We read the word of God from Romans 4. What shall we say then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt. But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them also. And the father of circumcision, to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise that he should be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect, because the law worketh wrath, for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace. To the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations, before whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, calleth those things which be not as though they were. who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations. According to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. In being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead. When he was about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore, it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now, it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. Thus far, the reading of the holy and divine scripture we consider as our text tonight, verses 11 and 12. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised. that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them also, and the father of circumcision to them who are not of circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle is establishing that when he says that we are justified freely by God's grace through faith alone that he is not teaching any new doctrine. He establishes that first of all in the case of Abraham. What did Abraham as pertaining to his flesh find with regard to righteousness? Abraham found that there was no righteousness in his flesh. But what rather Abraham found was that he believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. God made a promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. Abraham believed God that what he had promised he would have performed and that faith was imputed to Abraham for righteousness. The reason that that faith was imputed to Abraham for righteousness is that faith made Abraham a part of the righteous corporation of Jesus Christ in which all sin has been blotted out. And so Paul establishes on the basis of the history of Abraham that he teaches no new doctrine. Furthermore, he establishes in the case of David that he teaches no new doctrine. What did the scripture say concerning David who had committed adultery with his best friend's wife and had murdered that man by the sword of the Ammonites? David found that blessed was the man to whom the Lord did not impute iniquity. Blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven. David too found, as Abraham did, that God justifies the ungodly. God justified the sinner David as God justified the sinner Abraham by faith alone in Jesus Christ. And when David said, blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute sin, that implied in that was the imputation of the perfect righteousness of Christ that becomes ours by faith only. Paul does not teach any new doctrine. The scripture speaks with one voice, God is a God who justifies the ungodly. Now an objection might come with regard to that doctrine that yes, God is the God who justifies the ungodly of the circumcision Was not Abraham circumcised? And does not the promise of Abraham then come to the seed of Abraham that is circumcised? And so the apostle must answer that objection. How is faith reckoned? What is the status of the man to whom faith is reckoned? And the apostle answers that in our text. Abraham, when it says faith was reckoned for righteousness, Abraham was uncircumcised. And here, the apostle is referring back to what he said at the end of chapter three. God is one, and therefore there is one way of salvation. He justifies the Jew by faith and He justifies the Gentile through faith. Doesn't matter whether you're a Jew or whether you're a Gentile. Doesn't matter whether you are circumcised or uncircumcised. God is the God who justifies the ungodly. And the faith of the ungodly is imputed for righteousness. But you must understand that the apostle is not simply interested in the text, in explaining that God justifies both the circumcised and the uncircumcised. Really, the apostle has established that fact already at the end of chapter 3. He established that fact on the ground that God is one. There can be only one way of salvation. There can be only one mediator between God and men. There can be only one justification, whether you're Jew or Gentile. So what is the apostle after here? When the apostle answers that objection, is justification only for the circumcised? The apostle is after those who are offended by the truth that God justifies the ungodly. Scripture is very clear. God justifies the ungodly. God does not justify the repentant person. He doesn't justify the believing person. He doesn't justify the obedient person. He justifies the ungodly. You must understand the Jew, the Jew then and the Jew today is offended by that. They say, but, God justifies the ungodly, but. And their but is always an attempt to bring works back in. Oh, God justifies the ungodly, but. I can put that to you in New Testament terms. God justifies the ungodly Christian. He's a decent sinner. He's a sinner, of course. No man would admit that he isn't a sinner. He's a sinner. But he's a sinner that goes to church. He's a sinner that supports the good Christian school. He's