(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Though by sin oppressed go to him for rest, our God is able to deliver thee. Tis the grandest theme in the earth or main. Tis the grandest theme for a mortal strength. Tis the grandest theme, tell the world again, our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Though by sin oppressed go to him for rest, our God is able to deliver thee. Tis the grandest theme, let the tidings roll to the guilty heart, to the sinful soul. Look to God in faith, he will make the whole. Our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Though by sin oppressed go to him for rest, our God is able to deliver thee. Amen. Good seeing brother Justin, could you bless the offering for us? Thank you. All right, open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 17. Genesis 17, if you don't have a Bible raise your hand, one of the ushers will bring you one. Genesis chapter 17. Genesis 17, the Bible reads, and when Abram was 90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect and I will make my covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly and Abram fell on his face and God talked with him saying as for me behold my covenant is with thee and thou shall be a father of many nations neither shall thy name be any more be called Abram but thy name shall be Abraham for a father of many nations have I made thee and I will make thee exceeding fruitful and I will make nations of thee and kings shall come out of thee and I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee and I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God and God said unto Abraham thou shall keep my covenant therefore thou and thy seed after thee in their generations this is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee every man child among you shall be circumcised and you shall and you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you and he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you every man child in your generations he that is born in the house or bought with money of any stranger which is not of thy seed he that is born in thy house and he that is bought with with thy money must needs be circumcised and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant and the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised thou that soul shall be cut off from his people he had broken my covenant and God said unto Abraham as for Sarah thy wife thou shall not call her name Sarah but Sarah shall her name be and I will bless her and give thee a son also of her yea I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations kings of people shall be of her then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed and said in his heart shall a child be born unto him that is and hundred years old and shall Sarah that is 90 years old bear and Abraham said unto God oh that Ishmael might live before thee and God said Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed and thou shall call his name Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him and as for Ishmael I have heard thee behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly 12 princes shall he beget and I will make him a great nation but my covenant will establish with Isaac which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year and he left off talking with him and God went up from Abraham and Abraham took Ishmael his son and all that were born in his house and all that were bought with his money every male among the men of Abraham's house and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day as God had said unto him and Abraham was 90 years old and nine and he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin and Ishmael his son was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin in the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised and Ishmael his son and all the men of his house born in the house and bought with money of the stranger were circumcised with him brother Owen will you pray for us amen okay we're in Genesis chapter 17 and it's been a couple weeks since we've been here and remember last last time we were in Genesis chapter 16 where Abraham there was the the issue with Hagar and I kind of explained the concubines and all that stuff but so from the last time we're given a date well actually from the last chapter if you look at verse number 16 in the last in chapter 16 it says and Abraham was four score and six years old when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abraham so 13 years have elapsed since the last time since the last chapter so sometimes we can read things in sequential order and we're just like okay well that was just like the next day but it's not the next day because how old is he here he's 99 years old right so look at verse number one it says when Abraham was 90 years old and nine so 99 years old the Lord appeared to Abraham and said unto him I am the almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect let's pray Lord we thank you so much for all the people that got saved today thank you for this great church thank you for all the people that are here that make it great and Lord most of all you the greatest of all and I pray that you would just help me to preach tonight and to say that what I ought to say and Lord I pray that the people even though having a long day would just be attentive to your word Lord and we'll give you the praise and honor for that in Jesus name we pray amen okay so like I said last chapter Abraham was 86 now here he is 99 now we think of someone 99 there are some pretty old people that answered the door today and it was really sad because like they weren't you know they're just weren't interested in getting saved they said they didn't believe you know but Abraham here he's 99 we think of a 99 year old guy he probably didn't look like we would see a 99 year old guy look today because obviously the span of the lifespan of people was a little bit longer at that time and so anyway so I just wanted you to keep in perspective that some time has passed about 13 years God here is reminding Abraham of the covenant that he made with him so one thing I you know I kind of said in the sermon this morning it's good to be reminded of things it's good to remember Jesus and what he did for us but here you notice that in these chapters like chapter 12 chapter 13 chapter 15 and now chapter 17 God comes to Abraham and reminds him of the promises that he gave him throughout his life and how old was he when he left Haran he was 75 years old so you got 75 then you got 86 here and then 99 so God comes back and reminds him of the blessings that he told him that he was going to do onto him and the different things that he said this covenant that he's made with Abraham and it's good to be reminded of God and his mighty acts that he does that's like you know even with the Passover they were supposed to also remember the fact that they were bond servants in the land of Egypt at one time and that they were mistreated and so God would say hey remember to treat strangers good because you were strangers in a foreign land and just you know the thing about the Bible why do we read it more than once well because we need to be reminded of the things it says over and over again because if you just read it once you're like okay I've read the Bible now I can just kick back and just live the Christian life well if you if you think you're going to live the Christian life without having the Bible as your guide you're in for a sad disappointment because this book is alive it keeps us on our toes it keeps us just sharpened the things you know iron sharpens iron and this is like lichen into a two-edged sword right and so we you know friends are supposed to sharpen each other but the Bible is supposed to sharpen us also and it also supposed to cut us when it needs to so but look at verse two it says and I will make my covenant between me and thee and will multiply the exceedingly and Abram fell on his face and God talked with him saying so that should tell you something a little bit about the character of Abraham when God comes before him he fell on his face you know that's not just bowing to one