Genesis #20 - The Gospel According to Abraham #10 - "Covenant Relationship" (Genesis 17)

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I have a
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Bible and I hope you do take it and turn with me to Genesis chapter 17 Genesis in chapter 17
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Genesis 17 we continue on in our series the gospel according to Abraham.
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I was just reflecting this week this is week 10 of this series and And It's been a great joy for me to work my way through this section of Genesis week in and week out you know at the risk of pointing out potential for It may sound like these messages get repetitive every week.
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I hope that's not the case but I've just noticed each week as I walk my way through these scenes in the life of Abraham the
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Grace of God and the mercy of God and our need for that grace and that mercy becomes more and more apparent as we
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Walk our way through this passage and I can't help but just go back to that theme each week because that's the theme the
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Spirit Of God keeps lifting out of this text week in and week out and this chapter in chapter 17 will be no different Genesis chapter 17 if you grabbed one of the red
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Bibles that we give away page 12 This is a long chapter, so we won't read the entire thing.
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I'm going to focus our Thoughts on the first eight verses so Genesis chapter 17
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We're gonna say the whole chapter, but we're going to read Genesis 17 1 through 8
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So Genesis chapter 17 verses 1 through 8 page 12 if you grab one of those red Bibles in the back
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Out of reverence for God's Word. I'm going to ask if you're able to do so to stand with me as I read this portion of the scripture
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Genesis chapter 17 then beginning in verse 1 through 2 verse 8 Once again brothers and sisters.
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This is the Word of our God When Abram was 99 years old
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Yahweh appeared to him saying I am God Almighty Live in my presence and be blameless.
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I Will set up my covenant between me and you and I will multiply you greatly
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Then Abram fell face down and God spoke with him As for me here is my covenant with you.
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You will become the father of many nations Your name will no longer be
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Abram Your name will be Abraham For I will make you the father of many nations
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I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you.
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I Will extend to you my covenant to be your god and the god of your offspring after you and To you and your future offspring.
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I will give the land where you are residing or the land of Canaan as a permanent possession and I will be there
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The gossip of the flour fades, but this Word of our God will abide forever Let's pray ask for the Spirit's help and we will get to work in this passage
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Our Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you that every time we come to it, we find grace and mercy and comfort and challenge and conviction and all the things that we need to glorify you in this life.
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And so we ask that as we open up your word that you would speak to every heart, that through the ministry of your word, people would be comforted, would be encouraged, would be challenged, would be equipped, and above all, that Jesus would be glorified.
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Father, it's our custom to pray for a church every Sunday in our area.
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And Father, we would be remiss if our hearts were not with the folks of Bear Creek Church this afternoon. We mourn the loss of their brother and pastor,
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Pastor Dale, who passed away this week after battling so long with his illness.
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Father, we pray for that church. Today, they gathered and they were grieving. Their hearts were heavy as they mourn the loss of a brother and a pastor and a friend.
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And yet, Father, we know according to your word that as he knew you, he's with you now.
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He's at rest. And so, Father, I pray that you would comfort every member of that church, every person who goes there and has had connection with that man.
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Pray that you would comfort them in this season, that you would draw near to them. We pray for the medder family, the kids, grandkids, in -laws.
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Just what a heavy time this must be for them. We pray for the church that in this time, they would glorify you by how, even in how they grieve at a time like this.
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Pray for all, even in our fellowship, who at one time were connected with him. Pray that you would comfort all of us, even in this time.
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And Father, we thank you that you will do that because your word says that you are the God of all comfort and you are the
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Father of mercies. And we know that in our own lives to be true in a thousand small ways and pray that that would be the case even now.
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And so, Father, we ask that you would comfort us even through your word now as we hear it proclaimed. May Jesus be glorified and may we be edified.
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We ask all these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Amen. Please be seated.
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I've tagged our texts this afternoon, very simply, covenant relationship.
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Covenant relationship. For an abundance of reasons, millennials and Gen Zers are not exactly my favorite group in the world.
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That might not surprise some of you. Some of you might say, wait a minute, aren't you technically a millennial? Well, yeah, but we won't talk about that.
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Suffice it to say that for lots of reasons, they're not my favorite group in the world. That being said, if there is one redeeming quality to the younger generation, and I do think there are a few more,
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I'm being somewhat facetious. If there is one redeeming quality to the younger generation, it's the uncanny ability to create acronyms out of everything.
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I like acronyms. I'm someone who, if you look at my handwritten notes for my sermons each week, you would not be able to make any sense of them because I'm shortening everything all the time just so I can fit more on.
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So I like a good acronym. There's acronyms for everything these days, and I'll admit one of my favorite ones is a three -letter one.
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Some of you have heard it before, I'm sure, and if you haven't, you're about to get an education in millennial and Gen Z speak for a moment.
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If I said the phrase to some of you, DTR, would you know exactly what I mean? Okay, some of you have put your hands up and say you know exactly what
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I mean. If you don't, DTR stands for define the relationship.
