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Voddie Baucham - Circumcision and the Covenant · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: You have your bibles with you, open them to Exodus
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Speaker 1: chapter four. Exodus Chapter four will begin there in verse
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Speaker 1: twenty four. Exodus chapter four beginning at verse twenty four.
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Speaker 1: As that prepared this week, my mind continued to wonder.
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Speaker 1: Wandered to the field of art, and specifically to a sculpture,
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Speaker 1: Michelangelo's David, which is arguably the most recognizable piece of
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Speaker 1: art from the Renaissance period. This towering seventeen foot statue,
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Speaker 1: which stands in Florence, Italy, known worldwide as a timeless
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Speaker 1: symbol of strength and youthful human beauty. Depicting David's resolve
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Speaker 1: in facing the Philistine giant Goliath, the statue came to
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Speaker 1: symbolize Florence's independence in the face of foes on every side. However,
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Speaker 1: the statue, though beautiful though awe inspiring.
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Speaker 2: Is not perfect.
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Speaker 1: No one can fault Michelangelo for his choice in depicting
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Speaker 1: David's physique, the texture.
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Speaker 2: Of his hair, or the glare in his eyes.
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Speaker 1: The Bible does not give us these details about Israel's
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Speaker 1: most famous and beloved king. However, there is one aspect
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Speaker 1: of Michelangelo's sculpture that can be said to have missed
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Speaker 1: the mark. Unlike the biblical David, Michelangelo's version is uncircumcised,
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Speaker 1: and there is simply no way that.
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Speaker 2: This would have been the case. This was.
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Speaker 1: The influence of the Renaissance period, the influence of the
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Speaker 1: ideal of Greek perfection. Since the establishment of the Abrahamic Covenant,
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Speaker 1: the sin of circumcision marked male members of the Covenant community.
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Speaker 1: In fact, the nature of the Covenant sion is so
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Speaker 1: significant that we can say with confidence that David would
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Speaker 1: not only have been circumcised, but we can say with
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Speaker 1: confidence that it would have happened on the eighth day
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Speaker 1: after his birth. We know this for a fact. Exodus
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Speaker 1: four twenty four to twenty six is undoubtedly one of
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Speaker 1: the most obscure and challenging passages in the entire Bible.
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Speaker 1: In fact, as I thought of titles for the message
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Speaker 1: this week, there was.
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Speaker 2: One title that continued to come to.
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Speaker 1: Mind again and again and again, and the title was
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Speaker 1: I don't know, Because as I continue to read this text,
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Speaker 1: my answer to question after question after question was.
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Speaker 2: I don't know.
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Speaker 1: I don't know, But there's one thing that we know.
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Speaker 1: There's one thing that's clear that this text is about circumcision.
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Speaker 1: What about circumcision, I don't know, but we'll see if
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Speaker 1: we can figure it out. We'll do three things. Number One,
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Speaker 1: we'll examine the difficulties of these text of this text,
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Speaker 1: and there are many. Second, I'll try to explain the
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Speaker 1: most plausible interpretation of this text in light of those difficulties.
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Speaker 1: And then third, consider the implications of the text. First,
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Speaker 1: let's read it the way we find it here in scripture.
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Speaker 1: And then after we read it, we'll dive in to
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Speaker 1: those three things. Beginning in verse twenty four, at a
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Speaker 1: lodging place on the way, the Lord met him and
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Speaker 1: sought to put him to death. Then Zaporah took a
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Speaker 1: flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses's
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Speaker 1: feet with it and.
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Speaker 2: Said, surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.
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Speaker 2: So he let him alone.
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Speaker 1: It was then that she said, a bridegroom of blood
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Speaker 1: because of the circumcision. Amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord. That's
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Speaker 1: the text. This is one of those weeks when I thought,
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Speaker 1: you know, as pastor of preaching, part of my responsibility
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Speaker 1: is to organize the texts, divide the texts, put him
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Speaker 1: in preachable section, you know, segments, and then assign those segments.
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Speaker 1: This should have been given to an intern if David
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Speaker 1: Shifflet were still here. I don't know if you guys remember,
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Speaker 1: but there was a series of messages where every time
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Speaker 1: David got up, he got the most awkward, difficult, sensitive
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Speaker 1: texts that we could possibly preach, and this would have
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Speaker 1: been one of those. Let's deal with the questions first,
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Speaker 1: because there are questions at every turn in this text.
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Speaker 1: Question number one, who is him? That's the first question.
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Speaker 1: Who is him? We begin at a lodging place on
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Speaker 1: the way. The Lord met him. That's all we get.
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Speaker 1: The Lord met him? Is it Moses? This is the
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Speaker 1: most common answer that we find. This is the most
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Speaker 1: common answer that exegies and expositors give, most common answer
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Speaker 1: that commentators give, that this is Moses. Why did they
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Speaker 1: give this answer because the text doesn't say Moses. In fact,
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Speaker 1: Moses's name appears here in THEESV and in many translations.