knee that's not t bowing you know Tim Tebow Tim Tebow that's not just one knee that's not just getting on two knees that's like he fell on his face you know and and so before God and is there times in your life that you fall on your face too like when you think about what you know you know when you're praying on your way to work that'd be a bad time to try to fall on your face all right but then there's times when you you know you're just not in a spot where you can just fall on your face you can pray with your eyes open you can pray with your eyes closed you can pray in the middle of the night and sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I just pray and you know I'm sure everybody does that but there should be also times when you're on your knees with the Lord there should be times when maybe you just fall on your face and just you know that's showing that you're humble and in proper humility with God so turn to Numbers chapter 16 I'll just show you a couple of examples of other people in the Bible that fell on their face and that humbled themselves before God obviously there's a lot of instances I'm just going to show you a few so I think it's it's we need to have a proper humility before God and there is times when we should be on our knees and on our face to God so look at Numbers chapter 16 here's I read this in when I was in Yakima about Moses Moses was the meekest man upon the face of the earth and in Numbers 16 you got the Korah came against him with all of his his people Dathan and Abiram and then you know all the other people that were trying to basically they kind of they were trying to make it a democracy in the congregation so that should really tell you also about you know what God thinks about democracy you know we're all holy you know who do you think you are Moses a prince among us you know and they were trying to basically take over and do things that were not their job to do look at verse three it was and so they're trying they're accusing Moses of lifting himself above the congregation of the Lord when Moses's job was just to lead the people and so sometimes leaderships have leaders have to exercise that leadership upon people and people don't like it especially in America when everything is voted upon and everything's just a vote you know democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner basically you know when when the majority rules sometimes that's that's not that's generally not a good thing I mean if the majority ruled this whole country and there was no electoral college then it would be always as some left-wing dipstick democrat being in there as the president but again I'm not trying to preach about politics but look what happens when he's Moses's challenge here says when Moses heard it he fell upon his face why did he do that well he he begins to talk to the Lord after this all right so Moses knew that this big controversy is going on and he knows where he needs to be with God total submission total humility and so he fell upon his face now I'll turn over to Matthew chapter 26 verse 39 and we'll show you another example of a man of God falling upon his face and of course it's the Lord Jesus Christ Matthew chapter 26 verse 39 it says and this is when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane he's about to be betrayed he knows he's going to the cross he's trying to uh exert his will and ask if it's possible that the cup would pass from him it says and he went a little further and what did he do he fell on his face and prayed saying oh my father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt so you have Moses an example of a mighty man of God who fell upon his face before the Lord Abram when God talked to him he fell upon his face before the Lord and the Lord Jesus Christ also when he was talking to the father fell upon his face and prayed now let's look at one other example here second chronicles chapter 6 verse 12 second chronicles chapter 6 verse number 12 and this is Solomon as he's dedicating the temple and he's going before the nation of Israel the whole congregation of the Lord and he also humbles humbles himself before the Lord says and he stood upon the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands and Solomon made a brazen scaffold of five cubits long and five cubits broad and three cubits high and had set it in the midst of the court and upon it he stood no and it says and he kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation now it doesn't say he fell on his face but look what he does it says and spread forth his hands toward heaven so being on your knees is a humble place to be before the Lord falling upon your face is a humble place to be with the Lord and a good man of God there's many examples of this happening and so I would just say this that as believers there should be times when we fall on our face also and we humble ourselves before God now let's go back to verse number of Genesis chapter 17 look at verse number 4 it says as for me behold my covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a father of many nations so what's one of the promises that he promised Abraham that he would be a father of many nations and as we go through the life of Abraham we're going to find that that is actually true that he is the becomes the father of many nations but but he's also the spiritual father of many nations and so there's types and things that are going on throughout this story in Genesis about him look at verse 5 says neither shall thy name anymore be called Abram but thy name shall be Abraham for a father of many nations have I made thee so I'm guessing that that's what Abram means the father of many nations or Abraham excuse me so from here on out Abram is called Abraham so and he also changes Sarah's name here or Sarah's name here and so after this so God basically just renames them both and both of those names are forms of the of their former name but it says and I will make thee exceeding fruitful and I will make nations of thee and kings shall come out of thee and you know the most important king that came out of him was the lord of lords and king of kings the lord Jesus Christ and I'll establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee and their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a god unto the unto thee and to thy seed after thee so we've gone through this enough where we know that when it's talking about thy seed that it's talking about Christ but it's also is talking about his descendants but like when it's talking about thy seed it's talking about Christ and we've gone over that before but look at what it says in verse 8 and I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their god and so this is one of those verses where the Jews will be like see anybody that's the children of Abraham that land of Canaan is theirs for an everlasting possession but here's the thing you have to have everlasting life to have an everlasting possession okay so it might be you know promised to Abraham and to his seed but that's not necessarily what it's talking about it's talking about Christ and his seed and so when it talks about Daniel coming into his lot after the 1291 days or whatever it was I can't remember the exact number but it talks about the very end of Daniel that he'll come into his lot and I believe that the children of Israel that are saved obviously inherit this land and it sounds like Abraham himself because did he have the land of Canaan all to himself when he was here on this earth no he didn't so I believe that that's a literal that's literally going to happen but like the Jews that live there now they think it's their land and it belongs to them because they're children of Abraham which is also a disputed fact because they went away with brown skin and brown eyes and brown hair and came back white so I don't know how that works but it's not about you know we all know this it's not about what genealogy or what skin color or whatever you are it's whether you're saved or not and so that's what Christ that's what God is looking for is people that are saved and it says I will be their God verse 9 and God said unto Abraham thou shalt keep my