1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,360 Now I want to say welcome to anybody that is joining us here in our sanctuary for the first time 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:09,520 or if you're joining us online for the first time we want to say welcome. We're so glad you're at a 3 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:16,960 worship with us at Hosanna. I am Pastor Nathan and today we're going to be in Genesis chapter 17 4 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:25,120 looking at the renaming of Abram and Sarai and the expansion of God's promise to them. 5 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:29,840 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 6 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:34,640 heard throughout my life and I was looking up and I'm like where did that come from? You know 7 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:39,200 sometimes we hear phrases that are used in culture and we go what was the origin of that? 8 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:45,760 And what's in a name is actually a phrase spoken by Juliet in the play Romeo and Juliet. 9 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:53,200 You guys might remember this is what she said, what's in a name that which we call a rose by any 10 00:00:53,200 --> 00:01:00,880 other name would smell just as sweet. Now when Shakespeare was writing that his point of that 11 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:07,040 line of dialogue was that it doesn't matter what Romeo's last name is. It doesn't matter that he's 12 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:14,000 a Montague. It has no bearing on their love and really the overall point was that names are 13 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:20,320 arbitrary labels that don't intrinsically, they don't alter the intrinsic nature of things or 14 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:30,480 people. But biblically names often had many purposes more than or beyond just identifying 15 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:37,040 somebody. Biblically names often had additional or greater purposes especially in the instances 16 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:43,040 where we see people renamed in the Bible. Often when there's a significant shift in someone's 17 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:50,800 character or their nature or their personality their names would be changed. For example Jacob 18 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:58,720 after he wrestled with God became Israel. Saul after he got saved became Paul. And then of course 19 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:06,640 Simon became Peter as Jesus renamed him Rock. And then of course in Philippians it tells us that God 20 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:13,760 the Father gave Jesus the Son the name that is above every other name. And so here in Genesis 21 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:20,400 17 we're going to see the story of Abraham and Sarai's names being changed as a result of their 22 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:27,440 human effort to fulfill God's promises in Genesis 16. Genesis 16 is actually kind of the prequel to 23 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:33,440 Genesis 17 and if you read them together you'll see that the story in Genesis 16 is meant to give 24 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:39,120 spiritual background to what we're going to read today in Genesis 17. In fact this is how Genesis 25 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:49,360 16 ends. Abram was 86 years old when Ishmael was born. Verse 1 of Genesis 17 Abram was 99 years old. 26 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:55,440 So we're meant to see the transition there in time and as we get to Genesis 17 where we know that 27 00:02:55,440 --> 00:03:03,040 Ishmael the the son born of Hagar is now 13 years old quickly becoming a man. I'm sure he was 28 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:11,120 loved greatly by his father Abram and his mother Hagar. Sarai not so much as we're going to see in 29 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:18,080 future stories but 13 years after this child was born 13 years after this human work to bring God's 30 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:26,560 promises to fruition 13 years after all of that Sarai is still barren still struggling with the 31 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:33,120 difficulty of that still faced with the reality that she cannot produce an heir offspring for her 32 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:39,440 husband and I would imagine that although there's no indication she continued to abuse Hagar in that 33 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:45,120 situation I imagine there was a lot of tension over the last 13 years with Hagar being around 34 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:51,920 and Ishmael growing. Abram however he still believed in the promise of a nation from his own body 35 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:57,280 and possibly over these last 13 years of his life thought maybe Ishmael was the fulfillment of that 36 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:06,000 as his wife still wasn't able to produce any offspring despite Ishmael's wild stubborn contrary 37 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:12,560 combative nature I'm sure Abram was contemplating the reality that well he might be the one that was 38 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:20,480 promised but as we're going to see today in Genesis 17 God's ways are not our ways God's methods 39 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:28,080 are not our methods and really our names for ourselves whether they're means of identification 40 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:34,960 or speaking of our character are not always God's names for us now this whole chapter is framed 41 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:40,960 about around four new names that we're going to study today the name God Almighty the name Abraham 42 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:47,120 the name Sarah and the name Isaac and as we get into those we're going to see how God sees his 43 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:52,640 people through the lens of his own promises and his own commitments to himself and what he desires 44 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:57,680 to do in our lives but first we're going to worship God and I hope you guys are ready to do that 45 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:02,320 because praising God is one of the greatest privileges we have in this world in fact it's 46 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:06,400 going to be something we're going to be doing for all eternity in heaven and so we might as well get 47 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:12,000 the practice in now amen all right let's pray father we love you so much and we thank you God for your 48 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:19,840 word Lord we are here today as family as the family of God Lord to hear from you 49 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:25,520 Lord to learn from from your word who you want us to be and how you want us to be God 50 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:30,720 really to learn that you are the one behind everything that you are the one for us to lean 51 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:35,920 on because you are the one who does the work in our lives and changing us and molding us and 52 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:42,080 shaping us Lord we're also here today to just love on one another and Lord I just pray God your 53 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:47,840 spirit would fill this place that your spirit would fill each one that knows you God that we would 54 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:52,880 be sensitive to what you're speaking to us individually today in your word I pray God for 55 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:57,680 any that are in this room that don't know you Lord for whatever reason that they're here today God if 56 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:02,080 they've never made a commitment to lay down their life and to trust you as their Lord and Savior I 57 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:07,120 pray God you would speak to them today but God we want to praise your holy name because you are 58 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:13,360 you are worthy you are the only one worthy of praise God we love you so much and we're so grateful 59 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:18,240 for everything you've done in our lives and we're so grateful for everything you're going to do 60 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:27,200 we look forward to you Lord in every way we pray all these things in Jesus name amen all right we 61 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:35,600 are in Genesis chapter 17 and we're gonna try and cover the whole thing today so read with me verse 62 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:44,720 one of Genesis 17 it says when Abraham was 99 years old the Lord appeared to him saying I am 63 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:52,160 God Almighty live in my presence and be blameless I will set up my covenant between me and you 64 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:59,200 and I will multiply you greatly so as I mentioned in the intro it has been 13 years at this point 65 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:09,120 since the events in Genesis 16 there we looked at this whole human effort concocted by Sarai and 66 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:14,080 then she brought it to her husband and he agreed and they participated in trying to bring God's 67 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:22,000 promises through human work primarily the promise was the promise of a people