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Speaker 1: But if you notice there's an asterisk there, do you
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Speaker 1: notice that if you look in your Bible, supporter took
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Speaker 1: the flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched
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Speaker 1: Moses's feet with it. There's a note there by Moses.
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Speaker 1: The note says Moses's name is not in this text anywhere.
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Speaker 2: That's an assumption.
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Speaker 1: In the original Hebrew, it just says his feet, doesn't
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Speaker 1: say whose feet. But the assumption is that on the
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Speaker 1: way to the lodging place, the Lord met Moses. Why
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Speaker 1: do you make this assumption? Will people make this assumption?
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Speaker 1: Because if it's not Moses, then where is he? This
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Speaker 1: is a journey from metying back to Egypt. If the
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Speaker 1: one who has met here is not Moses, then where's
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Speaker 1: Moses during all of this? The second question is why
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Speaker 1: wouldn't Moses be the one to circumcise his son. He's
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Speaker 1: the Hebrew, he's the father. Why would he not circumcise
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Speaker 1: his son? So certainly he must be the one who
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Speaker 1: is near death. And thirdly, the phrase at the end
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Speaker 1: bridegroom of blood seems to point to Moses, although that
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Speaker 1: phrase bridegroom of blood is not something that's found throughout
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Speaker 1: the Bible, and it's not something that's translated easily, and
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Speaker 1: bridegroom of blod blood is not the translation that makes
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Speaker 1: this the clearest. But for those reasons, the assumption is
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Speaker 1: that it's Moses. Is it Moses's son? Is it Moses's son?
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Speaker 1: It could be, as one commentator writes, since Abora touched
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Speaker 1: Moses's feet with the blood of the foreskin, it is
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Speaker 1: assumed that Moses was the one whom God was seeking
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Speaker 1: to kill. However, Moses's name does not appear in the
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Speaker 1: text in the original, it would have just read his feet,
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Speaker 1: So it could be argued that this wasn't Moses at all,
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Speaker 1: that God was seeking to kill, but that it was
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Speaker 1: actually his son. But if not his son, If not
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Speaker 1: Moses and it was his son, question is which son?
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Speaker 1: Because the text just says him, which son? Would it
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Speaker 1: have been the youngest son. That's one thing that we
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Speaker 1: could probably say, well with confidence, and not him. The
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Speaker 1: youngest son is not the one whom the Lord was
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Speaker 1: seeking to put to death. It is argued, however, that
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Speaker 1: the youngest son is the one being circumcised. Keelan Dalitch
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Speaker 1: argue that it is evident that Suppora only circumcised one
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Speaker 1: of the two sons of Moses according to verse twenty,
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Speaker 1: so that the other, no doubt, the elder, had already
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Speaker 1: been circumcised in accordance with the law. Sounds reasonable. The
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Speaker 1: only problem it's not what the text says. The text
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Speaker 1: doesn't tell us that. The text doesn't say, Hey, he
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Speaker 1: had two sons. One of them was already circumcised, the
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Speaker 1: other one wasn't circumcised yet, and then this is what.
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Speaker 1: It's not what the text says. Text just says all
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Speaker 1: the way, there's a lodging place, and the Lord met him.
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Speaker 2: Was it Girsham could be?
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Speaker 1: Why would you argue that it was Gersham that was
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Speaker 1: about to be put to death. Here's why I'm not
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Speaker 1: convinced of it. But here's why it would make sense
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Speaker 1: if you go to the paragraph before. At the end
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Speaker 1: of that paragraph, there is a warning beginning of verse
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Speaker 1: twenty two. Here's the warning that God says that Moses
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Speaker 1: is to give to Pharaoh. Then you shall say to Pharaoh,
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Speaker 1: Thus says the Lord Israel is my firstborn son, And
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Speaker 1: I say to you let my son go that he
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Speaker 1: may serve me. If you refuse to let him go, behold,
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Speaker 1: I will kill your firstborn son. This is the tenth
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Speaker 1: Plague foreshadowing of the Tenth plague. Moses wasn't just given
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Speaker 1: these three signs that we talked about, but God gave
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Speaker 1: Moses all of the signs and talked to Moses about
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Speaker 1: all the signs.
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Speaker 2: The last sign.
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Speaker 1: That Moses is going to do before Pharaoh is the
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Speaker 1: sign of the death of the firstborn. So in context,
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Speaker 1: God just talked about the death of the firstborn, which
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Speaker 1: is going to pass over the Israelites. Why because they
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Speaker 1: are marked as God's people and because there's blood over
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Speaker 1: their doorposts. Therefore, the death of the firstborn passes over Israel.
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Speaker 1: Gersham is Moses' firstborn son, and he's not circumcised, which
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Speaker 1: means he's not identified with the people of God. So
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Speaker 1: on the way to what will eventually lead to the
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Speaker 1: death of the firstborn in Egypt, God seeks to kill
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Speaker 1: Moses' firstborn son because Moses hasn't marked him out as
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Speaker 1: a Hebrew.