covenant therefore thou and thy seed after thee in their generation so and we've talked about this before but the seed again is talking about Christ but there's also you know this line that Christ goes through and there's a genealogy there's genealogies in the Bible and Christ had to come from those genealogies there's a there's this seed that travels and it's from Abraham's loins at this point and the seed which is Christ is going to come from his loins not from some adopted kid or not you know it's going to be literally his distant relative that is the seed that it's talking about here so turn to Galatians 3 16 we'll just kind of look over that real quickly again because just like God's reminding Abraham here about his covenant well we should be reminded about what it says too Galatians 3 16 says now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made he saith not to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ and we know that the New Testament is what sheds light on the Old Testament so we have to understand that what the Bible says in the New Testament is what's right so are the Jews right about it being literal descendants no it's talking about the seed which is Christ let's skip down to verse 28 says there is neither June or Greek there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for you ye are all one in Christ Jesus and if you be Christ then you're Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise let me read that again if you be Christ if you're saved if you're born again then you're then you are Abraham seed and heirs according to the promise so if you're a Christ rejecting Jew does that make you that you're going to get the everlasting possession of Canaan no it's talking about if you're Christ now I definitely believe that everybody's going to have their own positions once the millennial reign comes and you know I think that the the children of Abraham like maybe that are saved and they actually are from those tribes they probably will inherit that area in in the area of Israel Abraham for sure is going to right and Daniel for sure will have his lot but as far as us Gentiles know see God doesn't see it that way but I mean there's obviously a big world to live in once all this goes away it's gonna be a different world it's gonna be a very awesome world so I was talking with somebody about the animals was it you brother Sean yeah we're talking about the animals like when are they going to change to where they're not trying to rip our heads off if they're like a lion tiger or a bear to where they're gentle and children can lead them around and I and I feel like that's going to be at the millennium right when the millennium changes because the last thing that really kind of happens is this battle of Armageddon and then all these armies come to try to destroy the Lord is Christ and what ends up happening at the very end of that battle what happens Eagles come and birds of prey and they come and devour all of God's enemies and our enemies and then kind of we go into this millennial reign so then I think the animals change at that point I think the animals start being nice again you know and if it's like if you have an eagle and you try to put it on your arm right now what do you think it's gonna do I've watched one eat a Canadian goose so I definitely don't want one on my arm my stepdad caught a hawk one time and hawks are a lot smaller than Eagles but they're still pretty big it was a baby hawk and he put it on his arm big mistake what did it do it like clawed into his arm it was just a baby hawk so like imagine what a giant eagle or a big bird of prey could do to you and mess you up so and when you get close to them they're big and they're scary so but I don't know how I got off on that but it's just gonna be cool it's gonna be just a different world that we live in and we're gonna have our own inheritance that we're gonna have and things like that and this is gonna be awesome but so let's go back to our verse here our verses here in Genesis 17 so we are if we're Christ were Abraham's seed so even people that are physically related to Abraham by genetics if you're if you have no drop of Abraham's blood and you at all you are more of Abraham's seed than a person that actually is related to them that's what that's what I believe so that's what the Bible I think is teaching here there's no difference that you know there's neither Jew or Greek bond or free male or female you're all one in Christ Jesus so in verse number 10 back in our text it says this is my covenant which I which he shall keep between me and you and I seed after thee every man child among you shall be circumcised and he shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you so here he's asking Abraham to do something and you know if you don't know what it's talking about you know then whatever but like I'm not going to go into detail about what that means I think you can figure it out for yourself or ask your parents later on if you want to talk about that with them so but anyway what is a token remember we've learned about tokens a lot this year and last year but token is a thing serving as a visible or tangible representation of a fact so a token is something that's you can see it it's a visible or tangible representation of a fact quality or feeling so so God said that this circumcision that it's talking about shall be a token of the covenant between betwixt me and you and so and the book of Romans kind of explains to us what this is actually talking about and I believe that it's like kind of like baptism in a way so it's it's not exactly like baptism it's a little it's a lot different but but I'm saying for the representation like when we get back if we get baptized it represents the death burial resurrection of Christ and circumcision was a tangible evidence of the fact that of what Abraham believed it was a covenant between him and God and so if you'll turn over to Romans chapter 4 look we'll see what it says there about about this specific circumcision doctrine here so ultimately the circumcision is a picture of the circumcision of our hearts when we get saved so but look at Romans chapter 4 verse 8 it says blesses the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also so it's talking about basically Jew and Gentiles what it's saying for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness how then is it how was it then reckoned when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision not in circumcision but in uncircumcision so Abraham already had the faith before he was circumcised before God put this promise and this token together and it says and he received the sign of circumcision see it's a sign the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised so that's very important to understand that that this is just a symbolic thing it's not something that saved Abraham Abraham was already saved it's not something that saved the Jews even when they did do it it's just a like a covenant in their flesh for God showing that what they believe what they were supposed to believe on the inside so then 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 so God's saying hey it's a picture of everybody being able to be saved the Gentiles because it shows that you know Abraham had the faith before he was circumcised and also the Jews who had the circumcision so it's this picture it's this token it's this tangible evident thing that showed that they had this covenant with God so it says that he might be the father of 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 so he already had the faith and so Jews today will say well you got to be circumcised to be saved and that's not true and I'll show that to you here in just a minute but look what it says in verse 13 it says for the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law but through the righteousness of faith so anybody that's dispensational I mean I pretty much press a lot of you know I wasn't I said I'm not preaching about dispensationalism and then I go off and preach about 15 or 20 minutes for the dispensational stuff but well I'm talking about on Wednesday but look this proves that did the dispensational