Main idea: A genuine relationship with God is a covenant relationship, and God Almighty is worthy of that commitment.
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good morning. Faith, Bible Church, it is good to be back with you this week. I had this the delight of seeing my baby girl have a baby girl. Brenna, my daughter had Lucia. So that's really sweet. I'm so thankful for that God. God gives that blessing. We don't take it for granted. We know lots of people can't have kids, and when you when you have one, it's a super blessing for us. Thank you for praying for us also. Like, you know we're helping. It seems like it takes four people to take care of one newborn, and I just am so grateful for what the moms and dads do that have 1234567, kids, you know, like, that's an amazing thing to me, so I just admire that very much, and I'm so thankful we love kids around here, also thankful that we invest in the next generation. Why do we have kids sing in a choir? Why do we have them come here? Because we want them singing truths. We want them singing truths that one day will awaken in their heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. So we have the memorized scripture at home, like our parents, kids do, we have a memorized scripture in our programming we want the kids to know and saying, one day, those will come alive in their heart. Side benefit, we might get future choir singers out of it. So music in the church is a real precious thing to us. So we want to raise up a generation of worshipers as well. We're going to be turning to Genesis 17, which, interestingly, has a major tie to training up children and to investing in children. Yes, it's going to be through this practice that they called circumcision. I will make a genuine good connection with it. I know you're going, Uh huh, yeah. We'll see. We'll see. Stand with me for the reading of Genesis 17, I'm going to read it all as we preach through it. It's such a big chapter, I can only take some highlight points out of it, but it's one of the foundational passages in Genesis that we call the Abrahamic covenant. Chapter 12, God gives the promises. Chapter 15, God secures the covenant and secures a people by his own pledge to his own death, if, if Abram or his offspring fail. And chapter 17 gives us what Abram getting his new name, Abraham, and all have his descendants their commitments to the covenant. That's what we get here today, and it really is a portrait of a genuine saving relationship with God. Do you have one? Do you have a genuine saving relationship with God? We're gonna see how that unfolds here as we read this. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly. Then Abram fell on his face. God said to him, Behold, my covenant is with you. You shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you, the land of your sojournings all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. And God said to Abraham, as for you. You shall keep My covenant you and your offspring after you, throughout their generations. This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circum. Sized every male throughout their your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not your offspring, both he who is born of your house and he who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh, an everlasting covenant. And any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. And God said to Abraham, as for Sarai, your wife, she shall not You shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah. She Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations, Kings of people shall come from her. Then Abram fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, shall a child be born to a man who was 100 years old? Shall Sarah, who was 90 years old bear a child? And Abrams said to God, oh, that Ishmael might live before you. God said, No, but Sarah shall be Sarah, your wife. Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him, as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and I will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father 12 princes, and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at the next at this time next year, when he had finished talking with him, God went up to Abraham. God went up from Abraham, then Abraham took Ishmael, his son and all those born in his house, and bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him, Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, and Ishmael, his son was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very day, Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. All the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him. This is the word of the Lord our God. We thank You for Your word. One of the things that we are committed to, because you tell us to is to preach the whole counsel of God, all of the word faithfully proclaimed. There is much here that we don't do. There's much here that you don't call us to do today, but there is much to learn, and I pray as you would teach us, help us get grips on what a real relationship with you looks like. I think of our children who are growing up hearing the gospel called by Christ to believe and trust to repent, these these little ones that just have stood before us singing. We want them to have this kind of relationship. There are many here who are exploring or learning about Christianity, learning about the Bible, and I pray that this kind of relationship would be impressed on their hearts, Father, I pray that You would help us as a church in our city, preach the whole gospel. I pray for our churches around us. I pray for ministries across the city that they would preach the whole council of God as well. I pray for Life Center Church and their services this morning, or South Side Christian or South Hill Bible. I pray that they would be faithful in proclaiming the whole council of God and ultimately, the gospel of Christ, Father, help us be ready to hear many things are different for us, but help us learn from the history. Help us learn from this scripture things that would benefit us in our pursuit of you. We ask this in Christ's name, Amen, you may be seated if I were to say it in a word, the only genuine relationship with God is a covenant relationship. It's a covenant relationship. Do you have a covenant relationship with God? If you were to listen through this, we when you have a genuine saving relationship with God, when it feels like God has you in a time out, it's a dark time for your soul. Chapter 16 ends in verse 16. Abraham was 86 verse one starts with when Abram was 9913 years have gone by. Not a word from God when you feel like you're in a supernatural time out where the. Feels like God is distant from you.