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Speaker 3: That makes sense, but the text doesn't say it makes sense,
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Speaker 3: it fits.
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Speaker 1: The text doesn't say it, so we can't say it
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Speaker 1: with certainty. We can't say it with confidence. By the way,
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Speaker 1: be wary of people who are confident about things like this.
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Speaker 1: When there are things in the Bible that are clear,
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Speaker 1: we should preach them, and we should preach them hard. Amen,
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Speaker 1: and make no apologies about preaching them hard, because they're clear.
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Speaker 1: But when the Bible is not clear, we had better
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Speaker 1: be careful. So because of that, I can say to
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Speaker 1: you that it makes a lot of sense that this
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Speaker 1: would be Girsham. The Lord met him. The Lord met
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Speaker 1: Girsham on the way and attempted to put him to death. However,
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Speaker 1: we can't say it for certain. Second question, why is
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Speaker 1: God trying to kill him? Whoever him is? So first
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Speaker 1: of all, we don't know who him is. Secondly, why
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Speaker 1: has God try to put him to death verse twenty
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Speaker 1: four at a lodging place on the way, The Lord
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Speaker 1: met him and sought to put him to death? Could
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Speaker 1: it be Moses? Again, this is the most common answer
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Speaker 1: most Hebrew scholars, most commentators, the overwhelming majority of them,
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Speaker 1: say that this was Moses, that God was seeking to
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Speaker 1: put Moses to death. It would seem to make sense then,
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Speaker 1: this whole context, we're talking about Moses and Moses going
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Speaker 1: down and so on and so forth, it would seem
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Speaker 1: to make sense, especially with that last phrase, this braggroom
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Speaker 1: of blood phrase.
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Speaker 2: It would seem to make sense. And I can't argue
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Speaker 2: against that.
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Speaker 1: However, as I said, with the context and the warning
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Speaker 1: of the death of the firstborn It could also be
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Speaker 1: argued that this is actually Grisham. To me, that makes
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Speaker 1: more sense. It makes more sense in terms of who
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Speaker 1: him is. It also makes more sense in term of
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Speaker 1: God put up attempting to put him to death. First
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Speaker 1: of all, God has called Moses to go down and
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Speaker 1: to do this work. So Moses is God's mouthpeace, Moses
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Speaker 1: is God's spokesman, Moses is God's prophet. Moses has already
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Speaker 1: angered God before Amen and the last time Moses angered
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Speaker 1: God for being disobedient. How did it end by basically
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Speaker 1: God saying, fine, I'll get eron to go down and
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Speaker 1: be your mouth peace. Now, all of a sudden along
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Speaker 1: the way he wants to put him to death.
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Speaker 2: That's difficult.
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Speaker 1: But again can't say for certain that it's not the case,
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Speaker 1: nor does it make a difference in the ultimate application
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Speaker 1: of this text, but we'll get there in a little bit. Thirdly,
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Speaker 1: why wasn't the sun circumcised? That's a major question in
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Speaker 1: this whole text. Why wasn't the sun circumcised? Not only
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Speaker 1: did the Hebrew circumcised, but Egyptians also circumcised. It wasn't
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Speaker 1: the same kind of circumcision. And I don't want to
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Speaker 1: get into the technicalities of the different kinds of circumcision,
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Speaker 1: mainly because it just makes me highly uncomfortable to speak
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Speaker 1: about the way that they did this. But just suffice
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Speaker 1: to say that different kind of circumcisions in Egypt than
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Speaker 1: there would have been in Israel.
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Speaker 2: Go look it up.
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Speaker 1: So here's Moses, who is a Hebrew who was raised
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Speaker 1: as an Egyptian, and his boys not circumcised.
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Speaker 2: Why can I be honest?
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Speaker 1: Oh, the Bible doesn't tell us that, nor is it
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Speaker 1: necessary for us to know that, in order to get
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Speaker 1: to the application of this text.
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Speaker 2: But listen to this from Calvin.
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Speaker 1: If anybody's allowed to speculate on stuff, it's.
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Speaker 2: Calvin, he says.
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Speaker 1: I therefore unhesitatingly conclude that vengeance was declared against Moses
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Speaker 1: for his negligence, which was connected with still heavier sins.
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Speaker 1: For he had not omitted his son's circumcision from forgetfulness
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Speaker 1: or ignorance or carelessness, only, but because he was aware
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Speaker 1: that it was disagreeable either to his wife or to
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Speaker 1: his father in law. Therefore, lest his wife should quarrel
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Speaker 1: with him or his father in law trouble him, he
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Speaker 1: preferred to gratify them than to give occasion for divisions
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Speaker 1: or enmity or disturbance. Text doesn't say that, but can't
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Speaker 1: you see it. There's this Hebrew circumcision thing. The Midianites
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Speaker 1: don't necessarily practice this Hebrew circumcision thing. They wouldn't be
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Speaker 1: the only couple to ever disagree about whether or not
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Speaker 1: to circumcise their son. There's some people in his room
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Speaker 1: who've had that discussion and that disagreement about circumcising their sons.