salvation is not true doesn't it doesn't this verse prove that it says for the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law but through the righteousness of faith faith is what saves faith is what gives us the ability to be born again to get the gift of God to get eternal life now so this was instituted in Abraham's time in Genesis chapter 17 he is the father of the circumcision God just told him to do it and you know what Abraham did he obeyed and did it and it probably wasn't a very good experience okay I'll just say that but you know God when God sometimes God asks us to do say things that are uncomfortable sometimes God asks us to do things that might not make sense to our minds but he still says to do it if he says to do it then do it he said sacrifice your son Abraham and he was about to do it wasn't he so to us and to people that are unbelievers sometimes that seems like that's that's really extreme sometimes God's extreme sometimes God asks us to do things that people would see as extreme so and I'm not talking about blowing people's buildings up and things like that not that kind of extreme I'm just saying that sometimes our faith the faith that God asked us to have seems like it's pretty extreme so Leviticus chapter 12 verse 1 this is where we see it instituted the law so Abraham was asked to do it before the law was given right before the law of Moses and so let's look at Leviticus chapter 12 verse 1 race we see that it's instituted as law by Moses all right but it was already something that was a covenant between them and Abraham but it continues through the law of Moses look at Leviticus chapter 12 verse 1 it says and the Lord spake unto Moses saying speak unto the children of Israel saying if a man or excuse me if a woman have conceived seed and born a man child then she shall be unclean seven days according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean and then the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised why the eighth day I'm not exactly sure why I don't have the answers to everything okay I know I'm the pastor but like but scientifically speaking they say that like on the eighth day you have a more than a hundred percent vitamin K that you need in your body and that's not the shot that you get it's just a natural thing by the way I'm gonna get to that here in a second but in the law of Moses so it was in the circumcision was instituted in Abraham it was confirmed in the law of Moses that on the eighth day they shall be circumcised that's what he said to Abraham and then but here's the thing God alludes to the fact that there was going to be a new covenant that this was a symbol of something that would happen later so turn to Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse number 16 Deuteronomy 10 chapter 16 so it's not like this was like foreign to them in teaching they were taught that the that this meant something symbolically to them so look at Deuteronomy 10 16 it says circumcised therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiff necked so it's a symbol of them you know actually you know not being stiff necked listening to what God had to say and sometimes you know it's saying the foreskin of your heart like sometimes we get a lot of things that build up around our heart that we don't need brother Joe knows about that right but sometimes you need you know to fix your heart and get right with God but ultimately what it's talking about is the new covenant and the new covenant is the new man that's that's in our heart but by believing in Jesus so turn to Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 31 Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 31 and Jeremiah prophesies of this new covenant that's going to happen so it's funny to me that the Jews just kind of get stuck in Jew land with all this other with all these you know these laws and everything and they and they actually start to believe that those things save them and so that's why they try to Judaize Christians in the beginning and like basically we have really no dealings with the Jews anymore unless they want to believe on the Christ the Son of God then I don't have anything to do with them because they're Antichrist so Jeremiah 31 verse 31 says behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah so shouldn't they have known by listening to Jeremiah that that's going to happen not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt which my covenant they break although I wasn't husband to them saith the Lord but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my law in their inward parts now this is actually talking about the new man and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people so that he's talking about the new covenant the new man is going to be given to them and it's the New Testament the salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ now let's look at the New Testament and see what kind of happened in the beginnings of the early church what these Judaizers were trying to do so basically so turn to Acts 15 so basically what's going on is Paul you know these Judaizers come and they start trying to teach they start trying to teach Paul and all these these guys these New Testament believers that unless you're circumcised then you're not saved but you have to be circumcised look what it says in verse 1 Acts 15 says a certain man which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said except to be circumcised after the manner of Moses you cannot be saved so what are they adding to salvation right here they're adding works which this the circumcision was never intended to be some sort of work that they had to have to be saved now look at Acts 15 2 it says when therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them in other words they got into a fight they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question so like in Paul kind of basically explains in the book of Galatians he's like I go I went up there and you know I was hoping that they believed like I did basically and like just put it in just a nutshell there but he's like that I hadn't run in vain that I hadn't you know done all this stuff in vain I went out to the church to make sure that they're on the same page as I am so look at verse 24 same chapter for as much as we have heard so Paul goes up there they tell them about how the Gentiles are being saved they explain what the controversy is and then this is the judgment for as much as we have heard that certain went out from a mom or excuse me that went out from us have troubled you with words subverting your souls saying he must be circumcised and keep the law to whom we gave no such commandment so these guys left left Judea and they were they went out from among them but they proved that they were not of them right because these guys came with a new message which was hey if you don't get circumcised then you're not really saved you can't be saved and so turn to Galatians chapter 5 so Galatians number chapter number 5 and basically the book of Galatians was written over this controversy and a lot of the things that are in it are explaining the things the differences between the New Testament and the Old Testament how everything is by faith and basically the New Testament if you just read all the verses about circumcision it's saying it doesn't make a difference you don't you don't need to do it anymore all right so and like in hospitals and stuff that it used to be a big deal but now it's not really pushed as much and as a matter of fact some people think it's like you know bad to do that or whatever but like if it's a real it's a religious thing it wasn't really supposed to be intended to be some kind of thing that you like you need a vaccine or you know it's like but that's kind of how Jew doctors would make it out to be like you should be circumcised you know but we don't really we don't have to be circumcised anymore so and we never have as far as like New Testament believers do not have to do this so so they didn't give a commandment for those guys to go down there and teach that junk and you're you're in Galatians 5 1 but I'm gonna read for you 1st Corinthians 7 19 it says circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the commandments of God so circumcision doesn't mean anything uncircumcision it means nothing it's not important in the New Testament Galatians 5 1 says stand fast therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage so this is what Judaizers try to do they try to come in and and you know steal your Liberty and make you think you have to do all these things to be saved and that's not Liberty that's not freedom in Christ and look I'm not saying to break God's commandments but God's very clear that you don't have to be circumcised anymore it's nothing it means nothing look at verse 2 behold I Paul say unto you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing I mean I think that's pretty clear right for I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law you see how it's a religious thing you see how it was something it was a covenant between Abraham it was commanded in the law for a time but obviously it meant it was a symbolic thing it was something that we don't have to do anymore Paul's saying that to us right here for I testify that every man circumcised he's debtor to do the whole law Christ has become of none or no effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the law you're fallen from grace so now people will take that and try to twist that and say people lost their salvation that's not true he's just saying if you think if you believe that that's that's not grace that's not faith that's not salvation and you know if you think that you have to be justified by the law to be saved then you're not saved pretty simple right you're falling from grace you don't understand what grace is because if you think that you have to keep the law Jesus had to keep the law for you to be saved but you don't have to keep the law anymore to be saved well you never had to keep the law to be saved but you know we were suppose we still are supposed to keep the law but it's not for salvation so it was added because of the law was added because of transgressions so look at verse 5 it says for we through the spirit weight of the hope of righteousness by what faith for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything or uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love doesn't have anything to do with your circumcision has nothing to do with that and he says you did run well who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth what is the truth faith is the truth this persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you he's saying if someone's trying to persuade you to get circumcised when you're not so that you could be saved that doesn't come from God that's coming from somebody else a little leaven leaven at the whole lump turn over to chapter 6 verse 12 chapters relations chapter 6 verse number 12 the Bible says as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh they constrain you to be circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ for they neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh what are the Judaizers ultimately want to do they want to make proselytes like they are but they're teaching false doctrine they're teaching a workspace salvation and all they want to do is glory in your flesh I got that guy circumcised that's all I'd rather say I got somebody saved I I gave someone the gospel that person believed they got saved and they're they're going around going I got that guy circumcised what a weird thing to want to do to glory in someone else's circumcision that's kind of strange right but God forbid that I should glory saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world for in Christ Jesus there neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but what a new creature what does what matters circumcision doesn't matter anymore how many verses have I read to you that prove the circumcision is nothing in the New Testament I've read a lot but what matters a new creature the circumcision of your heart that's what matters are you saved that's what's that's what's really the emphasis of the New Testament are you saved by faith so let's go back to our scriptures in Genesis look 17 look at verse 12 it says and he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you every man child in your generations he that is born in the house or bought with money of any stranger which is not a viseed so I told you I was going to come back to this eight days thing all right so I looked into some things I didn't look super deep under every single rock and crevice and I know that someone's gonna email me someone's gonna write on a YouTube comment that you're wrong Pastor Thompson there's no medical proof that that people have the children's blood clots fat better on the eighth day than any other day but so there's there's evidence on or not evidence there's just people on different sides I think that people that don't want to believe it don't want to believe in the promises of God and that's probably why they fight against it so much but I just this is just something I got off the internet so but I believe that there's a reason why God you know so I think that the scientific that it's scientifically I think it is scientifically scientifically proven that kids have more ability to clot on the eighth day because God's not you're just gonna ask you to do something that would make you bleed out basically so blood clotting is dependent on three factors platelets prothrombin I'm not sure if I'm saying that right and and vitamin K which is responsible for prothrombin production and is produced by bacteria in the intestinal tract Holt and McIntosh and their classic work Holt pediatrics observed that a newborn infant has peculiar susceptibility to bleeding between the second and fifth days of life so that's why they're trying to force you to take these vitamin K shots when you go into the if you have your child in a hospital then they're just pushing this they're saying that your child's gonna bleed out you got to give them this shot or they're gonna die you know that's that's kind of what what they've resorted to with all these vaccination doctors and and just pushing this your kids gonna die you know if you don't give them the hepatitis shot if you set them on the counter they're gonna die but kids have been living for thousands of years after being born without those shots they'll be like well back then they died a lot more because they didn't get their vitamin K it's been shown that it is on the fifth that is on the fifth through the seventh days of the newborns male male's life that vitamin K is present in adequate quantities for blood clotting on the eighth day the amount of prothrombin I don't know if I'm saying that right if I'm sorry if I'm not but present present is above 100% of normal the only day in the male's life in which this will be normally be the case therefore the eighth day is the perfect day to do the circumcision when the vitamin K and prothrombin levels are at their peak so if I'm wrong about that I mean whatever but like there's a lot of science about that but it makes sense to me that God would make that possible but obviously we don't have to do that anymore so really it's not that big of a deal either way but if you choose to do that that's up to you but it really is a religious thing so circumcision is not something that is taught in the New Testament that is important so a lot of people you know they get caught up in that whole thing and I think now it costs extra to do that whereas in times past it didn't used to but back to the vitamin K thing just really quickly okay so it's really funny I forgot who was talking to me about it but was it I was probably one of my kids or somebody but anyway might have been my wife she's back there smiling she has to take credit for everything I'm just kidding but like it's really funny how they push this vitamin K shot and say your kids gonna die if you don't take this and they're like can we do the heel prick thing on your kid so if they say that you could bleed out because you don't have enough vitamin K and you need that extra vitamin K why on the second day that they're born the 24th to 48th hour do they