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So let me invite your attention
to the 17th chapter of the book of Genesis. And we have here
more unfolding of this patriarch Abraham. But keep in mind, we
are primarily learning about who God is. So where we learn
about the family, we learn about the people, we learn about the
nation, We learn about this covenant that God has made with the patriarch,
Abraham. And much of this is unfolding
for us here in the 17th chapter. We can see that there is a progression
of awareness. Abraham is growing in his knowledge
of the Lord. And this is true of us as well,
isn't it? There are things that we know
about God today, not because God's showing us new things,
But because of different circumstances in our lives, because of relationships
in our lives, because of hardships, because of successes, what are
we doing? We're learning how to relate
to God in all of them. So we're learning how to relate
to God. God's not becoming more than he is. We're just understanding
him better because of how he's revealed himself to us. And so
we come to the 17th chapter with desire to want to know more of
God and more of how He relates to humanity. Now, we've been
long introduced to the phrase covenant theology and this covenant
of works and what church history will refer to as a covenant of
grace and all of this there is another covenant or language
of a covenant that encompasses both works and grace and is the
covenant of redemption. How is God going about his redeeming
of a people who are fallen into his glory? Well, he has a covenant
of works. Man can't keep his covenant,
his end of the covenant, so God keeps man's side of the covenant
by being righteous, being holy, And then God imputes that righteousness. He gives that righteousness to
man. And this, we could call this
the covenant of grace, where God does our side of the covenant. And how does he do this? By us
responding to his glory, by repenting, believing the gospel. Here, this
Bible says that in doing so, you are saved. But it's not because
of something we've done It's because of the work of God, it's
because of the revelation of God, because of the redemption,
the work of redemption, the saving of humanity. So we're still using
the terminologies. We will eventually get to a point
where we will want to break out the clearest forms of the definitions
of covenant of works or covenant of grace. Along the way, though,
I want to be using the phrases as we journey through the text
that we have that we can begin to see that we could have some
of these moments of, I see this, I understand this, I comprehend
this. And in doing so, then whenever
we're ready to give definitions to this, it will be it will be
glorious. And and this is how it's going
to work. There's some in this room that
already have a working grasp of covenant theology. Others
of you are thinking, you know, preacher, I've never heard this
kind of talk. I don't know what you mean by covenant theology. I don't know what you mean by
a covenant of works and a covenant of grace, a covenant of redemption.
What are you talking about? Well, I want to let the narrative
of the text really speak to our souls. And in doing so, there's
going to be somewhat, I'm careful to use this word, but it's the
best word we can use progression. You know sometimes we surrender
good words to the liberal world and the word progress or progressive
somewhat carries a negative term for us. But it shouldn't. There
should be some understanding we know more now today than we
did 10 years ago 20 years ago not because God's changing and
so it's now we're seeing this it's because we're changing God's
changing us he's opening our eyes he's clearing our ears he's
showing us himself and in so doing so we we will become more
we will be able to comprehend Him more. And that God is, even
though the Bible will describe God as inscrutable, the language
of the Bible, it's almost incomprehensible for us to get our minds around
this eternal nature of God. That God has always existed.
God didn't have a beginning. Which is altogether, the prophet
Isaiah, God is altogether different. than you and I. You and I have
beginnings. You and I will have an end in
our temporal existence. This is not like God. An everlasting
God cannot have a beginning. It's logically impossible for
Him to have a beginning. So we can't even, this is inscrutable,
we can't even begin to comprehend that which did not have a beginning.
