Pressing Home the Covenant at the End of Hope

Let me have you, turn in your Bibles this morning to Genesis chapter 17. We are continuing in our study of the Book of Genesis, and as we continue in our study, we come this morning to Genesis chapter 17. My goal today is to cover verses 1 through 27. And if you want to give a title to the message, it would be Pressing Home, the Covenant.

At the end of hope. Pressing home the covenant at the end of hope. in John 11, you guys, many of the story. Jesus shows up in the little town of Bethany after Lazarus had died.

And both Mary and Martha, when they saw Jesus after he arrived in Bethany, They approached him at 2 different points, but both of them said exactly the same thing to Jesus. They both said, Lord, if you had been here, My brother would not have died. It was their hope that Jesus would have showed up earlier. And performed a miracle of healing Lazarus so that he would not die.

And this is why they had sent word to him days earlier. But Jesus delayed. In coming to Bethany, intentionally. And little did Mary and Martha realize that Jesus intentionally delayed coming to them because he wanted to do the greater miracle.

Of raising Lazarus from the dead. Mary and Martha were reaching out to Jesus hoping for a healing. What they got instead was a resurrection. And I kept thinking about that story in John 11 as I studied Genesis chapter 17, this past week because I'm pretty confident that Abraham at some point in this chapter felt very similar to how Mary and Martha.

felt in John 11. Just a little bit of backdrop so that you can appreciate this. In Genesis chapter 12, God promised to make of Abraham a great nation. In Genesis 13, God promised to make Abraham's descendants as plentiful as the dust of the earth.

In Genesis 15, God promised to give Abraham a son from his own body. And make his descendants like the stars of heaven. For 10 or so years, God was making these kinds of promises to Abraham, and yet no child ever came. We saw a few weeks ago how in Genesis chapter 16, Abraham and Sarah I decide we're gonna help God a little bit.

And we're gonna take matters into our own hands and come up with our own plan of having a child. So the plan was that Abraham would sire a child through Hagar, who was Sarah's servant girl. And we saw how they made a huge mess in the process, just like we often do when we go our own way and try to help God sinfully. But in the end, we saw how God intervenes, we saw how Ishmael was born and valuable lessons.

are obviously learned. And in the last verse of Genesis 16, we're told that Abraham is 86 years old. Now think with me just for a moment because this will help to prepare us for Genesis 17. If Abraham was inclined to think this way, The events of Genesis 16 would have at least shown Abraham that he is still physically able to get a woman pregnant.

So Abraham could have thought that there is still reason to hope and the possibility. of Sarah getting pregnant, if God would just somehow do a miracle and open up her womb. She's 10 years younger than Abraham. So if you take Abraham's reproductive ability at the age of 86 and combine that with the miracle of God opening Sarah's womb, then a child through Sarah is within the realm of possibility, right?

Well, if you don't mind writing in your Bible, in the space between the last verse of Genesis 16, And the first verse of Genesis 17, you can write the words 13 years. In verse one of Genesis 17, we learned that Abraham is 99 years old when the events of Genesis 17 begin to take place, which means that there are 13 unrecorded years sandwiched in between the last verse. of Genesis 16 and the first verse of Genesis 17. Imagine What a weight that was for Abraham.

I have a toothpaste at home that has on the toothpaste bottle, it promises a radiant smile in just 5 days. And I remember when I first read that it was all I could do to wait 5 days for a radiant smile. I can't imagine. Waiting 13 years like Abraham is having to wait here and getting older and more incapable in the process.

13 years at Abraham's age is long enough for him to lose his natural ability to reproduce a child. Through Sarah. And that's exactly what happens. According to Romans chapter 4 verse 19, and Hebrews 11:12, by the time we get to Genesis 17, we're told that Abraham's body is as good as dead from a reproductive point of view.

In Romans 4:19, Paul also speaks of the deadness of Sarah's womb. And guys, it's right here. At this moment of Abraham and Sarah's life, which actually looked more like death. That God appears and speaks to Abraham with a vibe that says, all right, Abraham, let's go.

We're just getting started. What we will learn today in this chapter is that the place where God loves to meet us. is right at the end of our resources. This is true of our salvation in Christ, and it is often true in the Christian life as well.