a sinner that prays, and he reads his Bible, and he has a decent home in which he raises his children. God justifies the ungodly Christian. The decent and upstanding person. That person that strives after keeping the law of God, even though he fails many times. But he does strive to keep the law. He's the one who repents, even though his repentance isn't deep enough. He's the one who can say, I'm sorry. God justifies the decent, ungodly Christian. That's what the Jew thought of the Gentile. The Jew said, I am the decent person. I have been circumcised. I am clean. I am separated unto God. I belong to the people of Israel, but the Gentiles, they are sinners. That's what Paul summarized the position of the Jew with regarding circumcision and uncircumcision as in the book of Galatians. He says, we are of the circumcision and not sinners of the Gentiles. That's how the world was divided. The world was divided between those who had the law of God, who knew the will of God, who had the oracles of God, who could live their life after those things, and sinners of the Gentiles. And so when the apostle asks, does this justification, when we say that faith was imputed to Abraham for righteousness, how was it imputed? Was it imputed to him as a circumcised person or as an uncircumcised person? Does God in fact justify the ungodly? Or does God justify decent ungodly people? But Abraham was circumcised only after the scripture said, and he believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. And that would scandalize a Jew. Abraham uncircumcised Abraham a sinner of the Gentiles but that is precisely what God says and he believed God and yet his faith was counted to him for righteousness whence then circumcision he received it as a seal of that righteousness which is by faith and it's that seal that we consider tonight in our text the sign of circumcision notice first of all what it sealed of what it is a sign secondly and finally what it promised the Apostle says that Abraham after he was justified, received of God the sign of circumcision. Circumcision was a right that God gave to Abraham. And in that ceremony that God gave to Abraham, on the eighth day, every male child born to Jewish parents had his foreskin cut off. it was the boys that were circumcised necessarily the girls were not circumcised and all those that circumcised the girls that's barbaric that isn't of God God commanded the boys to be circumcised the girls didn't need to be circumcised and that really has a theological explanation because sin is passed on through generation. And in the biblical view, the power of generation comes through the male, so that the girls really were circumcised in their father. And that circumcision was a sign that that person who was circumcised had really become a whole new person. It was a sign, first of all. And a sign in Scripture always is an outward, visible ceremony, or rite, or thing even, as that is tied to an inward and invisible spiritual reality. When the apostle says he received a sign of circumcision, the apostle is using the word sign in a theological sense. And a sign in theology is never like a road sign. As you're driving down the road, you see the road sign, and it says so many miles to your destination. That road sign has no concrete, real relationship with the destination. It's simply a marker. But in Scripture, the sign is closely tied, indeed inseparably tied, with the spiritual reality. The sign is outward, visible. The spiritual reality is inward and invisible. And I can explain that to you. by another example, Jesus Christ coming is the real thing. Jesus Christ is always coming. Ever since he went up to Gori, Jesus Christ has never stopped coming. Every single day, every single moment, every single week and every single year, he is coming. That's the reality. You can't see that. But that's all of history, all of history, Jesus is coming. And that coming of Christ creates signs. Just like when a thunderstorm comes, that thunderstorm creates the signs of its coming. The mercury in the barometer drops, and the humidity rises, and maybe the wind has a certain smell to it. The thunderstorm is creating those things. Those things have an inseparable connection with that reality of the coming of Christ. It's in that sense that the apostle says he received the sign of circumcision. That sign of circumcision God gave to be inseparably connected with an invisible spiritual reality. And that invisible spiritual reality, that cutting, circumcision was a cutting. It was a bloody cutting. It was a painful cutting. That cutting was a sign that that baby had been cut out of Adam. The corporation of Adam was a death corporation. It was a corporation of sin and of condemnation. It was a corporation of darkness and wickedness. All men fell in Adam. And the believer, the Jew, could only bring forth such children. Could never bring forth God's children. And circumcision said, by a wonder of grace, God has cut you out of Adam, and he has made you part of a new corporation, the corporation that is his covenant, the corporation that is headed by Jesus Christ. And so circumcision really also says, behold, all things have become new. it was a sign of the regeneration of that child and the incorporation of that child into God's covenant so that that child was a friend of the living God circumcision was a sign and that circumcision as a sign had its place taken