And yet this Eternal God reveals himself to us and so then we
we actually can have levels of comprehension and that will progress
as we grow and As we understand and as really as we live really
under this This position of the Bible is the authority God has
revealed himself through the writers of the Bible and that
all we can do now then is to submit ourselves to what they
wrote. We trust what they wrote to be
inspired by God, that in its original letters it is infallible,
it is inspired by the Holy Spirit. We are working with a translation
which is an additional effort for us. What shall we do though? We shall diligently study and
examine these words of God and then apply them to our minds. So let's do that. We have in
the 17th chapter, the unfolding, more unfolding of this covenant
that God has with Abraham and that this is an everlasting covenant. So what does that What does that
mean? Well, let's apply today. Let's get some more of the narrative
under our belt and more of it into our understanding. And so,
if you're already at that 17th chapter, and by the way, if you
have your worship guide that's provided for you as well in your
bulletin, you'll see that it will help us as we walk through
the progression of our worship service together Now that you're
at the 17th chapter, in just a moment I'm going to invite
you to stand for the reading of the word and while you're
standing that you would say together, give us the book. And then after
I'm done reading the text, I'll say this is the word of God and
we'll say together, and we believe it. So stand with me for the
word, for the reading of the word. This is the 17th chapter. I'm
going to read it in its entirety. We will not be able to examine
every unpacking piece of this, but let's get a big block of
the text into our hearing. We've already examined the first
eight verses in the previous time that we gathered together,
but let's include it in the reading as well. Now, when Abram was
99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am
God Almighty. walk before me, and be blameless. I will establish My covenant
between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.' Abraham
fell on his face, and God talked 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 Abram, but your name shall be Abraham. For I have made you
the father of a multitude of nations. 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. I will give you and your descendants
after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an
everlasting possession, and I will be their God. 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.
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 a sign of the covenant between me and
you. And every male among you who is eight days old shall be
circumcised throughout your generations. A servant who is born in the
house or who is bought with money from any foreigner who is not
of your descendants A servant who is born in your house or
who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised.
Thus shall my covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting
covenant. But an uncircumcised male who
is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person
shall be cut off from his people for he has broken my covenant.
Then God said to Abraham, As for Sarai, your wife, you shall
not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will
bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I
will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations, kings
of peoples who will come from her.' Then Abraham fell on his
face and laughed, and said in his heart, Will a child be born
to a man 100 years old, and will Sarah, who is 99 years old, bear
a child? And Abram said to God, oh, that
Ishmael might live before you. God said, no, but Sarah, your
wife, will bear 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. Now as for Ishmael, I have 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. But my covenant I will establish
with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year."
When he finished talking with him, God went up to Abraham,
up from Abraham. 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. Now Abraham was ninety-nine
years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin,
and Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised
in the flesh of his foreskin. 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." This is the Word of God. Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you for recording the
history of your people in such a way that when we study it,
we not get lost in the details of the people, but that we would
see what you're revealing to us about you. Be glorified this
morning while we apply our minds, open our eyes that we may see,
and give us ears to hear what the Spirit would say to your
church. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. We have here a lot of information. What we want to do primarily
is know what is this telling us about God. This should be
no surprise to us. This is our greatest desire when
we read Scripture and that in it And what we learn about God,
we would learn how we must respond to him and what he requires of
us. So with with as much information
as there is here in the 17th chapter, it's obviously we're
going to have to we're going to have to be here. We're going
to have to visit this text multiple times over the next, if the Lord
will allow, over the next several weeks. And so you may walk away
from today thinking, oh, you know what? He's not going to
address that that thing we just read. He is going to address
that thing we just read. You may be thinking, I don't
know when he's ever going to actually get to the point where he gives
us the working definitions of the covenant of works and the
covenant of grace, this covenant theology. We will. We want to. And I want to myself grow in