do that heel prick that makes all their that makes them cry and they get their DNA yeah it it looks like it hurts and they cry like it hurts I don't know if they're just you know animal you know they say it's really important that you do that too which okay but here's what's funny is that a lot of people in our church like when they've had children in the hospital they push this vitamin K shot and say how important it is and like how your child if they get a cut or a nick they're gonna bleed out because their blood doesn't clot right but isn't it funny how you turn down the vitamin K shot and they still want you to do the heel prick so which one is it are they really gonna bleed out or not so and obviously I mean I'm not gonna take a hand vote here but who it I mean I'm sure that people in here have refused the vitamin K shot and then still let the heel prick happen did they bleed out case closed your honor all right let's move on so that's what you can use so if they say if they bring that garbage up to you if you have your child in the hospital which it's getting harder and harder to do it's almost like we need our own set of midwives but it's getting harder and harder to they're just they're just everything that you don't want to do that they ask you to do your child's gonna die yeah it's just like come on man it would actually piss me off if I was around like I try to stay away from those moments of the hospital because it just makes me mad I mean you're basically just fear-mongering people into taking your stupid shots that they charge a fortune for to put in your child and that you don't know what's gonna do to them so that's if you want to say something back and try and challenge them and say well then why are you asking me you know if you if I refuse the vitamin K shot and you say they're gonna bleed out if they get any Nick or or any cut then why are you asking me to prick their heel and so that you can get blood out of them and they don't bleed to death explain that to me anyway you're welcome let's let's move on here so I just had that just bothers me but anyway let's go look at verse 13 and our main text Genesis 17 he that is born in thy house and he that is bought with thy money must needs be circumcised and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant so it again it means nothing in the New Testament no one's ever been saved by getting circumcised this was a covenant between Abraham Abraham and God and it did not I mean I'm sure the New Testament all those verses I showed you prove to you should prove to you that that's not the case obviously everybody probably knows that but you know you still get Judaizers today doing the same garbage these 9-1-1 ministries and all all these people there's a bunch of people that are still Judaizing people and trying to tell them that they need to be circumcised it's false doctrine it's false so don't let anybody ever try to tell you that we still need to keep the Sabbath day that's false I can prove it from the Bible it's been done away in Christ and obviously the circumcision has been done away with we don't have to do that it represented the new man the new heart okay look at verse 14 says in the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised that soul shall be cut off from his people he hath broken my covenant and God said unto Abram or excuse me Abraham as for Sarah thy wife thou shalt not call her name Sarah but Sarah shall her name be and so I just kind of looked up what it means it's like lady or princess or noble woman or whatever and I will serve is probably gonna come correct me at the end of the service here but it says in God said at Abram Abraham excuse me as for Sarah thy wife or no excuse me verse 16 I'm sorry and I will bless her and get and give thee a son also of her yea I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations so that might you know tie into her name somehow but kings of people shall be of her then Abraham fell upon his face so he felt falls upon his face again but then it says and laughed so but I don't think that he's doing this in like a mocking way sometimes when you hear something that sounds so wild and so unbelievable you're just like how could that be possible you know like that's kind of the way I take it I don't think he's laughing at God because I think God would probably have rebuked him for that but it says and said in his heart shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old and shall Sarah that is 90 years old bear that's what makes the promise so important that he believed this by faith that's why I mean it was so unbelievable to them you know you just you just don't see this happen it is a miraculous birth and it's you know obviously a type of Christ that you know Isaac is a type of Christ he's the promised seed of Abraham and like at this point he's 99 years old and still hasn't seen the promise happen yet so to him it's like really I mean I'm old Sarah's old this is impossible and he laughs and he said his heart shall a child be born to him that's a hundred years old I mean I think he's just like like I can't believe this you know but he does believe it he does believe the promise he's just I think he's just like it's a shock a sticker shock type thing to him you know it's like it's just like wow this is a miraculous event but you know when it says that he that he laughed and said in his heart so he didn't even say this out loud to God but it's it's it's amazing how you know it's he said it in his heart that just tells you that the Holy Spirit when writing you know when the scriptures are written here through Moses that God knew what Abraham said in his heart and so what should that let you know that everything you say in your heart God hears also and so sometimes we forget about that your thoughts are not your own thoughts God knows your thoughts God knows your heart he knows the your intentions of your heart he knows a lot more about you than you probably stop and think about sometimes and the thought of foolishness is sin and we probably have a lot of foolish thoughts in our hearts sometimes but I think it's just great and even when it talks about Sarah later on that she laughs too but but she when she laughs God reproves her for it doesn't he we'll get to that chapter later on but but and then like even even when she denies laughing about it then he still says no native but thou didst laugh it's like I know you're trying to save face here I know you're embarrassed but you did laugh so but anyway God knows our hearts let's look at a couple verses here 1st Samuel chapter 16 verse 6 1st channels 1st Samuel 16 verse 6 and so it's important for us that like sometimes we look on the countenance of people and decide things about them and judge them based upon how they look but we shouldn't do that you know the Bible warns us not to do that and sometimes I think that we we can't help it sometimes we just we're we can't see people's hearts and so a lot of times we'll look on the outward appearance of people and think that person's not saved or that person's this or that person's that but we have to understand how God sees people because that will ultimately make us more charitable towards people if we stop judging people on their outward appearance and and and treat them with charity and love just like God loves everybody and you know obviously at some point in their life but he doesn't always love some people but he does love the whole world and he wants us to have charity towards people and to love other people and to to care for them like God would so in 1st Samuel chapter 16 verse 6 it says and it came to pass when they were come and he looked on Eliab and said surely the Lord's anointed is before him so Samuel's here looking at all of Jesse's sons and he's saying you know this is this has got to be him like Eliab is just like this you know probably tall and buff dude or whatever it says but the Lord said unto Samuel look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature because I have refused him for the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart so God knows what our heart looks like he knows what's going on in our mind he knows what's