The Promise Holds Firm Genesis 17:1-14

God’s Faithfulness to Abram Through Waiting and Hardship

The most common theme we have seen in the narrative between God and Abram in Genesis is the faithfulness of God through thick and thin. God did not choose Abram because he was a great man. It was not as if God looked down from heaven and said, this is the man I'm going to bless because he is an incredible person.

No, rather, God graciously chose Abram in order to bless him. He is committed to blessing Abram to display his steady faithfulness. Last week we saw, two weeks ago, we saw a big low in the life of Abram in the bizarre narrative with his wife, Sarai, and the servant woman, Hagar.

We talked about how Abram's journey has been like the wild thing ride in Battler Valley Ferry, everybody on that ride, you go up and up and up and up and then you get to the top and you can see the Minnesota River Valley and then all of a sudden, boom, it drops down.

That's been what his journey has been like through the journey of faith. It's been one of huge ups and huge downs and today we are going to see an up. We will see it as the Lord pursues him and Abram responds appropriately.

This morning we are continuing our sermon series through Genesis and we are in chapter 17 and we are going to be looking at verses 1 -14 so I encourage you as always to open up a Bible with me and if you are using a red Bible, behind the pews, it's on page 14.

This sermon is titled, The Promise Holds Firm. The Promise Holds Firm and our big idea, our proposition is, the Lord continues his steady commitment to the man of faith. The Lord continues his steady commitment to the man of faith.

The Lord Pursues Abram Again

We are going to see three ways how his steady commitment is shown in Abram. The first is by pursuing him again. By pursuing him again and we will see this in verses 1 -3a. Last week we saw the bizarre narrative between Abram, Sarai and Hagar.

The Lord made the promise to Abram that he and Sarai would have many offspring that would come from them. Time had passed and Sarai began to doubt this promise. So she came up with her own foolish plan.

Her plan was to give her servant woman, Hagar, to Abram as a wife so that they could bear children that way. Hagar became pregnant and eventually Ishmael was born. What we saw last week was the Lord's patience.

He did not scrap his plan with Abram and say, okay, all these promises I made to you were.

Through.

We see that in our world, right? I'm done with you. The Lord did not do that. He continued his faithfulness to him. He still plans to bless him. This is what we are going to see. Let's first begin by looking at verse 1.

When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless. We saw the Lord appear to Hagar as the angel of the Lord two weeks ago in chapter 16 and now we see him appear to Abram here.

The last time the Lord appeared to Abram was in chapter 15. That happened in what we call a theophany. That's where God appears in either a human form or as an angel and that's what he's doing.

Here.

This is another theophany. He appears to him. Abram actually sees someone, the angel of the Lord, and God is talking to him. Now the Lord appears to Abram here and we can estimate how much time has elapsed between his last appearance to Abram and this appearance now.

Abram was 86 when Ishmael was born. The Lord appeared to Abram in chapter 15, probably not too long before that. So after more than 13 years, the Lord appears to Abram again. Thirteen years? That's a long time.

Thirteen years ago I was a senior in high school. That gives you a little bit of perspective. That's a long time. You can see how long Abram had to wait. He's 99 here. He was 75 when the Lord first appeared to him and made the promises to him that he would have offspring, a nation, blessing, and land.

You can see why Abram and Sarah would have wondered, is the Lord really going to give.

Us a child?

They had to wait, and wait, and wait, and I mentioned this last week and I'll mention it again two weeks ago. I'm going to keep making that mistake here. The Lord often works this way. He has us wait.

He has us wait because it leads us to trust in him more during the wait. He cares who you are becoming during the waiting process. Lamentations 3 .25 says the Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks.

Him.

Abram is a great example of someone who had to wait and eventually the Lord delivers what he promised. The Lord still works this way with God's people. As you wait, always remember the Lord delivers on his promises to you.

The promises that are in scripture, these blood-bought promises that are yours in Jesus.

Christ.

