Genesis 17, What Sign?, Dr. John B. Carpenter

Covenant Reformed Baptist Church

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Genesis chapter 17, be reading the entire chapter, hear the word of the Lord. When Abram was 99 years old, the

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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.

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Then Abram fell on his face and God said to him, behold, my covenant is with you and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.

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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.

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I will make you exceedingly fruitful. I will make you into nations and kings shall come from you and I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be

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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

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God. And God said to Abraham, as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.

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This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you.

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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.

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He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who has bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised.

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So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people.

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He has broken my covenant. And God said to Abraham, as for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name

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Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her and moreover

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I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and she shall become nations and kings shall come from her.

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Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, shall a child be born to a man who was a hundred years old?

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Shall Sarah, who was 90 years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, oh that Ishmael might live before you.

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God said, no, that Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son and you shall call his name

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Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

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As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him and I will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly.

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He shall father 12 princes and I will make him into a great nation, but I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom

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Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year. When he had finished talking with him,

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God went up from Abraham. Then Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all those born in his house are bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house.

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And he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day as God had said to him.

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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.

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That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised and all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner were circumcised with him.

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May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his holy word. Well, what sign do you make to show when you're serious?

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Usually we can tell someone's expression, their tone of voice, if they're joking or they're guessing or they're asking a question or if they're really deadly serious.

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Sometimes you might have to raise your voice as some kids to get them to understand that you mean it.

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Get to bed now. Our formal commitments always come with signs, don't they?

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If you're buying a house, you know, earnest money. Today when we make a commitment, we are usually asked to leave our signature as our sign.

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Sign is short for signature, signature, and it is a sign that we intend to do what we signed we would do.

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Pay the mortgage, make our car payments, prove that we receive a package. We have other signs.

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For the sign of marriage, we have rings and for the woman it is in western culture for her to change her last name to that of her husband.

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Chinese don't do that though. In 1990 as a young man living in a single 25 year old living in Singapore for well three months

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I was living there doing my pastoral internship but really there for the purpose of deciding whether I was going to make a commitment to marry.

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One evening the Prime Minister of Singapore gave a long but very interesting speech that I watched on TV.

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He advised Singaporean women and remember why I'm there. This is kind of interesting, coincidental what

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I'm there for but he advised Singaporean women who were marrying white men not to change their family name to that of their husband noting quote white men marry you freely they also divorce you freely at which point everyone burst out laughing in other words don't take the sign for something that might not last the sign of a commitment a name change a ring a signature shows that you've made that commitment you've made the change and in this passage we see a

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God who has already made the commitment remember God has already made his commitment and he's done the sign for himself in chapter 15 here in chapter 17 he demands we make a commitment in response that we take a sign in response we see that in this chapter in four parts first sanctification for verses 1 to 8 then the sign from verses 9 to 14 then

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Sarah from verses 15 to 21 and finally surrender from verses 22 to 27.

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Well we begin 13 years after last week's chapter. Abram is 99 years old. Abram has this promise that he will be the father of many nations but so far all he has is

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Ishmael. Ishmael is now 13 years old. Abram has been promised that all the nations will be blessed through him and that he'll get this land he'll have a multitude and only has one son so far how's it going to work later but he had the promise confirmed when the

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Lord cuts a covenant with him when he was immobilized remember in chapter 15 and he's a little bit after that he has this one son through Hagar and that's all and then for 13 years there's silence but then the

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Lord appears to him in this chapter in verse 1 and he introduces himself as I am

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God Almighty in Hebrew El Shaddai. How can

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God fulfill this promise that seems impossible? He is well he answers that himself

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I am God Almighty the all -powerful God who cannot be limited by anything outside of himself so infertility or age even death itself cannot restrain

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God Almighty. None of those things can keep God Almighty from fulfilling his promise and yet the amazing fact is here is someone cannot be restrained who is perfectly free

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God Almighty cannot be restricted and yet he restricts himself he commits himself to Abram to work through him and even more narrowly than that as we'll see emphasizing verse 4 my covenant is with you a covenant is a commitment you know this church is named after a commitment first the commitment that we believe that God has made to us

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God made a covenant to save his people it's called the covenant of grace and notice that commitment here the commitments of a commitment making

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God now it's not in the ESV it's not in the translation of the ESV here but in the Hebrew God emphatically says at the beginning of verse 4 he says

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I in Hebrew begins with I God speaking I behold

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I'm talking here my covenant is with you in verse 6