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Speaker 1: By the way, outside of the Middle East, America is
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Speaker 1: about the only place in the world where people still
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Speaker 1: circumcise their sons. Elsewhere in the world people don't do that.
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Speaker 1: Europeans don't do that. Asian cultures they don't do that.
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Speaker 1: Middle Eastern cultures they do it for religious reasons. And
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Speaker 1: then sort of here in America and so here in
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Speaker 1: America there are families who have these discuss essions about
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Speaker 1: the circumcision of their sons. It's not completely not completely
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Speaker 1: out of the realm of possibility that this son wasn't
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Speaker 1: circumcised because of a disagreement between Moses and his wife.
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Speaker 2: That, by the way, answers another question.
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Speaker 1: Why is it Zipporah that hurriedly and quickly grabs the
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Speaker 1: flint knight knife and performs the circumcision, perhaps because there
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Speaker 1: have been discussions about.
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Speaker 2: This and she was unwilling to do this, and.
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Speaker 1: They've talked about this idea of the Covenant and this
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Speaker 1: sign of the Covenant and how important it was. And
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Speaker 1: if there is a wife who was unwilling to give
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Speaker 1: her son this sign, and suddenly death is knocking at
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Speaker 1: the door, what mother wouldn't pick up the flint knife
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Speaker 1: and do the deed right there on the spot. Gruesome
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Speaker 1: though it would have been, because, by the way, Moses
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Speaker 1: is eighty years old and his sons are not babies.
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Speaker 1: And that's all i'mist say about that next question. I
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Speaker 1: ask this because it's in the Bible, and the question
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Speaker 1: has to be asked. Why did Zepporah do what she
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Speaker 1: did with the foreskin? Isn't it great when you commit
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Speaker 1: the systematic exposition and you can't just skip over text.
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Speaker 2: Verse twenty five.
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Speaker 1: Then Zupporah took the flint and cut off her son's
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Speaker 1: foreskin and touched his feet with it. Again, Moses's name
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Speaker 1: not in the original Hebrew. There's another translation issue here,
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Speaker 1: and that translation issue is this more than likely it
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Speaker 1: wasn't this feat that we're touched, but it happened elsewhere
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Speaker 1: and feet is just a polite way to put it.
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Speaker 2: Why did she do that?
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Speaker 1: Can I be honest with you, I don't know, but
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Speaker 1: she did and it's significant and we'll talk about that
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Speaker 1: when we apply this text. But this is not a
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Speaker 1: normal practice. That's one of the things that makes this
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Speaker 1: passage so difficult. There's very little about it that's normal.
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Speaker 1: In fact, there's almost nothing about it that's normal. Question five,
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Speaker 1: is this bridegroom of blood stuff?
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Speaker 2: Again?
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Speaker 1: In verse twenty five, Support took the flint and cut
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Speaker 1: off her son's foreskin and touched moses feet with it
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Speaker 1: and said, surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.
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Speaker 1: And again this is why most people, because the insertion
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Speaker 1: of Moses's name instead of the word his, and because
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Speaker 1: of this issue of bridegroom of blood, She's only got
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Speaker 1: one bridegroom, and that's Moses. So because of this term
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Speaker 1: bridegroom of blood, people look at that and say it
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Speaker 1: must have been Moses whom she touched with this foreskin. However,
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Speaker 1: that term bridegroom of blood can be translated a number
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Speaker 1: of different ways.
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Speaker 2: In fact, the same.
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Speaker 1: Word that's translated here, bridegroom, is the word that's used
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Speaker 1: to describe the relationship between Moses and his father in law,
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Speaker 1: because the word means technically a relation by law or
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Speaker 1: by marriage. So it could be father in law, it
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Speaker 1: could be brother in law, it could be mother in law,
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Speaker 1: it could be sister in law. The word is used
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Speaker 1: for a covenant or relationship that is not a relationship
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Speaker 1: through birth, but a relationship that's entered through covenant like marriage.
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Speaker 1: So this could be translated you are a covenant relation
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Speaker 1: of blood to me, and that would be perfectly fine
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Speaker 1: to translate it that way. If we translate it you
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Speaker 1: are a covenant relationship by blood to me, then there's
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Speaker 1: even stronger reason to believe that this is not talking
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Speaker 1: about Moses. Question six, Why does God leave them alone?