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The term has apparently been around so long now that even academic writers are talking about it. This is how one academic writer defined this acronym,
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DTR. Defined it as having a conversation in which you determine the nature of the relationship you share with someone.
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Simple enough. In my preparation this week, I learned that while this phrase has origins in romantic relationships, it's actually broadened out in the last few years where we don't just use it in the context of relationships, well, romantic relationships, but for any interpersonal relationship.
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Define the relationship. As I was preparing this text, that phrase came to mind because sometimes
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I think as Christians, we could do with something of a divine DTR sometimes.
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Think about it, if you've been around church for any length of time, we talk about having a personal relationship with Jesus or I have a relationship with God, but we use that phrase, but what does that actually mean?
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I think that we use that phrase and phrases like it so often that we never actually stop to ask the question, what does that mean?
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What does it actually mean to be in relationship with God?
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Well, we can be thankful first and foremost that our God does desire relationship with his people.
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That's why he sent his son, to reconcile us. That's the whole idea of reconciliation that we were at one point estranged and now we are not because of what
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Jesus has done for us. So our God actually does desire relationship with his people and we can also be thankful for the fact that he doesn't leave it to us to figure out what a relationship with him looks like.
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He has already done the spade work as it were in defining our relationship to him.
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And that's really the big theme that hovers over this chapter in the book of Genesis. As I said, we've been working our way chapter by chapter, piece by piece for some time now through Genesis.
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And as we come to chapter 17, the big idea here is that of relationship.
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And in particular, what does a relationship with God look like?
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What does it mean when God enters into a relationship with us? Put another way, what are the markers of a true, a genuine, a real relationship with God?
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That's what we want to consider in this passage this afternoon. If I was to boil down this message into one sentence, it would be this, that God's relationship with us is first and foremost a covenant relationship.
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That God's relationship with us as his people is first and foremost a covenant relationship.
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That's the big idea of this chapter that we come to in the word of God. It's a big chapter and we'll do our best to summarize as we go.
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But for the rest of our time this afternoon, as we consider this reality that God's relationship with us is first and foremost a covenant relationship, for the rest of our time,
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I want us to consider five, what I've called heartwarming realities. Five heartwarming realities that will encourage our hearts.
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I think if we understand them right, they should encourage our hearts in our relationship with God.
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Five heartwarming realities that emerge from this passage that I believe will encourage our hearts in our relationship to and with God.
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Well, you heard five, so that means I've got to move kind of quickly if I'm gonna get through all five, so let's get to work. Point number one,
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God initiates covenant relationships. God initiates covenant relationship.
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What does a covenant relationship look like with God? Well, it's the kind of relationship that God himself initiates.
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So look at verse one with me. Genesis chapter 17 and verse one. When Abram was 99 years old,
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Yahweh appeared to him saying, I am God Almighty, live in my presence and be blameless.
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I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly. One of the things you'll notice as we read our way through this chapter is that God does most of the talking in this chapter.
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And in fact, not only does God do most of the talking in this chapter, when he speaks, he's the only one who lays down any sort of terms.
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God doesn't sit there and say, okay, Abraham, let's negotiate. You tell me what's on your mind, I'll tell you what's on mine, and let's see if we can meet in the middle.
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That's not what happens as you come to this passage. As you come to this passage,
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God is the one who defines the terms. And in a very real sense, that's how a covenant relationship with the
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God of the universe should go. If we know that God is sovereign, if we know that God is the one who is in charge, then any relationship we have would make sense, wouldn't it?
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To say that he is the one who defines and initiates that relationship.
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Some context to this, verse one tells us that Abraham was 89 years old when this incident happened.
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If you remember the last verse of chapter 16, so in fact, it should be the verse right before this one,
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Genesis 16, 16, Abraham was 86 years old when Hagar bought Ishmael to him. So if he's 86 at the end there and 99 here, my math isn't always the greatest, but I count 13 years.
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So 13 years has passed between the end of Genesis 16 and that whole drama.
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We're not told if God had said anything during that time. We're not told if he had spoken at all.
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We're not told what the dynamic was like in the Abraham household. Now, we'll get an insight into that later on as we go.
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At this point, we're not told what the dynamic is like in the Abraham household. We're not told any of that because ultimately it's not that important.
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As you come to Genesis chapter 17, what's important is that God speaks and you pay attention to this reality that every time that God speaks, not just in the life of Abraham, but in the book of Genesis in general, major things happen and this is no exception.
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God's opening speech in this discussion begins with a declaration of his sovereignty. So you see the name that God declares himself to be in this one?
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It says, Yahweh appeared to him saying, I am God Almighty. Some of you will be familiar with the name.
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It was a popular song of a previous generation. El Shaddai, the mighty one, the thundering one is the root of this.
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A bit of a sidebar for a moment, but it's interesting. This name God Almighty only appears in the book of Genesis.
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This seems to be a favorite name for God among the patriarchs. And I think it has to do with this very chapter that as Abraham and later
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Isaac and later Jacob, Moses will pick it up in the book of Exodus, but he's reflecting on the patriarchs.