In the topsy-turvy world of the gospel, death is not the end, it's the beginning. And one of God's favorite places to meet with us is on the dying end of hope. What we find in this chapter is an explosion of God's promises to Abraham. It will feel very much like a resurrection to Abraham, and we'll see Abraham responding in faith.

At the age of 99 and responding in obedience to the call of God upon his life in this chapter. Here's how we'll break things down. There's an insert in your bulletin, seven developments in this account of God pressing the claims of his covenant upon Abraham. At the age of 99.

The first development is this, God promises to deliver on his covenant with Abraham. Keep in mind God made a covenant back in Genesis 15. Here he's gonna be promising to deliver on that covenant. Verse 1, the text says, now when Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him, I am God Almighty.

Notice the contrast. Abraham is 99 years old with all that goes along with that, but God is God Almighty. The expression translated God Almighty is else should die. And this is the first time that this name appears in scripture.

The name basically speaks of God as the all powerful, all sufficient one who can bring anything to pass that he pleases. God is not bound by the constraints of nature. He's not even limited by our inabilities. He can bend the forces of nature to do his will whenever and however he wants to.

He's El Shadai. God has many promises to make to Abraham in this chapter, but he starts off wonderfully by pointing to himself and reminding Abraham of who he is. His basic message here is Abraham, I am about to restate and expand on some promises that I've already made to you. These promises are going to be humanly impossible.

I don't want you looking at the deadness of your body or the deadness of Sarah's womb. I want you looking at me and I want you to remember that I am El Shaddai. Start your train of thought here. And remember this through everything I'm about to say, and you'll have no trouble believing anything I am about to say.

God then tells Abraham what he wants from him. He says walk before me and be blameless. This expression walk before me is the language of relationship. God wants Abraham to live his life in relationship with God and with the mindfulness that he is always in front of God, always before the eyes of God who cares very much about him.

He also calls Abraham to be blameless, which literally means to be whole. In other words, God is calling Abraham to be wholly devoted to God. With no part of him holding back or going in another direction. This is a call to surrender.

I want you to walk before me, Abraham, and I want you to be wholly devoted to me. God has just told Abraham what he wants from him here, but now he tells Abraham what he himself is going to do. And if you're doing a a study of chapter 17, go through the chapter and mark all the times you see the words I will. There's a lot of I will statements, and this is the first of them, verse 2.

God says, I will establish my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly, God says to a 99 year old man. The word that is translated establish here in the New American Standard is actually the Hebrew word forgive, which is translated with some form of the word deliver over 50 times in the Old Testament. Essentially, God is saying to Abraham, I will deliver on my covenant. And I will multiply you exceedingly.

Up until this time, God is saying to Abraham, I've been making a promise to you about your descendants. I've been saying it over and over again. We are now reaching the point in your life where I'm going to start delivering on that promise. Well, how does Abraham respond?

Look at verse 3. Abraham fell on his face. Clearly he's in awe. This is what you do when God shows up and talks to you.

But this falling on his face also would convey no doubt deep emotion, deep longing, maybe even confusion or a conflict of emotions. Imagine being Abraham and now hearing this promise from God after you are now past the point where you and your wife could have any children. This is a wrinkled old man whose body is as good as dead, and now God shows up. Now he makes these promises.

Really Abraham is on his face, feeling whatever he is feeling. Along with the awe. Over God speaking to him. Look at what God does next, and this brings us to the next development in this account of God pressing home, pressing the claims of his covenant upon Abraham at the age of 99, and that is that God details the promises of his covenant.

With Abraham. At the end of verse 3, look at what the text says, and God talked with him while Abraham is on his face. God talks with him. Saying, as for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations.

No longer shall your name be called Abraham. But your name shall be. Abraham The name Abraham in the Hebrew, not the English, but in the Hebrew has four consonants and it means exalted Father. But the name Abraham has 5 consonants in Hebrew, and God tells him the reason that he's giving him a new name.

He says in verse 5, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. That's the meaning of Abraham, the father of a multitude of nations. God then explains the name change further with some I will statements. Look at what he says starting in verse 6.

He says, I will make you exceedingly fruitful. And I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your descendants after you. At the very moment when Abraham might have wondered if God was now embarrassed by the earlier promises.