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Speaker 1: Verse twenty six? So he let him alone, And it
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Speaker 1: was in that she said a bridegroom of blood because
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Speaker 1: of the circumcision. There's a last question, what does this
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Speaker 1: all mean? Because that's what really matters. We can't say
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Speaker 1: for certain who the hymn is. We can't say for
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Speaker 1: certain why God's seeking to kill him. We can't say
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Speaker 1: for certain why is not circumcised. We can't say for
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Speaker 1: certain why Zuppora does what she does the way that
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Speaker 1: she does. We cannot say that for certain. However, there's
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Speaker 1: a couple of things that help us. Number one translation
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Speaker 1: is the key. Listen to this passage the way it
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Speaker 1: would read in its original, without the assumptions. At a
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Speaker 1: lodging place on the way, the Lord met him and
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Speaker 1: sought to put him to death. Then Zapporah took a
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Speaker 1: flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched his
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Speaker 1: feet with it and said, surely you are a covenant
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Speaker 1: relative of blood to me.
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Speaker 2: So he let him alone.
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Speaker 1: It was then that she said a covenant relative of
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Speaker 1: blood because of the circumcision. My preference in interpreting this
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Speaker 1: is to say that this was Girsham, the one who
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Speaker 1: was met at the lodging place, whom God attempted to kill.
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Speaker 1: I'm very uncomfortable with that, because the overwhelming majority of
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Speaker 1: Hebrew scholars and interpreters argue that this is Moses. There are, however,
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Speaker 1: a few who agree with the idea that this is Girsham.
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Speaker 1: Because I believe when you look at this in its context,
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Speaker 1: and when you look at the discussion that happens just
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Speaker 1: before it, when you look at God saying basically, I'm
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Speaker 1: going to set my people free. I'm going to harm
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Speaker 1: in Pharaoh's heart, and because of his hard heart, you're
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Speaker 1: going to get to the tenth plag and the tenth
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Speaker 1: plague is going to be the death of the firstborn.
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Speaker 1: And I am going to mark out my people, and
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Speaker 1: I'm going to protect my people by a blood covenant.
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Speaker 1: And because of a blood covenant, my people will not
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Speaker 1: lose their first born. Now, on the way down, God
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Speaker 1: seeks to kill Grisham, who is Moses's firstborn son.
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Speaker 2: Suppor takes the flint knife.
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Speaker 1: And here I like Calvin's idea, because how do you
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Speaker 1: explain why this individual is not circumcised. We don't know,
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Speaker 1: but we know that Zapora is the one who takes
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Speaker 1: the flint knife, the idea that she was against it,
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Speaker 1: and missus why it hadn't happened. This makes sense. Your
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Speaker 1: boy is about to die all of a sudden. Whatever
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Speaker 1: qualm you had about circumcision, they're gone. She takes the knife,
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Speaker 1: she cuts the foreskin, she applies the blood.
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Speaker 2: And says, now now we're related by covenant.
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Speaker 1: Now we're part of this covenant people who are going
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Speaker 1: to be protected from the plague of the death of
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Speaker 1: the firstborn. By the way theologically this works. Even if
26:33
Speaker 1: that's Moses, that she does this too. But I prefer
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Speaker 1: the idea that this was Grocer, although I cannot say
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Speaker 1: for certain. Translation is the key circumcision is the locke
26:51
Speaker 1: just mentioned over seventy times in.
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Speaker 2: The Bible, ten times.
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Speaker 1: In Genesis seventeen, which is the first place where we
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Speaker 1: see it. Listen to this in Genesis seventeen ten to fourteen.
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Speaker 1: This is my covenant which you shall keep between me
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Speaker 1: and you and your offspring after you, every mail among
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Speaker 1: you shall be circumcised. You should be circumcised, and the
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Speaker 1: flesh of your force gins, and it shall be a
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Speaker 1: sign of the covenant between me and you. He who
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Speaker 1: is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every
27:24
Speaker 1: male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or
27:29
Speaker 1: bought with your money from any foreigner who is not
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Speaker 1: your offspring. Both he who is born in your house
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Speaker 1: and he who is bought with your money, shall surely
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Speaker 1: be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh
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Speaker 1: and everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised
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Speaker 1: in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off
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Speaker 1: from his people.
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Speaker 2: He has broken my covenant again again to me.
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Speaker 1: When I look at this passage, this difficult passage that
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Speaker 1: no one can be certain about, in Exodus chapter four,
28:09
Speaker 1: in light of this covenant of circumcision given to Abraham,
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Speaker 1: it makes sense that Gersham would have been in trouble
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Speaker 1: not only because he's uncircumcised, but because of the work
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Speaker 1: that his father is headed to Egypt to do that
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Speaker 1: will ultimately end in the death of the firstborn sons
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Speaker 1: of the non covenant people. This practice could be said
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Speaker 1: to have been more sacred than even the Sabbath. John
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Speaker 1: seven twenty one to twenty three. Listen to what Jesus
28:55
Speaker 1: says here. Jesus answered them, I did one work. They're
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Speaker 1: angry with him because he healed in the Sabbath. I did
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Speaker 1: one work, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave
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Speaker 1: you circumcision, not that it is from Moses, but from
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Speaker 1: the fathers. And you circumcise a man on the sabbath.
