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Series A – Circumcision and Name of Jesus – Sunday, January 1, 2023 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:22	The holy Gospel
0:29	According to Saint Luke the second chapter [Music]
0:37	at the end of eight days when he was circumcised he was called Jesus the name
0:42	given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb this is the gospel of the Lord in the name of Jesus
0:50	have you all seen episodes of American Ninja Warrior
0:55	and that’s kind of a weird question to start things off with I haven’t really
1:00	watched any episodes of it I’m thinking for 2023 I think I should try out for that
1:06	now those who know go no don’t do it we’re gonna need to like bury you and
1:12	then call another Pastor if that should happen so here’s kind of the metaphor if you’re familiar with the with the television
1:18	show I basically they they have set up a gauntlet and that’s the best way to
1:25	describe it it is a gauntlet is multi-storied it’s long there are different challenges different portions
1:31	of the gauntlet you might have to swing like Tarzan over a pit a full of scorpions maybe they don’t use scorpions
1:38	but you get the idea you know you’ve gotta like climb up a wall you’ve got to go up this shoot it’s crazy stuff and
1:46	you know and then of course it’s all timed and then there’s particular people who are really good at this and then
1:51	there’s people who are well not as prepared as they thought they were right and and all of that being said this is
1:58	my kind of overarching metaphor what do we need to do with such a short gospel text right it’s one sentence one
2:06	sentence but I would note that that sentence is pretty packed and it goes like this at the end of eight days hmm
2:13	we can talk about that Eight Day stuff in scripture eight days kind of an important thing uh because in scripture
2:19	if you think of it uh the the heavens and the Earth were created in six days then God rested on the seventh that
2:25	gives you a full week and in scripture the eighth day is always kind of symbolic pointing to the first day of
2:33	the new creation Jesus was raised from the grave on the eighth day you see
2:40	that’s kind of the idea and and then eight days later he reappeared to his disciples in the upper room that’s kind
2:47	of how that works so Jesus at the end of eight days he’s only well Jesus is kind
2:52	of small and doesn’t do a lot still at this point those of you who have been around infants know that at eight days
2:59	infants can cry they can fill their diapers they can sleep they can cry
3:05	they can fill their diapers and they can sleep that’s pretty much it right but it
3:10	don’t be fooled by the fact that Jesus is only eight days old he’s already busy at work running the gauntlet let me
3:18	explain when he was circumcised so he eight days he circumcised he was given
3:24	the name Yeshua that’s actually his Hebrew name and the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the
3:30	womb a good way to think about it is is that the The Gauntlet here that none of us have been able to complete without
3:37	biffing it hard yes that’s right I’m a child of the 80s I still use the word Biff right you know if you’re not sure
3:44	what that is just look it up or ask somebody who’s a gen xer they’ll explain it to you but we all have biffed our
3:51	course we have fallen woefully short of the demands of God’s law and what does
3:56	God’s law demand of us sinless perfection well that I came into the world and so
4:04	did you very far short of sinless perfection and
4:09	you’ll note Christ didn’t and you’ll note another thing about the law of God
4:15	here we’re talking about the Mosaic Covenant there are certain commands that must be obeyed that you have no power in
4:22	and of yourself to obey them you have to obey them passively so when we talk
4:28	about Christ’s sinless righteousness it’s actually miraculous on a lot of levels because Jesus obeyed God’s law
4:35	actively and passively and that being the case you’ll note that Jesus you know
4:41	on the seventh day didn’t sit there and go okay Mary and Joseph glad that I’m here I’m your savior I’m here to save
4:47	you and so what we need to do is we need to talk about our plans for tomorrow uh in order for me to fulfill the law of
4:52	God I’m going to need you to carry me I know I can’t do anything except for sleep and fill diapers and and cry but I
5:01	need you to take me to get circumcised so that I can obey God’s law otherwise I
5:06	can’t be the Savior there was no conversation like that right because
5:11	babies don’t have those types of conversations and so Christ chose to be
5:17	born to Pious parents parents who would do their part so that Christ can
5:23	passively obey the law of God in those parts where he couldn’t obey it actively
5:30	and he did and then we’re going to note something here is that circumcision it’s a kind of a visual dual
