Creation, fall, flood and national dispersion. Do you believe those things happened? I do, because the rest of the Bible doesn’t make sense unless you believe those four things happened and then, as you’re moving through that section, you see a promise emerge early on, a promise of a coming savior and that promises traced from Genesis, 3, all the way through Genesis, 11 and then there’s a little bit of a tension, because we start to ask ourselves, well, through which nation is this messianic prophecy going to be fulfilled and the answer to that question is: God is going to create a nation. He can’t use the existing nations so He creates a new one called the nation of Israel and the creation of that nation starts to become the subject from chapter 12 onwards in the book of Genesis featuring four people. Four events, Genesis, 1 through 11, Genesis, 12 through 50, four people and those people are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and then, how the nation is going to be miraculously protected and preserved, because what God starts He protects, Amen? That, by the way, is how you know you’re going to be protected by God unto salvation, because He started that good work in you. The same thing is happening here with the nation of Israel and we will read about that preservation through God’s work through Joseph, Genesis, 37 through 50 but we are at the beginning point of the formation of that nation and so our focus has been on this man Abram, whose name became Abraham and we’ve been tracing his life and early journeys because he’s the pivotal figure through whom the nation of Israel is going to come and we got to Roman numeral ten there, all of the information about circumcision. 3:58

Genesis, 12‒16 – Abram’s Early Journeys

1. 1. Unconditional promises (Gen 12:1-3)
   2. From Haran to Canaan (Gen 12:4-5)
   3. In Canaan (Gen 12:6-9)
   4. In Egypt (Gen 12:10-20)
   5. Abram and Lot Separate (Gen 13:1-13)
   6. Reaffirmation of Abram’s promises (Gen 13:14-18)
   7. Abram Rescues Lot (Gen 14:1-24)
   8. Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 15:1-21)
   9. Hagar & Ishmael (Gen 16:1-16)
   10. Circumcision (Gen 17:1-27)
   11. Sodom & Gomorrah (Gen 18-19)

So we can take chapter 17 which we’re going to complete today, by God’s grace, somehow you guys don’t take me seriously when I give that promise anymore, and you can divide it into four parts:

Genesis 17:1‒27 – Circumcision

1. 1. 1. Covenant Restated (Gen 17:1-8)
      2. Covenant Token (Gen 17:9-14)
      3. Sarah’s Role (Gen 17:15-21)
      4. Abraham’s Obedience (Gen 17:22-27)

The covenant, see, the circumcision is the sign of the covenant but the covenant itself is restated in Genesis, 17, verses 1, through 8 (Gen 17:1-8), the Abrahamic Covenant and then what follows is a description of the covenant token. Every covenant has a sign and the token of this covenant is physical circumcision, you see that in verses 9 through 14 (Gen 17:9-14) and then last time we were together we looked at Sarah’s role, now Abraham’s wife, verses 15 through 21 (Gen 17:15-21) and it’s there we learned that this promise of a coming seed, a nation and a Messiah is not going to be fulfilled through the Hagar-Ishmael line but it will be fulfilled through a miracle child that is going to be born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age, a child whose name has actually already been given before he was born, but he’s not going to be born until chapter 21, a child named Isaac and given all of this revelation that Abraham has just received, what can he do other than obey God? So at this point as we’ll see, God stops talking and Abraham obeys. He does what God said and I hope as you’re coming to Sugar Land Bible Church in hearing biblical truth, I hope it’s not something that’s just staying in the mind, because when we are overwhelmed with biblical truth, the first thing we ought to do is okay, Lord, my life is your life. What areas of my life as a Christian need correction and straightening out and so if sound doctrine is not leading to sound practice, sound doctrine has lost its point. Many people think that they reach a level of spirituality because of what they know and that’s not what the Bible teaches. People reach a level of maturity when they apply what they know, where knowledge turns into wisdom. That’s how you really start to grow as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and so we see here Abraham doing exactly what God says and leading his whole household through this ritual of circumcision and so we can take these few verses and just divide it into six parts. We see a cessation, circumcision, information about Abraham’s age and Ishmael’s age, we see a statement about timing and we see that Abraham’s whole household complied with what God said. 7:18

1. Abraham’s Obedience – Genesis 17:22-27
2. 1. 1. Cessation (Gen 17:22)
      2. Circumcision (Gen 17:23)
      3. Abraham’s age (Gen 17:24)
      4. Ishmael’s age (Gen 17:25)
      5. Timing (Gen 17:26)
      6. Abraham’s house (Gen 17:27)

