Genesis 17 The Gospel Work
The Text
Genesis 17
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless.2 I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”
3 Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him:
4 “As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations.
5 Your name will no longer be Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations.
6 I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you.
7 I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you.
8 And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.”
9 God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep my covenant.
10 This is my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, which you are to keep: Every one of your males must be circumcised.
11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12 Throughout your generations, every male among you is to be circumcised at eight days old—every male born in your household or purchased from any foreigner and not your offspring.
13 Whether born in your household or purchased, he must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as a permanent covenant.
14 If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
15 God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah will be her name.
16 I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?”
18 So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to you!”
19 But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring.
20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father twelve tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation.
21 But I will confirm my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”
22 When he finished talking with him, God withdrew from Abraham.
23 So Abraham took his son Ishmael and those born in his household or purchased—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him.
24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised,
25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised.
26 On that very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised.
27 And all the men of his household—whether born in his household or purchased from a foreigner—were circumcised with him.
Our God
God creates mankind
Genesis 2
God Creates Abraham & Sarah
These two Gentiles -- descendants of Adam
God Creates Ishmael
God creates 12 mighty tribes from Ishmael -- these are the middle east -- all of the Arabic nations
The Muslim faith confirms that they are descendants of Ishmael
God Creates Isaac
Thru the grandchildren of Isaac, God creates the 12 mighty tribes of Israel
We know this as Christians
The Jewish faith absolutely confirms that they are descendants of Abraham through Isaac and then Jacob
God Covenants
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless.
2 I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”
3 Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him:
4 “As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations.
His Gospel
Who is doing the work of covenant?
9 God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep my covenant.
10 This is my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, which you are to keep: Every one of your males must be circumcised.
11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12 Throughout your generations, every male among you is to be circumcised at eight days old—every male born in your household or purchased from any foreigner and not your offspring.
Did Abraham do something to earn his righteousness by circumcision?
No! God's promise to us was marked in our flesh
13 Whether born in your household or purchased, he must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as a permanent covenant.
This was a symbol of God's faithfulness -- mark it down on your body.
Now we know why God was so specific with the nation of Israel witattoos -- don't worship dead people, worship God alone.
Don't go uncircumcised -- mark my promise on your flesh
Who is doing the work of sovereignty?
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless.
2 I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”
3 Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him:
4 “As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations.
5 Your name will no longer be Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations.
6 I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you.
7 I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you.
8 And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.”
Our Response
What did Abraham do?
Don't be crass. "Oooh that must be so difficult." Are you nuts? Abraham & Sarah were husband and wide and they enjoyed each other. End of discussion.
Turn that thought around: what is more plausible? Abraham and Sarah would have relations -- the very thing that God designed marriage to be or that they would not have relations?
Again, Abraham did not do anything outside what God ordained Abraham and Sarah to do.
This is not "God and Abraham working together to fulfill the covenant that God made."
This is "Look at what God has done -- everything -- to save his people from their sins."
That God would come as the Messiah to save us from our sins. That thought is magnificent in of itself.
But how he does it?
He creates mankind.
He does not create sin nor evil but he allows it to come to pass
But watch this: he alone possesses all glory! See how he glorifies by saving all of his people even the worst happens -- when sin happens and even we suffer
I will not give my glory to another.
God let these things come to pass
We as creation if we had it our way wouldn't never suffer.
And you know what we would do -- let certain things slide and go unnotice
Pretend its okay
Everything is fine
But sin crouchs like a lion wanting to devour us
Yet, God is holy
He will not allow sin to come into his presence
He is most holy -- he never not once has to endure the sickness and disease of sin.
The heavens are filled with his glory -- there is no room for sin in his midst.
Yet, this is the work of God our Father
He makes the promises that we are going to colossally and spectacularly fail at because we are born in sin
Then in his omnipotence makes that promises come to past.
Oh, then God created the heavens and the earth and mankind.
Oh, then God creates marriage and dictates everything inside that institution
Oh, then God creates nations -- sets up kings and takes them down
Oh, then God creates Abraham and bids him to come and die in a foreign land
Oh, then God creates Ishmael and then, from him, Arabian nations and people group
20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father twelve tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation.
Creates Isaac
15 God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah will be her name.
16 I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?”
18 So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to you!”
19 But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring.
20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father twelve tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation.
21 But I will confirm my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”
Creates Jacob and from him, Jewish tribes
Creates Judah
Creates Perez & Tamar
Creates Hezron
Creates Aram, Ammindab, Nahshon, Salmon & Rahab, Boaz & Ruth, Obed, Jesse, David
Creates a kingdom -- sits David in that throne but promises his descendent will sit on that same throne and rule forever
David has two sons, their bloodlines splits into two ways
Splits the kingdom two ways, Israel and Judah
Sins piles up
His chosen people reject him and ignore him and when they worship him, they just punch a time clock
God ordains the suffering of his people for their sin -- he pulls his mercies and allow invading armies to drive his people from exile
Remember, if we were gods, we wouldn't dare allow this.
Because what my kids do and don't do reflects on me and my worth as person
But not God! Our sins and our failure to do good things and even our "good" works do not dictate how good God is -- he alone is good just because he is God
And both bloodlines and both kingdoms
Only to come back to the one
the seed of Abraham
the son of David
the Son of Man
the only begotten Son of God
Jesus Christ our Lord
Who is doing the work of salvation?
22 When he finished talking with him, God withdrew from Abraham.
23 So Abraham took his son Ishmael and those born in his household or purchased—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him.
24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised,
25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised.
26 On that very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised.
27 And all the men of his household—whether born in his household or purchased from a foreigner—were circumcised with him.
It's not Abraham
The actions of Abraham is because he believed God!
Romans 4:9-12 Is this blessing only for the circumcised, then? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say, Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness. In what way, then, was it credited — while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? It was not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also. And he became the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised.
Genesis 15:6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Ephesians 2:8–10 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
What did Abraham do? He did nothing but believe and trust that God had the words of eternal life, and he came to know that he would see the blessed day of the Holy One of God, and rejoiced because God sent his only begotten Son to live and die to fulfill and finish the promise he made from the beginning.
What did we do to be saved? Nothing, just like our Father Abraham. Only because of the work that God has done, we have God. And because he loves us so much, we now have the almighty power of the Almighty Triune God to raise our eyes and heads and set our face upon the only Worthy Lamb That Was Slain.