Now in verse 1, what God says here is that he is God Almighty. In Hebrew this means El Shaddai. You may remember that song, El Shaddai, that's what it means, God Almighty. After identifying himself as God Almighty, the Lord gives Abram two commands in verse.

1.

He tells him to walk before me and be blameless. This reflects how the Lord described Noah in Genesis 6 .9. We saw that a few months back. The Lord called Noah righteous and blameless. And the Lord expects Abram to be blameless as well.

In verse 2, the Lord tells Abram that he must walk before him and be blameless for this covenant to happen. He says, walk before me and be blameless that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly.

This covenant that the Lord has made with Abram is what was known in ancient times as a royal grant. This is when a superior, blessed, and inferior faithful servant, when we hear the word grant by the way, it's a gift, right?

It's given to you. I know Shayla can tell you right now, we just received a grant from the state of Wisconsin for the faster internet that's hopefully going to be coming to this area. We can all say amen to that, right?

It's given to you, right? You don't have to do anything for it, it's just a gift. And so when the Lord is giving this grant to Abram, he's the one who's doing it. The Lord is giving him this gift. Now these commands to walk before him and be blameless is spiritual preparation for the instructions that the Lord is about to give Abram for this covenant to happen.

He needs to comply with the Lord. He needs to work with him. And we will see the instructions the Lord gives Abram in a bit. But he must be obedient to God if this is going to happen, right? If Abram said, no, not doing it, I'm not going to go along with this, then of course the Lord's not going to do this.

So that's Abram's responsibility in this. He needs to go along with it, but the Lord is the one who's going to be doing all the.

Work.

And what we will see is that his household and his descendants must follow the instructions also if they are going to be a part of this covenant. In verse 3, we see Abram's response to the Lord appearing to him and declaring these.

Things.

This is what Abram did. Abram fell on his face and God said to him. So this is the appropriate response when one is confronted with the presence of the Lord. In verse 1, the Lord said, I am God Almighty.

When a person confronts God Almighty, this is what they do. They fall down in awe before him. I know some of you have seen the movie, I Can Only Imagine, that's been in the theaters. That was of course a huge song about 15 years ago.

And the lyrics of that song say, surrounded by your glory, what will my heart feel? Will I dance for you, Jesus, or in awe of you be still? Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing hallelujah?

Will I be able to speak at all? I think that does a pretty good job of capturing what is it going to be like when we stand in the presence of the Lord? Scripture actually gives us a really good indication of what, they're typically speechless,.

Right?

They fall down before him. They're in awe of the greatness of God, the glory of God comes upon them. And as we see this in Scripture, we see this with angels too, because the glory of God comes with them too and people are just speechless when they see an angel.

If they do this to an angel, how much more God himself. So it makes you think, what will it be like for us one day when we stand before the presence.

Of God?

This is the first way the Lord continues his steadfast commitment to the man of faith, by pursuing him again, by pursuing him again. The second way the Lord continues his steadfast commitment to the man of faith is by renewing his promises, by renewing his promises, and we'll see this in verse 3b through 8.

The Renewal of the Covenant Promise

After Abram falls on his face, the Lord says to him the promises he already told him in chapters 12 and 15. When the Lord called Abram in chapter 12, he said, this is what I'm going to do for.

You.

And now he's repeating these promises once again. This is what he says, behold, my covenant is with you and you shall be a father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name should be called Abraham.

So the Lord tells Abram that he is not only going to be the father of many offspring, but he will also be the father of a multitude of nations. These people aren't going to be a scattered people from a family line.

These people will form nations that will have their fingerprints on this earth. By telling Abram that he will be the father of a multitude of nations, the Lord does something to mark this special occasion of new information.

He gives Abram a name change. We see that in verse 5, he says, no longer shall it be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham. And the meaning of the name is, I've made you the father of a multitude of nations.

Actually, the word Abram means father. Abraham means father of a multitude of nations. I remember when I was growing up, there was a guy who changed his name. By the way, this is not the way the Bible recommends changing names.

