Now, in verse 9, and I'm reading, And
God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my
covenant, therefore thou and thy seed after thee
in their generations.
This is my covenant, which ye shall keep
between me and you and thy seed after
thee.
Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
Now, that's the badge of the covenant.
They didn't do this in order to become
a member of the covenant.
They did this because they had the covenant
from God.
And there's all the difference in the world.
That's the same place that good works occupies
for the believer today.
You do not perform good works in order
to get saved.
You perform good works because you have been
saved.
And may I say it's all the difference
in the world.
As a boy, I remember when I went
away from home.
I did get in a lot of trouble.
But the one thing that kept me from
going and I think becoming an absolute renegade
was the fact of my dad.
I said, because I'm a son of my
father, I won't do this or I won't
enter into this.
I refrained because of that.
Now, I didn't become his son because I
didn't do certain things.
I was already his son.
But because I was...
Now, that's the badge of the covenant, is
circumcision.
The thing that put them under the covenant
wasn't circumcision.
That was the badge of it, the evidence
of it.
And God gives this to them now.
And verse 12, and he says, He that's
eight days old shall be circumcised among you.
And if you'll notice how meticulous the record
is concerning the birth of Christ, how all
the law was fulfilled in connection of the
birth of this little baby, that he was
a son of Abraham, he was a son
of David, he was in the line, and
on the eighth day he was circumcised.
He was born under the law, Paul says.
Now, will you notice, God says here that
he that is born in thy house and
he that is bought with thy money must
needs be circumcised.
And my covenant shall be in your flesh
for an everlasting covenant.
That's the badge of it.
They didn't have to do that in order
to get the covenant.
God had already made it for them.
And I trust that you see that.
That's so important to see.
The same thing is true today.
A great many people think, Well, if I
join the church or if I'm baptized, I'll
be saved.
No, my friend.
You don't do those to get saved.
Now, if you are saved, let me say
as a pastor, I think you'll do both
of them.
I think you'll join the church and I
think you'll be baptized.
But you don't do that to get saved.
We need to keep the cart where it
belongs, following the horse, and not get the
cart before the horse.
In fact, the horse is in the cart
today for the thinking of many relative to
salvation.
Now, in verse 14, And the uncircumcised man,
child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not
circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from
his people, if broken my covenant.
Now, you see, the fact that there were
those that disobeyed, and you'll find out that
practically the entire nation had disobeyed when they
came out of the land of Egypt.
But the thing was, that did not militate
against the covenant.
It just meant that individual would be put
out.
But as far as the nation is concerned,
no individual or group could destroy this covenant
God had made with Abraham and his seed
after him.
It's an everlasting covenant.
That man has broken the covenant.
He's put out.
But the covenant stands.
That's how marvelous it is.