Notice first of all the cessation. Look if you will at verse 22 (Gen 17:22): When He… That’s God… finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham… So God, you’ll notice, stops communicating at this point. This is in contrast to what you see at the beginning of the chapter where it says, chapter 17, verse 1 (Gen 17:1): The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him… So God starts the conversation, beginning of the chapter and now God ends the conversation and as you go through the Bible what you’ll discover is this happens a lot to people. God talks to them then He stops talking. Genesis, 35, verse 13 (Gen 35:13) says: Then God went up from him at the place where He had spoken with him… The communication stopped. Ezekiel chapter 11, verse 24 (Ezek 11:24) says: And the spirit lifted me and brought me in a vision by the spirit of God to Chaldea to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen left me… So there are epochs and eras in the Scripture where God speaks and then God stops speaking. I would be so bold to say this, that for the last two thousand years God is no longer speaking in an audible voice the way He spoke to Abraham. This shouldn’t be a surprise cause clearly you can see times when God talks and when God doesn’t talk and the reason I say that is because you are holding in your hands something that Abraham couldn’t even dream of, Ezekiel couldn’t dream of it, Daniel couldn’t dream of it. A completed canon of Scripture. Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 and 2 (Heb 1:1-2) describes our privileges in this regard. It said: God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son… In fact, His there in Hebrews, 1, verse 2 is an italics, meaning it’s not part of the original, it’s been supplied by the translator. But that verse literally says in these last days He has spoken to us in son, in the person of Jesus Christ. You have a completed revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ, you have a completed disclosure of God in the completed canon of Scripture, 39 Old Testament books, 27 New Testament books and the book of Jude chapter 3 talks about the faith that was once and for all handed down to the saints. The kingdom of the cults always misses this point, because they have some sort of vision, some sort of revelation, some sort of voice, audible vision, visionary disclosure from God that supplements the Bible. But there is no such thing. There might be such an experience but that would be Satan masquerading as an angel of what? An angel of light. There is no such thing, there is no need for such a thing because we have in the Bible a completed canon of scripture and anybody that would add to this book is simply saying: Well, the disclosure that I’ve had from God must be Revelation chapter 23. The problem is your Bible and my Bible only goes so far as Revelation chapter 22 and this gets us into how God has decided to communicate with mankind. 11:56

There are basically three ways. The first is something called revelation where God discloses something, either a vision or a voice to a biblical writer, that’s called revelation. Then, that biblical writer writes it down without error, that’s called the inspiration and following that, God then gives to His people the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the tools whereby they can understand what God said in written form. We call that illumination. Revelation, the disclosure, inspiration, the recording of it, illumination, the capacity to understand it and if I had time, I could give you the Bible verses for all of these and our basic position here at Sugar Land Bible church is there is no more revelation. There are no more dreams or visions from God. There is no more inspiration, the biblical writers aren’t expanding the canon. Sometimes in my sermons I feel very inspired but it doesn’t rise to the level of biblical inspiration. Revelation has ceased, inspiration has ceased, illumination though is an ongoing reality. In fact, every time I come to this church and have the opportunity to speak I ask for the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit. Whereby the people of God can understand what it is that’s being communicated. If I don’t have that going for me, then I’m nothing more than another voice in the crowd. But through the ministry of illumination you can understand what God has said. That famous story, you know, of the missionary who runs into somebody and says you need to know Jesus Christ as your personal savior, would you like to receive him as your savior now? And the potential convert says, well, I’ll receive him as my savior but I have ten questions I want answered first. So the missionary kind of looks at his watch and he says, well, I have another appointment but I’ll come back tomorrow and answer your ten questions if you trust Christ as your savior now. So the potential convert then became a convert he had trusted in Christ and then the missionary kept his word and he came back twenty four hours later and said, I’m ready to answer your ten questions and now the new child of God born again said, Oh! I don’t have those questions anymore, they’ve all been answered. That’s the power of the ministry of illumination where He will help you understand using proper Bible study methodology of course, he will help you understand what God has said. There is no possible way that God would have gone to all the trouble over all of the centuries to reveal and record the information in this book and then say, ha ha! you’re left to your own devices to understand it. That’s the ministry of illumination. Revelation ceased, inspiration ceased, illumination though is alive and well. In fact, there were times in my life before I was actually saved, born again, that I tried to read the Bible. I knew the Bible was an important book and I remember being very, very young at my parents house they had a great big Bible there on the coffee table. I remember trying to read it and the whole thing just was an absolute maze to me, made no sense. In fact, it was a book that I easily lost interest in. It was like reading encyclopedia Britannica or Webster’s dictionary, it didn’t really speak to me and I remember at the age of sixteen after becoming a Christian how different the Bible was to me, because at that point I had trusted Christ as my savior, Jesus via the Holy Spirit was living on the inside of me, my body was the temple of the Holy Spirit and suddenly I had a desire to read that book and as I was moving through the book, it’s almost as if it was talking directly at me, to me, dealing with me in the areas of my life, something the Bible really had no ability to do for me before. And this is of course, credited to, now something greater than myself was inside of me called the Holy Spirit and He was exercising and executing a promise that Jesus said He would keep in the upper room where He said the Spirit would guide you into all truth, now the Holy Spirit was keeping that promise to me. So just because you don’t see a vision or hear an audible voice from God, don’t let that discourage you. What He’s given to you is step one in the communication process, revelation, for the biblical writers. Step two in the communication process, inspiration, the recording of what God said without error and now He’s given you all the way in the year 2022, step three in that process, that ministry of illumination. 17:57

