Scripture reading for this morning is in Genesis
chapter 17, and we are reading verses 1
through 8.
This, I believe, is the thirty-first, yes,
the thirty-first of our series of studies
in the book of Genesis.
And I know that we have been going
rather slowly, but these chapters, the earlier chapters
particularly, are very important.
Later on, we will be going much more
rapidly through the book of Genesis, and I
hope that we will be able to finish
the book before too many months go by.
But today is our thirty-first study.
We will, however, spend two of our studies,
the Lord willing, on this seventeenth chapter, which
happens to be a rather important one.
Chapter 17, verse 1 through verse 8.
Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old,
you remember the last verse of the preceding
chapter gave Abram's age as eighty-six when
Ishmael was born.
So this is thirteen years later.
Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old,
the Lord appeared to Abram and said to
him, I am God Almighty.
Walk before me and be blameless, or as
the authorized version has it, be perfect.
I will establish my covenant between me and
you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.
And Abram fell on his face, and God
talked with him, saying, As for me, by
the way, you will notice if you, as
you read through this chapter, that this as
for me in verse 4 is paralleled to
verse 9, where God said further to Abraham,
Now as for you.
So this refers to Abram particularly and God's
dealings with him.
As for me, behold, my covenant is with
you.
This represents God's part of this arrangement.
As for me, behold, my covenant is with
you, and you shall be the father of
a multitude of nations.
No longer shall your name be called Abram.
Abram means exalted father.
But your name shall be Abraham.
Now philologists debate to some extent the origin
of this name Abraham, but the vast majority
agree that it is intended, regardless of its
origin philologically, to mean father of a multitude.
Your name shall be Abraham, for I will
make you the father of a multitude of
nations, and I will make you exceedingly fruitful,
and I will make nations of you, and
kings shall come forth from you.
And 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.
And 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.
May the Lord bless this reading of his
word.
The subject for this morning in the continuing
exposition of the book of Genesis is the
sealing of the covenant and Abram's new name.
The Hagar affair was no credit to Abram.
How shorn of splendor he appears, listening to
the voice of Sarah.
And Abram listened to the voice of Sarah,
we read in chapter 16 and verse 2.
It's not surprising that a kind of hall
of darkness falls over Abram's story.
We read that in the intervening thirteen years,
so far as Scripture is concerned, that there
were no exploits of faith, no mighty works
in which Abram was involved.
On the other hand, there was no apostasy.
Abram, by the grace of God, was kept
true to the Lord.
One of the commentators has said, learn from
this, that if once we forsake the track
of simple faith, once cease to walk according
to the purity which faith approves, we strew
our path with thorns.
Cause God to withhold the light of his
countenance from us and pierce ourselves through with
many sorrows.
The process of sanctification, however, continues, because that's
an unconditional work too.
We've been stressing that salvation is an unconditional
work of grace.
The covenant that God made with Abram is
an unconditional covenant.
It is one in which God promises to
accomplish his work.
And now he will accomplish his work through
faith.
But we read in Holy Scripture that it
is he who is responsible for the faith
by which man receives the blessings of the
covenant unconditionally.
Now once a man has become a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, he is then
the object of the work of sanctification.
And the work of sanctification is also an
unconditional work of grace.
Abram has been called, and Abram has been
justified, and Abram must be sanctified.
The apostle Paul puts it this way, being
confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
So my Christian friend, you can be sure
of this one thing.
Having believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, you
shall be sanctified.
He will do his work.
Now you may, of course, make it a
little more difficult than some others, but he
will do it.
And if necessary, he will do it as
you die.
But he will do it.
He will accomplish his work of sanctification.
Therefore, this chapter to which we are to
look now is an important one in theology,
because we will see again that the basic
pattern of grace and answering faith provided by
God is continued.
The covenant that God gave Abram has been
announced in chapter 12, it was ratified in
chapter 15, and now it reaches its fruition.
We learn two important things in chapter 17.
We learn that Sarah is to be the
mother of the seed.
Up until this time, that has not been
revealed.
It has been said that Abram should have
a seed, and that seed should be the
means of blessing to all the families of
the earth.
But the mother of the seed has been
unknown so far as Scripture is concerned to
this point.
But here in chapter 17, we are told
that it shall be Sarah.
In the 16th verse, we read, And 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 people shall come from her.