That he had made To him about giving descendants to him. And making of him a great nation, God here shows up and explodes with a rapid fire restatement and expansion on his earlier promises. God here is saying, I'm not regretting any promises that I made to you earlier. In fact, I'm restating them and I'm expanding on them.

As I speak to you at the age of 99. Here God says, I will make nations of you. That at least includes Israel and Judah and Edom. Which came from Esau.

God's not just gonna make a great nation of Abraham, but he will make nations plural of him. God also says kings will come forth from you. And we know that many kings descended from Abraham. In the centuries that followed, who reigned over Israel and reigned over Judah in the centuries to come, men like David and Solomon, and Josiah and Hezekiah, all of these men and many others descended from Abraham.

And we know that the ultimate King, Jesus, the Messiah of the world, descended from Abraham as well, which is why the very first verse of the New Testament reads this way, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son. Of Abraham And then, of all of these promises, most amazing of all, look at what God says to Abraham. He says, I, essentially, I will be God. To you and to your descendants after you.

That's a great question for you to ponder in your care groups tonight and tomorrow. And in your own walk with the Lord, what does that mean for God to say, I will be God? To you This is perhaps the greatest of God's promises to Abraham, and it's one of the greatest promises actually in the Bible. In this promise, God is saying to Abraham, he's saying, I will take the full scope of my goodness.

And I will put that into the service of your best interests to do good to you. It's hard to think of a better promise than to have God stand before you and say, I will be God to you. But that's what he says to Abraham. God then restates his promise regarding the land that he was giving to Abraham and his descendants.

Look at what he says in verse 8. He says, I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. Notice how expansive. This promise is he promises to give all of the land of Canaan to Abraham.

And to his descendants, and he promises to give it to Abraham's descendants as an everlasting possession. That word everlasting, you might want to mark that. This is one of 4 times that God uses the word everlasting in this chapter. As he speaks, the various aspects of his covenant to Abraham.

God here is assuring Abraham that he will deliver on his promises. But starting in verse 9, God asks something of Abraham. He's already called upon Abraham to walk before him, to be wholly devoted to God. He's called upon Abraham essentially to receive a name change, but there's something else that God will require of Abraham, and this leads us to the third development in this account of God pressing home.

Pressing the claims of his covenant upon Abraham at the age of 99 when his body was as good as dead. 3, God calls upon Abraham to implement the covenant sign of circumcision. I know you guys will be paying attention to this point. Look at what happens in verse 9.

God said further to Abraham, now as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout. Their generations. At the very least, this instruction means that Abraham is to guard these covenant promises of God that God has just spoken. And to keep the memory of them alive throughout his lifetime and throughout the generations to follow.

But God means something more. Than this There's something specific that God wants Abraham to do, to show himself a keeper of this covenant. In verse 10, look at what God says. He says, this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you.

Every male among you shall be circumcised. And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between me. And you Evidence, historical evidence indicates that there were other cultures in this day and prior to Abraham's day that practiced circumcision. Even the Egyptians practiced circumcision.

So this practice is actually nothing new in Genesis 17. What is new is the spiritual significance that God is attaching to this practice. In verses 10 and 11, God is telling Abraham that circumcision would serve as a sign of the covenant between God. And Abraham and his descendants.

There's something else unique here. That commentators point out, while circumcision was practiced by other cultures in Abraham's day and prior to his day, evidence indicates that the procedure. of circumcision was performed when a boy turned 12 or 13 years of age. It was a rite of passage into manhood.

Or it was done as a prenuptial ritual. Before marriage. I would imagine many remain single for that reason. However, God here is prescribing infant circumcision in verse 12.

Look at what God says in verse. 12, he says, and every male among you who is 8 days old shall be circumcised throughout. Your generations. At the very least, this requirement of infant circumcision shows that God wants Abraham's descendants to bear this covenant sign throughout virtually the entirety of their lives.

The practice of circumcision that God is imposing upon Abraham here also extends to Abraham's household servants, even if they weren't his descendants, including, in verse 12, a servant who was born in the house or who was bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your descendants. Verse 13, a servant who was born in your house or who was bought with your money shall surely be circumcised. The fact that circumcision here extends even to foreigners that were in Abraham's household.

