Okay, the last time I was here, we were looking at this language in the confession that describes the covenant of grace alone by which all the saints are saved is having been promised in the garden after the fall and then revealed, so it's promised in the garden and then revealed by farther steps or step by step, okay? And We reviewed the covenant that was made prior to this promise, which is the covenant of works. So the covenant of works is separate from the covenant of grace. And then we briefly looked at the Noahic covenants, and these two can be grouped together into the category of the covenants of creation because they establish that there will be a world in which redemptive history can play out. So before we get into what we're going to do tonight, I do want to just bring us back to the confessions. We're in chapter 7, in section 3. It says, this covenant, referring to the covenant of grace, is revealed in the gospel. It was revealed, first of all, to Adam in the promise of salvation through the seed of the woman. After that, it was revealed step by step, or the original says by further steps, until the full revelation of it was completed. in the New Testament. This covenant is based on the eternal covenant transaction between the Father and the Son concerning the redemption of the elect. Only through the grace of this covenant have those saved from among the descendants of fallen Adam obtained life and blessed immortality. Humanity is now utterly incapable of being accepted by God on the same terms on which Adam was accepted in his state of innocence. So tonight, we're gonna at least start, we may get through it, but I'll be surprised. We're gonna start covering what is known as the covenants of promise. That is, we're gonna be looking at those covenants by which the initial promise of the covenant of grace in the garden is restated and then progressively developed and revealed. These are the Abrahamic covenants, the Mosaic or Sinaitic Covenant and the Davidic Covenant. Sam Rinahan states, quote, the Old Covenant includes the Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic Covenants. Moses controls Abraham and David. The Mosaic Covenant is the most prominent covenant in the Old Testament because it controls whether you enjoy Abraham's covenant and it stands over the Davidic kings who must copy and keep the law. So these three are going to be related to each other, very much related to each other, and we'll see that more and more as we go along. But these three are the covenants of promise. Also, I do want to quickly point out that this language, covenants of promise, it actually comes straight from the scriptures. And so if you would turn to Ephesians 2, We'll see that really quickly. Ephesians 2. See, I'm going to go ahead and get this out of the way. We're starting. Ephesians chapter 2 and then verses 11 and 12. It says, therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you are at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to The covenants of promise. So that's going to be the covenants made with the Israelite nation. Covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. In other words, these were the covenants which governed national Israel and served as a guardian of sorts until the coming of Christ and His covenant. And again, that I'm taking straight out of scripture. Flip back one book, Galatians 3. And we'll come back to this, but really briefly. Verses 23 through 26. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So again, we take this dichotomy. Old Testament, covenant of grace is promised. The new covenant is revealed. Or concluded, I should say. It's promised and revealed in the old. And it's concluded. in the new. So then the law was our guardian, or some translations say schoolmaster, until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, which lets you know whether these covenants are still in effect or not. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. All right. So then, we will begin by considering the Abrahamic covenant. We will consider this covenant first in regard to its dualistic nature, then the elements of the covenant, and then finally the purpose of the covenant. I'm gonna give the note takers a second. I can see people frantically writing. Okay, I'm gonna repeat that too. We're gonna be considering it under these three headings. First, the dualistic nature of the Abrahamic covenant. Then the elements of the Abrahamic covenant. And then finally, the purpose of the Abrahamic covenant. All right? So first, the dualistic nature. Nehemiah Cox, who is believed to be one of the two pastors who originally drew up the 1689 Baptist Confession in 1677. Just interesting historical fact there. It was not drafted in 1689. But Nehemiah Cox summarizes the dualistic nature of the Abrahamic covenant in this way. He says, there is one more thing in particular to be premised to the consideration of God's covenant transactions with Abraham, which is most clearly stated in the New Testament. With respect to them, Abraham is to be considered in a double capacity. He is the father of all true believers. That's one. and the father and root of the Israelite nation. So there's your dualism. God entered into covenant with him for both of these seeds. So we have two seeds here. And since they are formally distinguished from one another, their covenant interest must necessarily be different and fall under distinct considerations, end quote. A modern 1689 Federalist scholar and pastor, Pascal Denault, explains the concept maybe in easier to understand language. He says, in order to properly define the Abrahamic covenant, the Baptists insisted on a dualistic nature of this covenant. Abraham possessed a physical posterity as well as a spiritual posterity. There was an external circumcision of the flesh and an internal circumcision of the heart. There was a promised land here on earth and a heavenly kingdom. And then he further states that the Baptists saw two posterities in Abraham, two inheritances and consequently two covenants. However, Donal also rightly asserts this