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I will make an you exceedingly fruitful I will make you into nations plural not just ethnic

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Israel but a holy nation and verse 7 I will establish my covenant between me and you to be

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God to you in verse 8 I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land and at the end

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I will be their God and notice

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God's repeated commitment God repeats the promise to act that he will do what he's promising to do five times in that first paragraph

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God commits he says I will five times I will

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I will I will I will I will so before God asked for a commitment he makes a commitment he's not a commitment phobe he's not fearful that he'll be abandoned that he he's not afraid he'll be the sucker they'll be taken advantage of he's not someone who's been burned in the past and doesn't want to be vulnerable again so he's afraid to make any commitments he's already laid himself out in a commitment to Abram and now he requires one in return as he still does today and that what he's requiring of us what he's asking of us what he's commanding of us is what we call sanctification walk before me and be blameless in verse one he calls on us to make our commitments for us to say our

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I wills I will walk with you

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God I will be blameless but our

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I wills must be based on God's prior I wills

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Abram here is called to walk think about that walk meaning that every part of his daily life was to be in step with God almighty for Abram holiness that his sanctification was to be a natural part of his life just like walking is an everyday part of your life every you can't do anything without walking every step of the way and so you live with God you walk before God all the time he has been called by God chosen justified by faith in chapter 15 the

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Lord has seen his faith and God credited that faith to him as righteousness that as God saw him as being right with God and he has

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Abram has experienced then the salvation by grace that is by God working alone through his work alone that work came from through faith alone faith in the promise that was fulfilled by Christ alone but that doesn't mean that Abram is now free to live without any commitments rather the grace that's been given to him this righteousness that was imputed to him that was given to him as a gift that God saw his faith and just declared him righteous because of that this monogynistic is that fancy theological word mean one working this

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God alone working commitment that God has made God has made to Abraham this Abrahamic covenant it results in it tells

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Abram to walk with the Lord right the justification leads to the sanctification so be blameless unlike people around you who can be blamed be different be set apart that is sanctified he's been given the gospel before that is what

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God will do the promise and he believed that promise is declared righteous because of it he's right with God and now for the first time he's had the gospel first now he has the law that is something he must do in this relationship and this commitment to God what's his part of the covenant

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God made his part of the covenant first already remember chapter 15 this promise from God Abram is totally out of it he can't do anything he can see and hear but he can't do anything does it add anything to this covenant

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God makes the promise but here God comes you have something to do as a result of what

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I have done for you so the gospel God's promise leads to the law our our obligation our commitment our covenant now it's been a problem since the gospel was fully unveiled particularly the new testament the people abusing it to think that now they don't have to do anything right you may call it what you want today easy believism fancy theological word is antinomianism that God's commitment they think to us does it produce our commitment that we can have grace declare ourselves saved not be any different not be any change not live any differently and and we think we go to heaven still that we can be justified and saved and not be sanctified but from the beginning here this is here in Genesis the gospel saves and results in our sanctifying being sanctified

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Abram is called to sanctification and with that call the gospel and now the law he falls down and worships in verse three notice that the promise comes he responds with worship and that's what we're supposed to be doing right here we hear the gospel we hear what

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God has promised how he's committed himself to us how he's fulfilled that promise in Christ and that he did it without our help and then we hear the call to walk before him to be sanctified and our hearts must overflow with worship he is going to sanctify

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Abram by changing his name in verse five and now he'll no longer be Abram his exalted father but now be

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Abraham father of a multitude so this father now think about that this father of one son so far through a servant is supposed to go out and call himself now father of multitude now do that Abraham take that sign because notice in the second half of verse five

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I have made that's God speaking I have made like it's done perfect tense it's a past completed action

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I have made you the father of a multitude of nations and people look at that what are you talking about God he has one son through a servant so it's even if he whether he's a legitimate son and God tells him to change his name to Abraham based on the completed fact as if it's already done that Abraham has been already made the father of multitude of nations notice how the verb tense is there in that whole paragraph are both future what

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God will do in the future I will and past like it's already accomplished both interchangeably going back and forth that's because like in verse five here

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I have made you as if accomplished that's because of God's promise that you will be the father of multitude when

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God says you will be it's as good as him saying you already have been now

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Abraham now is to commit himself to commit himself so much that he will like a bride at a wedding change his name now imagine him having to correct his old friends that's kind of that had to be a weird scene a little embarrassing you know he goes out see the guys sitting around the oaks of momery and as they call out hey

