Now I want to say welcome to anybody that is joining us here in our sanctuary for the first time
or if you're joining us online for the first time we want to say welcome. We're so glad you're at a
worship with us at Hosanna. I am Pastor Nathan and today we're going to be in Genesis chapter 17
looking at the renaming of Abram and Sarai and the expansion of God's promise to them.
You know I don't know if you've ever heard the phrase what's in a name. It's a phrase that I've
heard throughout my life and I was looking up and I'm like where did that come from? You know
sometimes we hear phrases that are used in culture and we go what was the origin of that?
And what's in a name is actually a phrase spoken by Juliet in the play Romeo and Juliet.
You guys might remember this is what she said, what's in a name that which we call a rose by any
other name would smell just as sweet. Now when Shakespeare was writing that his point of that
line of dialogue was that it doesn't matter what Romeo's last name is. It doesn't matter that he's
a Montague. It has no bearing on their love and really the overall point was that names are
arbitrary labels that don't intrinsically, they don't alter the intrinsic nature of things or
people. But biblically names often had many purposes more than or beyond just identifying
somebody. Biblically names often had additional or greater purposes especially in the instances
where we see people renamed in the Bible. Often when there's a significant shift in someone's
character or their nature or their personality their names would be changed. For example Jacob
after he wrestled with God became Israel. Saul after he got saved became Paul. And then of course
Simon became Peter as Jesus renamed him Rock. And then of course in Philippians it tells us that God
the Father gave Jesus the Son the name that is above every other name. And so here in Genesis
17 we're going to see the story of Abraham and Sarai's names being changed as a result of their
human effort to fulfill God's promises in Genesis 16. Genesis 16 is actually kind of the prequel to
Genesis 17 and if you read them together you'll see that the story in Genesis 16 is meant to give
spiritual background to what we're going to read today in Genesis 17. In fact this is how Genesis
16 ends. Abram was 86 years old when Ishmael was born. Verse 1 of Genesis 17 Abram was 99 years old.
So we're meant to see the transition there in time and as we get to Genesis 17 where we know that
Ishmael the the son born of Hagar is now 13 years old quickly becoming a man. I'm sure he was
loved greatly by his father Abram and his mother Hagar. Sarai not so much as we're going to see in
future stories but 13 years after this child was born 13 years after this human work to bring God's
promises to fruition 13 years after all of that Sarai is still barren still struggling with the
difficulty of that still faced with the reality that she cannot produce an heir offspring for her
husband and I would imagine that although there's no indication she continued to abuse Hagar in that
situation I imagine there was a lot of tension over the last 13 years with Hagar being around
and Ishmael growing. Abram however he still believed in the promise of a nation from his own body
and possibly over these last 13 years of his life thought maybe Ishmael was the fulfillment of that
as his wife still wasn't able to produce any offspring despite Ishmael's wild stubborn contrary
combative nature I'm sure Abram was contemplating the reality that well he might be the one that was
promised but as we're going to see today in Genesis 17 God's ways are not our ways God's methods
are not our methods and really our names for ourselves whether they're means of identification
or speaking of our character are not always God's names for us now this whole chapter is framed
about around four new names that we're going to study today the name God Almighty the name Abraham
the name Sarah and the name Isaac and as we get into those we're going to see how God sees his
people through the lens of his own promises and his own commitments to himself and what he desires
to do in our lives but first we're going to worship God and I hope you guys are ready to do that
because praising God is one of the greatest privileges we have in this world in fact it's
going to be something we're going to be doing for all eternity in heaven and so we might as well get
the practice in now amen all right let's pray father we love you so much and we thank you God for your
word Lord we are here today as family as the family of God Lord to hear from you
Lord to learn from from your word who you want us to be and how you want us to be God
really to learn that you are the one behind everything that you are the one for us to lean
on because you are the one who does the work in our lives and changing us and molding us and
shaping us Lord we're also here today to just love on one another and Lord I just pray God your
spirit would fill this place that your spirit would fill each one that knows you God that we would
be sensitive to what you're speaking to us individually today in your word I pray God for
any that are in this room that don't know you Lord for whatever reason that they're here today God if
they've never made a commitment to lay down their life and to trust you as their Lord and Savior I
pray God you would speak to them today but God we want to praise your holy name because you are
you are worthy you are the only one worthy of praise God we love you so much and we're so grateful
for everything you've done in our lives and we're so grateful for everything you're going to do
we look forward to you Lord in every way we pray all these things in Jesus name amen all right we
are in Genesis chapter 17 and we're gonna try and cover the whole thing today so read with me verse
one of Genesis 17 it says when Abraham was 99 years old the Lord appeared to him saying I am
God Almighty live in my presence and be blameless I will set up my covenant between me and you
and I will multiply you greatly so as I mentioned in the intro it has been 13 years at this point
since the events in Genesis 16 there we looked at this whole human effort concocted by Sarai and
then she brought it to her husband and he agreed and they participated in trying to bring God's
promises through human work primarily the promise was the promise of a people the promise of a nation
that God had told Abraham he was going to do now all along through this whole story has been the
shadow of Sarai's barrenness and so Genesis 16 was was all about them trying to figure out how to