A lot of people sort of read this and they feel short changed, gosh! I just want to hear a voice from God. I want to see a vision. But the truth of the matter is not even Abraham saw these things all of the time. Here are and we’ve used this quote before, the seven times where God appeared to Abraham and spoke and then in between, there are times when God is not speaking.

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum – The Book of Genesis, 240

“This is the first of seven times that Abraham receives a direct revelation from God. In 12:1–3 is God’s initial call to Abram outside the Land of Canaan; in 12:7 is the first appearance to Abraham in the Land; in 13:14–17, Abraham encounters God after the separation of Lot; in 15:1–21, God signs and seals the Abrahamic Covenant; in 17:1–21, Abraham receives the token of the covenant; in 18:1–33, God speaks to him in conjunction with the destruction of Sodom; and in 22:1–2 and 22:11–18, God directs Abraham to offer Isaac.”

We believe that ever since the end of the first century with the death of the last apostle, the apostle John, God is not speaking audibly and visually as He did with Abraham. But He has given the ministry of illumination, which can be so overwhelming that you feel like God is speaking to you. But it needs actually to be put in a different category other than revelation or inspiration and if you don’t have it in a different category suddenly you’re opened up to the kingdom of the cults that’s always seeking to add to the revealed word of God and yet what God has given you in His word is completely and totally sufficient for your life. This is the promise of 2nd Timothy, 3, verses 16, and 17 (2 Tim 3:16-17) it says: All Scripture is inspired by God… There’s a Greek noun, theopneustos. It basically means God and breath, God and wind and it’s describing the scripture as it came into existence and was recorded as the very breath and saliva of God Himself… All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequately equipped for… 97% of good works. Doesn’t say that, does it?… Equipped for every good work… The scripture, if you allow it, is completely sufficient for your entire life, in terms of faith and practice and what God would have for you. Everything He wants to communicate to you is available in this book and then, in case we don’t understand it, the Holy Spirit is alive and well in your life as a child of God helping understand what He has said. Peter says virtually the same thing. In 2nd Peter, 1, verses 3 and 4 (2 Pet 1:3-4), he says: Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust… How can I, as a child of God, escape in terms of daily life, the pattern of the world characterized by lust? Well, God has given us not just promises but precious and magnificent promises. What you’re reading in this book are precious and magnificent promises that God has given to equip you and you’ll notice what He says back in verse 3, that these things pertain to everything pertaining to life and Godliness. 22:06

So you have to understand the theological background of Sugar Land Bible church. We believe in the inspiration of the Bible. We believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. In other words, what the biblical writers recorded in the original manuscripts were recorded without error and there are many churches that believe in inerrancy and they believe in inspiration but they don’t believe in sufficiency. We take it a step further because we believe in sufficiency. In other words, what is here is enough. There is no auxiliary book that you have to seek out that’s somehow missing. There is no auxiliary voice or dream or vision that somehow is left out that you have to seek. It is a completed revelation that is completely sufficient. One of our position statements here at Sugar Land Bible church, the position statements, describe the angle from which the Bible is taught at our church. You might take a look at those and you’ll start to see why we do what we do.

SLBC Position Statement No. 7 – Temporary Spiritual Gifts

“This church teaches that the miraculous sign gifts, including the gift of tongues, (always the ability to speak in a previously unlearned, known language) along with the gift of healings were temporal gifts, given by the Holy Spirit solely to authenticate both the apostles and their message before the close of the canon of Scripture (1 Cor. 13:8-10). We do not believe that these are active as gifts today. However, we affirm that God is sovereign and may heal today. We believe that the majority of what is termed ‘miraculous’ within the contemporary charismatic movement is something other than the Biblical gifts of tongues or healing.”