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It seems to me that this was a favorite name of theirs, more than likely reminding them of this moment where God establishes his covenant with his people.
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This name El Shaddai carries this idea of power and authority, like I said, you could translate as the thundering one, that this is the
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God who isn't to be questioned or bargained with. And that might be lost on us, but for the people who are reading this for the first time,
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I haven't mentioned them in a while, so I'm going to, the generation of Israelites on the plain of Moab about to enter the promised land.
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For those people, remember they had a reminder of what God is like when he thunders.
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Exodus chapters 19, 20, 21, where God comes down upon Mount Sinai, they see the thundering, they're terrified.
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They don't want God to come near. They knew what it meant for God to thunder, for him to be the mighty one.
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And that's the name that God reveals himself by as he comes. But he doesn't just declare his sovereignty.
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He moves from a declaration of sovereignty to a promise of grace. So what does he say right after declaring himself to be
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God almighty? He says, live in my presence and be blameless.
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Live, literally walk, some of your translations will translate it that way. Walk in my presence or walk before me and be blameless.
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I have to admit, I've actually misread this text for years prior to studying it this week.
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As I had to look at it more deeply, I came to realize, I've got this passage wrong somewhat.
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It's easy to read this and read this as a couple of demands that God makes to Abram.
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Like, okay, Abram, all that messing up and stuff you were doing beforehand, cut that out. Like, live in my presence and be blameless.
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Like, behave yourself. That's one way to read this. But again, English isn't always the greatest language in the world.
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And so it's rough to translate from Hebrew into English. The Hebrew grammar actually helps us out here. I try to avoid
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Hebrew grammar as much as I can, but follow me with this one. Live in my presence is the actual command here.
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When God says live in my presence or walk in my presence, that's the command. Be blameless is a consequence of living in his presence.
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Let me try again. Living in God's presence is the command.
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He says, walk before me, live in my presence. And you can translate it like this. Live in my presence and you will be blameless.
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The weight of that might get missed, but for a moment, let's think about the life of Abram up to this point.
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Abram, has Abram been particularly blameless all the time up to this point?
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In case you forgot Genesis 12, there was the whole Egypt affair. That was kind of nasty. You know, chapter 15, he's arguing with God about God, you promised, but here we are.
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Nothing's happening. Chapter 16, we looked at that last week. I don't need to remind you of that whole
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Torah affair. Abram has not been particularly blameless up to this point.
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Has he? Oh, and spoiler alert, there is more shenanigans from Abram to come.
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I don't think Abram is being called to be perfect here. That's one way to misread this passage.
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I think God is saying this, that as Abram lives in the presence of God, as he lives under the watchful and redemptive eye of God, as it were, as he walks in God's presence under God's blessing,
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Abram is going to become more and more blameless as time comes on.
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You see, if I can translate it to our own lives, it's not that we are blameless and then we can be in relationship with God.
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Notice God doesn't make this a condition of relationship with him. It's not that we are blameless and then we can be in relationship with God.
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It is because we are in relationship with God as his people that we can actually be blameless.
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If you're not convinced, let me take you to the New Testament. This might help you. Keep something here in Genesis 17.
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Turn to Ephesians five with me for a moment. Ephesians chapter five. I want to show you this order of things in the
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New Testament. Ephesians chapter five. We all know this as the wives and husbands passage and rightfully so, because that's what it is.
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Pick up with me in verse 25. Ephesians chapter five and verse 25.
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The text says, husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.
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He did this to present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.
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Please note the order in which Paul puts this here. So he says, husbands, this is the kind of love you're supposed to have for your wives.
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And then he moves into the analogy of Christ and the church. But know that he says that Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to make her holy.
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It's not that the church was holy and then Christ came and died for the church.
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That's not, I'm not even gonna argue that's Paul's theology. That's not Bible theology.
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Actually, if you read your Bible closely, Christ comes to die for those who are not holy and then he makes them holy.
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That's why he can say, end of verse 27, that he did this, loving the church and giving himself for her to present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.
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So again, I ask, which one comes first? We became blameless and then Christ loved us and gave himself for us or the other way around?
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It's the other way around. Okay, Covey, where are you going with this? Simple, simple.
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It's as God draws near to us, it's as God enters into relationship with his people that he makes us what we could never become by ourselves.
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This is a relationship that actually, we'll talk about this in just a moment, it's a kind of relationship that transforms.
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It's not you transform yourself, you become good enough, you try harder and do better, then come to God and say,
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God, see how much I cleaned up my life. That's not the case. No, it's as God draws near to us in his gospel, as we repent and we believe the gospel and we do so daily, that is the way in which we find ourselves transformed as God's people.
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This is a relationship with a sovereign, but he is the kind of sovereign who pursues us for the purpose of making us more and more like him.
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God's opener, come back with me to Genesis 17. God's opener ends here in verses one and two with another reaffirmation of his covenant promise.
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We see this over and over and over again. God keeps reminding Abram, keeps affirming his promise to Abram.
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So verse two, he says, I will set up my covenant between me and you and I will multiply you greatly.