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Does even the sweetest joys of life seem bitter or sour? That's this mark of a genuine relationship. You miss it when you don't feel it. Do you have a relationship with God that sends you to your knees and makes you laugh? I mean, I read this situation with Abram. He falls to his knees twice, one in honor and agreement, and one time in honor and laughter. Like it's kind of confusing. He's seeing God's blessings, and he's blown away. Are you eager to use any means that you have to influence the people in your life to also follow God. Abram, does this these are marks of a genuine relationship with God. Do you have that? If I were to take this passage, we could break it down into a two part outline, and that's going to be our big idea this morning. A genuine relationship with God is a covenant relationship, point one, and God Almighty, that's how he introduces himself here, is worthy of our covenant commitment. First, we're going to look at a genuine relationship with God. That's a covenant relationship. That might be a new concept to you, so I want to help you understand and unpack what that is for you. And also, God Almighty is worth that kind of covenant, that kind of relationship, that kind of commitment. I have three kinds of people in mind as I think through this, first of all, kids who are beginning to trust Christ. They're hearing the gospel from parents, from their Sunday School workers, from their discovery workers. They recognizing that they have sin. They need Jesus to deal with it. And some are even expressing, I want to get baptized. I want to make a profession of faith. Well, how do you prepare kids for that? What does a genuine relationship with God look like? If you look at it here, it doesn't look like ask Him into your heart. I know lots of parents like that. Isn't that what I'm supposed to tell my kids to do? Well, let's talk about that. The answer is no, but we'll talk about that. Baptism doesn't replace circumcision. Jesus, death and resurrection does. We'll get that to the board at the end. But baptism is the initiation rite that believers do to declare their faith publicly. We're going to learn some lessons about this. Circumcision was a way that faith was declared publicly at this time, baptism is a way that we do that today. Second, some of you were in a holding pattern. I think of this story with Abram and Nathan preached it a couple weeks ago as we were looking at it. And it's the story where Abrams been given promises, in chapter 12, that he's going to be a great nation. Chapter 15, he's going to have children as the stars in the sky. There's going to be these descendants. God. Establishes the covenant unilaterally. They order animals to be sacrificed. God alone walks through them in a ratification of the serum of the of the covenant, and he agrees that he will take on the punishment if Abraham's side fails, or if he fails, and God never fails. It's an extraordinary passage. You would think that Abram would trust God for the promises to come. But chapter 16, sarai has this brilliant idea, or not brilliant idea. You know what? You can't have kids through me. Why don't I give you my servant girl as your second wife? Like, imagine how this is going to go. Can you imagine that conversation in your home? Hagar gets pregnant immediately, strife blows up. Ishmael is given a promise he's going to be a wild donkey of a man. He's 13 now. He is the wild donkey of a teenager. And that's going to be true. In the coming chapters, you're going to see that just as God said, it's coming true. He's going to create enough trouble that he's going to have going to have to be forced to leave. And here's Abram watching it all, 13 silent years of what in the world have I done? And as far as Abram knows, Ishmael is the promised one. He doesn't know any different yet. And he's like, really, this is it. Some of you are in a holding pattern because of consequences of your sin. Or some of you are in a holding pattern holding God off. Some of you come with your spouse. You want your kids to go to Sunday school. It's good moral upbringing. Your wife likes your kids in Sunday school. Or your husband like your kids in Sunday school. So yeah, you go along with it, but you are actually in a supernatural time out. You're holding God at a distance. And what I want to say to you is that what God offers is precious, and he is worthy of