5:36	interesting concept of cutting away of sin and it involves the shedding of
5:42	blood and a good way to think about Christ’s circumcision is that it’s really the first Blood the first blood
5:50	that Christ sheds which is a foreshadow of The Cutting of way of sin that he will bring to each and every one of us
5:56	through his shed Blood on the cross you see Christ was already in the gauntlet
6:03	and he was busy at work obeying God’s law now when we talk about circumcision
6:10	it’s important to note that this can be a divisive concept due to the fact that
6:17	there are people who’ve come up with plausible sounding and I have to say it that way plausible sounding and note the
6:24	air quotes biblical arguments claiming that Christians must obey the Torah in
6:31	regards to the ceremonial laws of Moses the Mosaic Covenant and in our day there
6:38	are modern-day judaizers you’ll know them by a popular term they go by the Hebrew Roots folks right and so they’re
6:46	still Among Us and it’s important to note here that this is going to give us a good object lesson in relation to not
6:54	falling for bad theology it it disguised
6:59	as plausible sounding biblical arguments and so here’s where we’re going to do a
7:05	little bit of study on the concept of circumcision we know that in the
7:11	ancient Church there was the very first church Council held in Jerusalem it’s recorded for us in Acts 15 and here’s
7:18	how the account goes some men came down from Judea and they were teaching the
7:24	brothers unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses you
7:30	cannot be saved and here’s the interesting thing this is early in
7:36	Christianity New Testament hasn’t been finished yet these guys have got a
7:42	Biblical argument they can go and grab the Septuagint they can go and grab some
7:47	of the Torah Scrolls and they can read it out you must be circumcised see it’s here in black and white how you better
7:55	get busy you Gentiles and go and have the snip snip procedure done on you right
8:00	hmm it’s a plausible sounding argument and one that has to be candled carefully
8:07	you’ll note that in our day there are all kinds of plausible sounding
8:12	arguments that may appear biblical on the surface but upon further inspection
8:18	you recognize that the person engaging in these plausible sounding arguments is in fact twisting God’s word and they’re
8:25	not believing or teaching the truth I’ll give you an example there’s a recent YouTube short that I watched from a
8:32	fellow who’s going to be reviewed on a new upcoming episodes of fighting for the faith he’s one of the shiny new
8:39	Young Guns in the charismatic Nar movement and in this YouTube video he
8:45	literally makes the claim that that in the Bible it says Regard in Deuteronomy
8:51	18 if somebody if a prophet arises and they prophesy something’s going to happen and it doesn’t happen Okay he
8:58	says the scripture says do not fear that prophet and so he says see even though
9:03	they gave an inaccurate prophecy that means that God still calls them a
9:09	prophet so that means that we can give Grace to people who do not give a true prophecy
9:15	I’m sitting there going screaming at my computer going did you read the verses in front of those okay because what are
9:22	the three rules for sound biblical exegesis context context and context right you just read a couple of verses
9:28	ahead and it says to the person who presumes to speak a word in God’s name if they give it it doesn’t come true
9:34	you’re to kill them and so it doesn’t matter if God calls you a prophet after
9:40	you give a false prophecy we can put it on your Tombstone okay here lies the
9:46	prophet right but that point is is that this guy put forward what sounds like a
9:51	plausible argument but it’s not biblical and so when we take a look at the
9:57	concept of circumcision it’s important to note that in the Old Testament Jews
10:03	under the Mosaic Covenant were required to do this it’s absolutely a Biblical
10:09	requirement for every single Jew and no I didn’t say Gentile because the Mosaic
10:17	Covenant is a land lease agreement between God and the sons of Abraham it
10:22	is not it is not meant for any for any other human being other than those who
10:28	are Jews unless you want to be become a member of that particular Community but
10:34	you’ll know in our day and age no one and I mean this no one is able to keep
10:40	the requirements of the Mosaic Covenant why there’s no temple in Jerusalem
10:46	good luck keeping all of the requirements because you can’t do it because a whole big
10:53	portion of the requirements of Mosaic Covenant that’s been done away with by the fact that God had the temple in
11:00	Jerusalem destroyed in 70 A.D but coming back now to our text in Acts 15 so some
11:06	judaizers arose in saying unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses you cannot be saved and after Paul
11:13	and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them that’s a polite way of saying that Paul got all up in their