the promise of a nation 68 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:27,200 that God had told Abraham he was going to do now all along through this whole story has been the 69 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:33,600 shadow of Sarai's barrenness and so Genesis 16 was was all about them trying to figure out how to 70 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:40,000 make it happen because they were both getting older and Sarai was still unable to have children 71 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:47,120 and Sarai was still unable to have children and so here in Genesis 17 we're we're 13 years after 72 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:54,720 that event 13 years after Ishmael had been born and it was 13 years of silence 13 years of just 73 00:07:54,720 --> 00:08:01,280 going about living life and then we find that God appears to Abraham again now that word appeared 74 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:07,120 means to see with the eyeball so this is another physical appearance of God to Abraham it doesn't 75 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:13,920 tell us how right we've seen some of the really interesting ways God appears as an oven as a torch 76 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:19,840 you know but it just says he appeared here it's not an important how but God announces himself 77 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:26,640 here with a new name this is the first time God refers to himself or anybody refers to God 78 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:32,880 with this name in scripture and in English it's God Almighty but in Hebrew it's a term you may 79 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:41,440 have heard before El Shaddai this is a name that refers to God's supreme power right it's a it's 80 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:48,800 a word used to to address his ability to fulfill all his promises to accomplish anything and this 81 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:56,480 name is often used in scripture when we see scenarios of human powerlessness God will step 82 00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:03,360 in and go duh I'm El Shaddai you're not right we'll see situations of seemingly impossible 83 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:08,720 circumstances and this is where we'll see God referred to in this way through the Old Testament 84 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:14,320 that he can do anything no matter what the circumstances are now what's really interesting 85 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:20,400 is during the early stages of the patriarchal period which is kind of as the Jewish people the 86 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:25,760 nation was being developed and we have Abraham and then we have Isaac and Jacob and then the 87 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:34,080 12 tribes from there El Shaddai is the name for God that is used most often during this period 88 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:40,880 of development that it was the way the primary way that Abraham Abraham and Isaac and Jacob 89 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:48,160 and then the nation of Israel as it grew came to know God that he was God Almighty and so God 90 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:55,360 invoking this name here is simply again reiterating that hey Abram I am the one that is able to 91 00:09:55,360 --> 00:10:01,360 fulfill the awesome promises that I've given you I am the one who will fulfill those hopes of a 92 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:10,160 people and a land now as you can imagine for 13 years Abram was thinking about or processing 93 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:16,560 I'm speculating here but as Ishmael was growing he's like well I've had a son is he the promise 94 00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:22,160 is he the one that the promise is going to come through you know yep my wife Sarah is still barren 95 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:32,480 so maybe he's it and 13 years after this God shows up and says I'm El Shaddai I'm God Almighty 96 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:41,680 insinuating Abram I don't need you to help me I don't need you to give in to fear or desperation 97 00:10:41,680 --> 00:10:48,560 or worry I don't need you to scale down the promises I've given you so that they fit within 98 00:10:48,560 --> 00:10:57,200 your little tiny faith everything in your life all of your future everything Abram rests in the 99 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:05,600 fact that I am El Shaddai I am God Almighty and thus he's going to go on to reiterate the covenant 100 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:15,120 by saying I will I will I will I will just in case he doesn't get it to put it in modern terms 101 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:25,600 step off Abram get out of my way okay so this just sets up a very foundational lesson for us that 102 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:35,760 that what we believe about God really does inform how we live our life of faith right if we believe 103 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:40,880 God is this little itty bitty God that can only accomplish a little bit of thing or a tiny bit of 104 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:48,000 things that did that he says well then that's the extent of our faith but when we believe God is who 105 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:55,360 he says he is and sometimes God has to step in and go let me remind you if we believe God is El Shaddai 106 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:03,520 like think about this Jesus said the faith of a mustard seed will move mountains 107 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:09,440 and people often look at that they go oh he was speaking metaphorically I don't believe he was 108 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:16,240 he says the faith true faith right of a mustard seed you would be able to say mountain move in 109 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:24,080 Jesus name and the mountain would go and move somewhere that's power right now I think the 110 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:31,680 biggest struggle with us in our humanity is we wrestle with with comprehending who God is 111 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:37,840 who God is what he's capable of and we have our moments we're like I believe he's he's this and 112 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:44,320 that but but when the rubber meets the road sometimes we're like oh he can't do that or 113 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:50,000 that's too much or that's too big and God is reminding Abram here and he's reminding us 114 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:58,160 that he's El Shaddai he can do anything he can accomplish all things and so if he's El Shaddai 115 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:05,360 expect mountains to move if he's anything less then there's going to be less that has taken place 116 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:09,920 in our life now I'm not saying that like oh because nobody here can call mountains to move 117 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:16,160 we must not believe that he's God what I'm saying is there's this process of us learning 118 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:21,920 in our faith walk that God is bigger than we ever imagined him to be God is more powerful than 119 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:28,320 than we can even comprehend and we have to keep moving towards that belief as we see God move in 120 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:35,680 our life and this is what's happening with Abram he tells Abram to live in my presence that word 121 00:13:35,680 --> 00:13:41,280 live is is the word walk right sometimes we'll see that especially in Ephesians when it talks about 122 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:49,680 walk in the spirit the idea is live in his presence live your life behave make decisions 123 00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:55,920 as if God is standing right in front of you watching because that'll change a lot of what we 124 00:13:55,920 --> 00:14:03,440 decide to do and then he says be blameless that simply means to have integrity you know when our 125 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:11,280 in our faith walk and as we're growing and moving towards what God has for us it's not about us 126 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:17,840 performing or meeting metrics or you know we did this many good things or not God just says live 127 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:24,400 God just says live in a blameless way and that doesn't mean without sin that doesn't mean perfect 128 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:32,720 because that's impossible but what he means by be blameless is live honestly in your commitment to 129 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:40,800 follow after God live in a way where your your your genuine intention is God I want to obey you 130 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:48,560 that's my intention that is my desire like I start my day going God I want to honor you today 131 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:55,520 and we're going to mess up because we do but having an honest an honesty in our commitment to God 132 00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:02,480 is really what first John talks about like look we're all sinners don't say you're without sin 133 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:08,080 because if you do you're a liar but then he goes don't practice sin don't live in lawlessness and 134 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:13,040 try and claim to be a Christian right there is a difference between the person who goes oh yeah I'm 135 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:19,200 