Well, good morning. It looks like I'm on this side today. We'll see what happens as time progresses though. All right, let's go ahead and get started by turning to Genesis chapter 17. There's gonna be some overlap about things that we have talked about and also kind of moving on in that regard. This seems a touch loud. Is it just me or? Is that better? Okay, hopefully that's better. The guy with no voice saying it's loud should tell you something. Probably. And plus I reverted back to the earpiece mic because I got the cable and it seems that there's a life expectancy on that cable that's relatively short. That's okay, if I get the name brand version of the headset mic, that would be about $250. So I'll spend the 15 bucks every so often on a cable. I'm okay with that. All right, so Genesis 17, right at the beginning. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly. Then Abram fell on his face and God said to him, behold, my covenant is with you and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for 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 offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. 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 throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money, from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh, an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. All right. Genesis 17 becomes the focal point of the covenant that God establishes with Abraham. Now, a couple things to note. First off, this is not a new covenant with Abraham. It's actually the same one. Where were the promises of the covenant first given to Abraham? Chapter 12. Where do we see a ratification of that covenant? Chapter 15, and now we come to the full-orbed picture, and that word is deliberately chosen, of the covenant that God establishes with Abraham. Now, a couple of things, just by way of highlighting, and we did talk about this, when we were looking at some of the details in chapter 15, but it comes clear here again in chapter 17. And it bears bringing this out again and again, because we are frequently told that when you look in the Bible, particularly when you look at a comparison between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, what we see is a conditional covenant in the Old Covenant and an unconditional covenant in the New Covenant. And part of what happens is you come to Abraham and that one is typically united to the New Covenant in the sense that The covenant made with Abraham is unconditional. Now, there is a sense where every covenant is unconditional. How so? God completely institutes. He is the initiator. He's the one who sets the terms. He's the one who determines who's going to be in the covenant. So in that sense, all the covenants are unconditional. But in another sense, every covenant God establishes with his people is also conditional. How so? There are always stipulations. And that's where some people get a little uptight because you come to the new covenant and that's all about grace, isn't it? What's the argument? I mean, if you're saying that it is a conditional covenant, then that does away with grace. You've heard that? I know you have. What's that? Yeah, we've all heard this and usually it comes across from those who have been strongly influenced by a dispensational way of thinking. That kind of thinking even predates dispensationalism. So I say that recognizing that that kind of thinking still existed prior to what is formally known as dispensationalism. Now again, you may remember way back when we were talking about the comparison of covenant theology and dispensationalism, I ended up presenting to you some of the basics of what's known as classic dispensationalism, which few people really hold to today. but it provides the framework to help understand generally where even modern day dispensationals are coming from. So you have new covenants, reestablishing, starting over, all that kind of fun stuff. And so you get to the new covenant and that is nothing but grace. There are no conditions whatsoever. And some will also say that you see in Abraham, particularly because of what Paul does in Galatians 3, that the covenant with Abraham was also purely a covenant of grace in the sense that there are no conditions. Now you come to Genesis chapter 17, what's the first thing that God says to Abram? Yeah, he introduces himself. I am God Almighty, El Shaddai. Walk before me and be blameless. That's a command. Walk before me and be blameless. Chase. Yeah, it is. That is typically what happens. It's not unique to those who have been influenced by Arminian thinking. Unfortunately, we deal with this issue of the covenant of grace having no conditions, even in some of our reform circles, which is really frustrating. And it's, I'm just going to be blunt. It's contra-confessional. I'll just flat out say it. They will try to say that it's not against the covenant, and especially when we get to the Mosaic covenant, we'll unpack this a whole lot more, especially because of the influence in reform circles of a particular seminary group of professors out in Escondido. So, yeah. Conrad? Yeah. Yeah. Correct. And really, that's the structure of Ephesians right down the middle. Here are the riches we have in Christ, the wealth we have in Christ, and then as a result, therefore, here's our walk in Christ by virtue of the riches and wealth we have in Christ. There's no difference. Every covenant throughout, we saw this with Noah even, there were stipulations that needed to be put into place. What's helpful is to remember that the entrance into the covenant is in of itself unconditional in the sense that there is nothing that God sees in the individual that warrants