11:19	face got all up in their business and when you read about Paul’s collisions
11:24	with those who taught heresy they were absolutely volcanic that’s a good way to
11:31	put it when there was no small dissension and debate with them Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed then to go up to Jerusalem to
11:37	the apostles and the elders about the question and so when they get to Jerusalem the apostles and the elders
11:43	were gathered together to consider this matter and after there had been much debate Peter stood up and said to them
11:49	brothers you know that in the early days God made a choice among you so that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the
11:56	word of the gospel and believe and here Peter is making reference to the fact
12:01	that he had gone to see a fellow by the name of Cornelius a Roman Centurion and
12:07	went to his house of all things and God the holy spirit is the one who told him to go and while he was preaching the
12:15	gospel to them even before these people were baptized they received the gift of
12:21	the Holy Spirit immediately without any other means except for the preached word similar to the way the apostles
12:28	themselves had received the Holy Spirit this is what he’s referencing and after their so he said Brothers you know that
12:35	in the early days God made a choice among you that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and
12:40	believe God who knows the heart bore witness to them by giving them the Holy
12:45	Spirit just as he did to us and he made no distinction between us in them having
12:51	cleansed their hearts by faith and that’s the point and so you’ll note
12:58	then when you look at the Old Testament the Old Testament is not capable of
13:04	taking you all the way where you need to go or a better way to put it maybe that’s not exactly exactly accurate but
13:11	the idea is is that the law cannot take you all the way to where you need to go
13:17	the law can only point you to Salvation the law cannot save you and we human
13:25	beings we we have a problem and that is is that we have the law of God written in our
13:31	hearts now that may not seem like a problem but here’s the issue we recognize the law we know the law we
13:39	know the Commandments Thou shalt not Thou shalt not Thou shalt not we know them all and as a result of it
13:46	oftentimes we intuitively and at the same time mistakenly think that
13:52	salvation is a matter of trying harder doing good or being certain things but
13:58	that’s not how it works I would remind you in the types and shadows Moses wasn’t permitted to enter the promised
14:06	land or was Moses permitted to leave the people of Israel into the promised land and there’s a good reason for that if
14:13	you’re aware of the account Moses on two occasions had to deal with grumbling
14:18	people in the children of Israel who needed water who wanted water on the first occasion God commanded Moses to
14:26	strike a rock with his staff he struck it the rock split water came pouring out
14:33	and they received water on the second instance Moses was told regarding the
14:39	grumblers to go and speak to a rock speak to it ask the rock for water and
14:46	the water Rock will give it to you you think of it this way we know from the Apostle Paul in his writings and his
14:52	Epistles that the rock that followed the children of Israel was none other than Christ himself Christ is the rock can
14:58	Christ be struck twice no Christ’s sacrifices a once for all sacrifice for
15:05	sins and that’s what the Striking was prefigured but Moses didn’t listen to God
15:10	he took God’s words and kind of said yeah yeah whatever and then he went and struck The Rock
15:17	not once but twice and then the water came aflowing and
15:23	then God started judging and Moses was forbidden at this point from entering the Promised Land
15:31	he was told that he would not be leading the children of Israel and as appropriately so because you’re going to
15:37	note here the purpose of the law is to convict you of your sin that’s its
15:43	purpose the law cannot save you good luck trying to keep it and be saved by
15:49	it because you’re going to note this at what point in your life can you say I have now done enough that I can be saved
15:59	I am now obedient enough I’m righteous enough I’m holy enough right and if
16:06	you’re thinking this way and if you’re a guide let me talk to your wife we’ll just get this figured out right now
16:11	she’ll tell the truth and if you’re a gal we’ll just talk to your husband and he’ll let us know the truth you’re
16:17	delusional in your thinking right the law is not intended to save you so we
16:22	learn in Deuteronomy chapter 34 the fate of Moses it says Moses went up from The
16:28	Plains of Moab to Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah which is opposite of Jericho
16:33	and Yahweh showed him all the land Gilead as far as Dan all naftally the