He was big into fishing, and he changed his name to Fish Fisherman. That's an interesting name, right? Obviously, when we talk about name changes here in the Bible, in the case of Abram, the Lord is saying there's significance to this name change.

Not like that. Abram, as a father of many nations, gets this name to signify the importance of this promise and everything wonderful that will come from it. So when we think of the name Abraham, this should come to our minds.

He's the father of a multitude of nations. So up to this point in this sermon series, I've called him Abram. From this point forward, we're going to call him Abraham. Okay, I've been looking forward to this, and now we're here.

Now, the Lord emphasizes this blessing upon Abram in verse 6. He says, I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. The Lord is not only going to make Abraham fruitful, he's going to make him exceedingly.

Fruitful.

We're talking millions of offspring here, and we know from the history of Israel that this is true. Not only does Israel come from Abraham, but other nations as well. The Hebrew word does not just say nation, but nations plural, and this begs the question, what other nations will come from Abraham?

We saw last week that Ishmael came from Abraham. The Lord promised that a nation would come from Ishmael. Another nation that would come from Abraham would be Edom. Isaac had two sons named Jacob and Esau.

From Jacob would come Israel, and from Esau would come Edom. So you see, not just Israel comes from Abraham, there's actually a few other branches that come from Abraham. The elect line that goes through Isaac and Jacob, and the non-elect line that goes through Ishmael and Esau.

And all these people are going to be fruitful because of their association with this blessed man Abraham. And they will have many, many offspring. And these nations would have kings, including Israel, of course.

If you read the Old Testament, if you read 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, I've been reading through that in my own devotions. You see the stories of the kings that they had, and these people came from Abraham.

These other nations would have kings as well. And the greatest king, of course, that comes from this line is the King of Kings. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, comes from this. Now in verses 7 and 8, the Lord once again reminds Abraham of these great promises that he's making to him.

He says,.

And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after.

You.

And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. One of the major themes of this chapter is the Lord is renewing this covenant.

The Lord first promised this covenant in chapter 12 when he called Abraham. He ratified the covenant. Ratified means it's enacted, it starts in chapter 15. And now in this chapter, the renewal of this covenant happens.

And this made me think of how we see renewal of covenants happen in our day. Of course, the covenant that comes to our minds first is the covenant of marriage. One of my friends from seminary recently did something really wonderful to surprise his wife.

They went to the church building where they got married and when they showed up, the wedding party was there. I think they got married like 12 years ago and the wedding party was there and the pastor.

Was there.

And what they did is they renewed their vows on that day, on that wedding anniversary, all those years later. And so we see this happen in our culture and the Lord does this here. He's renewing this covenant.

He's saying, I'm committed to you. I'm keeping my promise that I made to you all the way back, all those years ago when he first called him in chapter 12. In the same way, in our present journey through the life of faith, God wants to continually remind you and me about the promises he has made for us.

And as you go through the journey of faith, the Lord desires for you to meditate on his.

Promises.

Think about them. Rejoice in them.

Hold on to them.

Two weeks ago, we sang a song, a song by Keith and Kristin Getty, He Will Hold Me Fast. For my Savior loves me so, he will hold me fast.

Right?

We're just holding on to those promises that the Lord has made to us. And as you sing a song like that, you're being reminded of the Lord's commitment to you. He's holding on to you. He's committed to you.

Now, while verse 7 is a reminder of what the Lord was going to do to Abraham and his offspring, he also gives him some new, delightful information. This covenant is for Abraham and his offspring and all the generations after him for an everlasting.

Possession.

So the new revelation here is everlasting possession. That's the first time this has shown up. When he made the promise in chapter 12, it wasn't there. When he made the promise in chapter 15, it wasn't there.

Now, it's here. This is for an everlasting possession. The Lord's promises to Israel are forever. The Lord is going to multiply the offspring throughout history, and he is going to give them a land throughout history.