understanding of this. But today, again, we're going
to let our attention land on the narrative of the text that
gives some revelation about the work of God. And then ultimately
what we need to do is eventually hear what the Apostle Paul especially
teaches in the New Testament concerning this covenant, this
covenant that involves circumcision, the house of Abraham, or really
the house of Isaac, because there will be where the covenant that
God's made with Abraham that it will move through the house
of Isaac. And so what we have here, we
have the language, we have circumcision that's listed here. We're learning
as we have from pieces that we can apply out of the 16th chapter. We're just going to really want
to take the block of the text, knowing here that there really
is no hard change between the 16th to the 17th chapter in the
original text. It's a continuous flow. Even
though there's a block of time, from the close of the 16th chapter
to the opening of the 17th chapter. So as you pointed out, as you
acknowledge when you read it, you can see that. And when Abram
is 86 years old is when Hagar is born. This will be 13 years
prior to verse one, Abraham is now 99 years old. Thus, it would
have to mean that Ishmael is 13 years old. And again, you're
going to hear Abraham's appeal to God for Ishmael. We'll see in God, God promises
a blessing upon the house of Ishmael. So we're learning about
who God is. We've learned along the way that
from chapter 16 and chapter 17 that God is a God who sees. God is a God who hears. When
we get to the 17th chapter we're given a new name for God that
is El Shaddai God Almighty this will be how God will refer
himself to Abraham in these moments of the text God Almighty this
is important for us because we want to know make note of the
fact where Abraham is in location at this point he's in the land
of Canaan and this land is ruled by a people who have invented
gods of all kinds. So for God to identify Himself
to Abraham as El Shaddai or God Almighty, He is making a claim
to Abraham about Himself that He is the Almighty. So if you're
gonna go and worship another god, you're showing your foolishness
by worshiping lesser gods. Now we'll learn as the Bible
unfolds, that these other gods are really not gods at all. But
in the mind of man, man has convinced himself of this god and that
god, the moon god, the sun god, the rain god, this god, that
god, every kind of god you can think. The god of reproduction,
the god of pleasure, the god of sadness, all of these competing
gods in the universe. God has come to Abraham and said,
I am the Almighty. Meaning, instructing even in
His very name itself, quit wasting your time on all these lesser
gods who, as He will reveal Himself throughout all of the rest of
Scripture, who really are not even gods themselves. Matter
of fact, we'll learn from Isaiah. We'll learn from Jeremiah. We'll
learn from Moses. We'll learn from the journey
out of Egypt. We learn that the gods of men,
they have to be placed on carts in order to be moved from place
to place. Man has to move them. Man has
to prop them up. Man has to glue them back together
when they get toppled over. You want to worship that God?
Okay, show your foolishness and worship that God. But Abraham,
I am the Almighty God. Meaning there is no other God
besides me. So we get this description of
how does Abraham respond to this. We should be telling to us how
should we respond to God Almighty. We should respond to Him in humility. When the Bible describes Him
as falling down on His face, that is a description of humility. Now this will be similar to the
way others will have encounters with God. What will they do?
They will humble themselves. God will instruct Moses to remove
his sandals, because in the very place that he's at, because God
is presently here, is holy ground. Moses will desire to see the
face of God and God will say, it can't happen. If you saw my
face, you would be consumed immediately by my righteousness. So God lets
him see from the other side of the face of glory. This is the
way man should respond. to God Almighty. So we've learned
along the way the name Abram means father. We learn here the
introduction, the changing of Abram's name from Abram to Abraham. Abraham literally means the father
of many. So his name is changed from father
Abraham to father of many nations. The father of nations who will
come forward and will learn in the Old Testament that this means
All nations where there are believers, they are descendants, they're
spiritual descendants of their father Abraham who believed in
faith and trusted that God would provide a sacrifice for man's
sins. Abraham is already shown that
he's a practicer of the worship of the Almighty. We learned this
a couple of chapters back when Abraham is goes to rescue his
nephew Lot. And then on his way back, he
comes into contact with the king of Salem, which again is the
region, the city of Jerusalem, the king of peace. And there,
what does Abraham do? He offers sacrifices to God. So Abraham has a growing knowledge,
a growing awareness as God is revealing himself more and more
to him. And now we're seeing that Abraham
has comprehension. This is past where the scripture
even says that he believed with faith, as the writer of Hebrews
would credit the previous actions of Abraham as his believing faith. So Abraham is a believer of the
Almighty God, and now the Almighty God is telling him he is the
Almighty God. response to this revelation,
God changes his name from father to father of many. And as I mentioned
last week, this is important for us to note here. He's not
the father of many religions. That's wrong application. And
isn't that what so many religions want to do? They want to attach
themselves and be known as Abrahamic religions. Well, they are not. Abraham is not the father of
different religions. He's the father of many nations.