Now that is an important addition, and of
course we will later on see how it
comes to pass in the birth of Isaac.
And then a second thing that is especially
stressed, and which we will try to stress
in some detail next week, is that there
is a sign of this covenant, and the
sign of the covenant will be the rite
of circumcision.
We read in the 11th verse, And you
shall be circumcised in the flesh of your
foreskin, and it shall be the sign of
the covenant between me and you.
So the covenant is coming to fruition.
Sarah is to be the mother of the
seed, and circumcision is to be the covenantal
sign.
Now we also learn something of significance in
this chapter, too, if we reflect upon it.
It is this.
Sanctification follows justification.
And this sanctification is, as I've been saying,
a work divinely initiated and consummated.
Now I think it's important for us to
notice that the sanctifying work of the Holy
Spirit does follow justification.
We are living in days in which there
has been some confusion of sanctification and justification,
even in the ranks of evangelicals.
We often hear people saying that one must
make Christ the Lord of one's life before
he can be assured of his salvation.
Now to make one, to make the Lord
Jesus Christ the Lord of one's life, is
the work of sanctification and not the work
of justification.
Now if we are talking about the recognition
of our Lord as Lord, that of course
is a part of the pattern of justification.
But the making of the Lord Jesus Christ
the Lord of one's life is the work
of the Holy Spirit following our salvation.
We learn this about the lives of the
saints in the Word of God.
Their lives were not lives in which there
was a steady growth in perfection.
On the other hand, the lives of the
saints have their ups and downs constantly.
And even Abram, after the heights to which
he has already reached, we shall find that
he will sin.
And sin very embarrassedly in the same way
in which he sinned earlier.
The lives of the saints are full of
ups and downs.
Now there is a basic pattern of growth.
But the making of Christ one's Lord is
the work of sanctification.
Salvation takes place and then sanctification.
They are both works of God but one
follows the other.
And we need to keep this in mind.
If you look at the lives of David,
the lives of Abram, the life of Gideon,
the life of Samson, one even wonders how
Samson is found among the faithful until we
read in the book of Hebrews that he
was one of the men of faith.
So the process of sanctification is a process
that continues.
We should expect to find growth and a
pattern, but not perfection.
When we talk about the perseverance of the
saints, we do not mean that the saints
persevere in purity constantly.
We mean that the saints do not ever
apostatize from the faith.
So the perseverance of the saints is a
fact because of the preservation of our great
God in heaven.
Well now let's take a look at chapter
17 and verses 1 through 8 and of
course the first of the great topics that
comes before us is the appearance of Yahweh
or the Lord to Abram.
It is 24 years after Abram has migrated
from Ur of the Chaldeans.
It is 14 years after the covenant has
been ratified.
It is 13 years after the birth of
Ishmael.
Abram is now 99 years of age.
It would have been easy for Abram to
forget the covenant.
After all it had been 13 years he
had been living evidently with this pall of
darkness over him so far as the record
is concerned.
Easy for him to forget the promises or
at least to put them in the back
of his mind, but it is obvious that
God has not forgotten them and he's been
waiting for the fullness of time to bring
that covenant to its fruition.
And this is the fullness of time.
You'll notice another interesting thing.
The word covenant has been found only once
preceding this in chapter 15 verse 18.
But in chapter 17 we have the term
covenant 13 times and so it's clear that
this is a very important chapter on the
covenant and one in which God stresses that
covenant.
Why the long delay?
Why the 13 years?
Well was it to test Abram's faith?
Well perhaps it surely would have been a
test.
It would have been a test of a
number of years.
Has God forgotten his promises Abram might have
thought?
Or on the other hand was it chastisement?
Was it because of his failure in connection
with Hagar?
The Bible doesn't make that plain or does
not clarify the point.
One thing I do know, the saints of
God experience the silences of God.
It's not surprising that we should have in
our lives periods of time in which it
appears that God has forgotten us.
In which there is no fresh illumination as
we study the word of God.
In which our lives have nothing unusual about
them.
No striking things take place.
The psalmist says be not silent to me
lest if thou be silent to me I
become like them that go down into the
pit.
So they struggled over the silence of God.
It should not be surprising if we too
have to struggle over the silence of God.
But it may be a test and we
should respond thereby.
If it is because of some sin then
of course the remedy is to confess that
sin to the Lord and to resume by
the grace of God the kind of life
that we had been living.