I made mention of this a few weeks back. We need to ask the question, has Israel had the land for an everlasting possession? The answer is no. The land was taken away from them by the Babylonians in the 7th century BC.

They did not get the land back. Some believe that they got it back in 1948, and this was only some of the land. So after Christ returns, Israel will receive the land back in full, and they will have it in what we call the millennial kingdom, which is a thousand year reign of Christ.

They will have that land until the eternal state is ushered in. And this land that the Lord is giving Abraham and his offspring is the land of their sojournings. So this is a land that the Lord makes this promise.

This is an everlasting possession. They will have this forever, and it says right here that this is the land of their sojournings. During Abraham's life, the Canaanites populated this land. They did not have possession of it fully because others were in it with them.

Hostile neighbors were in it with them. But in a day in the future, they would have it. They would have this land, and a day is coming when for the first time there will be no enemies.

In the land.

It will just be theirs. And the Lord's promise will reach its completion. So we're seeing this promise even carry out in our own day. And the Lord tells them as he gives them this land that he will be their God.

Why do you think he says that?

I will be your God. I think he's saying this to say, you know, I'm going to be with you. I'm going to keep this promise that I make unto you, and I'm going to be with you as I fulfill this promise. He's reminding them of his constant presence with them.

So this is the second way how the Lord continues his steadfast commitment to the man of faith by renewing his promises. The third way how the Lord continues his steadfast commitment to the man of faith is by delivering a warning to the future participants.

Circumcision as the Sign of Covenant Obedience

By delivering a warning to the future participants. Up to this point, all we've heard is the Lord says, I'm going to fulfill this promise. I'm going to do this. But in order for them to receive this, they need to do something.

And we'll see that right here. After telling Abraham of all these blessings that they will enjoy through this covenant, the Lord tells Abraham what they must individually do to share in these blessings.

And this is what the Lord says in verse 9. God said to Abraham, as for you, you shall keep my covenant. You and your offspring after you throughout their generations. I explained to you several weeks ago that this covenant the Lord makes with Abraham is a unilateral covenant, or what is sometimes called an unconditional covenant.

This means that the Lord is under obligation to keep it. Like, for example, in the Mosaic covenant, that would be called a bilateral covenant because the Lord makes the covenant, but Israel is expected to keep it.

But in this case, it's a unilateral because the Lord, the one who made it, is expected to keep it. And the Lord is going to deliver on providing descendants a blessing, a land, and a nation. This covenant is going to happen.

But the question is, well, who's going to enjoy it? Who's going to receive the blessings? Abraham and his offspring still have to do something in order to share in this covenant. And if they do not do this, then they will not experience in the blessing of these promises.

So what must they do to enjoy these enormous blessings that the Lord has promised? Let's look at verse 10 and find out. The Lord says, this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you.

Every male among you shall be circumcised. Now, the part of the covenant that Abraham and his offspring must perform is for the males to be circumcised. We know what circumcision is from male babies who are born today.

And I'm not going to get into any detail on that. We'll just stop right there. Now, verses 11 to 13 tells us the significance of male circumcision and the details for carrying it out. So let's look at this, verses 11 through 13.

You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring.

But he who is born in your house, or both, sorry, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.

So circumcision would be a sign for Abraham and his male descendants. And the question that arises as we look at this is for whom is the sign? Is this a sign for God or is this a sign for Abraham and his future offspring?

You can remember in Genesis 9, after the flood, in the Noahic covenant, when the Lord made that covenant with Noah, in that covenant the Lord made a sign with Noah and the whole world. And that sign was a rainbow.

And that sign was for the Lord. Because every time the Lord would see the rainbow, he would be reminded, I'm not going to flood the earth again like I did in the days of Noah. So that was for the Lord.

Now is this for the Lord? Probably not. I'm going to say no, it's not, from my study of this. If this sign is for God, then what this would mean is that every time the Lord sees a circumcised male, he is reminded about this covenant that he made with Abraham.