saved and then they're living this life of sin and going that's okay there's a difference between 136 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:26,720 the person who goes I'm a believer and I've stumbled I fell like God please forgive me I messed up 137 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:32,000 there's a difference between those two people and what he's saying to Abraham and to us it's not 138 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:38,880 about being a perfect Christian it's about being honest in our commitment to him in our effort to 139 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:45,040 be obedient to what he calls us to do the idea is living like you believe God sees you and that 140 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:53,440 incidentally was all about what chapter 16 was that God saw Hagar he saw her life he saw her needs 141 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:59,840 he saw her struggles and when we live with that belief it's going to help us avoid doing some of 142 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:07,120 the things that we shouldn't be doing so verse 3 God now gets into reiterating the covenant but he 143 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:15,200 adds a few new details here it says then Abraham fell face down and God spoke with him as for me 144 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:22,080 God speaks here is my covenant with you you will become the father of many nations your name will 145 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:28,320 no longer be Abraham your name will be Abraham for I will make you the father of many nations 146 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:33,280 I will make you extremely fruitful and make nations and kings come from you I will confirm 147 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:37,840 my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations 148 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:44,080 it is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you and to you and 149 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:49,760 your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing all the land of Canaan as a 150 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:57,120 permanent possession and I will be their God and so that whole picture of Abraham falling face down 151 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:04,640 that's just a picture of reverence a picture of respect it really is the the outward expression 152 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:11,200 of how Abraham feels about God in this moment that I'm just not worthy to stand before you right 153 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:18,480 and so he falls down and and that posture is just reflecting his belief in what God just said I am 154 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:26,960 God Almighty yes you are right and so he's there and and God goes on to explain this covenant in 155 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:33,280 more detail than he had before right the the details about this covenant we already know that 156 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:37,520 that he was going to have a people and he was going to have a land that has been stated numerous 157 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:43,360 times at this point in Abraham's life but again they had gone through this situation in the 158 00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:49,280 previous chapter of we're running out of time we're getting old we have to do something to 159 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:55,440 help move move God's promises forward and that is what resulted in Ishmael in Genesis 16 160 00:17:55,440 --> 00:18:00,000 but again as we talked about that that whole scenario was a picture of human effort 161 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:09,840 to try and achieve God's promises it was a picture of of when we get impatient with what God is doing 162 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:17,360 or not doing and then we want to try and hurry it up and the situation there resulted in Ishmael 163 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:24,400 who God is going to bless but that was not how God's promises his covenant promises were going 164 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:31,040 to come through and so as I said after 13 years of raising this kid and contemplating and considering 165 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:37,920 is Ishmael the son of the promise God is now here with this fresh revelation after 13 years of silence 166 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:42,320 hey 13 years ago you took it upon yourself to try and make things happen 167 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:50,640 but I'm here now appearing to you and starting out with I am God Almighty I am the one who will 168 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:57,440 bring the promises to pass I will bring the promises to pass without your help Abram 169 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:04,880 and so the details he adds to this promise here is one in the renaming of Abram we asked the 170 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:10,880 question in the beginning looking at that phrase what's in a name right to seal the reality 171 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:18,800 that Abram you're going to have nations come from you he renames him so that Abram would get the 172 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:27,120 concept you see Abram itself his his his previous name means father of many and in the Hebrew the 173 00:19:27,120 --> 00:19:33,680 context of that is is is limited it's a narrow scope like it would be saying like I'm going to be 174 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:40,560 the father of of a large family right that was kind of what the name meant and you can imagine 175 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:47,120 being Abram this whole time how hard that must have been in err hey everybody I spoke to God 176 00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:55,440 which one no the one the real one he said I'm going to have a people but your wife can't have kids 177 00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:01,600 right it's going to be amazing oh by the way we have to go where are we going we don't know 178 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:07,760 so they leave they finally get to the land of Canaan God says stop this is the land awesome 179 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:11,920 this whole land is going to be yours and you're going to be a father of a nation 180 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:19,840 father of a nation yay Sarah's still barren okay we'll deal with this and then all this stuff he 181 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:27,520 goes through this whole time every time somebody would call out Abram imagine how it felt I I don't 182 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:34,160 have any kids and yet people still calling me or keep calling me father of many father of many 183 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:40,080 father of many father of many okay God I'm trying to believe in you then we have the Hagar incident 184 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:48,400 I need to jump start this process God is now saying no but when he renames Abram to Abraham 185 00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:59,040 he's now expanding the promise because Abraham means father of many nations you see in Genesis 186 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:05,040 12 when God first gave the promise to Abram he said I'm going to make you the father of a nation 187 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:15,280 singular one people and in that context Abram right applied the father of one family but now God 188 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:21,280 is saying no you you don't understand my intent here you're going to be the father of many nations 189 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:29,520 plural now in the ancient ancient Near Eastern world names were like I said way more than just 190 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:34,560 an identifier it was more than just saying oh I know who that person is right now I'm 191 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:41,680 going to be the father of many nations right that's Nathan I know who he is names carried the idea of 192 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:46,880 who they were in the sense of their personality and their nature and their character names were 193 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:51,600 often looked at to be prophetic of who this kid was going to be as you named them when they were 194 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:58,240 born and they often pictured what they were about in all that kind of stuff so again as I was saying 195 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:03,680 every time someone would call out Abram they were saying father of many and he's going you know it's 196 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:08,720 I can't have kids and then God's like oh you think that's silly now everybody's going to call you 197 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:16,400 father of many nations I mean it had to have been hard for him to deal with this you imagine good 198 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:23,120 morning father of many nations his barren wife calling out dinners ready father of many nations 199 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:28,240 all the servants who are having their kids and their families out in the field 200 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:34,160 father of many nations what do you want us to do with this field over here 201 00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:41,200 but God was trying to tell him my promise far exceeds your imagination 202 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:47,600 