He's the father of the believing people who will respond to God
the same way that he did. And God will apply to him a spiritual
descendancy of those who would believe like him. And what God's
going to do moving forward here is God is going to use the physical
descendants of Abraham as the type of the spiritual descendants
who will come through all generations. This will be an everlasting people. So be an everlasting covenant. And God's going to use the temporal
covenant to describe the spiritual. He's going to use the temporal
covenant of of the flesh to the spiritual covenant that he makes
by the blood of his only begotten son. So we're we're up to speed. We're we're we're here. We're
in understanding. Let's include some more information
about Sarai. We'll be back to Abraham in just
a moment because he responds in a manner that seems similar
to the way Sarah will respond to this news in the next chapter
but the laughter that Abraham gives is different than the laughter
that Sarah gives. We want to see the difference
there of that and that will help us again I think in understanding
how careful we have to be with our own emotions and how we respond
to the work of God. But let's get some more understanding
of Sarai. She's still known as Sarai at
this moment. And that God is telling Abraham
about the multitude of nations that he will be the father of.
So we see in verse 6, 7, and 8, there's God saying, here's
why this is going to happen. Verses 9 and following, here
will be the marker. Here's how the rest of the world
will know that you are of the house of Isaac. from your father
Abraham, but you're from the house of Isaac. And that will
be that all throughout all their generations, they will circumcise
their children. And so from that, I know I'm
moving past a big block of scripture, but I do want us to get some
information here about Sarai. So we'll move to the 15th verse.
We'll be back to those verses in between here. We're just gonna
continue to get the big narrative piece. So God says to Abraham
in verse 15, As for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her
name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. Now this name Sarai,
very similar to the name Abram. Abram means father. Sarai means
princess. What the name change will do
here is it makes application, not just to, he's a father, he's
a father of many nations, that Sarah's name is changed to Sarah,
here meaning the mother of princesses. This is who Sarah will be. Now, keeping in mind here, Abraham
is now 99 years of age. Now his ancestors, they would
have never thought I'm too old to have children. They would
have never thought I'm too old to get a woman pregnant. Noah,
Ham, Sham, Japheth, Adam, all those guys who lived
900 years, and you would hear at such and such age, at this
unbelievable, inconceivable age, Abram's not of that generation.
Abram is of a generation like you and I. 99 is an extremely
old age, isn't it? And God's saying to Abraham,
or as He's changing His name to Abraham, I'm going to make
you the father of many nations, He's saying the same thing to
Sarai, who is well known as being barren. We go back to the 16th
chapter. We already know that this is
the status of Sarai. She cannot, never has born children. She cannot. So, there's where
that conceived idea from Sarai and Abraham and Hagar, this idea,
well, apparently, this is what God meant by, you'll be the father
of many nations. Which is not what God meant by,
you're going to be the father of many nations. This is what
God means by, you're going to be the father of many nations.
And it's going to come from your seed, the seed from Sarai, who's
now whose name now is Sarah. And so, God says, I will bless
her and indeed I will give you a son by her. And I will bless
her and she shall be the mother of nations. I don't want to pass
over that. This is so consistent with everything
we've been learning along the way from Genesis chapter 1 really
of Genesis chapter three, the creation of man, and that God
says of Eve, all living will come from you. A beautiful emphasis
upon the woman whom God created. We'll know that every time that
there is mention of a multiplication of a nation or a people or a
family, that it always comes back. And this is so beautiful
here that the name Sarai means princess. it means my princess
so this would be Abraham's way of referring to his wife if you
will a nickname that he could have used for her was my princess
or called her I mean in that language it would have been every
time they're hearing him call her Sarah they're hearing princess
in their language so now her name being Sarah meaning the
mother of many nations, the princess of many princesses. You're not going to get a multiplication
of nations without women. Amen? It's not going to happen. If it's all up to men, we're
doomed. It's over. It's all, not just,
not just Well, the application of that obviously has to be,
you have to have a man and you have to have a woman. So this
is not a women's lib, kind of a flourishing, women go ahead
and take hold of your power. But really here, it is a call
to you to recognize again, the high place that God has put you
in as the mother of nations, the mother of children. the mother
of generations. Now, I know, we have to deal
with, this is coming from a woman who's advanced long in her years
and has borne no children. And it's possible that you've
not borne children. It's possible you can't bear
children. But women, that doesn't put you in a lesser position.