Well God appears or the Lord appears to
Abram and said to Abram says to him
I am God Almighty.
Walk before me and be blameless and I
will establish my covenant between me and you.
Now it might seem that God is making
a bargain or suggesting a bargain with Abram.
If you do this then I will do
this.
But these words are not for bargaining.
Everything that we have seen so far in
this chapter and the precede in these chapters
and in the word of God as a
whole stresses the fact that God does not
bargain with his saints.
On the other hand he may lay down
conditions for the enjoyment of his blessings.
And this is what we have here.
This is not a bargain.
If you do this then I will do
this.
As if you do this and in reward
for your meritorious work I will do this.
But it is rather the statement of the
condition for the enjoyment of the blessing of
the covenant which he is giving in grace.
I am God Almighty.
Walk before me and be blameless and I
will give my covenant between me and you.
That is you will come to experience the
fruition of it.
So this is that upon which God gives
or maintains the covenant that he has given.
Let's stop for a moment and ask ourselves
what is meant by this marvelous revelation I
am God Almighty.
Now we could engage in a little bit
of philology Hebrew philology but I want to
pass it by by simply saying this that
while there has been a great deal of
discussion over the meaning of this Hebrew expression
El Shaddai some have for example said that
that word Shaddai comes from the word mountain.
That's quite popular in contemporary Old Testament scholarship.
Others have suggested that the word comes from
the Hebrew word which means sufficiency.
Still others have suggested that it comes from
the Hebrew word for breast.
And finally others have suggested that it comes
from the word to be to destroy.
And there is some evidence that that latter
derivation is the most likely one in the
light of Joel chapter 1 in verse 15.
The vast majority of the commentators have agreed
that the term El Shaddai stresses the all
mightiness of God.
And so it is translated here properly I
am God Almighty.
Now we have had three names for God
so far.
You remember the word Elohim that is God
who creates and preserves nature.
And then we have had Yahweh.
He is the God who makes covenants of
grace.
And now God Almighty.
And it is clear from the context in
which it appears here and the remainder of
the context of the Old Testament that this
is the God who controls nature.
So Elohim the God who creates.
El Shaddai the God who controls nature.
Yahweh or the Lord as it's often rendered
in capital letters.
The God who makes covenants with certain people
in distinguishing grace.
Now later in the book of Exodus we
will read a text in which Moses writes
that those preceding had not known God as
Yahweh.
The term is used here but they had
not known him as Yahweh.
In fact it would appear that in the
Old Testament the patriarchs knew the Lord as
El Shaddai God Almighty.
But to Moses he comes to be known
by virtue of the unfolding of the covenant
in act as Yahweh the Lord who makes
covenants with his people.
So I am God Almighty.
It's almost as if God had appeared to
Abram and said all power is mine on
heaven and in earth.
And I am giving it to you.
Of all I laid the foundations of the
earth and the heavens are the works of
my hands.
I sit upon the circle of the earth.
Its inhabitants are as grasshoppers.
I bring out the starry hosts by number.
I use all of my creation to accomplish
my purposes.
You can see that what is revealed here
or suggested by this is that the Lord
who appears to Abram is another anticipation of
our Lord Jesus Christ who later will say
all power is given unto me in heaven
and in earth.
So I guess that we can say this
in Abraham's case the name that was especially
dear to him was I am the Almighty
God.
For Moses the special name was Jehovah Yahweh.
For us it is the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now for a man to be thoroughly sanctified
to the master's service he must first realize
the almightyness and all sufficiency and glory of
God.
These words that God speaks to Moses are
extremely important.
Notice where they occur.
I am God almighty walk before me.
Now what does that suggest to you?
Well it suggests to me this that if
we think little of God then we will
render little trust to him and consequently little
obedience.
But if we have grand and glorious conceptions
of God then it is much more likely
that our lives will be characterized by obedience
and trust.
There are people who very foolishly like to
continue to say in spite of exhortation that
it is not really significant that we know
great things about God.
It is important simply that we live our
daily life in touch with him.
How foolish.
It is the grandness and the greatness of
our conceptions of God which are given us
through the word of God through biblical doctrine
that build up our minds to a conception
of him that leads to faithful devoted service
to him.
The greater he is in our minds the
more likely we shall respond in obedience and
trust to him.
The smaller he is in our minds and
hearts the less likely it is that we
will respond to him.