16:39	land of Ephraim and Manasseh and the land of Judah as far as the Western sea the nagab the plane that is the valley
16:46	of Jericho the city of palm trees as far as Zoar it’s a nice vacation reel right hey take
16:53	a look at what the what the promised land looks like God’s allowing him to see all of this and then Yahweh said to
16:59	him this is the the land of which I swore to Abraham to Isaac to Jacob I will give it to your Offspring I have
17:04	let you see it with your eyes but you shall not go to over there so Moses the servant of Yahweh died there
17:11	in the land of Moab according to the word of Yahweh and God buried him in the
17:18	valley in the land of Moab opposite of bethpayor but no one knows the place of his burial to this day Moses was 120
17:26	years old when he died his eye was undimmed his Vigor unabated and the people of Israel wept from Moses in the
17:33	plains of Moab for 30 days then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended in Yeshua the son of none was full
17:42	of the spirit of wisdom for Moses had laid his hands on him so the people of Israel obeyed him and did as Yahweh had
17:48	commanded Moses who is it that brings the children of Israel into the promised
17:53	land in a Moses the one who received the law it’s Yeshua whose name means Yahweh
18:00	saves who also happens to have the exact same name as Jesus Jesus’s Hebrew name
18:06	Yeshua but rather than being the son of none Jesus is the son of God and so his
18:13	name is quite important because remember not only is he circumcised on this day he is also named in his name Yeshua
18:20	Yahweh saves means everything so when we consider then the council that met in Jerusalem for
18:27	the purpose of talking about what to do regarding wealth circumcision we know
18:33	that Peter when he makes his big address he notes that we are all saved through
18:40	Grace just as everybody else is God made no distinction we believe that we will
18:47	save through the grace of our Lord just as they will and so what then are we to make of then of the circumcision debate
18:54	because oh it continues to rage to this day again with plausible sounding biblical arguments well the Apostle Paul
19:01	decided to deal with this straight on and thankfully we have a holy spirit inspired epistle dedicated specifically
19:09	to the topic and with a full explanation as to why Christians are not required to
19:15	not only be circumcised but Christians are not required to keep the Passover
19:20	Christians are not required to keep the Feast of booths persons are not required to keep the Feast of Pentecost according
19:27	to the Mosaic coven although the festivals and feast days the sabbaths the new moons all of those things are a
19:34	shadow pointing us to Christ and Paul explains it this way in Galatians he
19:39	says in chapter 2 verse 16 we know that a person is not justified that means to
19:46	be declared Not Guilty by God he’s not justified by works of the law but
19:52	through faith in Jesus Christ so we also have believed in Jesus Christ in order
19:57	to be justified by faith in Christ and not to be justified by works of the law
20:03	and here it comes because by works of the law no one will be justified
20:11	not one single person old or new
20:17	testament not Adam not Eve not Noah not Abraham Isaac or Jacob not King David
20:25	especially not King David not Solomon or any of the Saints of the Old Testament not a single one of them is Justified
20:32	before God by works of the law the law was not given to save us and you’ll note
20:39	that Christ is obeying the law because he’s obeying it for us he now by virtue
20:48	of the fact that he is running the gauntlet and rather than fall on his face like we all have in this great
20:55	grand spiritual Ninja Warrior Gauntlet that has been set up we’ve all failed
21:01	Christ runs the gauntlet perfectly and he now be by virtue of that is the
21:07	sinless Spotless Lamb of God the sacrifice necessary to take away your
21:14	sin and mine and Paul goes on to to chide the Galatians he says you foolish
21:20	Galatians who’s Bewitched you it was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified so let
21:27	me ask you this did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing
21:33	with faith and here Paul is trying to jog their memory because who was the one who
21:40	planted the churches in galatia it was Paul on one of his missionary Journeys and and his missionary Journeys he he’s
21:47	recalling to their mind that they did receive the Holy Spirit and they didn’t
21:52	receive the holy spirit because of their obedience to Torah they received the Holy Spirit by hearing and believing the
22:00	good news that Christ had bled and died for their sins by faith
22:06	then he asks are you so foolish then having begun by the Holy Spirit that’s
22:12	the whole point you’ll note the holy spirit is the one who wrought regeneration in them brought them to
22:18	repentance gave them Faith having begun by the spirit then are you now trying to be perfected by the flesh