Because all women are representing really this position of motherhood,
giving of life. If you're a woman, you represent
to society the capacity to bear children. The capacity to increase
the population. You get it, don't you? How counter
this is to the modern culture. The world population is crazy
out of control. We've got to convince women to
not have more children. Well, in a modern day, it appears
as though that advancement has been rather successful. But it's
a message that is counter to Scripture. God has placed woman
in a glorious position. Matter of fact, if we go back
to that Genesis 3 text, we'll learn, God will specifically
say, the seed of the woman will come the one who will crush
the head of the serpent. Not the seed of the man, the
seed of the woman. This, again, is prophetic language
that this one who will come, this Messiah who will come out
of Genesis chapter 3, this Messiah, He will come in a miraculous
manner. He will not come through normal
practices of humanity. He will not come into the population
through the normal course of action of of the consummation
of marriage between husband and wife. This Messiah will come
through the seed of the woman. This is impossible, isn't it? And it is. Remember, we've heard
the language of the New Testament already in the Bible in the early
pages of the book of Genesis. Nothing is impossible for God.
It's not normal, is it? This is an anomaly. I mean, this
is so extraordinarily an anomaly that man can come to no other
conclusion that this is indeed a miracle of God. Genesis chapter
17 is really a reminder. It's for the ears of men to hear
that the promise of a Messiah will come through the princess. Sarah won't bear the Messiah. Just as we might begin, we could
look back and think of Adam and Eve's relationship. Out of the
garden, they're bearing children. Remember that first murder that
Cain slews Abel. There was the position in the
mind of Adam and Eve that Abel, their firstborn, may be the Messiah. And now what do we do now? Because
Cain has killed him. How will he crush the head of
the serpent? Well, God's not promised Eve would be this one,
but it will take the practice of reproduction to eventually,
to the moment, to the specific time in world history, as the
New Testament will reveal this, at a special, specific moment
in time. The prophets will prophesy of
that time. They will prophesy of the region,
the city, The place, the manner, we'll speak of it forever. Genesis
chapter 17, if we're listening with our spiritual ears, we're
hearing the promise that God will keep his covenant. God will
keep his promise that he made to Adam and Eve. As they fell
in the garden, God will redeem them. And he will do this through
the advancement of his covenant. the power of His name, of His
glory. So, chapter 17 is essentially
the language that we should always be paying attention to in Scripture.
And God uses, keep this in mind, we already know this about Sarah. She's a little bit of a firecracker,
isn't she? She's come up with her own plan.
begins to sound a little bit like Eve in the garden. Comes
up with her own little idea. Did God really say this? Is this
really how God's going to do this? Is God keeping this from
us? Sarah has a lot of similarities
to this. But by the grace of God, by the
glory of God, Sarah will stand as a reminder to all of humanity
of the glory of motherhood. The glory of femininity. The
glory of women, which is the glory of God, which is the glory
of man, which is her glory. And that she will be, by design,
this representative of the one who will bear children. The rest
of the world wants to murder children. But the people of God,
the house of God, are always rejoicing and celebrating The
birth of children, what we stand really has a great contrast to
the rest of the world, don't we? Just as a reminder, and I
don't need to get sidetracked here, but a reminder to us, I
think we have great reason to rejoice the reversal of the Roe
v. Wade decision by the Supreme
Court back in the early 70s. We have great reason that the
Supreme Court reversed that position just a couple of years ago. But
we also must understand that the bloodthirsty world still
hates what comes from women. The bloodthirsty world hates
women, really, because they hate their babies and they want to
murder them. We now know, two years, two and
a half years past Roe v. Wade reversal, that we are murdering
babies at record numbers in our nation. This because a woman
can do it in the privacy of her own home through a internet link
to a medication that they can murder the child with medications.