your faith and commitment. And the third person I want to talk to today is just, is that person who needs to renew that close covenant with God. I just need renewal. I need to remember who God is, what he's done, what I'm committed to. Abram had picked Abraham and Sarah had chosen a really bad idea. I read passes of Scripture, and I have these lines from Disney movies that hit my head. This one came from chapter 16. It's Iago the parrot saying, I'm gonna, I'm gonna die of a heart attack of not surprise. It went so bad, like, did you think it was going to go well? And you might be that person who says, I need, I need a renewal of this relationship. That's what, that's what this is. God is renewing and furthering this covenant commitment. So we're looking at these two parts. Number one, a genuine relationship with God is a covenant relationship. And number two, relationship. And, number two, a covenant relationship. God is worthy of that commitment to a covenant relationship. So let's take the first unpack these, and I have to skim over the surface. There's a lot of things that are very different for our culture. We'll try to sum those up, but I want to hit the high points. Let's start with verses one through three, because one through three is the preamble, and it summarizes the whole thing. If you want to know what God required of Abram, here is the summary. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, it's a divine revelation, and said to him, I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly. First, there are commitments in a covenant. What's a covenant? What's a covenant? A covenant is a solemn, committed relationship between two parties that have mutual obligations and mutual benefits. It's a solemn commitment. In this case, it's between God and Abram. We're going to find out it's going to be between Yahweh and Abrams offspring, those two parties. Listen to how God introduces himself. I am God Almighty. The first commitment is implicit in this text. It becomes explicit by Genesis 24 the first commitment by both sides is what we call love. It's true in a marriage, there's a commitment to love. This commitment is for the highest good of another, and it's a commitment that plans to last. That's what a covenant commitment is. It's based on that the Hebrew word that describes what God does in this and what man is to do in this is has said, or chesed depends on who you read about it. But has said is the highest affection and commitment. And the ESV translates it with two words in the Bible, it's called steadfast love. Whenever you see steadfast love, God is demonstrating a steadfast love that is covenant, keeping love. It's committed, enduring love. And Abram, servant in chapter 24 is looking for a wife for Isaac, and he finds a wife for Isaac. And he says, Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master, Abram, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and His faithfulness toward my master. What does God do? What does God the Almighty do? Entering the covenant He commits to love Abram and his offspring. You Ian, later in the Bible, Hosea, God describes what he wants back. I desire steadfast love, not sacrifice the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. It's all about the internals. To approach a covenant with God means that one has to have a heart that loves God, that wants to love God. The kids just sang the summary of it. It's the one of the most famous passages in the Old Testament. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. It's not externals that matter the most. It's the internals. The first commitment is love. Do you love God? Do you want to love God? Do you want an enduring love for God? Do you want to experience God's enduring love? To you
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this. Second Commandment comes from the title that God gives himself. First, he is talking about the Lord, which we have heard multiple times now, and can't hear it too much that capital L, O, R, D, Yahweh means eternal, ever living one God is the God who creates life, makes life, and it's usually associated with God's covenant, keeping name the I Am. I Am comes appears to Abram and says, I am, God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless. It's the phrase El Shaddai. Some of you from the 70s 80s remember Amy Grant's tune, El Shaddai. You could probably hum it in your head. I know it's for the old folks