going on in our soul he knows what we're thinking when we're thinking turn to 2nd Chronicles chapter 16 verse 9 and our so our thoughts don't escape God so like even if you're like trying to you know debate in your heart whether something that you're doing is right is right or not God even knows that so we can't escape God's eyes upon our hearts and knowing what's on our hearts and what's on our minds look at 2nd Chronicles 16 9 it says for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth does that mean the whole every every spot of the earth yes to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect now when it's saying that same that's complete it's like you know that's perfect toward him like that you love him and that everything that you do or say is basically I mean you love God you care about him you care about doing right before him here in thou hast done foolishly therefore from henceforth thou shall have worse so but God is looking through the earth and he's looking for someone's going to show himself strong and be in his behalf and whose heart is perfect toward him he's looking for people like that is your heart like that you know I'm sure this we all have our failures in life and our failures before God but he is looking for people whose heart is perfect before him what you know we all mess up we all make mistakes but you know is your heart perfect toward him do you love him do you does he know that is that something you think about because thinking about doing things right before God is a good thing to think about and when God is looking at your heart what is he seeing right now does he see your heart is toward him and that your heart is perfect toward him and so I mean I think that's a good thing to think about because that scripture says that he's laughed in his heart he didn't laugh out loud you know that term lol laugh out loud he didn't even lol and God saw what was in his heart though he told us he laughed in his heart they ever laugh like not out loud but you laugh inside I mean we don't think about that very much probably but I'm sure there's times we're just like haha it's like but you don't do it out loud anyway so but God knows we're laughing about stuff he knows our heart he sees our heart he sees what our heart is like toward him Genesis chapter 17 let's go back there look at verse 18 says an Abraham Abraham said unto God oh that Ishmael might live before thee oh that Ishmael might live before thee because God our Abraham has a son right now while he comes to him he's 13 years old and Abraham loved Ishmael it's very obvious that he loved Ishmael but the situation was complicated at home wasn't it the last chapter we saw that like you know Abraham was giving Hagar to wife she was flashing Sarah some some nasty looks or whatever and he was like deal with her however you want and so she what'd she do she dealt hardly with her she ran away from home and she was told go back and put your submit yourself under Sarah even though she was mean to you but Abraham you know has this son it's really truly is his firstborn son physically in the flesh right so which obviously in Galatians it shows us there's an allegory there talking about the first and second covenants and we'll get into that more in further chapters here but I'm not going to go into that tonight so much but what I do want to focus on right here is that Abraham said unto God oh that Ishmael might live before thee because Abraham loved Ishmael but do you think he's just talking about living and then dying and going to hell no he's living so that he could be saved that's what I believe I think he truly loved him and I believe that he means in terms of being saved that he might live before that he wants Ishmael to be saved also and so we should desire our children to be saved to make sure that we provide a life for them and before them and for them to facilitate them getting saved and so that's why it's so dangerous to fall out of church when you have a lot of kids that's not you know or to live a hypocritical life behind the scenes and and your kids will watch you your kids will choose not to be saved because they say hey our parents are hypocrites now do your parents make mistakes absolutely you know and sometimes we got to go hat in hand to our own kids and say hey I'm sorry I did that I'm sorry I acted like that I'm sorry that you had to see that but your kids will respect that a lot better than just sweeping it under the rug and act like it didn't happen you know we all fail in front of our kids at some point in life and I'm sure that we get up very upset about that everybody does it's it's part of life you're not perfect they're definitely not perfect when their kids definitely definitely not perfect but we're not you know as parents nobody is the perfect parent nobody is nobody's support you know who the only perfect parent is God okay and he loves his children right he spanks them when they need to be spanked and it's not just for his pleasure to do that right as it talks about the book of Hebrews and sometimes we spank after our own pleasure which sounds kind of twisted but it might be true like you you've had this coming all day boy you know they had that coming that felt good no that's why you shouldn't spank in anger but sometimes you just can't help it you know I try not to spank in anger sometimes I'll wait a day so that it's still a good spanking but it's just not like me frothing at the mouth and swinging wildly you know there's been a couple wild swinging times I'll admit that my kids I'm I'm not lying before them they know that's that's true but you know what we need to desire for our children to be saved we need to make a an environment in our homes that makes that the facilitates them getting saved and so what was Abraham saying he's like oh that Ishmael would live before thee I want my son to be saved you know is that your attitude do you care that much about your children being saved well you know what don't quit church don't quit serving the Lord read your Bible in front of your kids teach them the ways of the Lord raise them in the ways of the Lord train them to keep the commandments of the Lord teach them how to pray teach them the Bible if you have to have a dysfunctional family prayer service every night before you go to bed teach your children to pray though get on your knees with your children and let them pray for the dog let them pray for the cat and the hamster that died last week that would be resurrected or whatever it is that your kids say that's so funny and we love that stuff but what's it doing it's showing them that we this is real this is what we really believe and so we should have a time that we train our children in the ways of the Lord and then they won't depart from those things when they get older they'll want to be saved but if you're just a pretender at home all the time and nothing's ever real that you do here at this church or nothing ever seems real to them then they're probably not I mean I'm not saying they're not going to get saved but the chances of them being saved are probably a lot less than if you actually live honestly in front of your kids hey if you screw up just own it hey I'm sorry I shouldn't have talked like that I shouldn't have shouldn't have spanked you for something you didn't deserve or whatever because believe me I've had done I've handed out some spankings that they probably didn't deserve to like some parent came to me a church my daughter's better keep silent in the church no I'm just kidding but uh yeah Nia is a perfect example of well she deserved it but you know a little cute little girl and her little dress you know a little church dress you know she's no daddy no no I'm dragging her out of the service she deserved that one but I'm just saying like there's been times when I do detective dad like this was my way of like getting the truth out of them like seeing you know if you don't if somebody doesn't come clean now everybody's getting spanked which is probably not the best way to do things but like I figured it put the fear of God into them because they're all if they're already or that they would like love their brother or sister