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Abram how's it going and he says wait wait I got some news please call me now think imagine he's only the father of one son by his multiple by a servant call me now guys

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Abraham father of a multitude that's my name right they knew the meaning of the word now they probably snickered behind his back you know hey yeah yeah what he's good hey

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Abra ham where's your multitude but God Almighty had told him to sanctify himself by claiming with his name the promise that God had given him he has to commit himself to the

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God who has already committed to him and the heart of God's commitment is found at the end of verse seven and eight

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I will be God to you that is the everlasting covenant that's what he's concerned with here the everlasting covenant it's not a dispensation that runs out at some time it's everlasting it starts here it continues forever and that implies that Abraham too will be everlasting and so I God speaking

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I God Almighty El Shaddai will be committed to you everlastingly so your response you be committed to me and he says the same to his people to you today now notice here the promise is not simply to Abraham as a lone individual but to him and his offspring collectively together

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I will be God to you and to your offspring after you in verse eight the the covenant is with him and his offspring and he says

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I will be their plural their God he will be the God of a group of a gathering an assembly a church like Abraham here we are called to walk before the

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Lord with all of other of Abraham's offspring that's why we're called to walk together in Christian love as our church covenant puts it that's why the apostle

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Paul urges us in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1 to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you all have been called together the

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Bible knows nothing of the person who claims to be committed to the Lord but who is not committed to the body of his people like those who make no commitment to the church who think all the that membership and that covenant stuff is just optional can do without that church membership is the sign of your walking together because you've been called to walk together second the sign covenants have signs the signs that you are a part of them that they've been implemented that they've been started that you are part of it you agree to it covenants have signs like the name change or the ring for marriage now here

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God almighty tells him you shall keep my covenant in verse 10 by taking the sign of circumcision the covenant comes with a sign and for this covenant to these literal offspring it is circumcision now remember we said a few weeks ago that the promises have a literal and a spiritual fulfillment now here for the sign of the covenant there is the literal in the physical on the one hand and then there's the ultimate and the spiritual the fulfillment of it on the other hand the sign of the covenant for the literal children of Abraham is circumcision verses 10 and 11 the boys are supposed to be circumcised on the eighth day of their life in verse 12 but as the book of Galatians forcefully argues we that is the children of Abraham by faith spiritual children of Abraham we do not have to be literal children of Abraham and that means we do not have to take the same sign to receive the blessings of the

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Lord's covenant of the Lord's new covenant with us indeed Paul says if we take the sign here if we take the sign here that Abraham is told to take and we think through that that that will put us in a covenant with God that we get

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God's blessings we get salvation we get his rewards we're trusting in that and not trusting in Christ and in Galatians chapter 5 verse 2

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Paul says about that that if you accept circumcision with that attitude with that mind Christ will be of no advantage to you so you can believe in the you can believe in that sign or you can believe in Christ not in both the sign changed our sign of the covenant first in Colossians chapter 2 verse 11 is the spiritual one the fulfillment of it it says there in him also you were circumcised that's the sign of the covenant with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ and this is the circumcision of the heart which was foretold already in the law in the old testament in Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 6 where it says and the

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Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that this is the purpose statement the

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Lord your God will circumcise your heart the heart of your offspring for the purpose and the effect of that you will love the

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Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul that you may live now think about that the sign of the covenant then for us foretold already in the old testament in Deuteronomy as we will get the mark of the covenant in our heart that will have the effect of making us love him with all our being notice

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God does it he does it to our heart and if he does it we love him he does it so that we will love him and live and that circumcision of the heart then makes us one of his people we're in covenant with him we are now the true

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Israel in Romans chapter 2 verse 29 a Jew is one inwardly and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the spirit not by the letter that is our sign of the covenant is in our hearts where God has given us a love for him how can we know if you have that sign do you love him and it's not by the letter it's not by a ritual that is

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God's covenant of grace with us to save us if he makes that covenant he then gives us the sign of the covenant which is a circumcised heart that loves the

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Lord so it's not baptism before people who baptize babies say baptism is the sign of the covenant and so they baptize their babies just like Abraham here is told to circumcise them because they say baptism has replaced circumcision but the bible never says that it says our sign of the covenant is in our heart giving us a love for the

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Lord and now that will result baptism not done away but that will result if we have that new heart that gives us a love for the

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Lord that will result in us being baptized because if you now love the Lord with your