They don't need, no longer does a woman need an abortion clinic
to murder her child. She can do it in the privacy
of her own home. Now understand this, that is
the exact opposite kind of power and glory that God speaks about
for the position of women. Every woman in this room, you
are not second class citizens and you don't need me to tell
you this. The Word of God is perpetually elevating you not
to be worshipped above man or to be equal with the worship
of God, Men don't do it, but men ought to, what the New Testament
says, what the book of Proverbs says, men ought to rise when a woman
enters a room. Hey, by the way, what has happened
to our society that we don't do that anymore? What has happened
to a society that when a woman enters a room, that men don't
get up and offer their chairs to her any longer? So that's
not just something of etiquette. That's not just being chivalrous.
That's actually mankind behaving in an honorable way toward the
position of women, mothers, princesses. Well, we don't need to make too
much of it. Every man in the room says, yeah,
tell me about it. We don't need to make much of it. But I'm telling
you, we ought to be making more of it than we currently are. We have to recognize that God
gave women a glorious role. Women, may God bless you. If God hasn't blessed you with
children, you are not lesser of a woman. Keep this in mind. Has God been the one who has
not blessed you with children? Or are you participating in the
modern phenomena of not wanting children? Glorify God in who
you are. Sarah, I represent, excuse me,
Sarah is who I should refer to her as from here forward. Like Eve, the mother, who was
the mother of all, Sarah is the mother of nations. I'll just
stop there for a minute and not get too lost in the sidetrack
position. But don't you know that the world wants to continue
to tell the church, you have no business in politics. And
I don't know how to read Genesis chapter 17 without some kind
of an acknowledgment that God is interested in nations. God
has an intricate design for the usage of politics. I'm not talking
about this political party over that political party. I'm saying
God has an interest in nations honoring Him. Nations who forget
their God will do much and worse than what your current nation
is doing. Well, I'll get ahead of myself. So let me just refer back here
to what God's showing us by changing Sarai's name to Sarah, the Mother
of Nations. So to call her the Mother of
Nations is to say she is the mother of mothers. Yes, the promise is going to
come through the seed of man. The covenant that God makes with
Abraham is going to come through his sons, yes. But for there to be any more
advancement of the seed of the covenant that God makes with
Abraham, it will require that there will be mothers who will
bear children to women who will bear children. who will bear
children to those who can bear children. This is the plan of
God. Now perhaps you're thinking,
oh, I don't know, preacher. It crushes me to think of this.
I understand. God is a God of mercy. God is
a God of grace. So let me just say, if you've
acted more worldly on this matter, Cry out to God. He is a God full
of mercy. He is a God full of grace. He
does forgive. He can forgive. No higher honor has been given
to women than this, that they have the capacity to be the mother
of nations. What do men do? Men go to war. Men are fit and designed for
war. Women are not. Women are made for birthing children. Life. Men are made for war. By the way, it won't be long,
you'll have a resolution in front of you as a church, that we would
have a response to our government who wants to draft our daughters.
Not on our watch, You may draft other women's daughters, but
you will not draft our daughters. Now you're saying, preacher,
I don't know, you're saying something pretty dogmatic that we've not
looked at yet. I understand that, but you're going to get an opportunity
to. And I think we are mandated by the power of God to respond
to a godless nation that thinks it's okay to put women in combat. Men are designed for combat.
Women are designed for the glory of God to birth nations. And so we want to be a church
that says, who forcefully, lovingly, and truthfully speaks to our
government, who doesn't understand this right now, who's on a trajectory
to pass legislative law that they have a right to put our
daughters, should the need come out, on the front line. I say, doesn't that help explain
to us? Not explain, but doesn't it put
some understanding to us of the plight that we are currently
in as a nation? The idea is not for equality
to put women, or equity to put women in combat. The problem
here exists that we've been murdering sons for so long, we may not
have the capacity to put an army strong enough to defend against
invaders. So we're going to have to use
those whom God has said are the givers of life, and we're going
to have to give them a gun to murder, to kill. I'm not suggesting
that war is always murder. I think some wars can be, but
not all. There is just war where it is
not a breaking of the commandment of God that you shall not murder.