among us. Now you're like, Oh, you're getting that old joke in on me. Yeah, no, join the club. What does El Shaddai mean? God is all powerful and all sufficient. God is all powerful and all sufficient. He introduces himself that way because, as he calls for Abrams commitment, back to him, he promises to empower that commitment. Every time El Shaddai is used in the book of Genesis, it always speaks of his blessing. And when El Shaddai is sought out in prayer, it's an asking for mercy. He is the all powerful, all sufficient God. What is God saying by introducing himself this way, I will empower what I command. Augustine was famous for saying this, give what you command and command what you will. Empower what you command and command what you will I will do it from Abram down to our time, for all the time Man has sin, to overcome human weakness, to overcome a hostile culture, to overcome and God, by introducing himself as El Shaddai, commits to empower our devotion and our just behavior. He promises to do that. This is God's commitment. Now what's Abrams commitment? What does God command that he's going to empower walk before me, we've seen this in chapter five with Enoch. Enoch walked with God. What is walking with God? It's a life lived listening to God, a life lived searching him out, from his revelation, from his word. It's a life lived seeking God and His will. It's a life lived acknowledging that he's present by His Spirit. To walk with God is to acknowledge that although God is Spirit, and I can't see him, he's right here and I'm in his presence, we're not inviting God's presence. We're acknowledging God's presence. Walk in devotion, is another way to say it. That's why we encourage people to read their Bibles on their own, or listen to the Bible on their own, memorize the Bible on their own, to talk to God on their own. It's part of walking with God. Second thing he says is to be blameless. That is to live obediently and righteous. Blameless is the idea without sin. That's a big ask, isn't it? What? Well, here's the reality. God is holy and God is righteous. God is producing a relationship with Abraham and his offspring like a father to a son, and sons should reflect the image of their fathers. Daughters should reflect the image of their fathers. God is holy and blameless. We are to walk holy and blamelessly. The end of the Bible in First Peter, Peter calls the people that he's writing to. He quotes this reference from God, you shall be holy, for I am holy. Here's the commitment. Walk with me in a devoted way. Walk with me, seeking to be obedient and upright. What does Abram do? What's what's God's promise? I will make a covenant between Me and you, and may multiply you greatly. I may multiply you greatly. What's God's what's God's promise? I will multiply. I will make you fruitful. What does Abram do? He falls on his face in. Awe, in awe of God Almighty, who has appeared to him and in agreement with the terms of the covenant. You want a relationship with me. You want a committed relationship to me. Here's how I'm going to commit to you. Here's how you commit to me. And God says to him, I'm going to make this Abram by falling on his face. Says, Yes, Lord, I agree to be your humble servant. You are my master. I am your Lord. You are my master. I am your servant. And this is the heart of a genuine relationship with God. If we work our way across the Bible, we after Christ comes and fulfills this cleansing we're going to see in a little bit after Christ dies and rises a call to Biblical faith. Like the proper response to the truth of the gospel is to confess with your mouth a public proclamation that Jesus is Lord master. Believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. It's internal. It's external. This is what Abram does instinctively. I remember going to a college worship service at Eastern seeing students genuinely worship God, hearing God's word being preached, saying I have none of this, going home to my apartment and falling on the ground, and all I said to God was, my life is yours. My life is yours. I have been ruining it. My life is yours. I didn't know anything about theology, but the converting work of God was going on, and Abram renews his commitment. Here have you done this in your heart called Jesus, Master and Lord, willing to walk with Him, willing to obey Him, willing to represent him by your life and your character, Abram, fell on his face.