does not mean This is very important to get. So I just essentially, quoting him, said there's two covenants in Abraham. But this is the catch to this. This does not mean the Baptists saw two formal Abrahamic covenants. They saw only one formal Abrahamic covenant. the covenant of circumcision established in Genesis 17, all the while clearly differentiating this covenant from the promise, that is, the covenant of grace that God had previously made. So you have the covenant of grace and the covenant of circumcision, both given to Abraham in a sense, but only the covenant of circumcision is formally given. or we could say it another way, concluded with Abraham. Just to remind you that the 1689 Federalist position, the one that I am asserting and trying to positively present right now, is that the covenant of grace was in the form of a promise in the Old Testament, but it was not formally covenanted until the New Covenant. So in the Old Testament it's a promise, It's a promised covenant to come, but it's not actually formally covenanted. For this reason, we consider that the covenant of grace and the new covenant to be one and the same. Our confession we've seen, the saints of all ages are saved by virtue of the covenant of grace. And under the 1689 Federalist position anyway, we would equivocate that with the new covenant. All of the benefits that the old covenant point forward to are actually realized in Christ. Or, I'm paraphrasing this, but the way scripture says, all the promises of scripture find their yes and amen in Christ. And we could, by extension, say Christ and his covenant. So that being the case, the Abrahamic covenant cannot be essentially identical with the New Covenant as many Reformed pedo-Baptists and 20th century or modern Reformed Baptists assert. And the essentially identical, that is, I quoted that from Louis Burkhoff. So that is their words, not mine. So, that being said, let's turn to the biblical data for consideration of these things. So let's start in Galatians. So I hope you saved your place. Galatians 4. And we're gonna be looking at verses 21 through 31 here. It is Galatians chapter 4, verses 21 through 31. All right, it says, tell me you who desire to be under the law. Do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, or you would say two seeds, right? Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now, this may be interpreted allegorically, These women are two covenants. Okay, you see we're taking this right from scripture. This is not something that the Baptists came up with. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. She is Hagar. Now, Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. Of course, that being a reference back to specifically the Mosaic Covenant, but we've already seen how those are actually lumped together. She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above, so we see you have a physical seed here in Ishmael Hagar, okay? Which corresponded to the present Jerusalem at that time. But the Jerusalem above, so now we're looking at a spiritual seed, right? The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. So this one is what gives birth to the elect in physical terms, okay? I mean, we know that eternity past and predestination, we've gone over all that, but I'm saying in physical terms. This is what joins us to Abraham. She is our mother, for it is written, Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear. Break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor. For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband. Now you brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. but just as at that time He who was born according to the flesh persecuted Him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? Cast out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. So brothers, we are not children, get this, we are not children of the slave, but of the free woman. So there, I think, is probably the most clear place that we're gonna see this, and that's why I started with that passage, because I think after we read this one, the rest of these passages that we're gonna read, in light of this one, it becomes a lot more clear. Clearly, we have two covenants, both in Abraham. We have two seeds. Each covenant is made with one or the other seed, and they are not mixed. They're separate. They're separate seeds. They're separate covenants. Before I go to the next passage, any thoughts or questions or anything? No, okay, so let's go to Genesis chapter 12 now. I got some, but it's gonna take a while, so I don't wanna bring it all up, but I guess I'm sitting here reading this and I'm thinking of it physically, right? A mom, birthing, but you gotta think of it from a covenant perspective. So the passage itself says that this is an allegory. So it's taking a physical reality to convey a spiritual reality. Alright, Genesis chapter 12. So here we're going to be looking at verses 1 through 9. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So we see here we have a promise. There's not a covenant here yet. We have a mere promise. So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran, and Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the Oak of Morah. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land, Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your offspring, I give this land. Okay, now we have two promises. Still don't have a covenant yet, but we have two distinct promises, okay? We have a promise of a land right here. Previously we had a promise of a seed who would bless the nations, okay? So he built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent. With Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negev. So we have spiritual promise in two and three, physical promise in seven. The verses, okay? Now, Genesis 15. We're going to read this entire chapter because again we see both of these in this chapter. We see the promise and we see actually here a covenant is made. Genesis chapter 15 and we're going to be reading the entire chapter. All right, it says, after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Fear not, Abram. I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. But Abram said, O Lord God, what will you give me? For I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus. And Abram said, behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him. This man shall not be your heir. Your very own son shall be your heir. Now at this point, Abram is still childless, okay? And he brought him outside and said, look toward heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them. And he said to him, so shall your offspring be. So now we're talking about an offspring, okay? Not a land, an offspring. And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Now again, at this point, there is no formal covenant made, and yet it says Abraham has been justified by his faith in something. It's not in a covenant, it's in a promise. So this is the promise seed, specifically, to come. This is his faith in his greater descendant, Jesus. And the multitude of offspring, as we'll see later when we go back to Galatians 3, that is those who are in Christ. So this is a reference to His spiritual seed here. So the first six verses, we're looking at the promise of the covenant of grace at that time to come. Okay? But then we keep reading. And he said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess. So this is following the form of covenants in the ancient Near East. This, verse 7, is the beginning of a covenant, or a formalization of a covenant. But he said, O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it? He said to him, bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and behold, Dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in the land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for 400 years, but I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace, and you shall be buried in a good old age, and they shall come back here and the fourth generation for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. So the promise being made here is again land. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, to your offspring I give this land. So we see the covenant is made specifically for the land. To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Gergesites, and the Jebusites. That is a specific land. He outlines, I'm not just giving you all the land, I'm giving you this land right there. We have still a promise, and now we have a formal covenant. So let's turn to Genesis 17 now. This is where circumcision is gonna come into play. He made that covenant there, but we still have yet to see circumcision, right? So this is where circumcision comes into play. So, Genesis 17. It says, 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. Before I go on, let me also fill this in. Ishmael has been born. Isaac has not at this point, okay? It says, 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. And I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you. So there's the statement of the formula that's going to be used when we come to our critique of the pedo-baptist model. It's because they try to take what we just read here, that the covenant is made between God, the person, and their seed, and they try to impose that on the new covenant. And I'm not planning to cover that tonight, but when I do get to that, I just want you to see that's where it comes from, it's right there. But he makes the covenant between himself, Abraham, and his 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. Well, there's the covenant blessing. 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, let's pause right here for just a second. This is a covenant not of grace. This is a covenant that works because the enjoyment of its blessings depend on the keeping of a positive law, that is, all of your males Not just your offspring, by the way, your servants as well. All of your males shall be circumcised, and if they're not, then that person is cut off. Yes, there is a play on words there, circumcision cut off. But the point is, that person is cut out the blessings of the covenant. Okay? So, the pedo-baptist claim is that this is the covenant of grace. But that can't be, because its blessings are attained by a work. Now, it continues though, and God said to Abraham, as for Sarah, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarah, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations, kings of people, but kings of peoples shall come from her. Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, O that Ishmael might live before you. God said, No. But Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father 12 princes. and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year." So here we have, again, the promise of a seed, a holy seed. Now it takes its immediate form in Isaac, but through Isaac, the covenant of grace is being passed down. All right, now, also we see the physical seed and son of Hagar is given promises as well. But these are earthly promises. I will establish my covenant with Isaac, but I will make Ishmael into worldly nations, worldly kingdoms, things that actually pass away eventually. It says, When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. Then Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all those born in his house, or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, and Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised, and all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him. In other words, believers and unbelievers all, as long as they were male, were circumcised. Okay? Now, one more passage in Genesis that I think we need to consider very briefly, Genesis chapter 22. This is following Abraham's, at least, willingness to sacrifice Isaac. And, you know, we learn later in the New Testament that he considered that God was able and willing even to raise him from the dead. So, we're looking at verses 15 through 18. So there's Genesis 22, verses 15 through 18. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, by myself I have sworn, that's promise, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your offspring, and here's the repetition, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. That is not just a reference to Isaac. That is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. And in fact, when we get to that portion of Scripture in Galatians 3, where I believe this is what's being quoted, not earlier in Genesis 12. So then let's, well, let me pause. Any questions or comments at this point before we go to the next passage? Let's go to Matthew chapter three. This is gonna be Matthew chapter three, verses seven through 12. All right, it says, but when he, that's John the Baptist, when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Remember the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and I'll even add in the scribes, would have been the physical descendants of Abraham, right? He says, bear fruit in keeping with repentance and do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. So he's saying the covenant of circumcision does not save you, is what he's saying there. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Now we see that actually happens. This is fulfilled in the engrafting and the bringing in of the Gentiles. Thank God for this because we would all be hopelessly lost if not we are the stones mentioned here. He says, even now the axe is laid at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his weed into the barn, and the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. All right, now we're going to do a comparison of two of these seeds. of Abraham. So first, turn to Luke chapter 18. And I'll go ahead and tell you the next one's going to be in Luke chapter 19. Alright, so first we have a rich young ruler, a Jew who by his own testimony, has kept the law from his youth. All right? We're gonna see how he interacts with Jesus, or rather, how Jesus interacts with him. It says, and a ruler asked him, Jesus, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Now, mind you, inheritance here, we have something there. The seed of Abraham inherits what is promised Abraham, right? So there's something there. What do I have to do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother. And he said, all these I have kept from my youth. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, one thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, how difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God, for it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Those who heard it said, then who can be saved? But he said, what is impossible with men is possible with God. So we have the rich young ruler there, and we see two things. Number one, he believes himself to be righteous. He believes he has earned salvation on the basis of his law giving. And a false sense of that in and of itself. Then the other thing we see is that his true God is his wealth. It is not the true God. Alright. And then Jesus says that with man it is impossible for such a man to be saved, but with God it is possible. Now, we're gonna see God actually do this. So, Luke 19 verses 1 through 10. This is Zacchaeus. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through, and there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd, he could not. because he was small of stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today. So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled. He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner? And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. Now look at how Jesus responds to this. He says, And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. So in the Rich Young Ruler we have the physical seed. but here in Zacchaeus we have the spiritual seed. Jesus declares that Zacchaeus is saved on the basis of his connection to Abraham by faith, and specifically by faith in himself, the promised seed of Abraham. Okay? Now, John chapter eight. And right here we're gonna see what we read in Galatians 4, we're gonna actually see it in action here. We're gonna see why Paul can claim this rightly. So John chapter 8, and we're starting in verse 31. John chapter 8, starting in verse 31. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. They answered him, we are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free? Okay, so you see again the importance of this idea of being a seed of Abraham. This was understood to be salvific. Because they're saying, we're not enslaved, we're free. We're Abraham's seed. Why would we need to be free or saved? We're Abraham's seed. Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever. What did we read in Galatians? Cast out the slave woman and her seed. Right? You see the parallels here. The slave does not remain in the house forever. The son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham. yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my father, and you do what you have heard from your father." And what he means by that will become clear in a moment. He definitely does not mean Abraham. They answered him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you are Abraham's children, You would be doing the works Abraham did. And I think I've gone over this before, but back then the idea of being the son of a father entailed the idea that you do the same thing that the father does. You look like the father, in other words. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You're doing the works your father did. So he makes it clear he's saying they're not the seed of Abraham now. They said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God. Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. So he's basing, you're the sons of your father, the devil, and the reason I know that is because you desire to do the works of the devil. He was a murderer from the beginning and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. but because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not bear them is that you, or excuse me, the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God, or from God, or descended from God. The Jews answered him, are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan? So that's a dig at his lineage. They think he was born in sexual immorality. They think that Mary probably had, there's a Gentile father is what they're trying to say. Are you not a Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek, my own glory, there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. The Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets. Yet you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death? Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me, of whom you say he is our God. But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. Abraham believed the promise and it was counted to him as righteousness. That's what that means. He believed in Jesus. Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old. And have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. You see that in play all throughout that passage. That entire dialogue between the true seed of Abraham, Jesus, and the physical descendants, the Jews. All right. A couple more passages. We've got a little bit of time. Romans chapter 2. Just two verses on this one. Romans chapter two, verses 28 and 29. Romans two, 28 and 29. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man, but from God." So we see the distinction there between we have the outward circumcision and we have the inward circumcision of the heart made by the Holy Spirit. Romans 4. So Romans 4 begins by talking about Abraham being justified by faith alone. The point is, he's not saved by works of the law, he's saved by faith. And then we're gonna pick up in verse 9. Romans 4 starting in verse 9. Is this blessing then one for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after but before he was circumcised. And therefore his salvation was by faith in something prior to the covenant of circumcision. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that the righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised, who are not merely circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. Notice that, just as we observed in the Genesis passage, the promise that Abraham's justification by faith and the promise of the seed to come occurred prior to the covenant of circumcision. And it is in the context of this promise that the Gentiles are brought in and called, explicitly called, the children of Abraham. So we have a spiritual seed that includes both Jew and Gentile. It goes on to say, for the promise to Abraham and his offspring, that he would be heir of the world, not just that tiny nation, Palestine, not just that little area, but the world, did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace. Again, the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring, Jew and Gentile. not only to the adherents of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations, in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist, And hope, he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told. So shall your offspring be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God. but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. But the words it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. All right, Romans 9. And we really could read the entire chapter, but for the sake of time, I'm going to just try to skip around and hit the high points. Romans 9. And the context here is the apostasy of national Israel. And he's talking about the Israelites, the long adoption, the glory, the covenants, specifically the covenants of promise. the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. Okay? That's the context. Now, starting in verse 6, we're going to read 6 through 13, and then I'm going to skip down to verse 22. Okay? It says, But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel, so that's physical seed, belong to Israel. And not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring. We have a clear dichotomy there. But through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said. About this time next year, I will return and Sarah shall have a son. And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, Though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. and then skip down to verse 22. It says, What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy which He has prepared beforehand for glory? Even us whom He has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. So now He's lumping Gentiles in there with true Israel. the true descendants of Abraham. As indeed he says in Hosea, those who were not my people, I will call my people. And her who was not beloved, I will call beloved. And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there they will be called sons of the living God. And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay. And as Isaiah predicted, if the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah. What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith, but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, Behold, I am laying in Zion, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So we see believing Gentiles are brought into the spiritual seed, and they are the spiritual seed along with believing Jews. So the Israel of God is believing Jews and Gentiles, and the sons or the descendants of Abraham are believing Jews and Gentiles. I have one more passage, but it's a long one. I'm going to hold it until next week. Any thoughts or comments before we dismiss? No. Okay. All right, we'll dismiss with a word of prayer then. Father in heaven above, again we thank you for your word and we pray that you would help us to think and reflect upon these things and to rejoice that we are counted as the offspring, those who inherit the blessing of Abraham because we are in Christ, the one true seed of Abraham. I pray that you would, again, help us to reflect upon these things and have a better grasp and a better understanding, most of all because it helps us to understand the nature of the new covenant in Christ's blood, the covenant by which we are saved. And it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.