make it happen because they were both getting older and Sarai was still unable to have children
and Sarai was still unable to have children and so here in Genesis 17 we're we're 13 years after
that event 13 years after Ishmael had been born and it was 13 years of silence 13 years of just
going about living life and then we find that God appears to Abraham again now that word appeared
means to see with the eyeball so this is another physical appearance of God to Abraham it doesn't
tell us how right we've seen some of the really interesting ways God appears as an oven as a torch
you know but it just says he appeared here it's not an important how but God announces himself
here with a new name this is the first time God refers to himself or anybody refers to God
with this name in scripture and in English it's God Almighty but in Hebrew it's a term you may
have heard before El Shaddai this is a name that refers to God's supreme power right it's a it's
a word used to to address his ability to fulfill all his promises to accomplish anything and this
name is often used in scripture when we see scenarios of human powerlessness God will step
in and go duh I'm El Shaddai you're not right we'll see situations of seemingly impossible
circumstances and this is where we'll see God referred to in this way through the Old Testament
that he can do anything no matter what the circumstances are now what's really interesting
is during the early stages of the patriarchal period which is kind of as the Jewish people the
nation was being developed and we have Abraham and then we have Isaac and Jacob and then the
12 tribes from there El Shaddai is the name for God that is used most often during this period
of development that it was the way the primary way that Abraham Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
and then the nation of Israel as it grew came to know God that he was God Almighty and so God
invoking this name here is simply again reiterating that hey Abram I am the one that is able to
fulfill the awesome promises that I've given you I am the one who will fulfill those hopes of a
people and a land now as you can imagine for 13 years Abram was thinking about or processing
I'm speculating here but as Ishmael was growing he's like well I've had a son is he the promise
is he the one that the promise is going to come through you know yep my wife Sarah is still barren
so maybe he's it and 13 years after this God shows up and says I'm El Shaddai I'm God Almighty
insinuating Abram I don't need you to help me I don't need you to give in to fear or desperation
or worry I don't need you to scale down the promises I've given you so that they fit within
your little tiny faith everything in your life all of your future everything Abram rests in the
fact that I am El Shaddai I am God Almighty and thus he's going to go on to reiterate the covenant
by saying I will I will I will I will just in case he doesn't get it to put it in modern terms
step off Abram get out of my way okay so this just sets up a very foundational lesson for us that
that what we believe about God really does inform how we live our life of faith right if we believe
God is this little itty bitty God that can only accomplish a little bit of thing or a tiny bit of
things that did that he says well then that's the extent of our faith but when we believe God is who
he says he is and sometimes God has to step in and go let me remind you if we believe God is El Shaddai
like think about this Jesus said the faith of a mustard seed will move mountains
and people often look at that they go oh he was speaking metaphorically I don't believe he was
he says the faith true faith right of a mustard seed you would be able to say mountain move in
Jesus name and the mountain would go and move somewhere that's power right now I think the
biggest struggle with us in our humanity is we wrestle with with comprehending who God is
who God is what he's capable of and we have our moments we're like I believe he's he's this and
that but but when the rubber meets the road sometimes we're like oh he can't do that or
that's too much or that's too big and God is reminding Abram here and he's reminding us
that he's El Shaddai he can do anything he can accomplish all things and so if he's El Shaddai
expect mountains to move if he's anything less then there's going to be less that has taken place
in our life now I'm not saying that like oh because nobody here can call mountains to move
we must not believe that he's God what I'm saying is there's this process of us learning
in our faith walk that God is bigger than we ever imagined him to be God is more powerful than
than we can even comprehend and we have to keep moving towards that belief as we see God move in
our life and this is what's happening with Abram he tells Abram to live in my presence that word
live is is the word walk right sometimes we'll see that especially in Ephesians when it talks about
walk in the spirit the idea is live in his presence live your life behave make decisions
as if God is standing right in front of you watching because that'll change a lot of what we
decide to do and then he says be blameless that simply means to have integrity you know when our
in our faith walk and as we're growing and moving towards what God has for us it's not about us
performing or meeting metrics or you know we did this many good things or not God just says live
God just says live in a blameless way and that doesn't mean without sin that doesn't mean perfect
because that's impossible but what he means by be blameless is live honestly in your commitment to
follow after God live in a way where your your your genuine intention is God I want to obey you
that's my intention that is my desire like I start my day going God I want to honor you today
and we're going to mess up because we do but having an honest an honesty in our commitment to God
is really what first John talks about like look we're all sinners don't say you're without sin
because if you do you're a liar but then he goes don't practice sin don't live in lawlessness and
try and claim to be a Christian right there is a difference between the person who goes oh yeah I'm
saved and then they're living this life of sin and going that's okay there's a difference between
the person who goes I'm a believer and I've stumbled I fell like God please forgive me I messed up
there's a difference between those two people and what he's saying to Abraham and to us it's not
about being a perfect Christian it's about being honest in our commitment to him in our effort to
be obedient to what he calls us to do the idea is living like you believe God sees you and that