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God expands. Now, preamble, we've got the two sides, the two parties, God and Abram. Now there's some exciting additions. First one, jump down to five. No longer shall your name be called Abram. Exalted father, remember, every morning servants outside Abram walks out the tent. Good morning. Exalted Father, what can I get for you? Exalted Father, how would you like us to shear the sheep exalted father. Your name shall be Abraham. God makes it clear what his name means, because he brackets it by this statement, ahead you will be the father of a multitude of nations. And he says at the after it, I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. Abrams name gets changed to father of a multitude. Good morning. Father of a multitude. How many children does he have right now? One that's not going so well. I will make you exceedingly fruitful. This name change is significant. He's not just going to be He's not just going to be a father of a nation. He's going to be the father of a multitude of nations. That means, in this promise, both from the line of the Jews and all those who eventually have faith in his great heir, Jesus Christ, there are going to be nations that follow Yahweh. He's going to be the father of a multitude of nations. Verse, six kings shall come from you, not just from David. His offspring, David will have kings. One of those, the greatest king will be Jesus, but Kings, Kings of other nations, will come. Verse seven, I will establish the covenant between me and you and your offspring, offspring after you, throughout your generation. It's a generational commitment that God is making, a generational blessing. I they're going to get a new land I will give to you and your offspring. Verse eight after you, the land of your sojournings. Right now, you're just a stranger here. One day, you and your offspring will get this land as an everlasting possession, a new land. Ian, it the high point of all of it is at the end of verse seven and the end of verse eight, this everlasting covenant to be God to you. Abram, I'm going to be God to you. Abram, your your descendants. I. Will be their God. And this is the high point. What was lost at the fall is renewed in this promise to Abram. The first thing that happens when Adam and Eve sin is they are separated from God. They die spiritually. Short order, they die physically. And one day, everybody is going to die in eternity in a separation from God at judgment, unless God offers grace, everything lost in Genesis three will be covered with this promise. Ian
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it's a glorious promise. This is God's commitment. Who does more work? Who does the most work? Who does all the work? In this side, it is all clear that God Almighty, promises to empower, promises to fulfill. And when Abraham and his offspring believe walk and are blameless, it is because God has caused it to be. So there's a sign of the covenant. So first there's the covenant commitment. Second, there's the sign of the covenant, a genuine relationship with God. Plans to remember. Plans to remember. I recently picked up a prescription for my wife. At the pharmacist, he asks me, what's her birth date? And I'm like, I know this one. It's like, I'm like, You better remember it's your wife's birthday. You got a plan to remember when you're making a commitment. When you get married, you're going to plan to remember a lot of things. That's a covenant commitment. There's a plan to remember. God made a plan to remember, and it's through circumcision, really? Yep, that's how God chose to do it. Verse 10, this is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you, every male child, every male among you, shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. There's one additional commitment, Abram, you need to follow through on circumcision, and there's one requirement for all of your descendants to stay in the covenant, circumcision. Now, what's circumcision? For circumcision in the Bible signifies two things. Might signify more. A lot of debate about it, but it simplifies. It symbolizes at least two things. First, it symbolizes a a cleansing from stubborn sin. There is an inner corruption in every person, a stubbornness and cleansing is an outward ritual that symbolizes something that's needed inwardly and in the most intimate and private part of the body. Secondly, it's an identity. It creates the identity of who are God's people. They are the circumcised ones. Now to the first in Deuteronomy, God announces that in the New Covenant, Christ will need to do something for the hearts of people, and he uses the circumcision language, and the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live. Man's heart is stubborn against God, and circumcision was the sign. God needs to deal with our stubbornness. God needs to deal with our sin. And every married couple would be reminded of this need in the very way God multiplies and provides children for Abram, for all his people. Second, it makes a definitive statement about somebody's identity. It's a way a husband and wife and all the community is going to say we are the Lord's we belong to the Lord. Fathers were to circumcise their sons on the eighth day, committing to instruct their children until the sign on the outside was a reality on the inside, it's just what we do by training our children in the Bible, we commit to training them until the words that they compare it back by memory verses become words that are true in their heart. Now, what's an expansion here is, is a little mind blowing for the ancients, it's, it's a little surprising for us, because we're, we're really uncomfortable, rightfully so with this concept. Of slavery. But this is a fallen world and a fallen brutal era. God says this every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. Remember, he's talking about the slaves in the house. Remember there were war slaves, there were kidnapped slaves, there were poverty slaves. Sin reached every social structure, but everybody's to be circumcised. What is he getting at? There is a revolution in God's relationship demonstrated here, if you're a slave, you can be restored and reconciled to God Almighty, the very relationship that Abram enjoys, the slave can enjoy every person, no matter rank, no matter status, Can Have Living fellowship with God and eternal life and eternal blessing.