Represents the truth, I think that God intends to bless all the families of the earth, all nations of the earth through Abraham, and God wants Abraham to extend This covenant sign to these foreigners in his household in order to reflect this reality.

Notice the summary statement at the end of verse 13. God says, thus, my covenant shall be in your flesh. For an everlasting covenant. God wants the sign of the covenant to be in Abraham's flesh.

In the flesh of his descendants and in the flesh of all men who lived in Abraham's household from that day forward. This is not a document that gets signed. No, God wants the mark of the covenant in the very flesh of Abraham and his descendants. Now, I really wrestled with where do we go with this and how do I talk about this topic.

I even listened to other sermons by other pastors to see what do they do with Genesis 17 looking for help. so we will try to keep everything in a way that, no one feels unduly uncomfortable. and without going into too much detail here, we can observe that circumcision is painful. It involves cutting the flesh.

It involves bleeding. And it actually points us to the fact that every covenant of God is enacted with blood. Back in chapter 15, we saw that animals were cut in two. And we saw God walk between the halves of the animals as he made his covenant promises to Abraham.

Here in Genesis 17, We see that God wants there to be a ceremonial cutting. And bleeding and permanent alteration in the flesh of Abraham and his descendants to serve as a sign. Of this covenant Both the cutting of Genesis 15 and the cutting here in Genesis 17 point to the ultimate cutting. And bleeding that Christ himself will endure at the cross.

And his death. At the cross serves as the ultimate ratification for every covenant that God ever made, including his covenant with us. So that much I think we can safely say, but having said that, let's just be honest for a moment. This practice raises questions.

A question that someone might honestly ask is why circumcision? Why make the mark of the covenant of all places there? Why not just a tattoo? On Abraham's bicep or something like that, wouldn't that be simpler?

And less painful. And to answer those questions, there's at least two thoughts that are worth pondering. First of all, let's at least observe. That God's instruction to Abraham here demonstrates his absolute lordship.

Over every part of Abraham's body, all the way to the most private sexual extremity of his body. Just as God, is it not true, has lordship over the sexual parts of our bodies. Today Do you believe that? Putting circumcision aside for just a second, do you believe that the lordship of Christ extends to the sexual parts of your body?

And do you live as if that's true? Do you do what God tells you to do? With the sexual parts of your body. This is so countercultural.

During an abortion rights march last year, one woman carried a sign that said, my uterus is greater than your God. During the recent Women's March, In Washington, many women were carrying signs that said things like, my body, my choice. Abraham would have never carried signs like that. Because he understood that his body belonged to God, including the most private extremities of his body, the sexual parts of his body.

Rather than carrying a sign that says, my body, my choice, Abraham's sign would have read, God's body, God's choice. And Abraham's attitude would have been, and we see this by the time the chapter is over, if God tells me. To get circumcised at the age of 99, then I will obey him no matter what. body part is involved or how painful or inconvenient that procedure may be because he is God and I am not, and he is the Lord of my whole body.

That's Abraham's attitude. But we're still left with the question, why circumcision and why on this part of the male body. Why make that the covenant sign? I don't have a full answer probably to that question, but I do offer another thought as at least a part of an answer.

And I ask that you listen with sanctified ears to what I'm about to say. Keep in mind that God's promises to Abraham center on Abraham's seed, right? And the promise that God would multiply Abraham's descendants. Who would issue forth from his seed.

Remember also, as Henry Morris says, the male sexual organ is the divinely created vehicle for the transmission of this seed from one generation. To another Given this fact, It's evident that God wants this organ on Abraham's body to bear the mark. Of his covenant promise so that whatever seed would issue forth from Abraham. In the future, it would pass through this mark.

Of the covenant Think about it this way, in Genesis 15, God has Abraham cut animals in two, and then God passes between the separated halves of the animals. Here in Genesis 17, God wants Abraham to experience the cutting. Of circumcision. So that all of his seed would henceforth pass through the result of this cutting.

Of circumcision Is that helpful? Obviously, this is a rich and meaningful symbol that God is pressing upon Abraham. It doesn't apply to us today as Christians. The New Testament speaks voluminously on the topic.