by baptism circumcision was a sign of separation You could see that with the cutting. You separated that old flesh from that child. You took it off. You took it away. So God separated His people from their old sinful selves. He separated them from the human race. He separated them from guilt and from condemnation. That was the cutting. And in its place, baptism has come. That's a very important point that I'm making. What the apostle has to say here in the text applies to baptism. Baptism too is a sign of separation. That's what Lord's Day 27 says to us about baptism. That in the old dispensation, They were separated by the sign of circumcision and in the place of that baptism has come so that believing parents must have their children baptized and the mark of the covenant put on them so that they're separated from all heathen and profane children. And that baptism then was a sign of incorporation into the covenant of the living God. that you were not of the world, that you were separate from the world, and that you had been consecrated to the living God. Now because of the close and intimate connection between baptism and that spiritual reality, so that when God gave the sign than in his people, not in everybody, but in his people, he also gave the spirituality. And I say because of that connection, baptism was also a seal. And so the apostle says he received the sign of baptism as a seal of the righteousness which is by faith. And that's important because that sign said something wonderful. That sign said that I, as a sinful, depraved child of Adam, that I am now the friend of the living God. I, who was under the condemnation of guilt, I am now righteous. And the question immediately became, how is that possible? How can I stand before God? How can I be a friend of God? How can I be at peace with the living God? How is that possible? And the apostle says that circumcision was a sign of the righteousness which is by faith. When he says a seal, then that's the other reality about circumcision and about baptism too. A seal is a confirmation. If you receive a document from the government purporting to tell you something, you throw it in the trash unless it has a seal. That seal is the confirmation that that document is real. And circumcision was a seal. And when the apostle says it was a seal, he means it was a testimony from the living God. So that behind that circumcision stood the God of circumcision. That God who gave the sign and that God who gave the inward reality. That God also promised or He testified in that rite, in that ceremony of circumcision. And He testified of the righteousness which is by faith. There was a sealing work of the Spirit. in God's own people in circumcision. And what the Spirit said was, you are righteous by faith. You are righteous by faith. God justifies the ungodly. That's what circumcision said. Circumcision never said, now you need to be righteous by the law. Circumcision never said now you need to strive after righteousness. Circumcision never said now you need to be a decent person who prays and who reads the Bible. Circumcision never said that. There was no testimony in circumcision from God that now you have to keep the law to be right with me. You have to keep the law to be a friend of the living God. You have to keep the law to enter into my fellowship. Circumcision never said that. Circumcision was a word from God. I justify the ungodly. And the believer received it. And his faith was imputed to him for righteousness. And now Abraham, Abraham received that sign after he believed. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. It wasn't circumcision that counted. The apostle here puts the circumcised and the uncircumcised on the exact spiritual plane. That's what always offends a self-righteous person. It always offends them. Jesus came, he said the same thing. They said, we're children of Abraham. He said, no you're not. God could make stones into children of Abraham. And he took away all their obedience. And he put them on the same spiritual plane as whores. You're no different. That's why he ate with whores. He was telling everybody, you're no different. You're the exact same. What counts is faith. What does not count is not your circumcision or uncircumcision. when I say circumcision don't count you better understand what I mean it doesn't it doesn't matter at all ever for your righteousness which means for your eternal life it does not matter for your eternal life how many books theological books you've read how many times you pray How many times you read the Bible? How many times you go to church? Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter how decent your children are. Doesn't matter how well run your house is. Circumcision doesn't count. Abraham believed God. And it was counted to him for righteousness. Not circumcision. doesn't matter how deep your humility is and how much you repent or how much you obey doesn't matter absolutely does not matter counts as faith and your uncircumcision doesn't matter either doesn't matter how much you've sinned no matter how many times you've broken God's law and how little you repent and how little you pray and how little you read the Bible it doesn't matter that doesn't count against your righteousness your good works don't count for your righteousness they don't give you a leg up a place of special standing with God so that now you can make a claim with a little better position than the ungodly over there. No, no. Your circumcision doesn't count. God don't save decent Christians. God saves the ungodly. And that's true whether one is a circumcised ungodly or an uncircumcised ungodly. God justifies the ungodly that's the gospel and God is the Abraham is the father then of all that believe you might say something like this Abraham is the father of those that believe on the mission field they come out of heathendom they come out of ignorance they never knew God they never went to church they live wicked lives and the gospel comes and says God justifies the ungodly and they believe it their faith is imputed for righteousness they'll need to be decent people and God is the God of the circumcised too Oh, not just those who are of the circumcision only. The apostle Paul makes a distinction. He says Abraham's the father of the uncircumcised because faith is imputed for righteousness, not circumcision. And he says Abraham is also the father of the circumcised, but he makes a distinction. He says not those who are of the circumcision only, it's very easy to be of the circumcision only there are all kinds of Jews in the days of Jesus that were of the circumcision only they said we have Abraham as our father and they had the law and they would only walk so many steps on Sunday and they wouldn't carry their bed on Sunday and they wouldn't be seen in the company of a whore or a drunk but they had no faith they were unbelievers that's to be of the circumcision only All you are is a earthly child of Abraham. If I can put it in our terms, all you are is an outwardly decent Christian, but you have no faith. Maybe you boast of the books you've read. Maybe you boast of how long you go to church and how scrupulously you keep God's law. Maybe you boast of that. Maybe you boast that you don't keep company with sinners either. But that's all you have. Then Abraham is not your father. And you are an unbeliever. And you have no part in Christ. He's the father not of those who are of the circumcision only, but who walk in the steps of their father Abraham. He says walk in the faith of their father Abraham when he means there is not their life. he doesn't say he doesn't mean this he's the father of the ungodly on the mission field whom he can save even though they don't have any works even though they're ungodly and wicked and now he's the God of the circumcision he's the God of the Christian who has who has a little something you know he at least strives to walk in the way of Abraham He strives to be a good person. No, he doesn't mean that. He means that we walk in the faith of Father Abraham. And what was Abraham's faith? Abraham's faith was that Abraham was absolutely nothing, he himself personally. He had nothing, and he believed God justified the ungodly. That faith is imputed for righteousness, and of that righteousness, the righteousness that is by faith circumcision and now baptism was the seal and that seal pointed out then that Abraham was the father of believers Paul says that that he might be the father of all them that believe though they be not circumcised and then again he's the father of the circumcision and then note the caveat to them who are not of the circumcision only but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he had being yet uncircumcised and the Apostle is saying there that circumcision being a sign of the righteousness of faith When Abraham received that, then Abraham was the father of all believers. The physical Jew, the physical offspring of Abraham, who you might say has Jewish blood in them. Abraham is not their father. And they are not his children. Many evangelicals because of their false eschatology want Abraham to be the father of the Jews but Abraham isn't the father of the Jews those evangelicals have an eschatology that is a view of the end of the world in which Jesus is going to come back after a time of tribulation for the Jews and he will establish a thousand year kingdom of the Jews in Jerusalem. And so for those evangelicals, the Jews are everything. And that land of Palestine and that city of Jerusalem, they take a great interest in that. and for many others they have a view of the Jews in connection with Christ's coming that right before a golden age of the church's rule on the earth for a thousand years Jesus is in heaven and for a thousand years the church is going to rule on the earth right before that they say there will be a mass conversion of the Jews and so for them too to be a physical offspring of Abraham is a big deal And it seems that these evangelicals have more interest in the physical offspring of Abraham than the physical offspring of Abraham themselves do. I don't know if the Jews really care. The majority of them, if they care all that much that they're the physical offspring of Abraham. Just as they don't care if they're the physical offspring of David. They are. but to be a physical offspring of Abraham is nothing special but the Jews in the language of the text the Jews are not Abraham's children they're not his seed they're not his sons and his daughters he is not the father of the physical Jew so much is that the case that if a flesh and blood Jew is converted which happens and God says it will happen to the end of the world there will be Jews because God has not forsaken that nation there will be Jews who are brought into the kingdom of Jesus