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Verse 14 is an interesting verse, because it's parents job is to circumcise. They're supposed to circumcise in the eighth day and then he says this, any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. Now wait a second. You're supposed to you're supposed to circumcise on day eight. Jews call that a bris. It's a celebration. I recently got a picture of my baptism when I was 10 in the Roman Catholic Church, and my godparents were standing there. I mean, godparents, when you're Catholic, godparents are cool thing because they give you Christmas gifts and Easter gifts and confirmation gifts, and they're always looking out for you. I'm hearing my picture of my godparents. I don't know if Jews have godparents or not, but there is a bris, which is a celebration. The rabbi comes over to the house. All the close family comes. They circumcise the baby, and they hear him howl and cry, and everybody's like, Oh, he's a Jew. Now, it happened then, oh, well, what's up with this? So if you grew up in a house where mom and dad did not they were apathetic to the covenant, were not committed to the covenant, and you were not circumcised, it was on you at some point in your life to choose to join the covenant community or not and be circumcised. And if you chose not to, if you grew up in that kind of house and you rejected it, you were to be cut off. It's a picture of a rejection of Yahweh as gracious God and King. This sign had an important purpose. Did it do anything to save no but it was a sign to the community to impress truths in the heart of a child until the child could grow profess his faith in Yahweh, to follow him on his own notice. There are number three, we move to the unfathomable blessings. There's the commitments are listed out. There's a sign. How are you planning on remembering every bris the Jews were going to remember? Oh, we are committed to God, and our identity is as God's people. God must deal with our hearts. We are committed to Him. Then there are these unfathomable blessings. A genuine relationship with God often feels this way at one minute awe and another minute laughter, like God, what are you doing? What is suddenly announced to Abram here blows his mind. It brings him awe and laughter, verse 16 or verse 15, as for Sarah, your wife. You shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah princess. You My prince. Her my princess. You are going to be parents of nobility. I will give you a son by her. I will bless her. She shall become nations. It's the same language that's been given to Abram in chapter 12, same language that's been given here in chapter 17. She shall become nations, Kings of peoples shall come from her. And it's not just this a promise that one day David will come from her line, or Jesus will come from her line, but it's the same. All nations will one day have people who are in right relationship with Yahweh, and they will rule with Yahweh. And it's not from more wives. Abram, like you tried that already. You tried the let's get Hagar. And yes, some nations will come from that. No, it's from Sarah. I. Abram fell on his face, same words as verse three, he fell on his face and laughed, awestruck, delighted. You can imagine the confusion circling in Abrams mind right now. He said to himself, shall a child be born to a man who was 100 years old? Shall Sarah, who is 90 years old bear child like it's too much for me. He is not rebuked for this. Sarah, next chapter is going to be rebuked because she has leftover bitterness and unbelief. She has left over bitterness and unbelief. He is just blown away. He is bewildered. Falls on his face in awe, laughs and delight. And in a real relationship with God, you go from elation to confusion to questions in seconds. That's what a real relationship. That's a real relationship with a spouse. It's a real relationship with anyone. Abram said to God, oh, that Ishmael might live before you, like, all of a sudden, he thought of the 13 year old that he thought was the heir that Ishmael might believe lived before you. Yeah, Israel was a wild donkey of a teenager, but Abram loved him, and says, No, it's not going to be with Ishmael. I will establish my covenant with him, with Isaac as an everlasting covenant for his for his offspring after him. Abram, I want to, want you to rest assure Ishmael will be the head of a family of princes. I have promised to bless him. Because of you, I have promised to bless him, but the promise of salvation, the promise of full restoration, is going to come through Isaac's line. I mean, you listen to all this, and you have to say He is God Almighty. Indeed, he can cause a 90 year old woman to get pregnant with 100 year old man. He is the God of all blessing, the God of all power, God Almighty indeed, what He commands he can deliver. Lastly, we see the community of the covenant. It's been mentioned already about all the males. After Abram hears this, he gets the reassurance about Ishmael. He is in wonder and