But it's a rich and meaningful symbol for Abraham and for his physical descendants and those who are in the households of the people of Israel. So God tells Abraham. That he and his descendants should henceforth be circumcised to bear the sign of the covenant in their own flesh, in the most personal of places. And there's no room for compromise here.

Look at verse 14. God says, but an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people. He has broken. My covenant In other words, he's removed himself from the blessings of my covenant.

It doesn't mean God won't fulfill his covenant promises. It means that person has removed themselves from the blessings. of what God will do in keeping His covenant. So this is Abraham's part in keeping the covenant, but there's more.

There's another development and it has to do with Abraham's wife, Sarah. This leads us to the 4th development in this account of God pressing the claims of His covenant upon Abraham at the age of 99, and that is that God names Sarah. As the one through whom Abraham will have covenant descendants. Look at what God says in verse 15.

Then God said to Abraham, And I'm gonna, I haven't been doing this all of these months, but I'm going to now pronounce Sarah's name the way it actually is in the Hebrew. as for Sarah, Your wife, that's how her name has been pronounced, up to this point of Genesis, even though we've been saying Sarah. For convenience sake. As for Sarah, your wife, you shall not call her name Sara, but Sarah.

Shall be her name. There's almost certainly no difference in the meaning between Sara and Sarah. Both of these names mean princess. But the new name represents a new pronunciation, a new dialect, which marks the beginning of a new era in Sarah's life.

It's a name of destiny for her. Look at what God says to explain why Sarah is getting a new name. Verse 16. He says, I will bless her, and indeed I will give you Abraham, a son by her, then I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations, kings of peoples will come from her.

This is actually, if you read the narrative of Abraham's life up to this point, guys, this is the first time that God has made a specific promise to Abraham that includes Sarah. In the promise. Up until this point, God has always talked about Abraham's descendants and a child coming forth from his body, but here God is specifically clarifying that Sarah is And has been all along included in These promises. Based on God's wording here, all the covenant descendants that God has been promising to Abraham will come through his wife, Sarah.

And God is wanting Abraham to start calling Sarah a name that is reflective of this destiny. God wants Sarah to start calling her husband Abraham, father of a multitude of nations, and he wants Abraham to start calling his wife by a new name that reflects God's promise and her destiny as well. God is about to do a great work and Abraham and Sarah's marriage. And he insists that they start seeing each other and referring to each other in a way that is reflective of this coming work.

that God is about to do. In other words, God is wanting Abraham and Sarah to start calling each other names. That are befitting to his gospel promises that he has made to them. Just as he calls husbands.

And wives to do today. And we have so much more reason. To call each other as husbands and wives much better names. In light of God's gospel promises.

I know I pound this drum frequently, but in my opinion, this is one of the great secrets of a gospel centered marriage. Husbands treat your Christian wife based on who she is in Christ. And what she is becoming. And what she will be in glory when she stands before God in dazzling splendor.

Wives, treat your husband. In the same way, I ask you, men, what names have you called your wife this week? Wives, how have you talked to your husbands? What names have you called?

Your husband's God is calling Abraham. To start. Referring to his wife by a different name that embodies the promise. God is saying to Abraham, I'm gonna do a great work in your marriage.

Your marriage right now is as good as dead, Abraham. But I'm gonna do a great work in your marriage and I want the names that you and Sarah call each other to serve as harbingers of that work. I want the way you treat each other now and talk to each other now to serve as the early rays of this coming dawn. Of what I'm gonna do Well, how does Abraham respond?

Well, Abraham, Abraham is a man of faith, but this is a little too much to take right now. And this brings us to the next development in the story of God pressing the claims of his covenant upon Abraham, and that is at least right now at this point in the narrative, Abraham balks. At the covenant promises of God and offers an alternative. We already know from an earlier verse that Abraham had fallen on his face.

Perhaps as God continued talking to him, Abraham had risen to his knees, but now that God has made these promises that he's just made about Sarah. And Abraham and Sarah, Abraham has heard enough. He basically has two responses, and his first response is in verse 17. Look at what the text says.

Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed. Literally, we can read the Hebrew in this way. Abraham fell on his face and Isaac. Then we're told that Abraham said in his heart, He dared not speak his doubts out loud, but he is thinking them and what he is thinking are two questions and the questions are, will a child be born to a man 100 years old?

And will Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child? Guys, this is exactly why God started his speech. At the beginning of Genesis 17, by saying to Abraham, I am El Shaddai. I am God Almighty.

But Abraham forgets this in the moment. And rather than remembering that God is God Almighty, who is making these promises, Abraham instead hears these promises and he thinks about his own elderliness. And his wife's old age. He thinks about how physically incapable he and Sarah are, and if you read these questions 1000 times, you'll notice in every reading that God shows up nowhere in his questions.

Abraham and Sarah's marriage is dead from a reproductive point of view. And that's all that Abraham can think about right now. We get that. So naturally, Abraham's thoughts lead him to speak out loud to God.

Look at verse 18, and Abraham said to God, oh, that Ishmael might live before you. Here is God making a staggeringly wonderful promise to Abraham, and Abraham looks at that promise from God and then says, Can't we just stick with Ishmael? Whom we produced through our own plan 13 years ago. Can't he just be the son of promise?

God promises Abraham something great and Abraham responds by trying to get God to settle for some lesser plan. And this is the way we often are. In fact, we're guilty of this every time we choose to sin. Every time we choose to sin, we are settling.

For something less than God's wonderful best. Because we are all settlers by nature. Having said what I've just said, there is still beauty. To appreciate in Abraham's words about Ishmael.

Abraham loved his son, Ishmael. He wants the best for Ishmael, and he wants Ishmael to be in on the promises that God is making now. So Abraham intercedes on behalf of his son. Ishmael is blessed to have a dad.

Who advocates for him in the presence of God like this. Well, how does God respond to Abraham? This brings us to the next development in this account of God pressing home the claims of his covenant upon Abraham at the age of 99, and that is that God rejects Abraham's plan and promises him a covenant son through Sarah. God is emphatic in his response to Abraham.

Look at verse 19, but God said, no. But Sarah, your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. The Hebrew word that is translated no is an emphatic word that is put on the front end of something that You're about to say that's contrary to something that's just been said. It's the word you use when you want to double down.

On a promise that you've made to someone who stands there doubtful. Or who is suggesting an alternative. It's what you as parents would say to your children when you say, You will be going to bed now. And they say, well, can I go to bed an hour from now?

And you say you would use this Hebrew word, ball. That's the Hebrew word. Parents, for you to use this. I should have had it on the screen, al.

That means no, you will surely go to bed now. That's how God is speaking here. God is answering Abraham's doubts. And answering his alternative plan by saying, no, Abraham, Sarah, your wife will surely bear you a son, and you shall name him, since you laughed, Isaac.

You will name him Laughter. And my covenant will be with Isaac and his descendants. But God also graciously responds to Abraham's plea regarding Ishmael. Look at what he says in verse 20.

As for Ishmael, I've heard you. Behold, I will bless him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of 12 princes and I will make him a great nation. The language that God uses here indicates that he will bless Ishmael because He heard Abraham's prayer for Ishmael.

When today you see the prosperity of the Arab peoples inhabiting some of the most strategic parts of the world, you can know that you are witnessing the ongoing answer of God to Abraham's prayer for Ishmael. Ishmael and his descendants will not be the children of the covenant, but they will be blessed because of Abraham's prayer. For Ishmael. This right here is a great encouragement for us as parents to pray for our children.

Do you pray? For your children. Do you call down the blessing of God from heaven upon your children? Ishmael was blessed to have a dad.

Who was praying And interceding on his behalf before the God of heaven. One of the greatest gifts that we as parents can give to our children is to be their advocate before God in prayer. Praying for the blessing of God upon them while they're in our home and praying all the more after they leave our home. Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher of over a century ago, spoke of how blessed he was to have a mom who prayed for him.

Listen to what he once said. He said, Certainly I have not the powers of speech. By the way, when Spurgeon, an eloquent man, says that, it's something really amazing. He had the power of speech to say anything he wanted to say, but here, He says, I don't know how to say it, and to express my gratitude sufficiently.