incidentally was all about what chapter 16 was that God saw Hagar he saw her life he saw her needs
he saw her struggles and when we live with that belief it's going to help us avoid doing some of
the things that we shouldn't be doing so verse 3 God now gets into reiterating the covenant but he
adds a few new details here it says then Abraham fell face down and God spoke with him as for me
God speaks here is my covenant with you you will become the father of many nations your name will
no longer be Abraham your name will be Abraham for I will make you the father of many nations
I will make you extremely fruitful and make nations and kings come from you I will confirm
my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations
it is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you 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 God and so that whole picture of Abraham falling face down
that's just a picture of reverence a picture of respect it really is the the outward expression
of how Abraham feels about God in this moment that I'm just not worthy to stand before you right
and so he falls down and and that posture is just reflecting his belief in what God just said I am
God Almighty yes you are right and so he's there and and God goes on to explain this covenant in
more detail than he had before right the the details about this covenant we already know that
that he was going to have a people and he was going to have a land that has been stated numerous
times at this point in Abraham's life but again they had gone through this situation in the
previous chapter of we're running out of time we're getting old we have to do something to
help move move God's promises forward and that is what resulted in Ishmael in Genesis 16
but again as we talked about that that whole scenario was a picture of human effort
to try and achieve God's promises it was a picture of of when we get impatient with what God is doing
or not doing and then we want to try and hurry it up and the situation there resulted in Ishmael
who God is going to bless but that was not how God's promises his covenant promises were going
to come through and so as I said after 13 years of raising this kid and contemplating and considering
is Ishmael the son of the promise God is now here with this fresh revelation after 13 years of silence
hey 13 years ago you took it upon yourself to try and make things happen
but I'm here now appearing to you and starting out with I am God Almighty I am the one who will
bring the promises to pass I will bring the promises to pass without your help Abram
and so the details he adds to this promise here is one in the renaming of Abram we asked the
question in the beginning looking at that phrase what's in a name right to seal the reality
that Abram you're going to have nations come from you he renames him so that Abram would get the
concept you see Abram itself his his his previous name means father of many and in the Hebrew the
context of that is is is limited it's a narrow scope like it would be saying like I'm going to be
the father of of a large family right that was kind of what the name meant and you can imagine
being Abram this whole time how hard that must have been in err hey everybody I spoke to God
which one no the one the real one he said I'm going to have a people but your wife can't have kids
right it's going to be amazing oh by the way we have to go where are we going we don't know
so they leave they finally get to the land of Canaan God says stop this is the land awesome
this whole land is going to be yours and you're going to be a father of a nation
father of a nation yay Sarah's still barren okay we'll deal with this and then all this stuff he
goes through this whole time every time somebody would call out Abram imagine how it felt I I don't
have any kids and yet people still calling me or keep calling me father of many father of many
father of many father of many okay God I'm trying to believe in you then we have the Hagar incident
I need to jump start this process God is now saying no but when he renames Abram to Abraham
he's now expanding the promise because Abraham means father of many nations you see in Genesis
12 when God first gave the promise to Abram he said I'm going to make you the father of a nation
singular one people and in that context Abram right applied the father of one family but now God
is saying no you you don't understand my intent here you're going to be the father of many nations
plural now in the ancient ancient Near Eastern world names were like I said way more than just
an identifier it was more than just saying oh I know who that person is right now I'm
going to be the father of many nations right that's Nathan I know who he is names carried the idea of
who they were in the sense of their personality and their nature and their character names were
often looked at to be prophetic of who this kid was going to be as you named them when they were
born and they often pictured what they were about in all that kind of stuff so again as I was saying
every time someone would call out Abram they were saying father of many and he's going you know it's
I can't have kids and then God's like oh you think that's silly now everybody's going to call you
father of many nations I mean it had to have been hard for him to deal with this you imagine good
morning father of many nations his barren wife calling out dinners ready father of many nations
all the servants who are having their kids and their families out in the field
father of many nations what do you want us to do with this field over here
but God was trying to tell him my promise far exceeds your imagination
that you're not just going to be the father of a nation father of the Jewish people you're going
to be father of all who believe is what the New Testament tells us every person who puts their
faith in Jesus Christ is a spiritual offspring of Abraham and so God's saying I want you to get it
and then of course naming was also an act of sovereignty right a king had the right to rename
people at will because he was the sovereign and so as he's renaming Abram here it's reinforcing
how he just introduced himself I am El Shaddai I declare what's right what's wrong I declare
what's true and what's not I'm telling you that all things are possible through me
so not only does he tell him nations now he expands the promise to include kings are going
to come from you he hadn't told Abraham at this point now he's saying Abraham not only you're
going to be a father of many nations but there's going to be rulers of many nations come from you
can you imagine Abraham's a tent dwelling nomad who takes care of sheep and God's going yeah