Christ the important thing about that Jew is not that he's a Jew because he's a Jew he doesn't have a special place in Christ's kingdom What's important for that Jew is that now he is really a child of Abraham. Abraham said that sign of circumcision was a spiritual father. He was a spiritual father who begat spiritual children. And you must understand when the text points out Abraham as a spiritual father who begets spiritual children, that's not because of Abraham himself. Because Abraham himself was dead spiritually. That's what the physical side of Abraham's deadness pointed to. Abraham was physically dead. That is, he did not have the strength physically to bring forth a child with Sarah. And to make doubly sure that he could not bring forth a child with Sarah, Sarah also was dead. Abraham could not beget physical children with Sarah. Abraham at one time could forget, beget physical children, that's true. He begat physical children with Hagar. But those children were not the seed. When Abraham begat a child, then that child, the very power of the conception of that child, was a wonder of grace. And to point to the wonder of grace that stood behind the conception of that child, God gave the sign of circumcision. So that Abraham, by the power of the wonder of grace, was the father of a spiritual seed. And that was not all his children. At the heart of that was Christ. Abraham's the father of all believers in Christ. Because Christ is that spiritual seed. He is the wonder of grace who came down from heaven. He is the wonder of grace who was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Ghost so that God became flesh. and that wonder of grace explains the righteousness which is by faith. Abraham was saved in his seed because that seed, Jesus Christ, took all of Abraham's sins on him. That seed, Jesus Christ, took away all those sins and that seed, Jesus Christ, accomplished all righteousness. And it was in Christ that Abraham is a spiritual father of a spiritual seed that's what the Apostle points out in Galatians Galatians the Apostle refers back to Genesis 17 verse 7 there God says that I am the God of you and your seed and Paul makes a very astute observation under the power of the Spirit. And if you know Hebrew, it seems like an odd observation. God did not say, seeds. I will be a God to you and to your seeds. He didn't say that. And in fact, in Hebrew, you couldn't say that. Because the word seed is a collective in Hebrew. Like we say fish for one or a hundred. God didn't say seeds. In fact, you might say through the Hebrew language there was an emphatic explanation point on the singular. God said seed. And even seed as a collective organism, as a corporation. There's one seed. and Abraham was the father of that seed through the wonder of grace and that seed is Christ and if you are of the faith of Abraham then you are also Abraham's spiritual child if you are of the faith of Abraham if you believe that God justifies the ungodly if you believe like Abraham believed the impossible that he would be the father of many nations if you believe that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead then you are of the faith of Father Abraham and you are a part of that corporation of Jesus Christ and you are a child of Abraham And that sign then pointed out that Abraham was the father of a spiritual seed, not a physical seed. It's a seed that's begotten by the wonder of grace. It's the seed that none of us can bring forth. All we ever bring forth is that which has to be circumcised. All we ever bring forth is that which has to be baptized. all we bring forth are children of the flesh and we are, like Abraham, dead impossible, incapable of bringing forth that spiritual seed circumcision said you're the father of a spiritual seed by a wonder of grace and that spiritual seed is marked by its faith not circumcision or uncircumcision you can't let that thought creep into your mind it's so easy oh, to be righteous with God I have to be a decent person oh, to be righteous and acceptable to God I need to pray more and I need to read my Bible more and I need to listen to sermons more carefully and I need to read better books and more books And I need to work harder, and I'll be acceptable to God. No. No, God doesn't justify decent Christians. He justifies the ungodly who have no righteousness, who are in the exact same spiritual plane as the uncircumcised. Does that mean? that reading books and praying and going to church is nothing? By no means. From our youth, we have known God in Jesus Christ. From our youth, we've been a part of God's church. You can't trample that underfoot, but it's not your righteousness. it's not how you're acceptable to God it's not why God loves you or how God loves you or the reason that God blesses you He's the God of the circumcision whom He justifies by faith and He's the God of the uncircumcision whom He justifies through faith because He's the God who only justifies the ungodly and if you believe that then this is his word to you. Being justified by faith, you have peace with God through your Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank thee for thy word and gospel. Apply it to our hearts. Increase our faith and Will Thou assure us that, being justified by faith, we have peace with Thee through our Lord Jesus Christ? Now send us away with Thy blessing. Keep us in Thy care. We pray this for Jesus' sake. Amen.