Certainly I have not the powers of speech with which to set forth my evaluation of the choice blessing which the Lord bestowed upon me and making me the son of one who prayed for me. And prayed with me. How can I ever forget when she, his mother, bowed her knee and with her arms about my neck prayed, oh, that my son might live before thee. Parents, give your children the gift of a praying parent.

Plead for their souls, call down the blessing of God upon them. As long as you live. Abraham prayed for Ishmael and God hears Abraham's prayer and promises to bless Ishmael. However, he insists that his special covenant promises will belong to Isaac.

Look at what he says in verse 21. He says, but my covenant, I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year. And what a wonderfully specific promise this is. Finally, God's been making generic promises up to this point.

Finally, this is no longer some generic promise. This is a promise from God with a time stamp on it. In 12 months, Abraham will have a son through Sarah, which means that Sarah is right now at most 3 months from conceiving. The child of promise in her womb.

Imagine how wonderful that was for Abraham who's waited for so long. To now hear this and know not only this time next year, but in the next 3 months, my wife is going to finally conceive. Once God gives this very detailed time stamp promise to Abraham, look at what happens, verse 22, and when he finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. So what does Abraham do?

Well, this leads us to the final development in this account of God pressing the claims of his covenant upon Abraham at the age of 99 and what Abraham does next here guys, shows us the true caliber of his faith in God. Number 7, Abraham obeys God and implements the sign of circumcision. Look at what he does in verse 23. Then Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all the servants who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day as God had said to him.

Keep in mind Not that you need this reminder, but keep in mind that circumcision is a painful procedure. It was a significant enough surgical procedure that it would leave a man in bed recovering for at least 3 days. But amazingly, Abraham did not delay in carrying out God's instruction. We're told here in the text that they were all circumcised the very same day, meaning the very day that God had spoken to Abraham.

We're also told that Abraham does just as God had said. To him, following God's instructions to the letter. No compromise, no delay. No alternative plans or procedures, just complete and swift obedience for Abraham and for his whole household.

Moses, who's writing this account, gives us the following details. He says, now Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin and Ishmael, his son was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. Guys, even though Ishmael was not a son, of the covenant promise, he was a part of Abraham's household, and Abraham not only wanted to obey the Lord because the Lord told him to do this, but he wanted Ishmael to honor the covenant that God made to Abraham regarding his son Isaac.

Also, God had promised Abraham that through his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed, and Abraham's circumcision of Ishmael would represent his belief that Ishmael and his descendants will ultimately be beneficiaries of this blessing as well.

Moses closes with a summary statement regarding the full scope of Abraham's total obedience to the Lord. Verse 26, in the very same day, Abraham was circumcised and Ishmael, his son, all the men of his household who were born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him. Abraham didn't stand before his household and say, all of you are getting circumcised today. That's not leadership He's saying God has told me to be circumcised, and I want you to be circumcised with me, and they were circumcised together with Abraham.

Abraham's faith is just staggering here. Imagine the family meeting. Yeah Imagine Abraham gathering everyone around after he had this visitation from God. And imagine this 99 year old man whose body is as good as dead, standing in front of his household and saying to them, God has appeared to me again.

He's promised me that he will give us a child through my wife Sarah. I want everyone starting now to start calling her Sarah. That's what I'm gonna call her and I want you to call her the same thing. And I want everyone to start calling me Abraham.

Because God says I'm going to be the father of many nations. God has told me also that this time next year, I will have a son through Sarah. And I believe God because he's made a covenant with me. And speaking of covenant.

And keeping that covenant, God has also told me to have all the men. In my household circumcised as a sign of his covenant. So today I want myself and every man among us in our household to be circumcised today. We will not delay, we're not gonna wait till tomorrow.

We will be circumcised today in obedience to the Lord. Again, obeying God's call to be circumcised was costly and painful for Abraham. It would leave the men of Abraham's encampment immobilized and unprotected from enemies for at least 3 days. And it was all based on an impossible promise.

that God hadn't even fulfilled yet. I'm sure the boys and the men in this household weren't jumping for joy over the prospect of getting circumcised. Yet Abraham led the way. And he obeyed God.

And he led his household in obeying God. And for the joy set before him, Abraham endured the pain of circumcision and bore in his body the mark of the covenant in anticipation of the fulfillment of God's promise to bring blessing to all the nations of the world through him. I find myself as I studied this chapter, wondering how I would have responded. To the promises of God and the commands of God in this chapter.