It says: This church teaches that the miraculous good gifts, including the gift of tongues, (always the ability to speak in a previously unlearned, known language) along with the gift of healings were temporal gifts, given by the Holy Spirit solely to authenticate both the apostles and their message before the close of the canon of Scripture. We do not believe that these are active as gifts today. However, we affirm that God is sovereign and may heal today. We believe that the majority of what is termed ‘miraculous’ within the contemporary charismatic movement is something other than the Biblical gifts of tongues or healing… We do believe God heals. But when God heals we believe, when He chooses to do that, He doesn’t directly, rather than indirectly through someone claiming they have some sort of gift of healing and there are a number of gifts that were active in the book of Acts that we believe ceased with the closing of the canon. One of them was the audible visual disclosures of God. Why would God have to be audible and visual when He’s given us this book that contains within it sufficient promises that will equip us for every good work and when you start to see this theological understanding and this is not shared by Christians worldwide, as you probably know. But when you start to see this theological angle and this theological understanding then it starts to make sense why we spend a whole hour, sometimes more, can I get an amen on that? Studying the Bible and then in the first session, we do the whole thing just as a warm up act on a different area of scripture and Wednesday night we do the exact same thing on a different area of scripture. I mean, the Bible, the Bible, the Bible, the Bible, the whole Bible and nothing but the Bible. Why do you do that? Because of our belief in sufficiency. This is what people need to understand: this book guided by the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit. So God is talking to Abraham and then God stops talking, kind of like today, God was talking now He’s not talking in the same way because He’s given us something that’s sufficient. 26:28

Abraham’s Obedience – Genesis 17:22-27

1. Cessation (Gen 17:22)
2. Circumcision (Gen 17:23)
3. Abraham’s age (Gen 17:24)
4. Ishmael’s age (Gen 17:25)
5. Timing (Gen 17:26)
6. Abraham’s house (Gen 17:27)

So what is Abraham supposed to do following this cessation? He’s supposed to be involved in circumcision and you see that there in verse 23 (Gen 17:23) it says: Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all the servants who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, as God had said to him… So Ishmael is circumcised at this point. Everyone born in Abraham’s household is circumcised, everyone who is bought with money in Abraham’s household is circumcised and then it talks here about males only. Now, there are some religions that practice female circumcision. We don’t believe that that was what was practiced here. It specifically says for the males and you’ll notice here it says, Abraham did this the very same day. Some of your translations will say something like the self-same day. What a tremendous practice to get involved with. God through His word tells you to do something and why not deal with it the very same day through illumination, God illuminates that to you. You know, I remember as a new Christian coming back from college in a dorm where there was a lot of, you know, well, I won’t fill in a lot of the details, but there was a lot of stuff going down, let’s put it that way and part of the things going down related to conversations that were sort of, of a gossipy acrimonious nature and I remember coming home from college and sitting under my pastor at the time and I remember him teaching out of James chapter 3 and if you don’t know what’s in James chapter 3 you ought to read that, cause it deals with taming the tongue and as he was giving that sermon I thought to myself, how does he know what I was doing in that dorm? I mean, it’s almost like the whole thing was aimed right at me. That’s the ministry of illumination and when God shows you that, you just make a decision that Lord, you know, I’m not a perfect person, you’re going to have to help me bring this under control but I remember that self-same day, I just made a decision that I wasn’t going to be involved anymore in those kinds of conversations. Think how different our spiritual lives would be when the Lord deals with us on a matter and we immediately under His power rein in whatever issue it is that He’s bringing to our attention. One of these things you see in this man Abraham is obedience. A perfect life, no. He made His mistakes. We saw one earlier in the prior chapter and there’s more mistakes coming. That’s why we can identify with these biblical characters so well, but you see a man who is open to the disclosure of God and he’s willing to readjust his life according to what God shows him. There is a lot more to Christianity than the accumulation of data and knowledge. In fact, at some point knowledge needs to become wisdom. In fact, in Greek there are two completely different words for the two. Knowledge is gnosis, wisdom is sophia. Wisdom is the ability to apply what you know. So God never gave knowledge, and there’s a lot of it for us here, as the last step. Knowledge as far as God is concerned is not the end game. It’s a beginning point. Knowledge is an important step, knowledge is a first step, but at some point in order to grow as a Christian, that knowledge has to be applied. That’s why in one of our Wednesday night series I taught through the book of James. What a book on applying biblical knowledge to daily life. I don’t know if you’ve read it lately, you might want to start moving through the book of Proverbs. There’s all kinds of things you are going to find in the book of proverbs, right down to debt, money, credit cards, it doesn’t say credit cards but that’s a loose translation, get rich quick schemes, how to treat your neighbor when your neighbor extends their property onto your property. I mean, you wouldn’t believe how practical it gets and this was who Abraham was. He was a person that wasn’t perfect but when he heard something from God, he applied it to daily life and so he may not have understood everything about circumcision. In fact, where Abraham came from Ur of the Chaldeans, the best we know is that part of the world, is that circumcision was a foreign idea to them. It was common in other parts of the ancient Near East but not the Ur of the Chaldeans, Abraham’s home and he may not have understood everything there is to understand about it but he did what God said and that by the way, is how you ascertain spiritual maturity. You don’t ascertain spiritual maturity by the amount of information you know, although knowledge is very important. 32:49