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I won't labor this point because I've made it several times in this series already. But again, do you see the goodness and mercy of God in reminding us of his kind and generous promises in Christ?
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Do you see that just as Abraham constantly hears the promises of God, so we constantly need to hear the promises of God?
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I think I've alluded to it before, but Martin Luther was asked one day, why do you preach the gospel in every sermon? And Martin Luther said,
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I preach the gospel in every sermon because my people forget. And it's true that we can be prone to forgetting the promises of God, which is why we need to hear them week in and week out.
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And as we are hearing them again and again and again, we are reminded of the
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God who has initiated and pursued relationship with us for our ultimate good.
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That's the first truth about covenant relationship that this passage teaches us. It teaches us that God initiates relationship with us.
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But there's a second truth about covenant relationship from this passage. Not only does God initiate those relationships, but secondly, he transforms through covenant relationship.
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He transforms through covenant relationship. Look at verse three with me.
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Look at Abram's response as we get started. Verse three, it says, then Abram fell face down.
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Now you might miss this in just reading this, but consider the last time that God and Abraham had this kind of chat.
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That was chapter 15, if you remember. And in chapter 15, did you notice that Abraham had a lot to say in that section?
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Mostly complaints and concerns with God, but he had a lot to say. Not so much here, huh?
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Abraham doesn't ask any questions. Abraham doesn't really say much of anything. It's almost as though, almost as though, it's almost as though faith has matured in the 13 or so years following on from the
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Hagar and Ishmael incident. There's no questions.
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There are no follow -ups. He hears God's word, and there is simply a demonstration of submission to God.
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And as he demonstrates his submission to God's word and God's will by falling face down before the
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Lord, God begins to speak again. And so in verse four, you have another reaffirmation of the covenant.
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Verse four, as for me, here is my covenant with you. You will become the father of many nations.
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And just in case Abraham will be prone to forget, we get to change of name in verse five. So verse five, your name will no longer be
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Abram. Abram simply means exalted or lifted up father. He says, no, your name will no longer be
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Abram. Your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations.
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Finally, God changes his name, which is what? And just on a side note, great for me, because I've confused
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Abram and Abraham so many times already in this series. So it's nice to be able to just say Abraham going forward.
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But more importantly than that, God changes his name, and now Abraham, catch this,
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Abraham will bear the promise with him everywhere he goes. I'll talk more about that in just a moment. I'll go move quickly.
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Verse six, God connects this promise here, actually all the way back to the blessing he gave it creation.
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So verse six, do you notice he says that, I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you.
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If you're the type of likes writing in your Bible, which I hope you are, or you have some way to do this digitally, you might wanna make a note of Genesis 1, 26 to 28.
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If you look at Genesis 1, 26 to 28, when God created man in his image and then he blessed them, remember how God blesses them back in Genesis chapter one?
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He tells them be fruitful and multiply and rule over the earth and subdue it.
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You see, do you catch the parallel to that here in verse six? God calls Abraham to be extremely fruitful.
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In fact, he says, I will do it. And he says, kings and nations will come from you. Demonstrations of dominion, just like he did back at creation.
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Be fruitful and multiply and exercise dominion. God's plan for creation hasn't stalled at all actually.
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And through Abraham, that plan is going to be fulfilled. Finally, verses seven and eight,
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God assures Abram, excuse me, that his relationship with him will be a permanent one.
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So verse seven and eight, I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations.
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It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you. And to you and your future offspring,
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I will give the land where you are residing or the land of Canaan as a permanent possession.
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And I will be their God. God here says that this land that you are on will be yours permanently.
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And I'm saving my thoughts on this land promise for a future message. So don't worry, we'll talk about it in depth. For now,
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God says this land will be yours permanently. And did you catch the end of verse eight? Also the end of verse seven, it is a permanent covenant to be your
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God and the God of your offspring after you. Verse eight,
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I will be their God. God basically says,
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I am going to enter into a permanent relationship with you and with your seed.
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I will be their God. I will be their everything. I will provide for them and sustain them just as I have provided for and sustained you.
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More on this a little bit later, but for now, jump down to verse 15, because Sarai's actually not left out of this mix as God is changing names.
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Look at verse 15. It says, God said to Abram, as for your wife
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Sarai, do not call her Sarai. Sarai just means my princess. It's the possessive form of the word princess.
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For Sarah will be her name, just princess on its own. I will bless her.
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Indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and she will produce nations.
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Kings of people will come from her. Why, Abram's name change makes sense.
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Lifted up father to father of many nations. But Sarai doesn't seem like that much of a change. Like I said, it's my princess.
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And now she's gonna be called Sarah, princess. I think
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John Calvin in his commentary on Genesis is onto something when he says that God designs that Sarah should everywhere and without exception be celebrated as a sovereign and a princess.
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No longer is she just the princess. Father obviously gave her that name. You know, like daddy's little princess.
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That's not the case anymore now. No, she's a princess, period.
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Through her, God's kingdom would be extended as kings and nations would come from her.