It is the man who has a great
conception of God and his glory all of
his tremendous attributes and understands something about them
who will do as Abram who falls upon
his face before the Lord and asks what
it is that he is to do.
So we preach the doctrines of the word
of God with great practical aim and goal
that you be obedient to the truth of
God and you will never be obedient to
the truth of God until you have a
great and glorious conception of the God of
the word.
So we're not trying to cram your minds
with doctrines so that you can go out
and say I have a lot of doctrine.
You make yourself only that much more foolish
to go out with a great conception of
doctrine and not be obedient to it.
But we give you the word of God
and the grandness and greatness of our great
God with a view to walking before him.
I am God Almighty walk before me.
Now I'm sure that if Abram had known
this this great fact he would not have
acted as he did in chapter 16.
When Sarah came to him with her suggestion
he would have said no Sarah I'm sorry.
God is God Almighty he controls nature he's
given us a promise of a seed.
Why should I scheme and devise a plan
to accomplish his will when he's able to
bend all nature to accomplish his purpose.
No I'll remain true to God Almighty.
He can affect his purposes without my taking
tortuous means to accomplish them.
So this is not unimportant.
I am God Almighty walk before me not
before Sarah.
That's what Abram had been doing.
He'd walk before Sarah.
She had made a suggestion.
He listened to the voice of Sarah.
Now that's not bad because she was a
woman.
As a matter of fact he listened to
his own voices.
He listened to the voices that came from
himself.
But he did not listen to the Lord
God.
That's the important thing.
I am God Almighty walk before me.
Now some have suggested this is a lower
standard than that which we read of Enoch
and Noah.
I cannot see that myself.
It is said in the earlier chapters that
Enoch and Noah walked with God.
And that's a higher standard than walking before
him.
Well I confess I find that very difficult
to grasp.
To walk before God seems to me to
walk with the eyes of God upon all
of our affairs.
It means that we do not run ahead
of him.
It means that we do not hang back
behind him as if we are afraid that
he will examine our steps.
But we walk before him.
That is desirous of his approval, of his
pleasure.
Walk before me and be blameless.
Now a great deal of discussion has taken
place over this be blameless or be perfect.
And some have erected out of texts like
this the doctrine of sinless perfection as if
it is possible.
I must suggest to you that as far
as the text is concerned I do think
that when it says be perfect or be
blameless we're not to understand by this something
less than perfection.
Can you imagine this Holy God suggesting to
us walk before me and be almost perfect?
How would you like that?
Walk before me and have a passing grade
in holiness.
Seventy.
Well of course not.
We should expect a totally holy God, an
infinitely holy God to have a standard of
perfection.
I find no difficulty in accepting that as
the teaching of the word of God.
The Apostle John said these things are right
unto you that ye sin not.
Not that ye sin not often or something
like that.
So to be blameless, to be perfect, well
it would be alright to say the standard
is the standard of perfection.
The word however probably does not quite connote
that idea.
The Hebrew word has the idea of soundness.
Be perfect in the sense of being sound.
I think that the idea is whole heartedness.
The kind of thing that Job had.
The kind of thing that David had for
God was pleased with Job.
Have you considered my servant Job?
He's a man who is perfect.
Whole hearted.
Not perfect in the sense of sinlessly perfect.
But he was a man who was given
over to the Lord.
There was that fundamental relationship to him.
And the same true of David.
David, the adulterer, the murderer, but nevertheless a
man after God's own heart.
Not because he was sinless or sinlessly perfect,
but because he had given himself to the
Lord.
Caleb, a man who was not sinless but
a man who wholly followed the Lord.
That is there was that fundamental whole heartedness.
A giving over of his life to the
Lord.
Now that I think is the fundamental need
of believers.
To give themselves over to the Lord.
There is no such thing as perfect surrender
in this life in my opinion.
But there is such a thing as whole
heartedness.
In which the priorities of our lives are
rearranged and the Lord has first place.
Now notice we have everything here that we
find in the Pauline epistles but expressed in
ancient form.
We have walk before me.
That's sound mysticism.
That is a recognition of who God is.
What he desires of us.
Biblical doctrine.
Walk before me and then be blameless.
Conscientious conduct.
Doctrine and duty.
Walk before me in the light of certain
conceptions found in the revelation for us.
The New Testament as well as the Old
Testament.