The late Bruce Baker who recently passed away has a wonderful definition of spiritual maturity; he defines it as the amount of time a Christian spends actively obeying what he knows to do. He doesn’t define it as the amount of time a Christian spends studying, although studying is very important. But he defines it as the amount of time a Christian will actually put into practice what he knows or what she knows and to bring this home just a little bit, we are in the process as you know, of selecting leaders for the church here at Sugar Land Bible Church, deacons or elders, the process starts with taking nominations from the congregation. I would say those are the kind of people that you should nominate. Not necessarily the loudest person in the room. Not necessarily the person that’s most successful in the business world but look for people who you think have spent time, the vast majority of time, not just accumulating information but submitting to it in terms of daily life; those are mature Christians. That is the difference between a mature Christian and an immature Christian and so once the cessation of information stops, Abraham simply does what God said and you might complain as a Christian, gosh! goodness gracious! There are things in the Bible that I don’t understand. Welcome to the club. There are things in the Bible I don’t fully understand. But I’ll tell you this much, there’s a lot of it I do understand and the question is, are you applying what you know? I mean, don’t worry about what you don’t know, worry about what you do know. What was it? W. C. fields? He says, it’s not the things in the Bible that I don’t understand that bother me, it’s the things I do understand. All of us know something. You may not have every area of theology intricately worked out but you know, as I’m speaking, the Holy Spirit through illumination is convicting people of various things, you know that there are some things in your life that need to be changed under God’s power. Submit to that and what the Bible says is if you’re faithful in something little, God will give you something greater. Doesn’t the word of God say that? And watch your level of understanding of God’s word increase through illumination as you put into practice or obedience the things that you do understand. Why would God through illumination waste His time with you or me if we can’t even put into practice what we do know? A lack of understanding of the Bible many times relates more to heart issues than intellectual issues. You start to practice what God says and watch your level of gnosis or knowledge accelerate, cause now God can trust you with more because He sees you’re a person of wisdom, He sees you’re a person of sophia, He sees you’re a person of application. 36:27

You’re the type of person the book of Proverbs is targeting, the book of James is targeting.

Abraham’s Obedience – Genesis 17:22-27

1. Cessation (Gen 17:22)
2. Circumcision (Gen 17:23)
3. Abraham’s age (Gen 17:24)
4. Ishmael’s age (Gen 17:25)
5. Timing (Gen 17:26)
6. Abraham’s house (Gen 17:27)