But the problem with this, this sign being a reminder for God, is in verse 14. And that verse says that if a male is not circumcised, then he would be cut off from the Abrahamic blessing. So if the sign is for God, why the punishment for man?

You see that?

The better way to take this is that the sign is for Abraham and his offspring. So what purpose does the sign serve? The sign is about obedience to the Lord. In verse 1, the Lord told Abraham to walk before him and be blameless.

One of the ways they would be obedient is by following his instructions to be circumcised. And by being circumcised, Abraham and his offspring would be showing their commitment to the Lord. Their desire to share in these blessings.

They're showing that their identity is found in the Lord as his covenant people. They're proclaiming God's lordship over them. This sign would remind them of this. And we know that Abraham was obedient to this because in verse 24, he was circumcised along with his household.

Abraham is showing his continuing faith by going through with God's instructions to be circumcised. True faith is always accompanied by obedience, and Abraham follows through to keep this covenant going.

He's going along with this. He's saying, Okay, yes, I'll be circumcised, and I will also circumcise my household as well. Now those who are circumcised would enjoy aspects of this covenant. But for a male to refuse to be circumcised, there were severe consequences.

Severe consequences. And I already alluded to this, but in verse 14, we're going to see what those consequences are.

The Lord says,.

Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. To be cut off meant that he would be excommunicated from the community.

Some interpret this as punishment of death. In either way, the consequences were very severe. To the one who refused circumcision, everything would be taken from them. They would be cut off from their community, their family, their friends, everything they knew.

Because they failed to submit to the covenant that the Lord made with Abraham and his people. And the result would be that they would get what they want. An absence from the covenant, but the consequences would be severe.

And you may wonder, why would anyone do this? All these promises the Lord made to Abraham and his people, wouldn't everybody want to enjoy this? And this is where we have to understand the nature of sin.

Sin is horrible. Sin deceives people. Sin has power. Sin leads people down the wrong path. Sin is irrational. When you look at the destruction of people's lives from the sins that they have committed, you would think, why would they have gone down that path?

But they do. Because that's where sin leads you, if you let it take you down that path. And we wonder, and sometimes people ask the question, during the millennial kingdom, during the thousand year reign of Christ, there's going to be unbelievers on the earth.

Why wouldn't everyone just believe in Jesus, right? I mean, everybody knows that Christianity is true at that point. All these other religions have been proven, shown to be false. Why doesn't everyone believe?

Well, because sin has power. Sin is irrational. People are so hard-hearted, they don't want God. There's this complete and utter raising their fist at Him, saying, no, we don't want you. We want to do things our own way.

And so, in this case, that's what some people are doing. You know what, we don't need to be circumcised.

Why do we need to do that?

We want to do our own thing. And then the Lord would say, well, you're cut off. You don't get to enjoy these blessings that belong to the people of God. And to refuse God's plans and promises is a great mistake that people make in our day, too.

People do this all the time. The Apostle Paul, in Romans 2, 25 -29, explains circumcision as spiritual. He said that physical circumcision, in and of itself, had no value to the Jews. But spiritual circumcision, a transformed heart, is what the Lord really cared about.

The Lord wanted these people, He wanted them, yes, to be physically circumcised, but what He cared more about was their heart. He wanted their heart to be spiritually circumcised. And in Romans 2, 25 -29, in that passage, in verse 29, this is what it says, A Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the Spirit, not by the letter.

So the whole purpose of physical circumcision was just a reminder for them. God wasn't impressed with their morality because of it. He cared about their heart, deep down in their heart. Who were they?

And that's what God cares about us, too. It's always been that way. A true member of God's people in the Old Testament was one who pursued the Lord with sincerity of heart. The greatest commandment in Deuteronomy 6 is, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength.

Every part of you, love the Lord. And in our present context, in our world, if you refuse to receive Jesus Christ, and by refusing Jesus Christ, you are refusing spiritual circumcision. What happens is you are cut off from God, and you are cut off from His people.