him to enter into it. That's where it is all of grace. But once in the covenant, there are stipulations. Ron? Yeah, and related to what you just said, there's a, I realize this is odd to say, but it's true. There's an overemphasis on the doctrine of justification by faith alone to the exclusion of sanctification or sanctification gets redefined. Sanctification is nothing more than remembering your justification. Yeah, you'll see that too. That's where I'm going eventually, yes. Yeah, which is interesting because that sounds very dispensational. So I know they will tell you that they're not right which incidentally I appreciate the. what you may call reformed Baptists, in that they are hold to the 1689 London Baptist Confession, and they are strong, they try to be strong proponents of a kind of covenant theology, but then they end up disconnecting it, that there's no way around the fact that at the end of the day, at some point, there's a disconnect. And that boils back to something of a dispensational mindset. And that's the issue. Now when we get into deeper discussions about the New Covenant with Jeremiah 31 and so forth, we'll hopefully show both discontinuity and continuity to have that proper balance. But it's not even, you think about what God says here to Abram in chapter 17 at the beginning, first thing after introducing himself, walk before me and be blameless. That's not the only thing that we see God tell Abram to do. He tells him, this is what you need to do. You need to circumcise yourself and every male born in your household. That's a command, that's a stipulation, that's an obligation. And bought without, right. Correct, and we'll come to that aspect of it too. So it's important to understand and you need to keep this thought in mind even as we some lifetime will end up in the New Covenant, that even the New Covenant has stipulations and obligations. This, our confessional standards, when we talk about, even with the shorter catechism, wherein is the moral law summarily comprehended? The moral law is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments. What does the preface to the Ten Commandments teach us? That because God is the Lord and our God and our Redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all His commandments. That's the confessional stance. It's because God is the Lord, our Creator and Redeemer, that's why we're bound to keep His commandments. That's Christians. You can say that. Yeah, he also didn't say, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Oh, that's true. That was before the new covenant was ratified. See, I get all these kinds of arguments all the time. Yeah, teach them to keep, to observe, to do what I've commanded. All right, so we've already spent a good amount of time just trying to emphasize this point. And really the main reason is because of the influence even in our reform circles to jettison any talk or thought of obligation on the part of God's people. So, but really what I wanna start to move into is what we're seeing here in Genesis 17 is the giving of a sign. And that sign of course is circumcision. We're gonna start, of course, talking about signs generally, and we did touch on this in some respects previously when we talked about the sacramental nature of various aspects of the covenant throughout redemptive history. So when we look at circumcision, it teaches us something. It's not insignificant even for us today. What is it teaching us? What is it establishing for us and helping us understand? But one of the things that I do want to go back and look, we understand the language and we see the language that God uses here in Genesis 17, that it's a sign of the covenant, it's between me and you, et cetera. It's a reminder and that's true. But as you come, if you go back, if you will, to, Genesis chapter nine. And the giving of the sign there with Noah. The sign of the covenant with Noah is? The rainbow. Now I want you to notice something very subtle, but very important. I'm gonna start at verse 12 of chapter nine. And God said, this is the sign of the covenant that I made between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all future generations. I have set my bow in the cloud and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. and the water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." Now, the rainbow is a sign. Circumcision is a sign. Baptism is a sign. As you look and you think about everything you learned, even right in Sunday school, about Noah and the ark and the rainbow, we are frequently taught that every time we see a rainbow, we are to remember that God promised not to destroy the earth by flood waters. And that's not wrong. But what's the emphasis in Genesis 9? God will remember. And it's not as though he forgot. And it's not as though he forgot. The emphasis is put there to help us to recognize it is accommodating language to help us to recognize that God will indeed be true to his promise. Now we see something akin to that even at the Passover. The Passover blood was not so much to be a sign for the people as it was a sign for the angel of death to pass over. It's the angel of death who saw the blood on the doorposts and remembered the promise. That's what we need to understand when we think about covenant signs and seals. Yes, they are memorialistic in the sense that they remind us of God's promises. That's absolutely true. But for greater emphasis and our greater understanding and our greater assurance, God gives the sign and tells us he will see the sign and he will remember his covenant. You think about this for a moment. As Conrad said, it's not as though God forgets, but that's actually the point. You see, you and I have the sign, the