22:25	but we all at times are tempted to go down this road especially on days like
22:31	today you’ll note that this sermon is not in admonishing you it’s a new year
22:36	you need to sit down with a pencil and some paper and you need to start making
22:43	some resolutions for the year ahead so that 2023 can be your best year yet
22:50	right no okay it doesn’t work that way and I
22:58	would note that I’m really awful at following through with New Year’s resolutions I gave them up years ago and
23:07	you should probably too because you know what it just leads to depression because here’s what’s going to happen you’re
23:13	gonna this is the one this is the year I’m going to lose 60 pounds this is the I’m gonna do it this year finally right
23:19	and so what are you gonna do you’re going to starve yourself today you’re going to get on the treadmill and you’re
23:24	going to be sore and hungry tomorrow right and then you’re gonna say well if
23:31	I just have a little bit just a few Oreos okay just a few in a Twinkie and
23:36	of course we’re having a get-together so I have to have some of those peanuts and those cheeses and and things like and
23:43	I’ll I’ll start again tomorrow and do you start again tomorrow no you don’t okay
23:49	if you can’t even follow through on a New Year’s resolution and this is New Year’s Day
23:54	do you think you can be perfected by your flesh do you think you can pull off God’s law
24:02	this time I’ll run the gauntlet this time I’m going to make it I’m gonna do it no you won’t
24:09	the purpose of the law is to show you your sin then he asked did you suffer so
24:15	many things in vain if indeed it was in vain does he who supplies the spirit to you
24:20	and work miracles among you do so by works of the law no or by hearing with
24:26	faith just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness
24:32	so know then it is those of Faith who are the sons of Abraham listen carefully because you’re going to know in our day
24:38	and age there’s a lot of people arguing about this stuff right you have the Jews saying we are the sons of Abraham
24:45	because we are the sons through Isaac you have the Muslims saying we’re the sons of Abraham because we’re the sons
24:50	through Ishmael right and it’s not about genetics at all God the Holy Spirit
24:56	comes along and says that doesn’t matter right are you Norwegian are you polish
25:02	are you German are you a European mutt guess what if you trust in Jesus Christ for the Forgiveness of your sins you’re
25:09	really the sons of Abraham
25:14	I’m causing Scandal today right the scripture is then foreseeing that
25:19	God would justify the Gentiles by faith then preach the gospel beforehand to
25:25	Abraham saying in you shall all the nations be blessed so then those who are
25:30	of Faith are blessed along with Abraham the man of faith and then verse 10 boy
25:35	this is an interesting text all who rely on works of the law are under a curse
25:43	are you trying to save yourself in full or in part by The Works of the law are
25:48	you relying upon that for your salvation scripture doesn’t say you’re blessed
25:54	scripture says you’re cursed for it is written cursed is everyone who does not
25:59	abide by all things written in the book of the law and I’ll throw in my own paraphrase here and keep on keeping on
26:07	keeping on doing them right there isn’t a day that goes by where you get to be
26:13	get a day off from obeying God’s law perfectly if this is what you want to do
26:18	now it is evident no one not a single Pope not any of the Saints
26:26	not you not me not nobody nobody no one is Justified before God by the law for
26:32	the righteous shall live by faith quoting the prophet Hosea but the law it’s not of Faith rather
26:39	those the one who does them does these Commandments shall live by them but Christ has redeemed us from the curse of
26:46	the law by becoming a curse for us for it is written cursed as everyone who has hanged on a tree and boy is that an
26:52	important text and see that’s the point you want you want to be under the curse of the law and try to save yourself by
26:59	the law that’s silly Christ became a curse because it is written in scripture
27:04	cursed as everyone who was hung on a tree Christ has taken that curse for us so that all who trust in him can be
27:12	blessed blessed with the gift of eternal life blessed with the gift of Salvation
27:17	blessed with the promise and the gift of an inheritance in the world to come all
27:23	for free for the recipients who trust in Christ by faith because Christ is the
27:29	one who paid it all even with his own life so that you and I can be forgiven
27:35	and redeemed so the blessing then isn’t that is in Christ Jesus The Blessing of Abraham that it might come to everyone
27:41	Jew and Gentile alike so that we might receive then the promised Holy Spirit how through faith
27:49	Paul then goes on to give a human example Brothers even with a man-made Covenant or contract no one can annul it