enough to not let them get spanked you know because none of them were telling the truth so I guess you know sometimes you get a beat all three of them you know or four of them or whatever to get the truth out we'll still never know the truth about this the snake the tongue of the snake that was cut off by the scissors it'll be a mystery forever I don't even think Sherlock Holmes would be able to solve that one but what I'm saying is like we should love our kids we should want them to be saved and just like Abraham wanted his son to be saved and he wasn't the promised child though was he he wasn't the son of promise he wasn't the seed of promise that the Messiah would come through and you know basically they kind of broke that picture a little bit but in a way you know basically Ishmael was not the chosen seed he represents the law he represents you know trying to work work it out yourself right so what did Sarah do she tried to work it out herself and it ended up blowing up in her face and that's what's going to happen if you try to work your way to heaven so but anyway I'll get more into the allegories of them in a later sermon but we need to train our children in the ways of Lord you know why I caught a I was somebody told me about a conversation that was happening with the kids in between services and it wasn't bad so don't worry don't don't freak out but one of the kids was like saying well have you believed on Jesus Christ or every are you saved and they're like yeah and it was like have you been baptized and they're like no and he's like well if you want to drink of that cup and eat of that bread then you better get baptized or you're not gonna be able to drink it you're not gonna be able to partake of that cup and eat that bread and it's like this is just like a little side conversation that's going on but that's what serving the Lord and teaching your kids is all about I love the fact that the kids are sitting in the service and they're learning the Bible with us and they're they're soaking it in we don't think that they're soaking it in but they're soaking it in and so that's why it's so good to have a family integrated church even when the heat is at the temperature of hell in here or still all good you guys are all rosy-cheeked and stuff in here right now is hot in here isn't it I feel like it is but anyway but it's great to have our children in the service they're learning stuff don't take your kids out of church keep your kids in church keep them serving the Lord teach them the things of the Lord and they're gonna go out and proselytize their friends in between church services you better better get baptized you're not gonna eat of that of that bread and drink of that cup I'm like I better do it I'm gonna get baptized you know side conversations that's really cool so look what it says verse 19 and God said Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed and thou shalt call his name Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him and as for Ishmael I have heard thee see you should also pray that your children get saved don't just you know you raising them on everything all that stuff I said was was was right but what do you pray for your children to get saved do you pray for your grandchildren get saved you know we need to pray for our children to be saved don't just expect it pray for it because what did Abraham do he asked him about Ishmael didn't he isn't that praying when you asked for something he asked if Ishmael could be saved he asked if Ishmael could live before him and then asked for Ishmael I have heard him I have heard thee behold I have blessed him and I'll make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly twelve princes shall he beget and I'll make him a great nation so God blessed Ishmael and all of his life and gave him twelve sons you know it's kind of funny you know you think about all these these multiplications of twelve that you see in the Bible you know you see the twelve princes you have the twelve tribes of Israel and then you have the twelve apostles like there's lots of different instances that I could go into but I'm not going to get into that right now but I just think it's very interesting you know that he is going to be get twelve princes so he kind of represents you know the law and then you have the twelve tribes twelve apostles so it's just interesting but anyway verse 21 but my covenant will I establish with Isaac which Sarah shall bear unto thee at the time set in the next year so when was the time set the next year and he left off talking with him and God went up from Abraham and Abraham took Ishmael his son and all that were born in his house and all that were brought about with his money every male among the men of Abraham's house and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the self same day as God said unto him and Abraham was 90 years old and nine when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin and Ishmael his son was 13 years old and when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin in the self same day was Abraham circumcised and Ishmael his son and all the men of the house born in the house and bought with the money of this of the stranger were circumcised with him so I just want to wrap it up with all this let's go to one last verse and then we'll be done here this evening it's turn to Romans 2 verse 28 sorry I was starting to turn there and then I forgot to tell you Romans chapter 2 so even though this was something that God did with Abraham in the New Testament it doesn't matter like I said look at Romans chapter 2 verse 28 says for he is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart and in the spirit that's what it represents folks it's not about some fleshly thing it was a fleshly thing that represented a spiritual thing the circumcision is that of the heart and in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God so just to recap everything we talked about you know we need to remember that the promises of God need we need to remember the things and keep reading our Bibles and going back and studying all this stuff and and we should keep ourselves in remembrance of Christ you know just talking about the sermon this morning that there's things that we're supposed to remember and with the and how do we remember things by keep going over it over and over and over again reading our Bible every year and scores and scores of times as we get older and that we should be on our faces before God at least at some point and some part of the day some part of your year some part of your Christianity that we should be before our faces on our faces before God and that we need to love our kids and pray for them and raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and to make sure that our kids are saved when they grow up so and then the other thing is that God knows your heart and so don't forget that as we go into this week and as we start to come towards the Lord's Supper on the 28th that all those things that I talked about today just think about those things if there's things that you need to confess to God then do that and get your heart right and we'll have a solemn assembly and we'll have a great day remembering the Lord Jesus Christ and the last thing is circumcision was an outward sign a token of an inward faith and it's not something that we need in the New Testament so it's not going to make your child more holy it's not going to make any difference on their salvation your salvation is by faith alone through Christ alone and that's it so let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you Lord so much for Genesis 17 and the spiritual lessons that it teaches us Lord and pray you just help our church family to care about their children and Lord that they would put them before you as and ask them for their salvation the ones that aren't saved and and Lord we should care about our kids and pray that you'd raise up from this church a great next generation that will serve the Lord even better than we do and I pray that you'd just again bless the people that got saved today and we thank you for all the soul owners that went out and are faithful in the rain and