And then be blameless.
The cause of failure and neglect is right
here.
Now if of course Abram had responded to
this.
What a different experience he might have had.
And isn't it great to realize now at
least after this that he has God almighty
above and around him.
In other words the resources of an omnipotent
God must be exhausted before there is cause
for want or lack in our lives.
I am God almighty.
Now I don't know how you feel but
to me that is tremendous in encouragement to
think that God almighty is for me.
Therefore I do have the resources of an
infinite God to call upon.
That would mean to me men if you're
in business and you have difficult problems before
you.
The God who is all sufficient.
The God who is almighty is the God
upon whom you can depend in the problems
that you face.
That means that you have difficult if you
have difficulties in your family the God who
is almighty has all of the resources necessary
to solve the problems.
This past week I received a call from
a weeping woman because of difficulties in the
family.
Now if in families such as this if
there were a recognition of I am God
almighty those problems could find their resolution.
And if a man believes though he's poor
that God is sufficient portion for him he'll
not grow envious of the rich or discontented
with his condition.
Because if he has the Lord what are
a few shekels in comparison with that.
He's rich.
We are rich when we believe in Jesus
Christ.
What difference does a big or a small
bank account if we have the riches of
heaven.
I am God almighty walk before me and
be thou perfect.
Now he goes on to say I will
establish my covenant between me and you and
so the covenant is to be made operative.
Now I think that's the force of what
we find in this chapter we are drawing
near to the fullness of time when God
is going to bring to pass these promises.
Now I would gather too that since in
verse 3 through 5 where we have the
pledge of further covenantal blessing that in the
light of the fact that these verses follow
that command to walk before him that consecration
must be fostered by enlarged views of the
covenant.
In other words sanctification is also made to
abound by virtue of further knowledge of the
working of God.
Walk before me and be thou blameless as
for me my covenant is with you.
In other words the promises of God are
intended to support the believer in his life
of sanctification.
Which impresses upon me at least again the
importance of the knowledge of the truth of
God for sanctification.
And there again how foolish it is then
for a man to say we are not
interested in theology let's put that aside let's
talk about life.
That's thoroughly contrary to biblical teaching.
You can see that for him life is
dependent upon what we know about God.
Not knowledge simply for knowledge sake but knowledge
with a view to walking before the Lord.
So walk before me as for me I'm
going to do this.
So the truth of the covenant undergirds the
practical daily life of Abraham.
Affects everything that he does.
How often when I hear someone say something
like that I want to stand up and
shout.
That's heresy.
Sit down.
Quit upsetting the saints of God.
You're like a wolf among the sheep and
lambs.
But they do it with such a sweet
little face that I'm put off by it.
And I guess maybe it's best that I
shouldn't get too excited and mad but deep
down within I am really disturbed when I
hear something like that.
One of the commentators says he's known Christians
when they're conscious that they've not lived as
they ought to live begin to doubt their
interest in Christ and as they say humble
themselves in order to reach after fuller sanctification
of life.
That's to say they starve themselves in order
to grow strong.
They throw their gold out of the window
in order to become rich.
They pull up the very foundation stone of
their house to make it stand secure.
Beloved believer, sinner as thou art, backslider as
thou art, still believe in Jesus.
Let not a sense of sin weaken thy
faith in him.
He died for sinners.
In due time Christ died for the ungodly.
And he exhorts us to cling to the
cross.
That's Mr. Spurgeon.
Rightly so because you see our salvation depends
ultimately upon the objective work of the Lord
Jesus in giving the atoning sacrifice.
And do not let talk of sanctification disturb
the foundation of faith and trust in him
to which you have been brought by the
Holy Spirit.
Your salvation depends upon the objective work of
Christ and the work of the faith which
the Holy Spirit has wrought in you.
And it depends upon that.
Not upon the life that one lives thereby.
Though of course there should be evidence of
the new life.
This past week I received a telephone call
from an old friend of mine.
We hadn't talked in months.
He was a former Braniff pilot who was
with Believers Chapel in the early days when
we were in the schoolhouse over on Midway
Road.
And he used to sit on about the
second row.
And I think I've mentioned this to you
before but he would sit there.
He was one of the greatest of the
pilots that I have ever known.
He would have been a man that of
all the pilots I know I would rather
have him flying the plane.
He was meticulous in all of the aspects
of his life.