and you go down to verse 24 (Gen 17:24) and you have Abraham’s age at the time the circumcision took place. It says: Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin… And you drop down to verse 25 (Gen 17:25) and it gives you the age of Ishmael: And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin… Abraham ninety-nine, Ishmael thirteen. Why in the world is the Bible giving me these numbers? I mean, why do I need to know he was ninety-nine when he obeyed God in this regard? Why do I need to know his son Ishmael was thirteen when he obeyed God in this regard because the Bible is trying to tell you that these are real people? I mean, these ages and these numbers are given to show us how they had to trust God, because how can a ninety-nine year old man and his wife who is ten years his junior, how in the world could they ever expect to see God fulfill His word of the birth of Isaac? That’s why these numbers are given. It’s giving us an opportunity to get into their shoes and to see that these are real people with real struggles. Abraham and Sarah waited a long, long time for Isaac to be born and we wouldn’t know that if these ages were not given. Before God fulfilled His promise to them, He built into them something called patience. That’s the word I really don’t like to be honest with you cause I am in a hurry and I by nature am an impatient person. In fact, you know the famous prayer Lord, grant me patience and give it to me right now. We don’t like to wait for anything. Particularly, in the United States with microwave ovens, 5G technology. I mean, I get upset if my WIFI connection is delayed for a couple of seconds and patience is not something that comes natural to us. It goes against the grain of our sin natures and we’re living in a culture that has absolutely, here’s a good sermon title, no patience for patience and you read about a ninety-nine year old man and his wife ten years his junior and the amount of time that they waited on God to fulfill His word. Before God fulfilled His word to them, He built into them some character and there is no easy way for God to build character into a human being’s life unless He puts them in circumstances where they have to wait on the Lord. You take the book of Acts for example, you read the book of Acts and it reads like, wow! This happened, Wow! That happened. You read it like a, you know, it’s like on 1.5 video speed. It’s moving, it’s moving, it’s moving, it’s moving and then you stop for a minute and you pay attention to the chronological data in the book of Acts and you learn that it’s a book that spans thirty years. There’s a lot of down time in between major episodes in the book of Acts. It took Paul a good chunk of time to reach his goal of the gospel getting to Rome. That’s how the book of Acts ends and God has goals for you, He has desires that He’s put in your heart and don’t get too upset if those goals didn’t materialize yesterday. Before the goal can be materialized, God has to build into all of this the character necessary to handle the blessings and there was a certain character that had to be built into Abraham and Sarah. Romans, 15, and verse 4 (Rom 15:4) puts it this way, it says: For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope… How do we have hope and encouragement in these unsettling times? You have a completed Canon of scripture that is sufficient for all matters of faith and practice and God inspired the recording of the ages of Abraham and Sarah and Ishmael to show us that they were real people just like the rest of us and when we see God gradually at work in their lives, we read it and you say, well, you know maybe I shouldn’t be so discouraged because the things God has put in my heart haven’t happened immediately. Maybe God is doing something else in preparation for something big that’s coming down the road that only God can see. The encouragement of the scriptures. 42:20

Abraham’s Obedience – Genesis 17:22-27

1. Cessation (Gen 17:22)
2. Circumcision (Gen 17:23)
3. Abraham’s age (Gen 17:24)
4. Ishmael’s age (Gen 17:25)
5. Timing (Gen 17:26)
6. Abraham’s house (Gen 17:27)

You look at verse 26 (Gen 17:26) and again you see the timing of the whole thing. Chapter 17, verse 26, it says: In the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son… That’s a virtual repeat of what we saw in verse 23 (Gen 17:23) Why would it be repeated twice for us? Cause this is a great practice to get in. God discloses something to you through illumination and then God expects you to do something about it. We have a saying in our home, I’m sure this isn’t common to our home, it’s a very common expression, raising children, raising a child, delayed obedience is what? It’s disobedience. I mean, when God says act, when God says deal with, when God says whatever the issue is in your life and we just kind of put it off, it’s no different than a young child  who just pretends like they don’t hear you. You know, kids do that, you know, suddenly they get deaf, the hearing doesn’t work and of course, I was never like that when I was a child, because we play this little game of, well, maybe I didn’t hear you correctly when the reality of the situation is it’s just plain old disobedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience and it shouldn’t be a mark of the child of God. It wasn’t a mark or characteristic of Abraham and this I think is one of the reasons why God blessed Abraham the way He did. 44:10

1. Abraham’s Obedience – Genesis 17:22-27
2. Cessation (Gen 17:22)
3. Circumcision (Gen 17:23)
4. Abraham’s age (Gen 17:24)
5. Ishmael’s age (Gen 17:25)
6. Timing (Gen 17:26)
7. Abraham’s house (Gen 17:27)

Finally you see the circumcision of his whole household verse 27 (Gen 17:27). It says: All the men of his household, who were born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him… Everyone is circumcised in his household, in obedience to the Abrahamic Covenant.

Well, Gee pastor, this is a historic day at Sugar Land Bible church, you finished the chapter and it’s only 12:09 . So we’re going to get out early, right? No we’re not, because I don’t know if we’ll ever talk about circumcision again at this church and we just want to conclude here with three observations about this. Can I do that with you? What are you going to say? No?