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Now, if you're like me, you probably wonder why does God go through all of this name changing? I mean, Abram's name wasn't that bad and Sarai's name wasn't that bad.
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Why change their names? In fact, this is the first time and definitely not the last time, but the first time in the
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Bible where God unilaterally changes somebody's name. So why? I'm gonna argue that it's because in changing their name, both
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Abraham and Sarah will forever carry the promise of God with them.
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Just like Abraham would be reminded every time he saw the desert dust and every time at night he looked up and saw the sky.
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Remember God told him, go look at the dust. That's how numerous your descendants will be.
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Tells him to go outside in chapter 15. Go look at the stars. Can you count all the stars? Oh, you can't. That's how your descendants will be.
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Just like Abraham had those things, every time that they heard their names going forward, they would be reminded of what
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God had promised to do. God has taken it upon themselves to transform them by changing their names so that every time they went around, they would be reminded of the fact that they were his people and he had made promises to them.
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Names don't mean a whole lot to us in Western society. We pick names based on how nice they are, for the most part. I'm Ghanian.
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In my culture, we name kids according to the day of the week they're born. That's why I'm Kofi.
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Kofi's a name you give to a boy who's born on a Friday. And depending, if I were a twin, there'd be another name you add to that.
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If I'm the third born, there's a name you add to that. There's all kinds of things you could do, right? Because in cultures outside of the
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Western world, we generally, they generally name children based on purpose and identity.
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And that was the case in the ancient Near East. God is changing their names to remind them that something has shifted.
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You have been transformed from what you were to what you will be. It's interesting.
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When you read the New Testament, I don't have time to look at this, but James chapter two, verse seven, James describes
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Christians as those who have God's name invoked on them. That they are known by that name.
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We've been reading through the book of Acts. Have you noticed that so much of the time when the disciples are mentioned by the world around them, they're associated with the name of Jesus.
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They're told, don't preach in this name. Don't act in this name. They call themselves by the name of Jesus. Think about this,
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Christian. Every time that you hear that name, Jesus, which means he always saves, or Christ, the anointed one, every time you hear that name, you should be reminded of the fact that God has visited us in salvation through the man that he empowered by his spirit.
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You see, names matter. And for Abraham and Sarah, their new names would forever point to the fact that something has shifted in their relationship to God.
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God has transformed them through his covenant. And here's the beautiful thing. If you're here and you're a Christian, in Christ, he does the same thing for you.
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Our relationship with God is a transformative relationship. So we see that God initiates covenant relationship.
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He transforms through covenant relationship. But thirdly, God signifies his covenant relationship.
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God signifies his covenant relationship, verses nine through 14. God signifies his covenant relationship.
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So verses nine through 14, now God gives another physical sign of this covenant as he introduces circumcision.
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Now I covered this section in an earlier message when we looked at the covenant with Abraham. I won't revisit all that ground.
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If you missed this, just go back to our YouTube channel. You can watch that sermon in full. I just wanna highlight two points out of this section, verses nine through 14.
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First of all, note with me that God gives physical signs to accompany his word.
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God gives physical signs to accompany his word.
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Now as physical signs go, circumcision was pretty physical. I wanna be careful with my words.
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But suffice it to say, this act of removing the foreskin from the male reproductive organ, that's not something you'd forget in a hurry when it happened to you.
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God gives this very real, remember, he tells Abraham to do this. Abraham's an adult when he tells him to do this.
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That should make you wince. It did for me when I read this again. I was like, oh, wait a minute. This is a man in his nineties, come on.
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You couldn't have done this at the beginning of the journey at least. He was a little younger then. But God gives this physical sign and says, you're to do this to every man who was born to you.
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At this point, it was Abraham and Ishmael. Oh, and he had male servants.
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So all his male servants have to get this too. You'd imagine I have to break that news at the staff meeting. So God spoke to me and God gives a very physical sign.
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But what's the, is it the physical sign that makes them the possessors of the promise? No, the physical sign accompanies his promise.
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So God gives physical signs to accompany his word, but let it be there in your outline. Not only does he give physical signs to accompany his word, you see these physical signs aren't there for themselves.
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Physical signs point to spiritual realities. Physical signs point to spiritual realities.
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What was the purpose of circumcision? What was God intending to do in and through this act called circumcision?
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Well, before we answer that question, let's start with us. We as Christians understand this. God gives to us visible signs and seals of the promises he's made to us in Christ.
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We call those the sacraments, ordinances. Two of them, baptism and the Lord's table. In baptism, we're reminded of the reality that we are united with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection.
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Again, baptism doesn't unite you to Christ. It is a living sermon, as it were, to the fact that you have been united to Christ and that you enjoy the benefits of his life, death, and resurrection.
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In the Lord's table, we participate spiritually in the benefit of Christ's broken and shed blood and his broken body.
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We are reminded of the promise that one day Jesus will partake of a more glorious meal together with his people.
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So we understand that by nature, that God gives us these signs and these signs are not powerful in and of themselves.
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They're only powerful as they're connected to God's word. Okay, Kofi, what does this have to do with circumcision?