He determined years ago when he was young
to retire at 50.
And he did.
He planned his life.
And God was with him.
Everything about him was careful.
And I would have been as relaxed as
one could be with a pilot.
And he came to the meeting and he
walked in once when I was taking the
collection in another church and was saying now
the offering is like the communion.
It's for believers.
If you're here this morning and you have
never believed in the Lord Jesus Christ the
offering is not for you.
It is for believers.
Your first responsibility is not to put money
in the collection plate but by the grace
of God to believe in our Lord Jesus
Christ.
When the offering plates are passed it is
not in order that we may ask for
your money.
God has brought this organization this church into
being and he will therefore supply its needs.
We look to him.
If you're a believer it's your privilege to
give and you may give.
And he told me afterwards he said I'd
never been in a church like that.
He said that's the church for me.
He started attending.
And whenever I would speak about the cross
of Jesus Christ and the sufferings I could
look over at this hard man.
He was really a hard man.
Unemotional man.
And I'd see these great big tears begin
to course down his face.
It was always an encouragement to me.
And deep down within I'd say Lewis you
are getting home for today.
Go to it.
Well he called me this last week.
We talked for about an hour.
He's living in another state now and we
hadn't talked in a good while.
And he reminded me of the fact that
he had come to Dallas once.
He was the representative of the pilots to
talk with headquarters about some some salaries for
the pilots.
And he was sitting in a hotel room
and he said in those days I was
very concerned about my own salvation.
And I was reading in the Bible and
finally I came to that text that says
Christ Jesus died for sinners.
And he said there came over to me
this tremendous feeling hallelujah I qualify for I'm
a sinner.
He said after that I never had any
problems of my salvation.
The Lord Jesus died for sinners.
How true it is.
Now Abram having received these great promises falls
upon his face and we read of the
divine promises as they're expanded and enlarged.
Incidentally this would suggest that true sanctification begins
at the feet of God.
And Abram's appropriating the promises on his face
before the Lord.
Not a bad place incidentally to appropriate the
promises of God upon your face.
The new promises are given in verse 4
some of them.
As for me behold my covenant is with
you and you shall be the father of
a multitude of nations.
Three times.
Not simply the one in whom all the
families of the earth shall be blessed.
Not simply the father of a great nation
but the father of a multitude of nations.
And then he is given a new name.
Because after all this is a new occasion.
We're going to have a covenantal sign given
and the covenant is now being brought to
fruition and in honor of that God changes
his name.
No longer shall your name be exalted father
but your name shall be father of a
multitude.
Now this I think is one of the
most interesting things in this entire chapter.
At 70 Abram's name was Abram.
Exalted father and yet he was barren.
The orientals are very inquisitive.
I have some oriental kinds of friends.
They come up to me all the time
and say Dr. Johnson do you mind if
I ask you a personal question.
You never can tell what will come when
they say that.
I've gotten some of the strangest questions.
I guess people are interested in a preacher.
Particularly young boys who may be thinking about
the fact that they too one of these
days might have the hand of God laid
upon them to preach the word.
Well all orientals were like that and Abram
was a rich man.
You remember back in chapter 13 verse 2
we read now Abram was very rich in
livestock and silver and in Kruger Rands.
He was prepared for inflation and in those
days it was customary for a person who
came by with flocks needing the things that
flocks need water and sustenance.
They would stop and it was the responsibility
of those along the way to give help
to anyone who was traveling.
And they would invite them in and be
hospitable to them and so the questions would
come.
What's your name?
Exalted father.
Oh what a wonderful name.
How old are you?
I'm 99.
Are you married?
Oh yes I'm married.
How many children then do you have?
None.
Exalted father?
No children.
Oh I guess I can imagine them saying
your name is exalted father congratulations.
How many children do you have?
And it was a galling thing for Abraham
constantly year after year to have to say
I have none and then try to explain
himself.
There was a lot of snickering going on
back in the ranks.
Back behind the tents no doubt.
One commentator writing of this in another book
not on the book of Genesis said that
he had known of two men.
One of them was named Wrench and he
said this person said that people always came
up to him and said are you Mr.
Monkey Wrench?
Or are you the left handed Wrench?
And then another man by the name of
Meek who divided all of his acquaintances and
the people that he met into two classes.
Those that didn't make a joke about his
name and those who did.
And usually the joke was are you the
Mr. Meek who is going to inherit the
earth?