that you're not just going to be the father of a nation father of the Jewish people you're going 203 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:53,520 to be father of all who believe is what the New Testament tells us every person who puts their 204 00:22:53,520 --> 00:23:01,280 faith in Jesus Christ is a spiritual offspring of Abraham and so God's saying I want you to get it 205 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:08,800 and then of course naming was also an act of sovereignty right a king had the right to rename 206 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:14,800 people at will because he was the sovereign and so as he's renaming Abram here it's reinforcing 207 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:20,640 how he just introduced himself I am El Shaddai I declare what's right what's wrong I declare 208 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:24,400 what's true and what's not I'm telling you that all things are possible through me 209 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:31,120 so not only does he tell him nations now he expands the promise to include kings are going 210 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:37,280 to come from you he hadn't told Abraham at this point now he's saying Abraham not only you're 211 00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:41,840 going to be a father of many nations but there's going to be rulers of many nations come from you 212 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:49,440 can you imagine Abraham's a tent dwelling nomad who takes care of sheep and God's going yeah 213 00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:54,640 nations around this world not only going to come from you but the rulers of those nations are 214 00:23:54,640 --> 00:24:00,640 going to come from you had to been beyond his wildest dreams to imagine but we know a thousand 215 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:06,800 years later King David was on the scene and the Davidic dynasty started and the Israeli people 216 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:11,200 were given prophecies and stuff that yeah there's going to be a king from this line that's going to 217 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:17,920 come and be the king of Israel a thousand years after David Jesus Christ was born 218 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:23,600 and we know that he is the king of the Jews but also told he's the king of kings all kings and the 219 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:29,680 king of lords all lords so he truly was a king that came through the line of Abraham who is ruler 220 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:37,200 overall this is in fact what Matthew opens up with in his gospel as he's writing his gospel he says 221 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:45,280 in Matthew 1 1 an account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham 222 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:50,800 that's one of the reasons why we we say Matthew the gospel of Matthew was written primarily to 223 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:56,560 a Jewish audience it was it was written to a Jewish audience to prove that Jesus was 224 00:24:57,120 --> 00:25:03,200 and is the Jewish king he's qualified to sit on the throne he's qualified to be ruler over those 225 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:08,160 people that doesn't mean that it's not applicable to us who aren't Jewish but but when you study 226 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:14,960 Matthew you you read it through that lens but he goes on to say that Jesus was the son of 227 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:21,040 David he goes kings nations and then he says it's a permanent covenant to be your god and the god of 228 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:27,280 your offspring after you so this is God putting words to the contract he signed back in Genesis 229 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:32,720 15 you remember that one where Abraham fell asleep or God said hey I'm going to do the same 230 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:38,960 uh this contract with you this covenant take these animals cut them in half we talked about the the 231 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:44,960 ceremony at that time was was two people agreeing making a contract would walk between these animals 232 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:50,880 and therefore it would be like hey this agreement we've made if either one of us violates it may we 233 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:57,440 be split asunder like these animals but at that time when God made that covenant it was only him 234 00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:04,400 who walked to the middle telling Abraham that God is covenanting with himself God is saying Abraham 235 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:10,560 you have no obligations in this covenant it's all me I'm the one that's fulfilling it I'm the one 236 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:15,600 that's going to make it happen I'm I'm promising I'm swearing on myself that what I've promised 237 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:21,520 you is going to happen and so here when he's saying it's a permanent covenant Abraham I've 238 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:28,560 showed you now I'm telling you and so then he goes on to describe the outward sign of inclusion 239 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:36,560 in this covenant verse 9 God also said to Abraham as for you you and your offspring after you 240 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:42,880 throughout their generations are to keep my covenant this is my covenant between me and you 241 00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:48,560 and your offspring after you which you are to keep every one of your males must be circumcised 242 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:54,080 you must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you 243 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:58,320 throughout your generations every male among you is to be circumcised at eight days old 244 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:03,360 every male born in your household or purchased from any foreigner and not your offspring 245 00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:09,440 whether born in your household or purchased must be circumcised my covenant will be marked in your 246 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:19,040 flesh as a permanent covenant now you might read that and go wait a second I thought the covenant 247 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:26,560 I thought the covenant was unilateral I thought the covenant was like Abraham Abraham had no 248 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:31,440 obligations in this covenant it was all God it was done by God it was it was followed through 249 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:39,040 by God and that is true see this isn't an I'm gonna do this you're gonna do this type of 250 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:43,840 arrangement this is God simply saying the promise I've made that I'm gonna fulfill that I'm gonna 251 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:48,480 walk through there's gonna be evidence in your flesh there's gonna be a mark in your flesh 252 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:55,840 that that says you are a part of that promise and so he says you're gonna keep the covenant right 253 00:27:56,720 --> 00:28:00,640 what does it mean to keep a covenant or keep a promise that means you're gonna do what the 254 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:06,400 promise says but there was no work there was no okay I'm gonna give you the land you're gonna 255 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:12,160 say 50 Hail Marys every day I'm gonna have a people come from you you're gonna pass out 75 256 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:17,200 magazines a week it was none of that it's just like there's gonna be this mark in your flesh 257 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:23,120 it's almost like like not in the exact way but when when farmers would brand a cow right there 258 00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:28,720 was a mark in them that says they belong to me in that arrangement the cow didn't do anything 259 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:35,280 he just got a mark burned into his flesh this is the idea here and so the mark the sign is 260 00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:42,080 circumcision circumcision we should all know what that is we can all just deal with it as adults 261 00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:47,360 we know what's going on here right it's not an uncomfortable thing to think about now today 262 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:53,760 we know circumcision is done on babies and it's usually done because it there's health reasons 263 00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:59,680 and other reasons to do this but not everybody has their child circumcised people go why was it the 264 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:06,160 eighth day here and the understanding is is in their time you know in their medical technology 265 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:12,560 whatever you want to call that it was eight days was when the child their immune system and stuff 266 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:17,520 was was at its prime condition to heal from that and so that's the understanding there but 267 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:22,880 God says this is to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you throughout your 268 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:28,720 generations meaning for all time if anybody wanted to say hey I've heard about this God 269 00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:33,760 I heard about these