nations around this world not only going to come from you but the rulers of those nations are
going to come from you had to been beyond his wildest dreams to imagine but we know a thousand
years later King David was on the scene and the Davidic dynasty started and the Israeli people
were given prophecies and stuff that yeah there's going to be a king from this line that's going to
come and be the king of Israel a thousand years after David Jesus Christ was born
and we know that he is the king of the Jews but also told he's the king of kings all kings and the
king of lords all lords so he truly was a king that came through the line of Abraham who is ruler
overall this is in fact what Matthew opens up with in his gospel as he's writing his gospel he says
in Matthew 1 1 an account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham
that's one of the reasons why we we say Matthew the gospel of Matthew was written primarily to
a Jewish audience it was it was written to a Jewish audience to prove that Jesus was
and is the Jewish king he's qualified to sit on the throne he's qualified to be ruler over those
people that doesn't mean that it's not applicable to us who aren't Jewish but but when you study
Matthew you you read it through that lens but he goes on to say that Jesus was the son of
David he goes kings nations and then he says it's a permanent covenant to be your god and the god of
your offspring after you so this is God putting words to the contract he signed back in Genesis
15 you remember that one where Abraham fell asleep or God said hey I'm going to do the same
uh this contract with you this covenant take these animals cut them in half we talked about the the
ceremony at that time was was two people agreeing making a contract would walk between these animals
and therefore it would be like hey this agreement we've made if either one of us violates it may we
be split asunder like these animals but at that time when God made that covenant it was only him
who walked to the middle telling Abraham that God is covenanting with himself God is saying Abraham
you have no obligations in this covenant it's all me I'm the one that's fulfilling it I'm the one
that's going to make it happen I'm I'm promising I'm swearing on myself that what I've promised
you is going to happen and so here when he's saying it's a permanent covenant Abraham I've
showed you now I'm telling you and so then he goes on to describe the outward sign of inclusion
in this covenant verse 9 God also said to Abraham as for you you and your offspring after you
throughout their generations are to keep my covenant this is my covenant between me and you
and your offspring after you which you are to keep every one of your males must be circumcised
you must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you
throughout your generations every male among you is to be circumcised at eight days old
every male born in your household or purchased from any foreigner and not your offspring
whether born in your household or purchased must be circumcised my covenant will be marked in your
flesh as a permanent covenant now you might read that and go wait a second I thought the covenant
I thought the covenant was unilateral I thought the covenant was like Abraham Abraham had no
obligations in this covenant it was all God it was done by God it was it was followed through
by God and that is true see this isn't an I'm gonna do this you're gonna do this type of
arrangement this is God simply saying the promise I've made that I'm gonna fulfill that I'm gonna
walk through there's gonna be evidence in your flesh there's gonna be a mark in your flesh
that that says you are a part of that promise and so he says you're gonna keep the covenant right
what does it mean to keep a covenant or keep a promise that means you're gonna do what the
promise says but there was no work there was no okay I'm gonna give you the land you're gonna
say 50 Hail Marys every day I'm gonna have a people come from you you're gonna pass out 75
magazines a week it was none of that it's just like there's gonna be this mark in your flesh
it's almost like like not in the exact way but when when farmers would brand a cow right there
was a mark in them that says they belong to me in that arrangement the cow didn't do anything
he just got a mark burned into his flesh this is the idea here and so the mark the sign is
circumcision circumcision we should all know what that is we can all just deal with it as adults
we know what's going on here right it's not an uncomfortable thing to think about now today
we know circumcision is done on babies and it's usually done because it there's health reasons
and other reasons to do this but not everybody has their child circumcised people go why was it the
eighth day here and the understanding is is in their time you know in their medical technology
whatever you want to call that it was eight days was when the child their immune system and stuff
was was at its prime condition to heal from that and so that's the understanding there but
God says this is to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you throughout your
generations meaning for all time if anybody wanted to say hey I've heard about this God
I heard about these incredible promises he made and and who did he make those promises to
you could identify the people by a mark in their body that they were different from the world
that they looked different than everybody else now early on this physical sign of circumcision
became an it was an outward sign of a person's inner spiritual commitment to God
because this this circumcision wasn't what made Abraham Abraham saved if you will we already read
earlier that he was accounted his belief was accounted his righteousness to him
this was just a sign that that faith was there in deuteronomy 36 we see the spiritual application
of this concept of circumcision it says the Lord God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of
your descendants and you will love him with all your heart and all your soul so that you will live
that verse tells me something very important that there is a problem with our heart our spiritual
condition there's something in or on our heart that prevents us from loving God the way we should
and it says that there's going to be something happen that the Lord God will cut off our hearts
there's something happen that the Lord God will cut away that thing that is over your heart that
prevents you from loving him he's going to cut it away he's going to do something about the barrier
that exists between you and him and again the sign of circumcision is something that was