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Well, my point is very simple, that physical signs points to spiritual realities and this sign of circumcision is no different.
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I need to take a little bit of a side trail for a moment. You see, this sign was never meant to be about itself and yet, unfortunately, it ends up becoming about itself.
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So those of you who were here a while ago, remember when we preached through Galatians and in the lessons of Galatians, what's the big issue that comes up over and over and over again?
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Circumcision. In fact, Paul has to get so pointed and say, listen, if you go and get circumcised as a symbol of your keeping the law in addition to Christ, Christ will profit you nothing.
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Think of the brazenness of Paul to say that. God is the one who gives the sign of circumcision and yet,
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Paul says, if you misunderstand the spiritual reality that was pointing to and you're focused on the act,
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Christ will actually profit you nothing. So that's one example. But later, fast forward a few thousand years in the history of the people of God, we are a church that will claim to be reformed in its theology.
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I think for the most part, we're consistent in that claim. And in our camp, the majority of churches practice infant baptism.
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Kofi, what does this have to do with circumcision? Give me a moment, I'll get there. If you know anything of the theology surrounding infant baptism, circumcision is one of the arguments that is made in support of infant baptism.
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Here's the logic. Circumcision, they say, was a sign of covenant inclusion. It was,
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God says so. So far, so good. It was given to babies, granted.
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Male babies only, which is kind of interesting. I'll get to that in a moment. But they're saying, for now, that's not the point.
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The point is, it's a sign that was given to infants. Circumcision and baptism, when you read the
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New Testament, in a couple of places are linked together, that is true. Colossians chapter two is probably the most clear example.
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And so the argument goes, well, if baptism and circumcision are linked in the New Testament, well, who got baptized?
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My Presbyterian and Reformed brethren would say, it's adult members of the covenant and their kids.
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So yes, we baptize believers, on profession of faith, of course, but we also baptize their children, even if they don't profess faith.
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Well, if that's what happened in circumcision, that, okay, it was adult members and their kids, well, we baptize kids, in addition to adults.
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I'm broad brushing, of course, but that is kind of the postcard version of this. Well, we obviously don't do that here at Redeemer.
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Lots of Reformed folks who are baptistic don't. So why don't we do that?
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I mean, after all, in this passage, it's kind of obvious. Every child who's born, in fact, look at verse 12, throughout your generations, every male among you is to be circumcised at eight days old, that's super young.
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They're infants. Well, if that's the case, if God gave this, and this is the argument
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I've heard from even the best of my Presbyterian and Reformed brothers, if God gave the sign of the covenant to children in the old covenant, why would that change in the new?
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And so goes the argument. Well, there's lots of reasons why I will quibble with that. I actually, if you remember, preached a sermon about this about 13 months ago.
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If you go to our website, look up the Simple Church series, the first one, I preached a whole message on baptism.
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And I spent about half that message dealing with why we don't baptize infants. But when it comes to circumcision, two things
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I want you to consider. First of all, two reasons why circumcision and baptism are not the same thing.
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Number one, circumcision was tied to specific physical promises in a way that baptism never was.
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Circumcision was tied to specific physical promises in a way that baptism never was. Can I draw your attention to verse eight again real quick?
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Because God doesn't just say, I will be the God of, and one of the arguments
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I've often heard from my Presbyterian friends is, well, God promises to be the God of their children. Actually, I do believe that.
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I do believe there is something different about the children of believers versus the children of non -believers that doesn't mean you baptize them.
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That's a whole other sermon for another time about the relationship of kids to the new covenant. I might do that this summer, we'll see how it goes.
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For now, verse eight though. And to you and your future offspring, I will give the land where you are residing, all the land of Canaan as a permanent possession, and I will be their
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God. Circumcision is tied not just to the spiritual reality of God being the
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God of Abraham and his offspring, it's also tied to the land. And I simply asked my
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Pedo -Baptist brethren, can you show me one text where baptism is made, excuse me, where baptism is linked in the same way to the land?
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It's not, because baptism is not a physical reality. It's not pointing to a physical reality like circumcision was.
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So circumcision is tied to specific physical promises in a way that baptism never was.
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Secondly, circumcision had nothing to do with the status of salvation. Again, it's tied to your visible commitment to this covenant people.
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How do I know? You have whole generations of Israelites who don't partake in the promise and yet they're circumcised.
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Compare that with baptism where every time, this is where the Baptist in me rises up and says, hold up, wait a minute.
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Every time we see baptism in the book of Acts, is the baptism of believers. It's tied to a response of faith.
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Please know that there is no response of faith mentioned here in this passage. It's just when the boy is eight days old, slice him.
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You see circumcision was ultimately a sign that God had chosen Abraham's seed to be the covenant people.
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But here's the point. That outward sign had no power to deal with the biggest issue that people face.
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What's the biggest issue that people face? Is it exclusion from the covenant people? I don't think so. Actually, the biggest problem is the human heart.
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The human heart that is estranged from God. The one that earlier on in Genesis, we're told the heart of man is evil continually.