incredible promises he made and and who did he make those promises to 270 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:40,800 you could identify the people by a mark in their body that they were different from the world 271 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:49,840 that they looked different than everybody else now early on this physical sign of circumcision 272 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:56,160 became an it was an outward sign of a person's inner spiritual commitment to God 273 00:29:56,160 --> 00:30:02,720 because this this circumcision wasn't what made Abraham Abraham saved if you will we already read 274 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:07,680 earlier that he was accounted his belief was accounted his righteousness to him 275 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:16,160 this was just a sign that that faith was there in deuteronomy 36 we see the spiritual application 276 00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:22,320 of this concept of circumcision it says the Lord God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of 277 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:27,840 your descendants and you will love him with all your heart and all your soul so that you will live 278 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:34,960 that verse tells me something very important that there is a problem with our heart our spiritual 279 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:43,600 condition there's something in or on our heart that prevents us from loving God the way we should 280 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:50,240 and it says that there's going to be something happen that the Lord God will cut off our hearts 281 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:57,040 there's something happen that the Lord God will cut away that thing that is over your heart that 282 00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:03,120 prevents you from loving him he's going to cut it away he's going to do something about the barrier 283 00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:08,160 that exists between you and him and again the sign of circumcision is something that was 284 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:14,160 prophetically looking forward to a future work Jeremiah four four it says circumcise yourselves 285 00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:19,600 to the Lord remove the foreskin of your hearts men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem 286 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:26,880 so again this physical outward thing was meant to be representative of something that was happening 287 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:35,520 inside now both practically and spiritually the idea is a cutting away of the flesh is a is a 288 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:43,760 getting rid of that which is preventing us from being with God in that sense but the idea of that 289 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:49,520 sign was that this person has made a commitment to live differently than the world this person has 290 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:56,640 made a commitment to say I'm giving myself to God that I believe in him and this sign is the evidence 291 00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:03,360 of that in my outward life significantly circumcision involved Abraham Abraham's 292 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:11,200 procreative ability right again the background of Genesis 16 God gave me a promise of a people 293 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:19,520 a nation I have to have babies to do that my wife can't have babies so he went with Hagar and had a 294 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:28,240 baby and God's going okay that was an effort of your own work and so what we're going to do as a 295 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:34,720 sign that no human work will ever achieve my promise is is we're going to cut away the flesh 296 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:40,000 we're going to cut away that which represents your own effort to bring about my promises 297 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:45,600 now in verse 14 he says if any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin that 298 00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:54,400 man will be cut off from his people he has broken my covenant and you go well what does that mean 299 00:32:55,440 --> 00:33:01,840 it means if you didn't take this sign upon yourself you are declaring that I am not a part of the 300 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:07,600 promise that's what he means if any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin he has 301 00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:12,880 cut off from his people now I don't know if that was a tongue-in-cheek way to reference the whole 302 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:16,960 thing right if this ain't cut off then you're going to be cut off but the whole idea here 303 00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:26,080 is what he's saying is this is the only way to to show that you're a part of my covenant 304 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:35,120 to to show that you're a part of my covenant this is the way that I am prescribing this is how you 305 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:41,920 are going to show that you were one of my people you see this is very unlike what Cain did if you 306 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:48,960 remember with Cain and Abel the problem with Cain is God said I want this from you and Cain said well 307 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:54,720 I'm going to give you whatever I've decided to give you not what you want and God rejected Cain's 308 00:33:54,720 --> 00:34:01,120 offering this whole thing here is an exercise and God's saying when you do things my way 309 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:08,880 according to my word and my will my promises are fulfilled like I've made promises to you and and 310 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:14,480 you're going to represent those things in in how you live now it's not that how you live it earns 311 00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:23,120 those promises but the book of James talks a lot about you're saved by faith but if you're saved 312 00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:32,320 there's going to be evidence in how you live and so here circumcision served as a warning 313 00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:39,520 that there's no other way but God's way that this Hagar thing that was not the way taking it upon 314 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:45,280 yourself that was not the way it's me I am El Shaddai I am the one that's going to establish how 315 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:52,880 things are accomplished and too many people approach God in the world today like like God is 316 00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:59,280 applying for the position of deity in their life and so they'll approach God and say okay God let 317 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:05,200 me look at your application here you know you've said you're gonna do this and do this and do all 318 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:10,640 these awesome things and you know but but I need to make sure you fit the job description of God of 319 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:16,240 my life right and so I need to make sure you're non-judging and I need to make sure that you're 320 00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:21,200 tolerant of all things and you accept all relative morality and if you pass all this well then 321 00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:28,080 congratulations God you get the job I'm allowing you to be God in my life and they they put forth 322 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:32,560 these this is how you're going to be God of my life and this is the part of your word I'm going 323 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:38,560 to listen to but this part I'm going to reject because I disagree with it and that is not the 324 00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:46,240 relationship that we're to have with God God is the one who establishes how we are saved God is 325 00:35:46,240 --> 00:35:50,000 the one that establishes the relationship we're going to have with him God is the one who 326 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:56,880 established establishes what he expects from us but it starts from a place where he says just believe 327 00:35:56,880 --> 00:36:06,880 in me and then let the sign of your belief develop in your life now verse 15 he goes on now to say 328 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:12,800 look I've established who I am I'm El Shaddai I've established who you are so that you understand 329 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:16,960 it's not just going to be this limited scope my promise is much greater than you could possibly 330 00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:23,600 understand this is going to be the response from you your people that your faith is real that your 331 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:31,120 faith is true and then he goes on to say as for your wife Sarah do not call her Sarah for Sarah 332 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:38,080 will be her name I will bless her indeed I will give you a son by her I will bless her and she 333 00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:44,880 will produce nations kings of peoples will come from her and Abram fell face down again 334 00:36:46,720 --> 00:36:54,480 now it could be because he was reverencing God again it could be because he was just shocked 335 00:36:54,480 --> 00:37:01,440 how many years has he had been waiting to to to see if Sarah was going to be the one 13 years 336 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:06,400 of well we figured it out