prophetically looking forward to a future work Jeremiah four four it says circumcise yourselves
to the Lord remove the foreskin of your hearts men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem
so again this physical outward thing was meant to be representative of something that was happening
inside now both practically and spiritually the idea is a cutting away of the flesh is a is a
getting rid of that which is preventing us from being with God in that sense but the idea of that
sign was that this person has made a commitment to live differently than the world this person has
made a commitment to say I'm giving myself to God that I believe in him and this sign is the evidence
of that in my outward life significantly circumcision involved Abraham Abraham's
procreative ability right again the background of Genesis 16 God gave me a promise of a people
a nation I have to have babies to do that my wife can't have babies so he went with Hagar and had a
baby and God's going okay that was an effort of your own work and so what we're going to do as a
sign that no human work will ever achieve my promise is is we're going to cut away the flesh
we're going to cut away that which represents your own effort to bring about my promises
now in verse 14 he says if any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin that
man will be cut off from his people he has broken my covenant and you go well what does that mean
it means if you didn't take this sign upon yourself you are declaring that I am not a part of the
promise that's what he means if any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin he has
cut off from his people now I don't know if that was a tongue-in-cheek way to reference the whole
thing right if this ain't cut off then you're going to be cut off but the whole idea here
is what he's saying is this is the only way to to show that you're a part of my covenant
to to show that you're a part of my covenant this is the way that I am prescribing this is how you
are going to show that you were one of my people you see this is very unlike what Cain did if you
remember with Cain and Abel the problem with Cain is God said I want this from you and Cain said well
I'm going to give you whatever I've decided to give you not what you want and God rejected Cain's
offering this whole thing here is an exercise and God's saying when you do things my way
according to my word and my will my promises are fulfilled like I've made promises to you and and
you're going to represent those things in in how you live now it's not that how you live it earns
those promises but the book of James talks a lot about you're saved by faith but if you're saved
there's going to be evidence in how you live and so here circumcision served as a warning
that there's no other way but God's way that this Hagar thing that was not the way taking it upon
yourself that was not the way it's me I am El Shaddai I am the one that's going to establish how
things are accomplished and too many people approach God in the world today like like God is
applying for the position of deity in their life and so they'll approach God and say okay God let
me look at your application here you know you've said you're gonna do this and do this and do all
these awesome things and you know but but I need to make sure you fit the job description of God of
my life right and so I need to make sure you're non-judging and I need to make sure that you're
tolerant of all things and you accept all relative morality and if you pass all this well then
congratulations God you get the job I'm allowing you to be God in my life and they they put forth
these this is how you're going to be God of my life and this is the part of your word I'm going
to listen to but this part I'm going to reject because I disagree with it and that is not the
relationship that we're to have with God God is the one who establishes how we are saved God is
the one that establishes the relationship we're going to have with him God is the one who
established establishes what he expects from us but it starts from a place where he says just believe
in me and then let the sign of your belief develop in your life now verse 15 he goes on now to say
look I've established who I am I'm El Shaddai I've established who you are so that you understand
it's not just going to be this limited scope my promise is much greater than you could possibly
understand this is going to be the response from you your people that your faith is real that your
faith is true and then he goes on to say as for your wife Sarah do not call her Sarah for Sarah
will be her name I will bless her indeed I will give you a son by her I will bless her and she
will produce nations kings of peoples will come from her and Abram fell face down again
now it could be because he was reverencing God again it could be because he was just shocked
how many years has he had been waiting to to to see if Sarah was going to be the one 13 years
of well we figured it out with Hagar maybe Ishmael's the one and now God is finally telling him no no no
it's her I can imagine what might have went through Abrams Abraham's mind there is well God 13 years
ago she might have been able I might have been able but I'm a hundred now
I can't it's impossible and then it tells us he laughed and he said to himself can a child be
born to a hundred year old man can Sarah 90 year old woman give birth it was it was incredulous to
him it was almost absurd beyond understanding that that this would happen and so he said to God if
only Ishmael were acceptable to you I'm not going to lie to you I'm not going to lie to you I'm
not going to lie to you God is addressing the very point of their struggle the very point of their
doubt the very point of their worry and the the source of all the contention and the grasping and
the solving he's now addressing the barrenness of his wife now we do notice that that God waited
until it was absolutely impossible to step in and go I'm going to do it now if he had done it 13
years before it might have been like well you know hey we accomplished this but God's like no no I'm
going to wait until it is so ridiculous that you fall on your face laughing before I'm going to
cause this to come to pass in your life why so that there's no possible way it could be attributed
to anything but God's power and to represent this he says you're going to rename her from Sarah to
Abraham now this is very interesting definitions here because Sarah and Sarah both mean the same
thing princess it's like oh how cute right he didn't this is my princess oh Abraham that's so