The killing of an invader would be permittable. But the idea
here is counter even to Genesis chapter 17. Now there's something
we learn about both God and man. God is the Almighty God who has
no beginning. He has no place of origin. He
has every right of authority to tell man whom He created how
he should conduct himself in the temporal day. So this everlasting God, the
question is not too difficult for God, is it? The question
is not The question of the eternal nature of El Shaddai, the Almighty
God, puts him in position that he is altogether unlike all other
gods of man. It would be helpful for us in
conclusion that we get Isaiah the prophet, as I mentioned with
the boys and girls earlier, that Matthew Henry likes to refer
to Isaiah as the fifth gospel. Here's one of the reasons why.
Isaiah chapter 9, Let me read these seven verses, the first
seven verses of chapter nine, and see and hear how this promise
that God has given to Abraham and Sarah, that Abraham will
be the father of many nations, and that Sarah will be the princess
of many nations, the mother of mothers. What does this have
to say to us in the trajectory years down the road from Abraham
and Sarah, past Moses, past the kings, the majority of the kings. We're in the late days of the
kings by the ninth chapter, or by the time we get to Isaiah.
So Isaiah chapter nine, verses one through seven. You're familiar
with this text. But there will be no more gloom
for her who was in anguish. In earlier times, He, that's
God, treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Nephtheli with
contempt. But later on, He shall make it
glorious by the way of the sea on the other side of the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles. By the way, we should stop and
fire on all cylinders here, right? This is generations past Abraham. And these are nations that have
come from God's people. The nations of the Gentiles,
this includes them, this includes all of them, the kings, it includes
the queens, it includes the nations. Verse 2, this will include this. Verse 2, the people who walk
in darkness will see a great light. Those who live in a dark
land, the light will shine on them. You shall multiply the
nation. Here it is a singular, multiplying
the nation. And you shall increase their
gladness, and they will be glad in your presence, as with the
gladness of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. Verse
4, For you shall break the yoke of their burden, and the staff
on their shoulders, the rod of their oppression, as at the battle
of Midian. Every boot of the booted warrior
in the battle to molt, the cloak rolled in blood, will be for
burning fuel for the fire. Here it is. For a child will
be born to us. A son will be given to us. The
government, there's more of that politic language, isn't it? Not
to get too lost here, but the government, the nations, will
rest on His shoulders and His name will be called Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. This is including all 17 chapters
of the book of Genesis by the way and all of this projecting
forward to the promise of the Messiah who will come from the
seed of the woman. Verse 7 there will be no end
to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of
David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore
the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this isn't it a glorious thing to
hear the gospel in Genesis chapter 17. It's not a place where we would
normally say, there's where I want to turn and see the news of the
gospel, but there it is. God's telling Abraham, you'll
be the father of nations. And they're telling Sarah, you'll
be the mother of all those who give life It's almost exact,
very similar language in which he speaks of Eve in the garden.
The glory of man here lays for the promise that God will make
to them through the coming of the Messiah. The Gentile, or
the Galilee of the Gentiles, the nations, Christ will come. and all governments will be under
his authority. They will all submit to him. It is of interest, isn't it,
the kind of day that we live in where it seems as though no
nation anywhere wants to submit to the authority of Christ. Oh, but we shall wait. The promise of God is glorious.
The revival of His church and the awakening across the lands
of men will come the news of the gospel springing forth and
salvation sprouting. It's not too far for us to consider
that out of the land where missionaries once were known to go and to
die and be buried in, that the gospel took root when they got
the gospel to the people. We are actually seeing right
now a rising of a new missionary force to the world out of lands
where once they ate the missionaries who showed up. Out of Africa now, we're hearing
the rise of Christianity. Christian nations have birthed
in a land that once surrendered to any God and every God that
will do. Glory be to God. God has fixed
in this nation a church who's been given the responsibility
to be the bearer, the pillar, and the buttress of truth. So what shall we do in a day
like this? We shall stay our course, and we shall go to war
with the culture. It's going to require us to be
diligent about raising our sons and daughters. This is the long
game. This doesn't get fixed in a quick
little moment. We're in a hot mess of a nation. What shall the church do? She
shall cry out to her God and He will be her refuge. And may
God give us a nation who once again knows that there is no
God but God.
Abraham and Sarah
Series Genesis
| Sermon ID | 73124211817149 |
| Duration | 54:30 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Genesis 17 |
| Language | English |
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