Israelites had the sign, they forgot all the time. But God sees the sign, he never forgets, and that's a reminder to us. The sign is, in and of itself given to us that we might have assurance that God indeed never forgets. Even though we do. Gordon. That's correct. He acts upon us. Yeah. Yeah, it's an active remembering. You and I, you know, when we, oh, what was that? The name escaped me or the place, when do we do this? And you know, we're trying to remember and we just sometimes can't. And of course, that sometimes is the effect of age and so on and so forth. But then all of a sudden, oh yes, of course, it comes to you and you're like, oh, nothing just comes to God. It's like, you know, there's Abraham. You know, I did something. What was that again? I said something to him. Ah, what was it? On the tip of my tongue. I mean, that's nonsense. See what I mean? So that's the emphasis. The sign of the covenant is God will remember his covenant. He will see his covenant and he will remember. How about that? It's amazing, isn't it? We don't rest in the sign and see that's the contra-Roman Catholicism, that in and of itself, the sign is what does it. No, it's a reminder to us that God remembers his covenant promises. Trish. There's also an awareness we get so self-focused, we forget that God is watching and God is all sovereign, God is all in control. Of course. And we're just like those toddlers. All right, so let's start to anyway, get into this particular sign. And it's important to remember a couple of things. I did start at chapter 17, verse one. But if you just look at the last few verses of chapter 16, and Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore Ishmael. Ishmael was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abraham. Chapter 17, verse one, when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, et cetera. What do you notice from chapter 16 to chapter 17? What's that? A few years went by, 13 to be exact. 13 years goes by. And in those 13 years, we have no indication that God visited Abraham. You remember as a little kid being promised things by your parents? You remember as parents making promises to your kids? Do you usually make them wait 13 years? There might be occasional things that happens, but here, Ishmael's born, and don't forget, that was sometime even after God initially promised his son. Abram took things in his own hand. Ishmael's born 13 years past. I haven't even been in Tulsa for 13 years. So let's think of it that way. This church is not even 13 years old. So you think about all of God's faithfulness to this congregation in 10 years, Abram, heard seemingly heard nothing. And if there was something, the Lord in his wisdom did not record it for us because we don't need it. But we have no reason to believe that God visited Abram between the time Ishmael was born and before here in Genesis 17. That's what we need to remember. And that probably ought to put our own faith to shame. Amy, did you have a question or comment? Well, I had a comment. When I was a little girl, I asked my parents for a Barbie doll house for Christmas. I got it when I was 13. How about that? But I don't think you asked for it when you were born. What's at stake as a promise is all the way back in chapter 12. And the confrontation in chapter 16 doesn't tell us anything about the continuation of the promise. It says to us, no, Hagar, she can't leave. She can't be part of the family. So there was no reiteration going on. Right, that we're aware of. We have no reason to believe that there was a continuing reiteration of God's covenant promises until God comes and visits Abram again in chapter 17. And this is where Bible reading can sometimes be a hindrance in our feeble minds. It's not because Bible reading is itself a hindrance, it's our feeble minds. Just read straight through. Oh yeah, Abraham chapter 12. We could sit down and read the whole account of Abraham in just one sitting. It's kind of humorous when you think about it. And yet that was decades. God finally comes and visits, and now, not only does he commit himself as he did in chapter 15, he now gives Abram a sign, and that sign is circumcision. Now, why circumcision? See, I have no idea what probably went through a 99-year-old man's thinking, God said, now you need to circumcise yourself. Yeah, what's he thinking? And what about all his servants? What are they thinking? What's Ishmael as a 13 year old kid thinking? So you have circumcision. It is also a sign that obviously can only be given to the males. Now, a couple things to keep in mind with respect to all of this. There are biblical theological connections that need to be made. So the important thing to understand then as we go through this and we discuss circumcision as a sign of the covenant is that it is not primarily ethnic. It involves an ethnic aspect to it. But even as Conrad mentioned a little bit ago, it's not just those who are born of Abram. It's anyone that he has bought, anyone that comes into his household. And so that reinforces the idea of a church and the fact that he could buy a foreigner It's not primarily ethnic. There are indications that there were other nations and of course they practiced it in different ways and so forth, but it's not primarily ethnic. There is a spiritual side to it. There definitely is a spiritual side to it, right? Correct. Chase. Now, what is the significance of circumcision in and of itself? Obviously, it affects the male quite clearly. Why that? You also understand that circumcision by its very nature is a bloody rut. It is a symbol of cleansing. It is a symbol of cutting off sin. Why then is it not given to women besides the obvious? From the biblical theological