Concluding Thoughts – Circumcision

1. 1. 1. Sign of the Abrahamic Covenant
      2. Does not give salvation
      3. A circumcised heart

The first of the three observations is circumcision is a sign of the Abrahamic Covenant. It is not the covenant but it’s a sign of the covenant, it’s the ritual for the reality. It’s not the reality, it’s the ritual for the reality because the Abrahamic Covenant came in Genesis, 15. The command to circumcise comes in Genesis, 17, and the last time I checked, chapter 15 comes before chapter 17. Do you all agree with me on that? See the heavy insights you get here at Sugar Land Bible Church? And so what is going on in chapter 17 is not the Abrahamic Covenant. It’s a sign of the covenant. Genesis, 17, and verse 11 (Gen 17:11) says: And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you… Romans chapter 4, verses 9 through 12 (Rom 4:9-12) Paul the apostle makes a big deal about this, because the world of legalism will always import the ritual before the reality. They always get it mixed up, because they want to turn the ritual into a work and good works appeals to our pride, cause that way I can say I got into heaven because of me. I’m proud as a peacock and so in essence what you have is people that want to convert the rituals of God and they want to drag them earlier in the Bible to realities, but the Bible never gives you that order. When it gives you a ritual to follow it’s always a sign for a reality God already disclosed. Paul the apostle therefore, to his legalistic crowds, states the obvious in Romans, 4, verse 10 and then verse 11 (Rom 4:10-11). He says: How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised?… Because he’s dealing with people that say, you’ve got to be circumcised to get to heaven. Paul says, Romans, 4, verse 10 and verse 11: Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised… And he received, that’s Abraham, the sign of circumcision. You have to get clear in your mind the distinction between a ritual and a reality. If you don’t keep those things clear, you’ll end up, at the end of the day, believing in something that’s no different than works salvation. God does the work, the work is completed, I believe the work. So God says now that you’re a believer I want you to go through a ritual, which is the ritual behind the reality. 48:17

Every covenant has a sign to it.

Covenant Signs

• Noahic Covenant: Rainbow (Gen 9)
• Abrahamic Covenant: Circumcision (Gen 17)
• Mosaic Covenant: Sabbath (Exod 20; Lev 25: Jer 25:11; 29:10; 2 Chron 36:21)
• New Covenant: Communion (Luke 22)

The Noahic Covenant, the sign of the rainbow. The LGBTQU, etc.. etc.. etc group did not invent the rainbow. The rainbow is our rainbow, it’s in our Bible. God made promises to Noah concerning not flooding the earth again and He said in that covenant, here’s a sign that you can see, it’s the rainbow. The rainbow is not the covenant, the rainbow is just the ritual behind a pre-existing reality. Now we’re learning about the Abrahamic Covenant and the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant is circumcision, the covenant has already been given in Genesis, 15. Then, why circumcise? Because that’s the ritual behind the reality. Eventually in biblical history is going to come the Mosaic Covenant given at Mount Sinai and the sign of the Mosaic Covenant will be the Sabbath. Keeping the Sabbath didn’t give them the covenant, they got that at Sinai. So then why keep the Sabbath? It shows them that they believed in the Mosaic Covenant. The sign of the New Covenant is the Lord’s table. The New Covenant that God would write his laws on our hearts, we share in, even though we’re not Israel but the church. We don’t take it over but we become partakers of it, of some of its blessings. Jesus announced that in the upper room and He said, to prove that you are partakers of the New Covenant I want you to celebrate regularly the Lord’s table or communion. He didn’t say do it every week, He didn’t say do it every month, you didn’t say do it every quarter. What He said is do it regularly. In other words, it’s up for the local church to determine for themselves how they do this. Here at Sugar Land Bible Church we do it once a month and we’ll be doing that if my calendar is correct next Sunday. Why do we do that? To get people saved? No, we’re already saved. We’re already partakers of the New Covenant, it’s simply a ritual to help us appreciate the reality. So what then is this institution of circumcision? It’s a sign of the pre-existing Abrahamic Covenant. 51:10

Observation number two: Circumcision does not provide salvation.

Concluding Thoughts – Circumcision

1. Sign of the Abrahamic Covenant
2. Does not give salvation
3. A circumcised heart

The New Testament is very clear about this because Paul in the New Testament is dealing with legalists who are always trying to invert God’s order so they can brag about their salvation. Galatians, 5, and verse 6 (Gal 5:6) says: For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love… 1st Corinthians chapter 7, and verse 19 (1 Cor 7:19) says: Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God… Genesis, 15, and verse 6 (Gen 15:6) records Abraham’s, then Abram, his salvation and it says there: Then he… that’s Abram… believed in the LORD; and He… That’s the Lord… counted it to him as righteousness… And Paul says, back to Romans, 4, verses 10, and 11 (Rom 4:10-11) to his legalistic group that he’s arguing with, there is no possible way that Abram was saved through circumcision because circumcision didn’t exist yet. Abram is saved in Genesis, 15, and circumcision is not implemented until Genesis, 17. So what then is circumcision? It’s a sign of the Abrahamic Covenant and you should never never never never never never confuse it with salvation. It will not save you anymore than baptism saves. Baptism is a sign of a reality. But baptism itself doesn’t save. Baptism is the ritual behind the reality but not the reality itself; and then the third point and that’s why we entitled our sermon “A Circumcised Heart”.