27:56	or add to it once it has been ratified or signed you know I remember it was a
28:02	year ago I ended up buying a truck I haven’t bought a new vehicle in since 2008. it was a big deal I’ve once again
28:10	I was going to purchase a brand new vehicle and I had to sign papers do you guys remember that or have you know I
28:16	think of Stephen Elliott you had to sign escrow papers really how come your arm isn’t in a splint right I remember the
28:22	last couple of times I have had to sign papers on a house I left like this I can’t touch I can’t feel my fingers
28:28	right but once you sign the papers once you sign the documents for your house or your vehicle or whatever can you change
28:35	them on your own nope it’s a sign it’s a done deal and that’s
28:43	the point that Paul is making here because he’s drawing our attention to
28:49	this fact that in the Old Testament there is more than one Covenant
28:54	the Mosaic Covenant was struck between God and the people of Israel but there’s another Covenant the Covenant of note
29:01	and that’s the abrahamic Covenant and what Paul is basically saying is listen
29:06	the Mosaic Covenant which comes later cannot annul the Covenant the contract
29:13	that God made with Abraham it cannot annul it it can’t even amend it and that
29:19	God is going to honor that Covenant which won the abrahamic so he says this
29:24	so no one can even with a human example no one annulls or adds to a covenant
29:30	once it’s been ratified now the promises that God made they were made to Abraham and to his Zara
29:38	singular his seed it does not say zaraim okay
29:43	which be seeds to Abraham and to his off Spring and you’re going to note here
29:49	Paul is giving us a very good master class on how to rightly handle God’s
29:56	word grammar matters in fact plurals and singulars matter in
30:03	this particular case quoting from the Hebrew text he notes that Zara in the Hebrew text is singular Offspring it
30:10	does not say and to offsprings referring to many but referring to one
30:16	and to your off Spring who is that Offspring it’s Christ so this is what I
30:22	mean the law the Torah the Mosaic Covenant which came 430 years after
30:29	Abraham it does not annul the Covenant previously ratified by God so as to make
30:37	the promise void for if the inheritance comes by the law
30:43	well then it no longer comes by promise but God gave it to Abraham
30:49	by a promise so why then the law and here’s where we’re going to
30:54	note something that oftentimes we human beings when we run across something in
31:00	the Bible we don’t like or we disagree
31:05	with we in our sinful arrogance think that the Bible’s the problem okay believe me
31:12	when I tell you the Bible isn’t the problem you are your reasoning your idolatry your
31:19	sinfulness it’s the problem so note here Paul isn’t basically saying yeah listen you know you can’t trust Moses you know
31:25	we we all know that Moses was an evil patriarch down with the patriarchy he didn’t he didn’t engage in nonsensical
31:31	arguments like this right he acknowledges that the Mosaic Covenant is
31:37	a covenant that God struck with the people of Israel that the Pharisees were right that the
31:43	judaizers were right in pointing out that these are the commands of God but he’s pointing out something as that they
31:50	had not taken in consideration the full counsel of the word of God and by doing so Paul is basically saying that the law
31:57	is our guide to Christ it is not the thing that takes us into salvation it
32:04	points us to Jesus so that we can be saved by him so why then was the law
32:09	given well it was added because of transgressions until The Offspring singular Jesus should come to whom the
32:17	promise had been made and it was put in place through angels and an intermediary so then is the law contrary to the
32:25	promises of God because God gave salvation and the gift of The Inheritance to Abraham through a promise
32:32	he asked the question is the law then the Torah contrary to the promises of God certainly not for if Allah had been
32:39	given that could give life then righteousness would indeed be by the law
32:44	but is there a such thing as a law that can give life no
32:49	but the scripture imprisoned everything everyone under sin so that the Promise
32:55	by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe now before Faith came we were held captive under the law
33:03	we were imprisoned until the coming Faith would be revealed so then the law
33:08	was our Guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith but now that faith has come we’re
33:15	no longer under a garden guardian for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith and here’s kind of the fun
33:22	little turn if you think about it here Paul now is going to make reference to
33:27	the circumcision that we all receive
33:32	and the circumcision that all Christians receive male and female is in the waters
33:38	of baptism even the Mosaic covenant’s circumcision was a foreshadowing of the