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That's why Moses will say at the end of his life, you're taking notes. Deuteronomy chapter 30 and verse six. Your way, your
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God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants. And you will love him with all of your heart and all your soul so that you will live.
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Ultimately, the circumcision in the flesh was designed to point to the much bigger need for a radical change of the heart.
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Paul will pick up this language in Romans chapter two, Romans two, 28 and 29. For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh.
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On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is of the heart, by the spirit, not the letter.
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That person's praise is not from people, but from God. The sign that God gave, just like every sign
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God gives, was never meant to be just about the sign in itself. It pointed to the fact that, listen, even as you have experienced this very painful act, remember that there is a work that needs to happen in the human heart.
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Paul, not Paul, excuse me, Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel describes it as the heart of stone being taken out and replaced with a heart of flesh.
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Regeneration needs to take place. That which is dead needs to be made alive. And so God signifies his covenant relationship.
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And for you, and for me, the sign of that relationship is not whether you've been baptized. Ultimately, it's have you experienced the radical regeneration, this, what
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Paul describes as a new creation that we become a part of, by grace.
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And every time that we partake of the Lord's table, and every time we baptize somebody, all we're doing is testifying to the fact that God has done a work in the heart that we can all bear witness to and testify to.
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So God initiates, God transforms, God signifies. Number four,
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God is gracious in covenant relationship. God is gracious in covenant relationship.
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So verse 17, it says, Abram fell face down. Then he laughed and said to himself, can a child be born to a 100 -year -old man?
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Can Sarah, a 99 -year -old woman, give birth? Now, it's easy to misread
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Abraham's laughter here. I don't agree with some commentators who say that Abraham is being unbelieving here.
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I don't think that's the case. I'm more inclined to agree with Matthew Henry. You all know I love his commentary. He says this, that it was a laughter of delight, not of distrust.
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Even the promises of a holy God, as well as his performances, are the joys of holy souls.
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There is the joy of faith as well as the joy of fruition. Abraham laughs because he's ecstatic at this thought.
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I mean, think about this. Abram is almost 100 years old, and Sarah's not that much further behind.
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Humanly speaking, this doesn't make any sense. This is wild. But then again, sometimes faith in God means that we believe before we have seen it, doesn't it?
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Sometimes it means that we believe in spite of what we see. God had proven himself gracious in so many ways with this unbelieving, at times, and undeserving couple.
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But here he is, and Abraham laughs in joy and says, wow, this shouldn't happen, but it's going to.
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Abraham recognizes who he's speaking to, and so Abraham gets a request in in verse eight. Finally hear from Abram up to this point.
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Verse 18, so Abram said to God, if only Ishmael were acceptable to you. I think we have to give
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Abraham some plaudits here. This is Abraham being a good dad. He still wants the best for Ishmael.
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Yeah, he might not be the son of promise, but Ishmael is still his son. You know, we can give credit to Abraham. He's not a deadbeat dad.
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Now at this point, God doesn't have to do anything. Remember God already said back in chapter 16, he would take care of Ishmael.
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I mean, God was gracious. God could have said to Abraham, you know what? Ishmael, Ishmael, Ishmael, Ishmael.
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That sounds like a you problem, not a me problem. I'm not going to lie to you.
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That's how I kind of view things. There are problems that I have created. I will happily deal with them. And then there are problems you created.
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You deal with them. You make a mess. You fix it.
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But praise God that God isn't Kofi and God isn't some of you. Praise God he doesn't deal with Abraham that way, does he?
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So verse 19, text says, but God said, no, your wife
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Sarah will bear you a son and you will name him Isaac. Isaac by the name means laughter. I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring.
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As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him. I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly.
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He will father 12 tribal leaders and I will make him into a great nation. But I will confirm my covenant with Isaac whom
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Sarah will bear to you at this time next year. So God says, don't worry.
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I will take care of Ishmael. I'm gracious enough to do that. But ultimately
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I'm going to fulfill my promise to you by giving you a son from your wife. And this is the first time
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God gives us a date. Verse 21, he says, at this time next year, as you read this narrative,
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God's grace is comprehensive. He's gracious to Ishmael who's the illegitimate son.
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He's gracious to this at times wayward covenant family. And that really shouldn't surprise us actually because isn't that how
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God is with us? Some of you know what it is.
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Some of you know what it is for God to redeem the messiness and the brokenness of your life and to make something beautiful out of that.
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Some of you know what it is to carry pain and hurt and trauma and to, as it were, look at that like ashes that have been burned up and for God in his graciousness to take those ashes and to raise beauty out of it.
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Some of you know exactly how that feels. And I think Abraham knows something of that here. That whole situation with Hagar was ugly.
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It was bad. Now he has an illegitimate son. And yet God is gracious to redeem even that situation.
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Can I say this in passing? This isn't germane to our text. I can't help but think of that as I come to this passage. Can I say in passing, this is why the church has to be very careful to be a place that is open and safe and careful so that people can actually share the tough stories and they can share the redemption that God has given through those tough stories?