awesome but if it's the same name then why is there a difference here and so digging down into the
Hebrew squiggles and dots right in the language there's all this stuff that changes meanings
here's the subtle nuance between the two Sarah means my lady or my princess the scope of the
word princess in in that regard has a very narrow scope it's referring to her princess meaning she
has like royal authority over a very narrow scope of authority like a family that she would be the
princess of the family but in the Hebrew when you change the squiggles and dots and it becomes Sarah
it no longer means princess narrow scope it means princess without restriction
or you might say princess of nations not princess of just a family and so now what we see is you had
the one who was named father of many father of large family if you will renamed father of many
nations and kings will come from you and then he reneems the one who was barren whose name was
princess of a nation princess of a family princess of a people to now princess of many nations
the scope of the promise went from their limited understanding to now global application
and this is the first time that God is verifying that the child of promise will come from the body
of Sarah it had to blow their minds it blew Abraham's mind Abraham's mind see I'm gonna
have to get used to calling him Abraham now because I've been calling him Abraham for so
many weeks so I'm gonna go back and forth a lot just bear with me but he falls down again like
again it could either be in respect or he's falling down in laughter over the mere notion of it you
know he's like the mere notion of me and Sarah at our age you know it's it's humorously absurd but
the question is is he laughing in unbelief is he saying God this is impossible we've dealt with
this a couple times in Abraham's life and the answer is it can't be unbelief because the
commentary we have in the book of Romans chapter 4 Paul says this about this incident this moment
speaking of Abraham he says he believed hoping against hope so that he became the father of
many nations according to what had been spoken so your descendants will be he did not weaken
in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead since he was about a hundred
years old and also the deadness of Sarah's womb so when we read here in Genesis that he laughed
he's like can this happen Romans tells us that it wasn't that he was doubting and saying God
that's impossible there's no way because it says he did not weaken in faith when he considered that
it says in verse 20 of Romans 4 that he did not waver at unbelief or in unbelief at God's promise
but instead he was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God because he was fully convinced
that what God had promised he was also able to do so then when we come back here and look at Genesis
we can't conclude that Abraham is going God no way it's impossible
we also see no disapproval of his laughter here God doesn't rebuke him for it
now later on when when Sarah laughs God rebukes her for it and we'll read that when we get there
God's like why did Sarah laugh and so that tells us that her laugh was a laugh of unbelief but
Abrams here is simply him sitting at the edge of plausibility we've talked about that in previous
things right Lord I have faith increase my faith Lord I have faith increase my faith
Lord I believe in you but man my belief is limited you're blowing my mind here nations kings
barren wife it's finally gonna happen it's not Ishmael and just the concept just blew his mind
but he believed and so he offers Ishmael it's like if he was just alive to you this would be so much
more believable right Ishmael's here I could see him right I know he's a punk but still
but verse 18 God said no your wife Sarah will bear you a son and you will name him Isaac I will
confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring so again God
gently corrects Abraham no that conclusion is incorrect Ishmael Yab would make sense to your
human understanding he's already here you could see him but no that's not what's gonna happen
Sarah is gonna bear you a son and and and since it's so humorously absurd to you
to contemplate that you're gonna name him laughter that's what Isaac means right we talk about this
whole meaning of names people calling father of many father of many and he's going to name him
people calling father of many father of many and he's going oh man I feel kind of like hey father
of many nations really people are gonna make fun of me no I'm promising you you're gonna have a kid
this is what's gonna happen here's the covenant I made oh my gosh lord I just that's that's almost
ridiculous in my head great you're gonna name him laughter so that for the rest of their life as
Isaac was growing up laughter come over laughter dinner's ready laughter I mean just reminded at
that moment where he laughed at the notion of what El Shaddai could do verse 20 as for Ishmael I've
heard you I will certainly bless him I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly and
that was the promise he gave to his mother Hagar he will father 12 tribal leaders and I will make
him into a great nation that indeed happened that took place the offspring of Ishmael were were 12
tribal leaders and and that's the Arab peoples that came from them and and yeah many nations many
great people from there but you'll notice there it says a great nation that's just going to be a
limited people verse 21 but I will confirm my covenant with Isaac whom Sarah will bear to you
at this time next year and when he finished talking with him God withdrew from Abraham Abraham so like
I said Ishmael did indeed go on to father 12 sons and they flourished in numbers but the promise of
God the covenant the covenant that tied all the way back to Genesis that there would be an offspring
who would defeat the serpent defeat sin defeat death redeem the people that God created humanity
the promise of all of that and the promise that these people are going to get this land came through
Isaac not Ishmael that is the crux of the problems in the middle east and has been for centuries
Muslims rewrite this story to put Ishmael in the place of Isaac and go the land is ours and that's
why they're constantly fighting against Israel Israel who are the Jewish people the offspring of
Isaac say no God promised us the land it's ours and this fight is going to go on until the end
but for anybody that rewrites the story and what they do in in Islam they're wrong they're
absolutely wrong and so God gives a timetable which he hadn't done before right this time next