33:45	New Covenant circumcision where God promises not merely to cut away a piece of Flesh from a man’s nether regions but
33:52	to cut away the Heart of Stone and replace it with the heart of Flesh the
33:58	one given by God done by the Hands of Christ Paul says as many of you as were
34:03	baptized into Christ you have put on Christ therefore there is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither slave nor
34:10	free there is no male or female you are all one in Christ and if you are
34:15	Christ’s then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to the
34:21	promise Paul puts it this way in Colossians chapter 2. he says see to it that no one takes you captive and you’ll
34:27	note that there are many people out there doing the work of the devil basically trying to take us captive to
34:35	take away and steal the great gift that we’ve been given by God that faith that we have in Jesus Christ so see to it no
34:42	one takes you captive enslaves You by philosophy or empty deceit according to
34:47	human tradition according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ for in Christ the
34:54	whole fullness of the deity dwells bodily you have been filled in him who is the head and Rule of all authority
35:00	and in him not what he says in him also you were circumcised with a circumcision
35:07	made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of
35:12	Christ so the Old Testament type and Shadow that even Christ submitted himself to even though he did it
35:19	passively he that circumcision points us to the real circumcision where God takes
35:26	off Cuts away the body of Flesh the body of sin and this is all done by the hand
35:32	of Christ having been buried with him in baptism in which you will you are also
35:38	raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him
35:43	from the dead and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh God has now made you alive
35:51	together with Christ having forgiven us all of our trespasses by canceling the
35:57	record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands you see one of the reasons why you don’t have to submit
36:04	yourself to the type and Shadow circumcision is because you have all in
36:09	the waters of baptism had the circumcision performed by Christ himself the circumcision where he cut away your
36:18	sinful flesh and so we have all already been
36:23	circumcised in the waters of baptism and it’s important to note here
36:28	a good place to leave off I’ll throw in our Old Testament text there’s an interesting concept again that
36:35	oftentimes goes missed when we consider our baptism and are being united with Christ and his death and his
36:41	resurrection and him performing that delicate surgery of cutting away our
36:46	sinful flesh in the waters of baptism and that is this that when you were baptized you were baptized in the name
36:53	of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit some of you I’ve baptized
36:58	many of you I haven’t but some of you I have and when we baptize right we
37:03	baptize the way Christ has told us we baptize in the name of the father in the name of the son in the name of the Holy
37:10	Spirit see if you can note the connection then with baptism and what the aaronic blessing is remember the
37:18	aaronic blessing is the thing I speak in the benediction Sunday after Sunday and so the Lord spoke to Moses saying Speak
37:23	to Abraham to Aaron and to his son saying thus you shall Bless the people of Israel you shall say to them Yahweh
37:30	bless you and keep you Yahweh make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you Yahweh lift up his countenance
37:36	upon you and give you peace so shall they put my name upon the people of Israel and I will bless them
37:43	you’ll note that it’s true every time we hear the benediction God is placing his name afresh on us but when did God
37:49	definitively place his name on you and the Waters of baptism when you were
37:54	baptized in the name of the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit so all of that from one sentence not bad
38:02	right you know again as a pastor every time I see a pericaby come up where I get like this much of a text my heart
38:08	just goes but you take the time to walk through what the scriptures say and you’ll note
38:14	then the naming and the circumcision of Jesus Christ as Tiny as the sentence is
38:21	in all of scripture it is packed to the brim and promises and significance that
38:27	impact us even to this day let us then praise God our savior for sending us
38:33	Jesus Christ who even as an infant was already running the gauntlet and obeying
38:38	God’s law perfectly so that he can be our sacrifice so that we can be forgiven so that we can have our sins canceled
38:45	and so that we can have our hearts circumcised by the very hand of the same
38:51	Jesus who was circumcised on this day in the name of Jesus Amen

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