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Speaker 1: If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that
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Speaker 1: the law of Moses may not be broken. Are you
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Speaker 1: angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a
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Speaker 1: man's whole body?
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Speaker 2: Well, circumcision is huge.
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Speaker 1: These are people who had problems with walking a certain
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Speaker 1: distance on the Sabbath. Circumcision is minor surgery unless you're
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Speaker 1: a grown man, then it's major. The difficulty of recovering
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Speaker 1: from it is unbelievable, which is why in Genesis, the
29:57
Speaker 1: sons of Jacob, order to kill the Shechemites, had him
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Speaker 1: do what be circumcised, and then a couple of days later,
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Speaker 1: when no man was able to defend himself, they slaughtered
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Speaker 1: all of them because under those conditions there was nothing
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Speaker 1: that anyone can do. In the New Covenant we see
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Speaker 1: talk of circumcision as well, but in the New Covenant
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Speaker 1: it is a circumcision of the heart. And this is
30:35
Speaker 1: where I would disagree with my Presbyterian brethren who want
30:38
Speaker 1: to argue basically that it's because of this idea of
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Speaker 1: circumcision being carried over into the New Covenant that we
30:45
Speaker 1: give baptism, which is the new circumcision, to infants in
30:49
Speaker 1: order to identify them with the Covenant people. Just like
30:52
Speaker 1: the children of the Israelites were identified with the Covenant people.
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Speaker 2: Small problem.
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Speaker 1: There is circumcision in the New Covenant, and it's not backaptism.
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Speaker 1: It is the circumcision of the heart. The New Covenant
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Speaker 1: is not like the Abrahamic Covenant. In the Abrahamic Covenant,
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Speaker 1: you have two peoples. You have one that are His
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Speaker 1: children according to the flesh, and you have the other
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Speaker 1: who are His children according to the promise. This is
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Speaker 1: clear to us in Galatians. In the New Covenant, everyone
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Speaker 1: is circumcised. Just like in the Old Covenant, everyone is circumcised,
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Speaker 1: but in the New Covenant it's the circumcision of the heart.
31:43
Speaker 1: Not everyone is part of the New Covenant. Only believers
31:48
Speaker 1: are part of the New Covenant, which is why only
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Speaker 1: believers are baptized. We are saying you are now part
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Speaker 1: of the covenant people of God, because you have come
32:00
Speaker 1: to Him by faith and you have been baptized. So
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Speaker 1: we must not look at this national covenant with Israel,
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Speaker 1: which is what the Mosaic Covenant is. This is where
32:11
Speaker 1: Baptist Covenant theology separates from our Presbyterian brethren. We do
32:15
Speaker 1: not believe that the Mosaic Covenant is part of the
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Speaker 1: Covenant of Grace. We also don't believe that it's part
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Speaker 1: of the Covenant of Works. It is a third kind
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Speaker 1: of covenant. It is a national covenant with Israel. It
32:25
Speaker 1: is establishing unnational people. So we certainly wouldn't do it
32:30
Speaker 1: because of the Mosaic Covenant. As far as the Abrahamic Covenant.
32:36
Speaker 1: It's the circumcision of our hearts. So there is a
32:41
Speaker 1: distinction for us. If translation is the key and circumcision
32:50
Speaker 1: is the lock that gets us into this passage, then
32:55
Speaker 1: the doorway is salvation. When you look at this in
33:00
Speaker 1: light of God's saving work, both in the Passover and
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Speaker 1: in what the Passover.
33:06
Speaker 2: Pointed to, this makes even more sense.
33:09
Speaker 1: First, sinners are constantly in danger of God's wrath.
33:15
Speaker 2: We get uncomfortable with this passage.
33:16
Speaker 1: One of the reasons we get uncomfortable with this passage
33:18
Speaker 1: because all of a sudden, God's about to kill an
33:21
Speaker 1: innocent person. And we look at that, and we look
33:25
Speaker 1: at verse twenty four at a lodging place on the way,
33:27
Speaker 1: the Lord met him and sought to put him to death.
33:30
Speaker 1: And immediately we read that and we say that's not right.
33:33
Speaker 1: Why would God seek to put him to death? We
33:34
Speaker 1: don't know who him is. But if it's Moses or
33:37
Speaker 1: as Gersham, why what have they done. Here's a news flash.
33:41
Speaker 1: They both deserve to die because they're sinners. Here's a
33:49
Speaker 1: news flash, you deserve to die because you're a sinner.
33:56
Speaker 1: I have alluded on a number of occasions to the
33:58
Speaker 1: danger of reading x this as though all Egyptians are
34:02
Speaker 1: sinful and guilty and all Israelites are sinless and blameless.
34:06
Speaker 2: That's not the case.