awe about Sarah and a boy Isaac coming. Abram gets up right away, and what we find is that there is a community in the covenant. So a genuine relationship with God has these mutual commitments. It has a sign to remember. There are blessings that are beyond our imagination in it, but there's also a community involved. A genuine relationship with God puts you in a community of people. It was true right here. And maybe a different way to say that is if you have a genuine relationship with God, you are concerned about the faith of the community. Abram immediately gets up. He took Ishmael, his son, and all those born in his house are bought with his money, every male among the men of Abrams house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. Now just pause chapter 14, something like 23 years earlier, Abraham had 318 fighting soldiers part of his household. The men of this household would have made up a small town by now, and all of the men lined up, we've got to get hundreds of these done today, the geysers. Like thinking through this, like, how does this work? Hopefully, quickly. Here's the here's the interesting thing. Somebody noted this. There wasn't an uprising. I mean, the soldiers who are now in their 40s to 60s to even the 80s, were like, I'm 80. We're not doing this. We're not doing this. Abram had such influence, even though he might have been going through a dark time or a gap or a pause or a time out. He had such influence that when he brought the word of the Lord to the whole village, they all said, we are in. We commit, we see and hear the promises of God to include us in His covenant community. And. We are in. They were all circumcised that day.
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There's a community. Are you ready to be in that community? Do you have a community concern is every genuine relationship with God also is concerned that the people in their lives are also in right relationship with God. Now we don't have circumcision today for that reason. What happens? What happened with this? The circumcision of the flesh was replaced by the circumcision of the heart. This was promised in Deuteronomy, 30 verse six, it was fulfilled by Jesus. Colossians three makes this statement about it. So let's track what this looks like in the new covenant terms, God sends Jesus Christ for this very important reason of living obediently, suffering under death to pay for our sins so that we could be forgiven by God. This is the gospel truth. He's raised from the dead to prove that payment is made. We are cleansed from the guilt of our sin, and we are cleansed from the domination of sin and the defilement of sin. When we look to Jesus Christ and trust Him, we are cleansed that way. This is what Colossians says in him also, you were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. What's that he's using the circumcision language. It means that when you cry out to Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you are cleansed from your sin, from your guilt. That's why physical circumcision was no longer needed. Jesus accomplished the purpose of circumcision, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead you who were dead in your trespasses and uncircumcision in your flesh. God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses. What does this look like for us today. It is acknowledging that Jesus is Lord. It's acknowledging that you're a sinner and that his death on your behalf was necessary. It's acknowledging that as he is the ascendant Lord, You are entering a relationship trusting his grace and trusting his power to walk with Him and obey Him. Ian God has cleansed you. God is forging a covenant relationship. So what if my child wants to be a Christian? Can you see why I'm saying Don't say ask Jesus in your heart, it's not the language we use. Why don't we use that? I mean, like a kid might be able to say, Jesus, I want you to come in. What you need to tell your children is what the Bible says to tell your children, confess publicly with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. We have good biblical language that a kid can understand what needs to happen to have a mature kind of relationship. I usually try to help parents with these three things. Every disciple is called this way. One you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him. Jesus is the Lord worthy of following, and you will leave anything behind so that you can get him. Second, you have to be willing to stand up in front of men who disapprove of your profession of faith. If you confess me before men, I will confess you before my Father. If you did not confess me before men, I will not confess you before my Father, there is a counting of the cost. There was a cost here circumcision, there was a cost here of faithfulness. So is your child able to count the cost is? We're not saying there's an age, but it's hard to imagine that a four year old gets all of the counting the cost and the commitment. Although you nourish their belief