with Hagar maybe Ishmael's the one and now God is finally telling him no no no 337 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:13,600 it's her I can imagine what might have went through Abrams Abraham's mind there is well God 13 years 338 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:20,400 ago she might have been able I might have been able but I'm a hundred now 339 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:26,320 I can't it's impossible and then it tells us he laughed and he said to himself can a child be 340 00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:34,480 born to a hundred year old man can Sarah 90 year old woman give birth it was it was incredulous to 341 00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:41,120 him it was almost absurd beyond understanding that that this would happen and so he said to God if 342 00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:48,960 only Ishmael were acceptable to you I'm not going to lie to you I'm not going to lie to you I'm 343 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:54,400 not going to lie to you God is addressing the very point of their struggle the very point of their 344 00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:59,840 doubt the very point of their worry and the the source of all the contention and the grasping and 345 00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:07,920 the solving he's now addressing the barrenness of his wife now we do notice that that God waited 346 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:16,720 until it was absolutely impossible to step in and go I'm going to do it now if he had done it 13 347 00:38:16,720 --> 00:38:22,000 years before it might have been like well you know hey we accomplished this but God's like no no I'm 348 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:29,040 going to wait until it is so ridiculous that you fall on your face laughing before I'm going to 349 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:34,800 cause this to come to pass in your life why so that there's no possible way it could be attributed 350 00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:41,920 to anything but God's power and to represent this he says you're going to rename her from Sarah to 351 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:48,480 Abraham now this is very interesting definitions here because Sarah and Sarah both mean the same 352 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:57,360 thing princess it's like oh how cute right he didn't this is my princess oh Abraham that's so 353 00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:06,240 awesome but if it's the same name then why is there a difference here and so digging down into the 354 00:39:06,240 --> 00:39:10,960 Hebrew squiggles and dots right in the language there's all this stuff that changes meanings 355 00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:21,600 here's the subtle nuance between the two Sarah means my lady or my princess the scope of the 356 00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:29,120 word princess in in that regard has a very narrow scope it's referring to her princess meaning she 357 00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:36,320 has like royal authority over a very narrow scope of authority like a family that she would be the 358 00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:43,200 princess of the family but in the Hebrew when you change the squiggles and dots and it becomes Sarah 359 00:39:44,240 --> 00:39:48,160 it no longer means princess narrow scope it means princess without restriction 360 00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:59,920 or you might say princess of nations not princess of just a family and so now what we see is you had 361 00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:06,080 the one who was named father of many father of large family if you will renamed father of many 362 00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:12,000 nations and kings will come from you and then he reneems the one who was barren whose name was 363 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:17,840 princess of a nation princess of a family princess of a people to now princess of many nations 364 00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:23,120 the scope of the promise went from their limited understanding to now global application 365 00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:28,800 and this is the first time that God is verifying that the child of promise will come from the body 366 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:36,000 of Sarah it had to blow their minds it blew Abraham's mind Abraham's mind see I'm gonna 367 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:38,880 have to get used to calling him Abraham now because I've been calling him Abraham for so 368 00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:44,640 many weeks so I'm gonna go back and forth a lot just bear with me but he falls down again like 369 00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:50,960 again it could either be in respect or he's falling down in laughter over the mere notion of it you 370 00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:59,360 know he's like the mere notion of me and Sarah at our age you know it's it's humorously absurd but 371 00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:06,240 the question is is he laughing in unbelief is he saying God this is impossible we've dealt with 372 00:41:06,240 --> 00:41:10,880 this a couple times in Abraham's life and the answer is it can't be unbelief because the 373 00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:17,200 commentary we have in the book of Romans chapter 4 Paul says this about this incident this moment 374 00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:21,600 speaking of Abraham he says he believed hoping against hope so that he became the father of 375 00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:28,240 many nations according to what had been spoken so your descendants will be he did not weaken 376 00:41:28,240 --> 00:41:32,080 in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead since he was about a hundred 377 00:41:32,080 --> 00:41:37,840 years old and also the deadness of Sarah's womb so when we read here in Genesis that he laughed 378 00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:43,600 he's like can this happen Romans tells us that it wasn't that he was doubting and saying God 379 00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:47,760 that's impossible there's no way because it says he did not weaken in faith when he considered that 380 00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:55,280 it says in verse 20 of Romans 4 that he did not waver at unbelief or in unbelief at God's promise 381 00:41:55,760 --> 00:42:00,240 but instead he was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God because he was fully convinced 382 00:42:00,240 --> 00:42:06,240 that what God had promised he was also able to do so then when we come back here and look at Genesis 383 00:42:06,240 --> 00:42:10,240 we can't conclude that Abraham is going God no way it's impossible 384 00:42:10,240 --> 00:42:14,240 we also see no disapproval of his laughter here God doesn't rebuke him for it 385 00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:20,320 now later on when when Sarah laughs God rebukes her for it and we'll read that when we get there 386 00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:26,240 God's like why did Sarah laugh and so that tells us that her laugh was a laugh of unbelief but 387 00:42:26,240 --> 00:42:31,920 Abrams here is simply him sitting at the edge of plausibility we've talked about that in previous 388 00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:38,080 things right Lord I have faith increase my faith Lord I have faith increase my faith 389 00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:44,400 Lord I believe in you but man my belief is limited you're blowing my mind here nations kings 390 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:51,680 barren wife it's finally gonna happen it's not Ishmael and just the concept just blew his mind 391 00:42:52,720 --> 00:42:58,400 but he believed and so he offers Ishmael it's like if he was just alive to you this would be so much 392 00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:03,760 more believable right Ishmael's here I could see him right I know he's a punk but still 393 00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:10,880 but verse 18 God said no your wife Sarah will bear you a son and you will name him Isaac I will 394 00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:17,440 confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring so again God 395 00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:27,520 gently corrects Abraham no that conclusion is incorrect Ishmael Yab would make sense to your 396 00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:32,560 human understanding he's already here you could see him but no that's not what's gonna happen 397 00:43:34,080 --> 00:43:41,520 Sarah is gonna bear you a son and and and since it's so humorously absurd to you 398 00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:49,840 to contemplate that you're gonna name him laughter that's what Isaac means right we talk about this 399 00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:54,880 whole meaning of names people calling father of many father of many and he's going to name him 400 00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:59,600 people calling father of many father of many and he's going oh man I feel kind of like hey father 401 00:43:59,600 --> 00:44:04,240 of many nations really people are gonna make fun of me no I'm promising you you're gonna have a kid 402 00:44:04,240 --> 00:44:10,240 this is what's gonna happen here's the covenant I made oh my gosh lord I just that's that's almost 403 00:44:10,240 --> 00:44:15,360 ridiculous in my head great you're gonna name him laughter so that for the rest of their life as 404 00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:21,040 Isaac was growing up laughter come over laughter dinner's ready laughter I mean just reminded at 405 00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:31,920 that moment where he