Would I have obeyed God? Would I have taken a stand and led my household? And following God's instructions. I ask you what I've been asking myself, would you have responded with the faith and with the obedience of Abraham?

More specifically, what promises has God made to you in His word? That you today are struggling to believe. What commands. from God's word, certain things that God has commanded you to do or not do.

What commands are you having trouble obeying? For whatever doubts you have this morning. I know the solution, and that is to remember that God is else should die. He is God Almighty and he has absolute power to fulfill all of his promises to you.

Start your train of thought with the truth of who God is and you will have no trouble believing any of his promises to you. We get into trouble when we start our train of thought with things other than else should die. Think of him And his power If you're struggling with obedience today, I could end this message by pointing to Abraham and say, come on guys, be like Abraham. But that's not my message this morning.

What I'd rather do is point you to the one greater than Abraham. Who obeyed God in a far greater way than Abraham ever did. 2000 years ago, God called upon his Son Jesus Christ to bear in his own flesh, the marks of a new covenant. God called Jesus to undergo scourging and crucifixion and a crown of thorns upon his head, and Jesus was left with scars in his hands and feet and sig.

How's that for a covenant ritual? And Jesus willingly endured all of that in order to provide us with salvation and grace and atonement for all of our sins and to bring us into relationship with God. And it is this Jesus who comes to us once a month here at Cornerstone and every other week in our care group meetings with the symbols of his covenant, the bread in the cup. And he calls us to eat and to drink these covenant symbols and receive them into our bodies in remembrance of Him.

That's how we honor the new covenant, not through physical circumcision, but by believing in Jesus and receiving him into ourselves, letting him circumcise our hearts. In Galatians 5:6, Paul speaks to Christians and says, in sight of Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. But faith, faith in him. Working through love.

That's what matters to God for those who are in Christ Jesus. And speaking of Christ Jesus, we learned in the New Testament, that on the 3rd day after Jesus' death, when his body was as good as dead, God raised him from the dead. Some would have seen Jesus crucified and buried in the tomb. And would have thought that God has showed up too late to save Jesus from dying, but God delayed and allowed Jesus to die and be laid in the tomb because he had a greater miracle in mind, the miracle of resurrection.

Jesus' body was dead in the tomb, yet God raised him to life so that Jesus now might live forever to save those who call upon him by faith. So maybe this morning you find yourself at the end of your resources. Maybe this morning, you would say I'm as good as dead. Maybe you're frustrated that God didn't show up earlier in your life and do that thing that you wanted him to do, and now it all seems too late.

Maybe you feel this morning like you're too old and washed up to be of much use to God anymore. Maybe you're now convinced that your marriage is as good as dead. Or some other relationship is as good as dead. Maybe you're looking inward.

And seeing that you are spiritually dead. If any of that is true, and that's where you are today, listen, that's not a bad place to be from one standpoint because where you are today, the location where you find yourself is exactly God's favorite place to meet with people and do his greatest miracles. And it may be that God's greatest work in your life is Dead ahead Look to Christ this morning. Whether you're doing that for the first time or you've known the Lord for years, look to Christ, keep receiving his grace, keep believing his promises, keep admiring his obedience and surrender yourself to him and to his love.

Let's pray together Lord, we thank you for the example of Abraham. We thank You, Lord Jesus, for what you endured. And how even at the right hand of God right now, you bear in your body the marks. Of the new covenant that we benefit from when we come to you by faith and believe in you.

Make us a people of faith, make us a people of obedience. who are primarily inspired by your obedience, Lord. And for any of us, Lord, that are here today that are Pretty much concluding that some significant thing in our life or maybe we ourselves are as good as dead. May we let you visit us in this moment.

And throughout the day today, may we open your word and hear freshly your promises. And may we look to you else Shadai. And let you do the work that you want to do in our lives. We thank you, Lord, for this opportunity to give of our offerings to you, receive these funds, do much with every penny that is given in this offering today for the spread of the message of the gospel.

At the same time, we surrender ourselves to you. And give ourselves to you in Jesus' name. And all God's people said,