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You see, God is working in some tremendous ways in people's lives, and if we're going to partner with him in helping others to know, love, and serve him more and more, then at times that means we're going to have to be open and gentle and gracious.
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I'd say not think with church brain. You familiar with church brain? You've been in church for so long, you forget what it's like to be a non -Christian?
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You forget what it is to have a past? Actually, again, this is just in passing, but actually we might want to be the kind of place where we can be open, because clearly
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Abraham now has a past. He has to reconcile himself to that past, and yet God is gracious to redeem even that.
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God initiates, God transforms, God blesses, God is gracious. And ultimately, when we see
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God's covenant mercies at work, point number five, I'm done, point number five, God's people respond in covenant relationship.
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God's people respond in covenant relationship. Verses 23 through 27 is very simple. Abraham receives his command to circumcise and he does it.
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Again, it's not that God waits for him to circumcise and then blesses. Abraham circumcises his household only after God's word comes to him.
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You see, this is Abraham's response to grace. It's not the reason for grace.
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God doesn't wait to see if Abraham will obey. I mean, this is a tough ask. I mean, imagine being
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Abraham being told, oh, you have to circumcise your son too, he's 13. I think back to me being 13.
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You can tell me nothing. I can't imagine that Ishmael would have been very amenable to this here.
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You want to what? Abraham does it.
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But God doesn't wait for Abraham to do it and say, oh, you went through with that. Oh, okay.
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No, that's not how this works. He blessed Abraham and then Abraham responded in obedience.
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As you know, I love talking about grace. I love talking about the gospel. I try to get to the gospel in every sermon
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I preach. And there's a danger with that though, if I can say that.
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Not with God, but with the preacher. The danger can be that you can become very imbalanced as you think about grace.
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Either you think that grace is what helps you to make up the difference when it comes to your efforts. So I do everything
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I can and then after that, well, praise God for his grace. He helps me out at the end. That's one bad way of thinking about grace.
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Or we can think that actually grace just eliminates any need for obedience. After all,
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I'm accepted. I'm loved. I'm forgiven, which you are. I'm not going to put an asterisk in this to that where God doesn't.
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No, that's true of you. But there's a danger. You see this all throughout the Bible. Well, since that's true,
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I can do whatever I want. Can I put it to you that neither of those are true?
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No, we are not saved or sanctified or assured by grace after we've tried real hard.
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It's not, you know, I went to go put a dollar in the vending machine. I only had 99 cents. And then
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God comes, here's my one cent of grace. Enjoy. No, grace is not the addition to the spiritual house that you've built, as it were.
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No, it's the house that God builds by himself and provides a way in in Christ. But neither is it the case, and I think we see that here in this passage, neither is it the case that because of God's grace, what we do is of no consequence.
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Yes, you cannot earn salvation or favor with God by what you do. And yet when we experience the grace of God, gratitude and obedience are the natural response.
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As Paul can say in Ephesians 2, 10, that we are his workmanship. After he said, we are saved by grace through faith, that all of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, as anyone should boast.
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He then says, for we are his workmanship, verse 10, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
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Where the seed of God's grace is sown, if that grace is truly there, there will be the flower of gratitude expressed in obedience to God's commands.
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And sometimes I have to wonder, as a pastor and as someone who tries to minister to people, as I look around the professing
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Christian wall and I see people who claim to know Jesus, claim that I believe the gospel,
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I understand the grace of God, and yet you look at their lives and nothing in their lives reflects that grace of God.
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I don't think it's wrong to ask some questions at the very least. It's not our place to judge somebody's salvation, but I do think you need to ask some questions.
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Wait a minute. Do you actually possess that which you actually profess? I'm pretty much done.
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As this passage ends and we see this covenant relationship that God formally establishes with Abram, we can't help but think about the fact that we have entered into a relationship with the very
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God who has made us in Christ, that Christ obeyed perfectly. He died willingly.
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He rose victoriously, excuse me, and he reigns eternally, and he does that for you, believer.
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He's the only way that we come into a relationship with God. He is the one who initiates that relationship, who calls us to that relationship.
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And as he does, all he calls us to do, here's my big take home application point even if you're waiting for one, receive his promise and then live in light of it.
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That's what he calls us to do. That's what the Christian life is. The Christian life is a daily reminder of the grace of God that we've experienced coupled with the call to walk in light of that grace.
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That's God's pattern, and I would argue it's been his pattern going all the way back here with Abraham.
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Father, we thank you because you are the God who calls us in Christ into a relationship with you.
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That just as you did with Abraham, you initiate that relationship.
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You transform us through it. You give us signs of that promise. You are gracious to us in so many ways, and ultimately you call us to respond.
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All of that is grounded, not in anything in us, but precisely because you have acted.
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And so Father, help us that we would daily receive your promises, that we would preach the gospel to ourselves, that we would remind ourselves that we are a loved and a purchased and an assured people.
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And out of that beautiful reality, we would live for your glory.
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Father, we thank you that you are with us, and we pray that you would donate to us in a special way now as we come to the Lord's table. We ask you in Jesus' name and for his sake.