Concluding Thoughts – Circumcision

1. Sign of the Abrahamic Covenant
2. Does not give salvation
3. A circumcised heart

What ultimately pleases God is a circumcision of the heart, not a circumcision of the flesh. Romans, 2 verses 28, and 29 (Rom 2:28-29) 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 which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God… God looks at the nation of Israel with all of its physical circumcision and He says, I’m not impressed by it if you’re not believers first, and the day in history will come where they will become believers. Galatians, 6, verses 12 through 15 (Gal 6:12-15) says: All who want to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they want to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation… The truth of the matter is you can be the most ritualistic religious person on planet earth. You might be able to check off every single box in terms of what you think spirituality is. I know a little bit about this having spent the first sixteen years of my life trying to do this, cause that’s what I was taught. Check off this box, check off that box, baptism check, Sunday school attendance check, church membership check. But my heart was uncircumcised, because I hadn’t been born again. I hadn’t been changed on the inside through the new birth and God at that point in my life was displeased, because what pleases God is an internal change that only He can give through the new birth called regeneration. This is what blew the mind of Nicodemus when Jesus is talking to Nicodemus at night. I call it the “Nick at Night discourse” where he says in John, 3, you must be born again to see or enter the kingdom of God. I mean, he’s talking there to, the Greek says, the teacher of Israel. This is the head honcho of religiosity, who kept, in no doubt minute detail, religious obligation after religious obligation after religious obligation and Jesus looks at him right in the eye, I would assume and said, you can’t get in. You can’t see it let alone enter it, unless you’ve had the reality which explains all of these other rituals that you’ve already done. You’ve got the cart before the horse. The book of Colossians chapter 2, verses 11 through 13 (Col 2:11-13) says: In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision performed without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings… There are so many people that are just proud as you can possibly be of their baptism in water and yet what is baptism in water? Does baptism in water have any ability to save? No, it’s just a ritual behind the reality. Here’s the reality. For by one spirit… 1st Corinthians, 12, verse 13 (1 Cor 12:13)… we were all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks whether slaves or free we are all made to drink of one spirit… That’s the reality. The Spirit comes into you and connects you to Christ’s body of the church at the point of faith alone in Christ alone and if that’s never happened to a person as some have said, you can be watered logged right into hell. You can go through water ritual after water ritual after water ritual and you can’t see or enter; and so this business of circumcision needs to be kept in its proper place. It’s a sign of the Abrahamic Covenant… it, like water baptism does not give salvation because what God is really interested in at the end of the day is a circumcised heart and that furnishes a very logical transition to the gospel because that’s what the gospel does. 59:50

Christianity is about a revolution from within. It is about an inner transformation whereby a person hears the message of the gospel and they are convicted to believe it and then they exercise faith in that message in the person of Jesus Christ and as that condition is met, just like that, the light switch goes on. What was lost through the fall, this Holy Spirit’s separation from man is now reversed when the Holy Spirit enters you and you are what the Bible calls a new creation in Christ Jesus. That didn’t happen for me until 1983. I was completely and totally confused on all of this until that point in time. Then all of a sudden the rituals that I had been practicing started to make sense, because I was turning rituals into realities. Whereas the reality is, they were not realities, they were just signs of the reality and so right now, as I’m speaking, any person within the sound of my voice can put their faith in Christ and experience regeneration. Don’t be lulled into thinking that somehow you’ve done something to merit God’s favor toward you. The Bible is very clear, there is no one good but One. We have to trust in the One who lived a perfect life in our place, that’s Jesus Christ and once we place our trust in him a miracle happens where there is an impartation of divine life. There’s a revolution from within. Jesus in the Nick at Night discourse called it being born again. A better Greek translation probably is being born from above, where God puts His nature and His spirit inside of you at the point of faith alone in Christ alone and so our exhortation for anybody that’s in the building or listening online or listening to archives after the fact is to do this. You can trust Christ now even where you’re seated. It’s not something you have to walk an aisle to do, join a church to do, give money to do, it’s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where you trust in him and him alone for salvation. If it’s something you need more explanation on I’m available after the service to talk. Shall we pray? Father, we’re grateful for what you have disclosed concerning circumcision in the life of Abraham. Help us to understand the proper role of these things as we seek to live our lives before you this week. We’ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus’ name and God’s people said, Amen.