You are cut off from all of His wonderful blessings. What people fail to realize is that they enjoy God in this life. A lot of people are going to be enjoying God today with this beautiful weather that He's given us.

If you enjoy the beauty of creation, you enjoy God. If you enjoy food and drink, you enjoy God. If you enjoy the blessings of family and friends, you enjoy God. And all of these are blessings from Him.

Everything that is good comes from God. And to reject God is very foolish, because you are rejecting the author of joy and pleasure. If you reject Christ, one day you will be cut off from every pleasure you ever enjoyed that came from the one you rejected.

That's what's interesting. People are rejecting the very source of pleasure and joy, right? Why do we like food? Think about it. We have taste buds, right? That didn't happen by accident. God gave us taste buds so that we would enjoy food.

God put them there. So how great must the one be who put them there? All these things we enjoy in our life, all this is meant to point to Him. All this is meant as an arrow. The promise of heaven that belongs to all those who receive Jesus Christ will be denied to the one who rejects Jesus, and by that, rejects spiritual circumcision.

Because when you believe in Christ, you become spiritually circumcised. Your heart becomes renewed. You now have spiritual life. We call that the new birth, or being born again. You have this new indwelling of the Spirit in your life.

And you can see how seriously God takes refusal to submit to Him and believe in His promises and receive His blessings. He takes it very seriously. It leads to spiritual death. It leads to eternal death in hell.

The Lord takes rebellion and rejection so seriously. And we see that throughout the pages of Scripture. We see that here in Genesis 17, and we see it all over the place. This is the third way how the Lord continues His steadfast commitment to the man of faith, by delivering a warning to the future participants.

The Promise Holds Firm for God’s Covenant People

So, to summarize, our big idea was the Lord continues His steady commitment to the man of faith. And we saw three ways how the Lord shows us. The first way is by pursuing Him again. The second way is by renewing His promises to Abraham.

And the third is by delivering a warning to the future participants. The Lord's promises to those who will become His people are so great. It is hard to put into words how wonderful they are. Words don't do the experience of the blessings from God.

They don't do justice. They truly are wonderful. And as I close today, understand the importance of being one of God's covenant people. As a follower of Christ, you are a part of the Abrahamic covenant.

As Paul said in Galatians 3 .29, he said, If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. You will experience God's wonderful promises of dwelling with Him forever under His rule.

And if you are here today and you don't belong to Christ, I call you to believe in Jesus. That you would be spiritually circumcised. That you would not be cut off from God forever. That you would enjoy the wonderful blessings that come from the wonderful God.

And this is what the world needs. This is the message, by the way. We are getting out to our community. We're not here, I was reading a book this week. We're not here just to survive. We're not here just to be so inward focused.

We're here to go out. We're here to be a light in this community. We're here for people to say, okay, what's happening at Eureka Baptist? And that they would come into this door and be drawn to Jesus Christ.

God has placed us in this community to transform this community for Christ's sake. And that some would be saved through our witness. Now next week, we will look at the rest of chapter 17 where the Lord reminds Abraham that this offspring is not going to come through Hagar and Ishmael.

But this offspring will actually come from themselves. That a miracle is going to happen where Sarah is going to give birth at a very old age to her own child.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven, thank you for your word. Thank you for the treasure that it is. Lord, what a blessing it is to meet together today. Last Sunday just felt odd with the cancellation that we weren't able to meet together.

Lord, we need this every single week. I know I do as their pastor. And all of us need to meet together. Need to sit under the word of God. Need to sing songs of praise together. Need to pray together as well.

We need the fellowship, Lord. So I just want to say thank you for bringing us together. And I pray, Lord, that we would understand you care about the heart. You care about who we are. And you care about transforming people.

And may we grow ourselves, Lord, and may we be used as vessels to lead people to receive Jesus Christ. That they would have that spiritual circumcision. That they would have the new birth. And I pray for this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen. Amen.