year she's going to have a baby so so God has been revealing more about the promises as Abraham's
been growing in faith and learning how to be faithful right a lot of times we think God if
you just tell me everything up front I'll be good just give me the whole promise and the reality is
is I think if God told us every detail up front we would definitely find things to argue with him
about okay it's going to happen like this it's going to be this time next year did it what's
next year I got a vacation planned God we can't do this thing next year right well we'll always
think of a way to doubt and to fight and to go well God and and so what he does is he reveals
something to us and then he says step in faith with that knowledge I can't tell you the rest yet
you're not ready to hear that but I've given you step one and we'll even argue about that he's like
it's one step but he's trying to teach us to say okay God I trust you so I'll take step one he goes
cool let me tell you a little bit more okay step two right and then we keep growing in our faith
and growing in our obedience and and you know exercising that that muscle of faith with him
and we keep moving forward and and and sometimes he'll reveal things as we go on and so here he's
finally telling them this time next year verse 23 so Abraham took a son Ishmael and those born in
his household or purchased every male among the members of Abraham's household and he circumcised
the flesh of their foreskin on that very day just as God had said to him Abraham was 99 years old
when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised and his son Ishmael was 13 years old when the
flesh of his foreskin was circumcised on that very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised
and all the men of his household whether born in his household or purchased from a foreigner
were circumcised with him now this is another area where those adherents of Islam will say look
Ishmael was a part of the covenant he was circumcised wasn't that the outward sign of the
covenant yes it was the outward sign but it was supposed to be or intended to be the outward sign
of a faith that existed within and that is how we become part of the covenant even as spiritual
believers today Ishmael was not a part of the promise and so that tells us again that just
because we do outward things doesn't necessarily mean inwardly we have a faith in God that is
saving us but Abraham's belief in the covenant we see that very clearly because his obedience to
the command was immediate right every male in his household so he didn't say God I'm going to do
part of it no he's like every male okay I can imagine that that all the guys in the camp that
day were like whoa Abraham what are you trying to do here but he said all of us God said so
then it was immediate he did it that very day and it was very daring it was it was risky for him
because he incapacitated all of his fighting men all of the trained men remember those guys that
he took with him to go defeat the four kings incapacitated all of them I mean this was actually
a physical thing that happened I don't care how old you guys are snip snip and that was a painful
thing it took time to recover from and so he was risking a lot by saying I'm going to incapacitate
every male in my camp but he trusted God and we learn again from that it's like when God says to
do something we do it when God says to do it in the scope God says to do it in the manner which
God says to do it Pastor Gary used to he taught me something years ago he was talking about being a
leading a business or an organization that type of thing he used to always say you know the type
of people that you you want to you want to have you know in your organization if you're leading
people is those that when you ask them to do something they'll say yes before they argue with
you about it and he goes I don't mind hearing the objections hey are you sure because I think this
might be a bad idea he goes but what I want to hear from the people that I've entrusted is yes
because there's an authority I have right and I've tried to teach that to my staff as well it's like
hey I'm all for the objections I'm all for the hey Pastor Nathan maybe you're not thinking about
this this might be a bad idea but I want to know that if I ask you to do something from the
authority position of authority I've been placed in that you're just going to say yes and and it's
this type of thing that we learn that God is the same way I'm God I've given you instruction
I told you to do it this way this how and it's just yes Lord yes Lord now with God we don't want
to then come back with well maybe Lord you didn't consider this we do it anyways which is silly
but obedience is to have the faith to say your else should die yes I mean and it doesn't matter
how silly it is right hey I've made a promise to you and what you're going to do is do this very
sensitive thing what no yes and God said do it today I'm going to do it today right a lot of
us wrestle with that God is speaking to some of us in here about things and he and he may have said
do it yesterday and you didn't do it and you're going well you know
God wants us to have faith in him to trust in him in his way because his way is the only right way
and and so Abraham did all this all to declare that he and the people he were responsible for
were a people devoted to God the sign was to indicate that that they were supposed to be
people who denied their flesh people who were in pursuit of God this is this is what the sign
meant now Abraham and Sarah did indeed have kings from them we've talked about this a little bit
at the end of Genesis Jacob is going to prophesy that the king like the offspring that everybody's
looking forward to is going to come from the tribe of Judah later on in the Old Testament Balaam
prophesies that a star will come from Jacob and a scepter meaning the sign of a king will rise from
Israel then when king David came onto the scene God promised to him your house and your kingdom
will endure before me forever the throne will be established forever 400 years after that Ezekiel
recorded God's words where God said I will establish over them one shepherd he will tend
them himself and he will be their shepherd Isaiah the prophet spoke of the coming prince of peace
who will establish an endless government and rule on David's throne the prophet Zachariah said in
Zachariah 9 9 rejoice greatly daughter Zion shout and triumph daughter Jerusalem look your king is
coming to you he is righteous and victorious humble and riding on a donkey and so from this
time forward all the way down to the generations Israel was looking forward to what God had promised