laughed at the notion of what El Shaddai could do verse 20 as for Ishmael I've 406 00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:37,920 heard you I will certainly bless him I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly and 407 00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:43,760 that was the promise he gave to his mother Hagar he will father 12 tribal leaders and I will make 408 00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:50,960 him into a great nation that indeed happened that took place the offspring of Ishmael were were 12 409 00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:57,040 tribal leaders and and that's the Arab peoples that came from them and and yeah many nations many 410 00:44:57,040 --> 00:45:03,440 great people from there but you'll notice there it says a great nation that's just going to be a 411 00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:11,760 limited people verse 21 but I will confirm my covenant with Isaac whom Sarah will bear to you 412 00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:19,760 at this time next year and when he finished talking with him God withdrew from Abraham Abraham so like 413 00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:25,520 I said Ishmael did indeed go on to father 12 sons and they flourished in numbers but the promise of 414 00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:32,800 God the covenant the covenant that tied all the way back to Genesis that there would be an offspring 415 00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:38,800 who would defeat the serpent defeat sin defeat death redeem the people that God created humanity 416 00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:46,800 the promise of all of that and the promise that these people are going to get this land came through 417 00:45:46,800 --> 00:45:55,120 Isaac not Ishmael that is the crux of the problems in the middle east and has been for centuries 418 00:45:58,400 --> 00:46:05,360 Muslims rewrite this story to put Ishmael in the place of Isaac and go the land is ours and that's 419 00:46:05,360 --> 00:46:12,400 why they're constantly fighting against Israel Israel who are the Jewish people the offspring of 420 00:46:12,400 --> 00:46:21,840 Isaac say no God promised us the land it's ours and this fight is going to go on until the end 421 00:46:23,840 --> 00:46:28,800 but for anybody that rewrites the story and what they do in in Islam they're wrong they're 422 00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:36,000 absolutely wrong and so God gives a timetable which he hadn't done before right this time next 423 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:42,080 year she's going to have a baby so so God has been revealing more about the promises as Abraham's 424 00:46:42,080 --> 00:46:46,800 been growing in faith and learning how to be faithful right a lot of times we think God if 425 00:46:46,800 --> 00:46:52,480 you just tell me everything up front I'll be good just give me the whole promise and the reality is 426 00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:56,720 is I think if God told us every detail up front we would definitely find things to argue with him 427 00:46:56,720 --> 00:47:01,040 about okay it's going to happen like this it's going to be this time next year did it what's 428 00:47:01,040 --> 00:47:08,080 next year I got a vacation planned God we can't do this thing next year right well we'll always 429 00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:13,440 think of a way to doubt and to fight and to go well God and and so what he does is he reveals 430 00:47:13,440 --> 00:47:19,600 something to us and then he says step in faith with that knowledge I can't tell you the rest yet 431 00:47:19,600 --> 00:47:26,480 you're not ready to hear that but I've given you step one and we'll even argue about that he's like 432 00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:34,320 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 433 00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:41,920 cool let me tell you a little bit more okay step two right and then we keep growing in our faith 434 00:47:41,920 --> 00:47:46,640 and growing in our obedience and and you know exercising that that muscle of faith with him 435 00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:53,200 and we keep moving forward and and and sometimes he'll reveal things as we go on and so here he's 436 00:47:53,200 --> 00:48:00,720 finally telling them this time next year verse 23 so Abraham took a son Ishmael and those born in 437 00:48:00,720 --> 00:48:05,920 his household or purchased every male among the members of Abraham's household and he circumcised 438 00:48:05,920 --> 00:48:12,240 the flesh of their foreskin on that very day just as God had said to him Abraham was 99 years old 439 00:48:12,240 --> 00:48:17,120 when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised and his son Ishmael was 13 years old when the 440 00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:23,040 flesh of his foreskin was circumcised on that very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised 441 00:48:23,600 --> 00:48:28,000 and all the men of his household whether born in his household or purchased from a foreigner 442 00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:34,640 were circumcised with him now this is another area where those adherents of Islam will say look 443 00:48:34,640 --> 00:48:39,760 Ishmael was a part of the covenant he was circumcised wasn't that the outward sign of the 444 00:48:39,760 --> 00:48:46,080 covenant yes it was the outward sign but it was supposed to be or intended to be the outward sign 445 00:48:46,080 --> 00:48:52,960 of a faith that existed within and that is how we become part of the covenant even as spiritual 446 00:48:52,960 --> 00:49:00,720 believers today Ishmael was not a part of the promise and so that tells us again that just 447 00:49:00,720 --> 00:49:06,720 because we do outward things doesn't necessarily mean inwardly we have a faith in God that is 448 00:49:06,720 --> 00:49:13,760 saving us but Abraham's belief in the covenant we see that very clearly because his obedience to 449 00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:19,440 the command was immediate right every male in his household so he didn't say God I'm going to do 450 00:49:19,440 --> 00:49:24,960 part of it no he's like every male okay I can imagine that that all the guys in the camp that 451 00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:30,720 day were like whoa Abraham what are you trying to do here but he said all of us God said so 452 00:49:31,760 --> 00:49:37,920 then it was immediate he did it that very day and it was very daring it was it was risky for him 453 00:49:37,920 --> 00:49:44,800 because he incapacitated all of his fighting men all of the trained men remember those guys that 454 00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:49,360 he took with him to go defeat the four kings incapacitated all of them I mean this was actually 455 00:49:49,360 --> 00:49:56,720 a physical thing that happened I don't care how old you guys are snip snip and that was a painful 456 00:49:56,720 --> 00:50:01,920 thing it took time to recover from and so he was risking a lot by saying I'm going to incapacitate 457 00:50:01,920 --> 00:50:08,080 every male in my camp but he trusted God and we learn again from that it's like when God says to 458 00:50:08,080 --> 00:50:16,720 do something we do it when God says to do it in the scope God says to do it in the manner which 459 00:50:16,720 --> 00:50:25,680 God says to do it Pastor Gary used to he taught me something years ago he was talking about being a 460 00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:31,280 leading a business or an organization that type of thing he used to always say you know the type 461 00:50:31,280 --> 00:50:36,240 of people that you you want to you want to have you know in your organization if you're leading 462 00:50:36,240 --> 00:50:42,800 people is those that when you ask them to do something they'll say yes before they argue with 463 00:50:42,800 --> 00:50:50,160 you about it and he goes I don't mind hearing the objections hey are you sure because I think this 464 00:50:50,160 --> 00:50:53,920 might be a bad idea he goes but what I want to hear from the people that I've entrusted is yes 465 00:50:55,040 --> 00:51:00,960 because there's an authority I have right and I've tried to teach that to my staff as well it's like 466 00:51:00,960 --> 00:51:05,600 hey I'm all for the objections I'm all for the hey Pastor Nathan maybe you're not thinking about 467 00:51:05,600 --> 00:51:10,960 this this might be a bad idea but I want to know that if I ask you to do something from the 468 00:51:10,960 --> 00:51:16,480 authority position of authority I've been placed in that you're just going to say yes and and it's 469 00:51:16,480 --> 00:51:22,160 this type of thing that we learn that God is the same way I'm God I've given you instruction 470 00:51:22,880 --> 00:51:29,680 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 471 00:51:29,680 --> 00:51:36,080 to then come back with well maybe Lord you didn't consider this we do it anyways which is silly 472 00:51:37,280 --> 00:51:45,840 but obedience is to have the faith to say your else should die yes I mean and it doesn't matter 473 00:51:45,840 --> 00:51:50,560 how silly it is right hey I've made a promise to you and what you're going to do is do this very 474 00:51:50,560 --> 00:51:59,440 sensitive thing what no yes and God said do it today I'm going to do it today right a lot of 475 00:51:59,440 --> 00:52:05,120 us wrestle with that God is speaking to some of us in here about things and he and he may have said 476 00:52:05,120 --> 00:52:08,320 do it yesterday and you didn't do it and you're going well you know 477 00:52:11,200 --> 00:52:16,400 God wants us to have faith in him to trust in him in his way because his way is the only right way 478 00:52:18,240 --> 00:52:26,000 and and so Abraham did all this all to declare that he and the people he were responsible for 479 00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:31,600 were a people devoted to God the sign was to indicate that that they were supposed to be 480 00:52:31,600 --> 00:52:36,960 people who denied their flesh people who were in pursuit of God this is this is what the sign 481 00:52:36,960 --> 00:52:43,840 