34:08
Speaker 1: This is not a story of sinners and saints, but
34:12
Speaker 1: a story of the elect and the reprobate. Neither Moses
34:16
Speaker 1: nor his sons deserve to be saved. Israel doesn't deserve
34:22
Speaker 1: to be saved. What they deserve is to be met
34:25
Speaker 1: at an end and killed by God.
34:27
Speaker 2: That's what they deserve.
34:30
Speaker 1: So anyone in this story who ends up not dying,
34:36
Speaker 1: it is because of grace, not because of merit. So
34:43
Speaker 1: our first problem with this text is not what God
34:45
Speaker 1: is doing. Our first problem is what we think people
34:49
Speaker 1: are deserving. That's why we get all up tight. What happened.
34:56
Speaker 1: Nobody's done anything to deserve death. Hey, here's a news flash.
35:00
Speaker 1: He's done anything to deserve not death. Amen. This is
35:06
Speaker 1: a reminder that every man stands condemned and deserving of death. Secondly,
35:14
Speaker 1: God's wrath can only be assuaged by the means he provides.
35:25
Speaker 1: The text makes it clear that it is the cutting
35:29
Speaker 1: of the foreskin and the smearing of the blood that
35:31
Speaker 1: assuages God's wrath. Nothing else would have sufficed, no matter
35:36
Speaker 1: how sincere Zuppora was.
35:43
Speaker 2: The problem was this covenant sign, and.
35:48
Speaker 1: The only thing that would have assuaged God's wrath was
35:52
Speaker 1: the severing of this foreskin and the shedding of blood.
35:58
Speaker 1: Nothing else, no matter how sincere, she could have done
36:06
Speaker 1: anything to show God how sincere she was. But salvation
36:10
Speaker 1: is not to the sincere Romans ten one. Four brothers.
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Speaker 1: My heart's desire and prayer to God for them is
36:24
Speaker 1: that they may be saved. For I bear them witness
36:27
Speaker 1: that they have a zeal for God, but not according
36:30
Speaker 1: to knowledge, for being ignorant of the righteousness of God
36:33
Speaker 1: and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit
36:37
Speaker 1: to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the
36:40
Speaker 1: law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Who's he talking
36:45
Speaker 1: about Jews, who are the most sincere religious people in
36:49
Speaker 1: the world, and Paul says, my heart's desire for them
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Speaker 1: is that they would be saved because their sincerity is
36:56
Speaker 1: not enough. Thirdly, the means of saving God's people always
37:08
Speaker 1: involves a blood covenant Hebrews nine twenty two. Indeed, under
37:15
Speaker 1: the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without
37:19
Speaker 1: the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.
37:25
Speaker 1: It is Christ's blood that redeems us. It is the
37:31
Speaker 1: shedding of his blood that assuages the wrath of God.
37:37
Speaker 1: It is the blood of Jesus that is a propitiation
37:40
Speaker 1: for us. And it is only the blood of Jesus.
37:44
Speaker 1: And there is a picture here of one who is
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Speaker 1: deserving of death outside the covenant community. And it is
37:53
Speaker 1: this severing and this application of blood that assuages.
37:58
Speaker 2: The wrath of God.
38:00
Speaker 1: Only talking about a temporal salvation here, you and I
38:04
Speaker 1: need more than just to live through and encounter at
38:07
Speaker 1: an end. You and I need to survive death. You
38:11
Speaker 1: and I need to escape the wrath of God and hell.
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Speaker 1: How do you do that? Not through the severing of
38:17
Speaker 1: a foreskin, not through any outward religious practice at all,
38:22
Speaker 1: but through God crushing and killing his only begotten son.
38:27
Speaker 1: That's how Israel is later saved. When the death angel
38:33
Speaker 1: passes by and they slaughter a lamb, the lamb dies,
38:37
Speaker 1: and they spread the blood on their houses and later
38:40
Speaker 1: on and observing the meal to commemorate that night, Jesus
38:46
Speaker 1: says to his followers, he is that lamb, that that
38:51
Speaker 1: cup is his blood of the New Covenant. It is
38:56
Speaker 1: through the shedding of blood, and only through the shedding
38:59
Speaker 1: of blood, through Christ's blood, not just through your religious zeal.
39:13
Speaker 1: What does all of this mean. I can tell you
39:17
Speaker 1: that you want to know who him is. I got
39:22
Speaker 1: an opinion, but I can be wrong. Doesn't make all
39:27
Speaker 1: that much difference. You don't want to know who was circumcised,
39:34
Speaker 1: not sure. I got an opinion, I could be wrong.
39:37
Speaker 1: Doesn't make all that much difference. You want to know
39:40
Speaker 1: who was touched with the blood? I don't know. I
39:42
Speaker 1: got an opinion, I could be wrong. Doesn't make all
39:44
Speaker 1: that much difference. Why because here's what I know that
39:51
Speaker 1: this is a foreshadowing of the Passover, which is a
39:57
Speaker 1: foreshadowing of the crucifixion. So I know what this means,
40:07
Speaker 1: and what this means is God saves his people through
40:11
Speaker 1: the shedding of blood. In this small picture, zuppor God,
40:20
Speaker 1: either her son or her husband back Praise God. For that.