perspective, the important thing to remember is what we are seeing is circumcision given because we understand theologically the guilt of Adam's transgression proceeds from the man. That's where the guilt comes. It's Adam's sin. This also explains in part why Jesus was born sinless. He did not receive any guilt or that imputed guilt of covenant breaking from Eve. He's born without sin, no corruption. So there's a connection between why the males are circumcised. It is a reminder that sin ultimately The guilt, original sin, it comes by ordinary generation, but the guilt is imputed through the man. That's what we see. And it's been that way since the fall. That's what Paul's point is in Romans five. Through the one man, condemnation came upon all. It is also a bloody right because we also understand from the rest of scripture, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. So it is a sign of cleansing. It is a sign, like baptism with water, symbolizing cleansing. It presupposes a problem. Sin needs to be cut off. That's the issue. That's fundamentally, and even the Old Testament recognized this. It's in Deuteronomy chapter 30, I think it's verse six. This is in the Torah. Notice what circumcision represents, what it truly represents. This is God and this is of course Moses in his, you could say his farewell sermon. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live. So notice the actual physical sign of circumcision points to a greater spiritual reality. And notice, who's the one that circumcises your heart? It's God himself. Conrad. And the typical argument is, and this comes from those who lean more consciously in a dispensational mindset of this literal hermeneutic. And so the promise given to Abram, it was about the land. And so circumcision is a sign of that. It is an ethnic sign. Well, God is using the language of the physical act of circumcision to demonstrate a spiritual reality. It's not about ethnicity. It's not about the land. It involves those things, but it is ultimately about the salvation that God wrought in the heart of a sinner. Yeah. Belgic Confession 34, yeah. Couple other things to keep in mind. And I don't really have the time to unpack it this week, but let's do this just to whet your appetite a bit. Let's turn to Romans 4. In the second half of Romans 3, Paul has begun to illustrate or demonstrate how it is that sinners can be righteous before God. And that's ultimately because of grace through faith. Well, then in chapter four, Paul sets off on using Abraham as a description of what it really means to be justified by faith. But in the midst of that, in verse 11, Paul says this about Abraham. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. Notice, going back to when Abraham received the sign, Paul does not say it was a sign that he was going to inherit the promised land. What it was, was a sign and seal of the righteousness that comes by faith. That's a spiritual reality. Where does that take place? In the heart. Who does that? God. It is God who circumcises the heart. Chase? pulled us along what was promised to Abraham, the inheritance of this land as far as your eye can see. I gotta tie those two together. In other words, the specificity of the salvation of God's people and the cutting off of all godliness and consummation of the new kingdom, the new heavens and the new earth. Yeah, you go back to Romans four, Paul picks up on that very point. You go to verse 13. for the promise to Abram and his offspring that he would be heir of the world. Now, a couple things to remember about this. This is the Apostle Paul. This was a Pharisee of Pharisees who understood the Old Testament inside and out. And he understood circumcision to be ultimately about a spiritual thing. It was not ultimately about this little plot of land in Palestine, about the size of New Jersey. It just wasn't. The author of Hebrews, while doesn't really mention circumcision, but mentions the patriarchs and all the examples of those who had a living and active faith. They were seeking a better country. That's the language. Despite the promises, they understood that there was something beyond and bigger and grander and more glorious than this plot of land. And so when dispensationalists, they take this literal hermeneutic and they end up positing two peoples of God, they've missed the point that even the Old Testament brings to bear. Correct. Right. You're the teacher of Israel and you don't understand what I'm saying. That was the point. And see, this is the issue. When you get to the New Testament and you see this old versus new argument, it is not the old covenant per se, but rather the misuse of the old covenant that was the issue. That's really the fundamental problem. It was the misuse of it. That's what Paul's argument is in Galatians in particular. You've misunderstood how you're to use the law. So next week, I wanna get more in depth into looking at circumcision, particularly in Galatians. And then we'll go from there. So just think of it. We've whetted your appetite. We'll go, we'll make greater connections. We'll go deeper into some of these things that we've only just highlighted. So, all right, let's close in prayer. Our Father in God, in heaven, how we rejoice that you are a covenant-keeping God and that you have given your sign. so that you will remember your covenant promises, that we would be assured that you are faithful to your covenant promises. Lord, may that move us to worship you and adore you. Even as we gather as your people into your presence to praise your name, may your spirit be upon each of us, helping us to be ready, helping us to be joyful, helping us to be eager to worship you. We pray all this in Christ's name, amen.