meant now Abraham and Sarah did indeed have kings from them we've talked about this a little bit 482 00:52:44,560 --> 00:52:50,560 at the end of Genesis Jacob is going to prophesy that the king like the offspring that everybody's 483 00:52:50,560 --> 00:52:55,760 looking forward to is going to come from the tribe of Judah later on in the Old Testament Balaam 484 00:52:55,760 --> 00:53:00,720 prophesies that a star will come from Jacob and a scepter meaning the sign of a king will rise from 485 00:53:00,720 --> 00:53:06,960 Israel then when king David came onto the scene God promised to him your house and your kingdom 486 00:53:06,960 --> 00:53:13,840 will endure before me forever the throne will be established forever 400 years after that Ezekiel 487 00:53:13,840 --> 00:53:18,880 recorded God's words where God said I will establish over them one shepherd he will tend 488 00:53:18,880 --> 00:53:25,520 them himself and he will be their shepherd Isaiah the prophet spoke of the coming prince of peace 489 00:53:25,520 --> 00:53:32,320 who will establish an endless government and rule on David's throne the prophet Zachariah said in 490 00:53:32,320 --> 00:53:39,840 Zachariah 9 9 rejoice greatly daughter Zion shout and triumph daughter Jerusalem look your king is 491 00:53:39,840 --> 00:53:46,880 coming to you he is righteous and victorious humble and riding on a donkey and so from this 492 00:53:46,880 --> 00:53:52,480 time forward all the way down to the generations Israel was looking forward to what God had promised 493 00:53:52,480 --> 00:54:00,000 Abraham and Sarah that that that kings and a king the one who would ultimately defeat the ultimate 494 00:54:00,000 --> 00:54:03,680 offspring who would defeat Satan would come and they were looking forward and looking forward and 495 00:54:03,680 --> 00:54:10,880 God kept giving them more pieces in the information down through the histories and then one day we 496 00:54:10,880 --> 00:54:18,160 read in the gospels on a Sunday morning we call Palm Sunday Jesus sent his disciples out said go 497 00:54:18,160 --> 00:54:22,000 get this donkey it's going to be right there exactly how he told you it's going to be when 498 00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:26,960 the owner freaks out because you're taking it tell him this the owner will be fine and then Jesus 499 00:54:26,960 --> 00:54:33,440 rode into Jerusalem on the back of that donkey fulfilling prophecy and we read in Matthew there 500 00:54:33,440 --> 00:54:39,840 that the crowds went ahead of him and they shouted Hosanna to the son of David blessed is he who comes 501 00:54:39,840 --> 00:54:49,440 in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest heaven see what began through Abraham was completed 502 00:54:49,440 --> 00:54:55,200 in his ultimate offspring that the king of kings the lord of lords came into this world 503 00:54:56,400 --> 00:55:01,520 he arrived here lived as a human but in the process of that at the very end of his life before he went 504 00:55:01,520 --> 00:55:06,960 to go pay the price for everybody's sin he told his disciples I'm establishing a new covenant 505 00:55:08,560 --> 00:55:15,840 a new covenant a covenant that's going to supersede the old one a covenant that's about a land but 506 00:55:15,840 --> 00:55:21,760 it's a land in heaven a covenant that's about a people but it's a people of all races all cultures 507 00:55:22,400 --> 00:55:30,640 every background if they put faith in who God is they will be saved and Jesus said this new covenant 508 00:55:30,640 --> 00:55:37,200 as we get through New Testament teaching was was sealed by the Holy Spirit as Ephesians tell us that 509 00:55:37,200 --> 00:55:41,360 our hearts are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise the guarantee of our inheritance 510 00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:47,520 it was evidenced by a new sign you see the old covenant was established by the shedding of blood 511 00:55:47,520 --> 00:55:54,960 those animals were cut it was the shed blood of Jesus Christ that established the new the old 512 00:55:54,960 --> 00:56:00,400 covenant was sealed by God doing this ceremony and walking through and in covening with himself the 513 00:56:00,400 --> 00:56:05,280 new covenant sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise on our hearts the old covenant was evidenced 514 00:56:05,280 --> 00:56:11,600 through the sign of circumcision this sign of you saying I am voluntarily willing cutting away my 515 00:56:11,600 --> 00:56:18,000 flesh as a sign that I have put faith in this one that he I trust him and I'm a part of this 516 00:56:18,000 --> 00:56:26,080 covenant well Paul says in Colossians 2 that the outward sign that we have put faith in Jesus 517 00:56:26,080 --> 00:56:32,960 Christ is baptism that is the sign that is what we do publicly to say hey everybody I've put my 518 00:56:32,960 --> 00:56:39,920 faith in Jesus it wasn't circumcision that saved them it's not baptism that saves us it's a faith 519 00:56:39,920 --> 00:56:44,560 and a trust in him and who he is and what he has promised now if you've put your faith in Jesus 520 00:56:44,560 --> 00:56:51,440 Christ the Bible says you've passed from death to life the Bible says that you have been given a 521 00:56:51,440 --> 00:57:01,520 new heart why because the flesh that was on the heart is cut away by our belief in Jesus Christ 522 00:57:01,520 --> 00:57:07,840 we are given a new self we are a new creation the Bible tells us not like those under the old 523 00:57:07,840 --> 00:57:13,840 covenant who are like okay I believe in you but I'm still controlled by my sin but in the new 524 00:57:13,840 --> 00:57:19,440 covenant the flesh is cut away once and for all permanently and we are able to love God the way 525 00:57:19,440 --> 00:57:24,480 he's calling us to love him to live in the way he's calling us to live for him and as we talked 526 00:57:24,480 --> 00:57:30,080 about what's in a name when we come to Christ and we give our life to him he gives us a new name 527 00:57:30,080 --> 00:57:39,840 all of us what is that new name beloved you are a child of God you are in my family now now and 528 00:57:39,840 --> 00:57:46,640 forever for it says in Galatians 3 26 through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus 529 00:57:46,640 --> 00:57:53,680 let's pray father we're so grateful that you sent your son to this earth to die for us 530 00:57:53,680 --> 00:57:58,640 God as we study through the beginning of your promises here in Genesis and as we'll see them 531 00:57:58,640 --> 00:58:08,320 carried through the generations of this people Israel that you called to be the light of you to 532 00:58:08,320 --> 00:58:15,760 be the the the examples the representatives of you even Lord as we look through the history of them 533 00:58:16,800 --> 00:58:22,640 becoming arrogant in that we are not going to be able to live in the way that you have been 534 00:58:22,640 --> 00:58:28,720 becoming arrogant in that and mislabeling it and misliving it and and thinking Lord that that he's 535 00:58:28,720 --> 00:58:35,440 even as they came to believe that the physical act of circumcision meant that they were essentially 536 00:58:35,440 --> 00:58:41,920 saved and yet God we know through all of that the ultimate purpose of all that was our spirit was 537 00:58:41,920 --> 00:58:48,160 our heart it's not about the outward thing it's about the inward thing being changed and yes God 538 00:58:48,160 --> 00:58:52,560 we believe that your word says that when we internally have been changed when we've put our 539 00:58:52,560 --> 00:58:57,840 faith in you and you've given us a new heart that Lord the life we live on the outside is different 540 00:58:59,440 --> 00:59:03,120 that God you called us to make that public profession in baptism and then 541 00:59:03,120 --> 00:59:11,120 Lord as we lead a life living differently just as those who were circumcised in the old testament 542 00:59:11,120 --> 00:59:16,720 under the old covenant were very clearly different people than the rest of the world Lord the life we 543 00:59:16,720 --> 00:59:27,200 live the love that we live the grace and the forgiveness and the mercy that we give others 544 00:59:27,200 --> 00:59:33,600 because you've given it to us Lord so clearly declares that we are different people in the 545 00:59:33,600 --> 00:59:39,840 world around us so Lord we're so grateful for our salvation and we're so grateful for the changes 546 00:59:39,840 --> 00:59:48,080 you wrought within us and Lord we're so grateful that you did all the work you paid the price 547 00:59:49,360 --> 00:59:54,480 you died the death that we were due you rose again from the dead something we can never do on our own 548 00:59:54,480 --> 00:59:58,000 God you were at the right hand of the father today praying for us 549 01:00:01,040 --> 01:00:08,640 because Lord we're quite honestly so hopeless on our own but God we are so grateful that it's 550 01:00:08,640 --> 01:00:15,600 through faith we are accounted righteousness just like Abraham who became Abraham Lord I pray like 551 01:00:15,600 --> 01:00:22,560 him we would understand the scope of your promises in our life are well beyond what we could ever dream 552 01:00:22,560 --> 01:00:30,240 of and that like little children we would have a simple faith of just believing that you or else 553 01:00:30,240 --> 01:00:39,280 should die you are God Almighty there's nothing for us to fear there's nothing for us to worry about 554 01:00:39,600 --> 01:00:49,200 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 555 01:00:52,080 --> 01:00:58,480 I pray God gives you opportunity to be that light right it's a different heart that we have being 556 01:00:58,480 --> 01:01:03,920 saved people and the life we live is one of shining that that light of glory into the world and 557 01:01:04,480 --> 01:01:11,520 let God use you let people see that you are different you don't need to get into all these 558 01:01:11,520 --> 01:01:17,120 weird details about your heart being circumcised they probably won't understand that but tell them 559 01:01:17,120 --> 01:01:21,760 about the God who created them who loves them and who could change their life and save them forever 560 01:01:21,760 --> 01:01:28,320 that is what it's all about that was the whole plan and purpose that the God who loves us so dearly 561 01:01:28,320 --> 01:01:52,800 would do the work to redeem us that we would be saved and forgiven amen all right God bless you guys