40:25
Speaker 2: Amen.
40:28
Speaker 1: But that's nothing, nothing compared to the fact that we
40:34
Speaker 1: stand condemned before all Holy God. And then every one
40:39
Speaker 1: of us deserves death, every one of us deserves hell.
40:45
Speaker 1: And yet all we, like sheep, have gone astray, each
40:49
Speaker 1: of us had turned to his own way. But God
40:51
Speaker 1: has caused the iniquity of us, all to be laid
40:54
Speaker 1: on him. Deserve to be cut off and not part
41:02
Speaker 1: of God's people. And yet God made him who knew
41:05
Speaker 1: no sin, to be sin for us, so that we
41:08
Speaker 1: might become the righteousness of God in him. How Christ
41:12
Speaker 1: died for sin, once for all, the just, for the unjust,
41:15
Speaker 1: in order that he might bring us back to God.
41:18
Speaker 1: That's how it is through his blood. It is the
41:23
Speaker 1: blood of Christ. It is his death on the cross,
41:27
Speaker 1: that is all. How dare we come before God with
41:30
Speaker 1: anything else in our hands? How dare we come before
41:33
Speaker 1: God with anything at all in our hands. We do
41:36
Speaker 1: not come before God with our sincerity. We do not
41:39
Speaker 1: come before God with our religion. We do not come
41:42
Speaker 1: before God comparing ourselves to others. We come before God
41:46
Speaker 1: pleading the blood of Christ and acknowledging that it is
41:49
Speaker 1: our only hope. Oh sinner, flee to Christ, trust in him,
41:56
Speaker 1: kneel before the cross, and be washed in His blood,
42:00
Speaker 1: made new, be made whole, be made clean. You cannot
42:03
Speaker 1: be sincere enough if you can. Christ died for nothing.
42:09
Speaker 1: You cannot be religious enough if you can. God the
42:14
Speaker 1: sun shed his blood when you could have taken care
42:17
Speaker 1: of it yourself.
42:23
Speaker 2: Flee to Christ. Run to him.
42:29
Speaker 1: Run from your sin like Zipporah fleeing for the flint knife.
42:36
Speaker 1: Cut off anything and everything that would keep you from Christ.
42:41
Speaker 1: That thing that you love so dearly, that has a
42:44
Speaker 1: hold on you, that is keeping you from fleeing to Christ,
42:47
Speaker 1: cut it off, Cut it off, be done with it.
42:53
Speaker 1: Don't allow anyone or anything to keep you from Christ.
42:57
Speaker 1: Run to him, for he is indeed your only hope.
43:07
Speaker 1: Let's pray, Oh God, we thank you for the blood
43:27
Speaker 1: of Jesus, for the blood that cleanses us, for the
43:33
Speaker 1: blood that washes us, for the blood that makes us whole,
43:42
Speaker 1: For the blood that makes a way for us to
43:44
Speaker 1: be forgiven. For the blood that makes a way for
43:47
Speaker 1: us to be ranked before you and with you. For
43:52
Speaker 1: the blood that purchased us, For the blood that opened
43:58
Speaker 1: the way for us to be adopted. Sons and daughters,
44:00
Speaker 1: of the Most High God, for the blood that has
44:05
Speaker 1: provided everything that we need to be kept and sanctified.
44:10
Speaker 1: For the blood that is our only hope, for entrance
44:12
Speaker 1: into the age to come, and to all of the
44:15
Speaker 1: delights that await your children there. Thank you for the blood.
44:25
Speaker 1: Grant by your grace, that we might find ourselves washed therein,
44:31
Speaker 1: that we might trust in nothing else, that we might
44:34
Speaker 1: trust in no one else, that we might rejoice in
44:39
Speaker 1: none other save the one who bled and died to
44:42
Speaker 1: save us. Grant that those under the sound of my
44:54
Speaker 1: voice might heed the spirit's call, might cut off everything
45:07
Speaker 1: that stands between them and the redemption that is found
45:16
Speaker 1: in Christ, that they would flee from it and flee
45:25
Speaker 1: to Him, cling to him, hope in him, rejoice in him,
45:33
Speaker 1: delight in him, and be found in him. This is
45:40
Speaker 1: our prayer. This is the earnest cry of our very souls.
45:50
Speaker 1: And we ask it in that name that is above
45:52
Speaker 1: every name, that name at which every knee will bow
45:58
Speaker 1: and have it, and on earth and under the earth,
45:59
Speaker 1: and every tongue confessed, that he is Lord, to the
46:02
Speaker 1: glory of God the Father, in the name of Jesus,
46:06
Speaker 1: our Lord, Save your Master, King Redeemer, bridegroom and friend.
46:13
Speaker 2: We pray Amen