Abraham and Sarah that that that kings and a king the one who would ultimately defeat the ultimate
offspring who would defeat Satan would come and they were looking forward and looking forward and
God kept giving them more pieces in the information down through the histories and then one day we
read in the gospels on a Sunday morning we call Palm Sunday Jesus sent his disciples out said go
get this donkey it's going to be right there exactly how he told you it's going to be when
the owner freaks out because you're taking it tell him this the owner will be fine and then Jesus
rode into Jerusalem on the back of that donkey fulfilling prophecy and we read in Matthew there
that the crowds went ahead of him and they shouted Hosanna to the son of David blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest heaven see what began through Abraham was completed
in his ultimate offspring that the king of kings the lord of lords came into this world
he arrived here lived as a human but in the process of that at the very end of his life before he went
to go pay the price for everybody's sin he told his disciples I'm establishing a new covenant
a new covenant a covenant that's going to supersede the old one a covenant that's about a land but
it's a land in heaven a covenant that's about a people but it's a people of all races all cultures
every background if they put faith in who God is they will be saved and Jesus said this new covenant
as we get through New Testament teaching was was sealed by the Holy Spirit as Ephesians tell us that
our hearts are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise the guarantee of our inheritance
it was evidenced by a new sign you see the old covenant was established by the shedding of blood
those animals were cut it was the shed blood of Jesus Christ that established the new the old
covenant was sealed by God doing this ceremony and walking through and in covening with himself the
new covenant sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise on our hearts the old covenant was evidenced
through the sign of circumcision this sign of you saying I am voluntarily willing cutting away my
flesh as a sign that I have put faith in this one that he I trust him and I'm a part of this
covenant well Paul says in Colossians 2 that the outward sign that we have put faith in Jesus
Christ is baptism that is the sign that is what we do publicly to say hey everybody I've put my
faith in Jesus it wasn't circumcision that saved them it's not baptism that saves us it's a faith
and a trust in him and who he is and what he has promised now if you've put your faith in Jesus
Christ the Bible says you've passed from death to life the Bible says that you have been given a
new heart why because the flesh that was on the heart is cut away by our belief in Jesus Christ
we are given a new self we are a new creation the Bible tells us not like those under the old
covenant who are like okay I believe in you but I'm still controlled by my sin but in the new
covenant the flesh is cut away once and for all permanently and we are able to love God the way
he's calling us to love him to live in the way he's calling us to live for him and as we talked
about what's in a name when we come to Christ and we give our life to him he gives us a new name
all of us what is that new name beloved you are a child of God you are in my family now now and
forever for it says in Galatians 3 26 through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus
let's pray father we're so grateful that you sent your son to this earth to die for us
God as we study through the beginning of your promises here in Genesis and as we'll see them
carried through the generations of this people Israel that you called to be the light of you to
be the the the examples the representatives of you even Lord as we look through the history of them
becoming arrogant in that we are not going to be able to live in the way that you have been
becoming arrogant in that and mislabeling it and misliving it and and thinking Lord that that he's
even as they came to believe that the physical act of circumcision meant that they were essentially
saved and yet God we know through all of that the ultimate purpose of all that was our spirit was
our heart it's not about the outward thing it's about the inward thing being changed and yes God
we believe that your word says that when we internally have been changed when we've put our
faith in you and you've given us a new heart that Lord the life we live on the outside is different
that God you called us to make that public profession in baptism and then
Lord as we lead a life living differently just as those who were circumcised in the old testament
under the old covenant were very clearly different people than the rest of the world Lord the life we
live the love that we live the grace and the forgiveness and the mercy that we give others
because you've given it to us Lord so clearly declares that we are different people in the
world around us so Lord we're so grateful for our salvation and we're so grateful for the changes
you wrought within us and Lord we're so grateful that you did all the work you paid the price
you died the death that we were due you rose again from the dead something we can never do on our own
God you were at the right hand of the father today praying for us
because Lord we're quite honestly so hopeless on our own but God we are so grateful that it's
through faith we are accounted righteousness just like Abraham who became Abraham Lord I pray like
him we would understand the scope of your promises in our life are well beyond what we could ever dream
of and that like little children we would have a simple faith of just believing that you or else
should die you are God Almighty there's nothing for us to fear there's nothing for us to worry about
we love you we thank you God it's in Jesus name we pray amen well I pray God blesses you guys in every way
I pray God gives you opportunity to be that light right it's a different heart that we have being
saved people and the life we live is one of shining that that light of glory into the world and
let God use you let people see that you are different you don't need to get into all these
weird details about your heart being circumcised they probably won't understand that but tell them
about the God who created them who loves them and who could change their life and save them forever
that is what it's all about that was the whole plan and purpose that the God who loves us so dearly
would do the work to redeem us that we would be saved and forgiven amen all right God bless you guys