that they're sinners and they need Jesus, you nourish it. You applaud it. You continue to move them on with it. It'll be time for them to get baptized, when they can thoughtfully say, I will stand with Jesus against my culture. I'll do that. I know what Jesus has done for me. I will do all for him. When that happens, you have good assurance that your kids are in a good place, and it can be. Simple doesn't have to be complex, but there is a willingness. The last thing to say is that this is worth it. Don't have a lot of time for point two, but God Almighty is worth that commitment. This is what he calls for, for an eternal relationship. He is worthy of it. Listen, if we were to go through this passage again thinking about who God is, what he's calling to hear God's call to you. From the Bible, God's grace calls to you if you have not entered a relationship with God, if you need to renew your relationship with God, if you're in a holding pattern from God. Listen to God's grace. The God of Genesis is a God who should be feared. He judged mankind after rebellion in the garden. He judged and banished them out of the garden. He judged mankind with a flood and he judged them again at Babel, confusing their languages. But He is just and good, so he is judge at the same time, the judge of the all of all the earth is the covenant king who loves, forgives and commits listen to his grace. He is saying to you, My grace made you. My grace sustains you. My grace has provided my most dear son on a cross to pay for your sins. Have I not caused the sun to rise on you, the rains to grow your crops, the properties of materials so that you can make your technology? Have I not given you many people who bless you? Have I not offered my own son for you? My grace will empower you? Genesis is the highest demonstration of the patience and grace of God for people who are failing and faltering. Genesis, one to Revelation. 20, 211, word can sum up God's dealing with his people, and it's the word grace. You know what the last word of the Bible is? It's the last verse of the Bible. You know what it says? I'll tell you what it says. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. God's grace is calling you. This is what he's demonstrating for you. God Almighty might be terrifying. Abram might have fallen to his face because he has seen the holy God. But every time he reveals himself as God Almighty, He blesses or provides mercy. He provides power. He's calling to you. Haven't I blessed you? Haven't I provided for you? Haven't I offered you eternal blessings? See if God, if God is the Almighty and God blesses than he is worthy. To come to one way to describe a genuine relationship with God is to relate to God as the goal or the end, not the means. Religion typically uses God as a means. I'm sick, I need God's help. I'm poor, I need God to give me money. I'm addicted, I'm lonely, I'm broken, I'm in conflict, I'm guilty, I'm ashamed, I'm dying. God help me. The ultimate end up, end end ends up being health, wealth, prosperity, heaven. But that's not a covenant relationship, in a genuine relationship with God, God is the end. God is the goal. Any means God uses to get you to that end is gracious. Any means you use to get to that end is wise. Get more of God, and you might be sick and you might be dying, you might fear eternal separation, and you come to God, saying, You're my only hope. When you receive His blessings, you say, Oh, I knew you were good. You get more of him. There are eternal blessings. How do you start do what Abram did? How do you renew do what Abram did? Remember, Abram left his idolatry to turn to God. He fully relied on God's promises. He believed God it was counted to him as righteousness. And when he started to love the idea of a son more than God himself, he accepted God's correction, that God would be enough. Let's pray, Father, thank you for this good word. We do hear who you are from this passage you call us to a close, intimate relationship. I. A covenant relationship that's committed God. We can't say it with with perfection. We say it very weakly and feebly, but we love you.
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We love you because you love us. We love you because you loved us through Jesus.
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Give what you command, command what you will, we will draw near and obey you as our covenant king. And we will pray for our children. We will talk to them. We will pray for our neighbors and we will talk to them. We will pray for our city, and we will talk to them. We will remember the sign in communion in a minute, what you have done, revive us, empower us, strengthen us. You are God Almighty who blesses, blesses us with obedience. It's in your name we pray. Amen.
Dr. Dan Jarms is lead pastor at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at The Master's Seminary in Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, woodworking, and art.
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