And I can imagine how tired they got
of answering that.
So Abraham you can just imagine the years
of embarrassment.
But one morning he came down to breakfast.
Came into the tent.
The maids in the back were cooking bacon
and eggs.
That's the best breakfast there is as far
as I'm concerned.
And as Abraham sat down he said I
have an announcement to make and after all
he was as the Germans say their chef
that is the boss.
And so there was quiet and he waited.
He said I've changed my name.
Ah someone said in the back he couldn't
take it.
The old man finally couldn't take it.
Exalted father in all his God is Ishmael
from Hagar.
He said my name is no longer going
to be exalted father it's going to be
father of a multitude.
And you can just imagine them saying what
do you know some of them said the
old man's gone around the bend.
And then some said no doubt.
Well after all he had one child by
Hagar and now he's beginning to get ideas.
You can just see this is a most
amazing situation.
I am Abraham from now on.
And after all it was no problem to
the Lord the same God who said let
there be light even though Abraham now is
past the age of begetting and Sarah's womb
is dead.
The God who said let there be light
can say let there be Isaac.
And we know that is exactly what happened.
He calls the things that be not as
though they were.
And it doesn't make a bit of difference
whether Sarah's womb is dead or whether Abraham's
99 or 199 years of age.
It is by the almighty power of El
Shaddai that the things are accomplished.
Well the last few verses unfold the and
expand further the Abrahamic promises.
Verse 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful
and I will make nations of you and
kings.
Ah that's new.
Kings.
In other words the seed that is to
come is to be a royal seed.
Now this is unfolded later on in the
Bible when we learn about the Davidic covenant.
And in Abraham's seed the authority to reign
and rule shall be found.
And ultimately this is not only David and
the successors of David, sons of David but
the son of David the Lord Jesus Christ.
Kings shall come forth from thee.
And I will establish my covenant between me
and you and your descendants after you throughout
their generations for an everlasting covenant.
The covenant, the land promises are all everlasting.
Therefore no action of Abraham can permanently sever
him and his seed from blessing.
If the covenant is an everlasting covenant, if
the blessing is everlasting, if the land promises
are everlasting, if the words are everlasting promises
then nothing that Abraham can do can sever
him from the fulfillment of these blessings.
Now of course disobedience may delay the fulfillment
but it is an everlasting covenant and everlasting
promises are given.
It is in other words an unconditional arrangement.
And he says in verse 8 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.
They shall have it.
And the climactic word is I will be
their God.
Now I would like to suggest to you
that when we see here I will be
their God.
That is the climactic word of all the
promises because my dear Christian friend when we
have God we have everything.
There isn't anything left.
All the promises are bound up in him.
And when you have him you have the
promises.
And the promises are worthless without him.
So this is the climactic word.
It's the climactic thought of the Old Testament
and the New Testament.
And when God finally dwells with his people
and they are his people and he is
their God then we have the consummation of
the plans and purposes of God.
Now that my Christian friend is distinguishing grace
for not everybody is included.
Well do you wonder if Abram ever asked
himself can it all be true?
Can it possibly come to pass?
Well if he did a quick look at
the revelation would have silenced all his doubts.
I am God Almighty.
Did you notice the I wills and shalls?
Listen.
Verse 2 I will.
I will.
Verse 4 you shall be.
Verse 5 no longer shall your name be
but your name shall be.
I will.
Verse 6 I will.
I will.
Verse 7 I will.
Verse 8 I will.
I will.
Look at the shalls and wills.
Oh those glorious wills and shalls Mr. Spurgeon
says.
Brethren you cannot serve the Lord with a
perfect heart until first your faith gets a
grip of the divine will and shall.
Now can you imagine Abram standing before the
Lord thinking about all the things that might
destroy this relationship?
Can you not hear him wanting to know
the answers to questions?
I think I can.
I think I can imagine Abram standing before
the Lord and hearing all these I wills
and I shalls and saying finally but Lord
suppose my posterity become idolatrous.
God responds I will bless you.
Suppose Lord I get out of your will.
I will bless you.
Suppose my descendants crucify the Son of God.
I will make of thee a great nation.
I can think of some others.
Suppose Abraham becomes a liar and teaches Sarah
to lie.
Breaks his side of the covenant.
I will bless him.
Suppose his grandson Jacob becomes a crook.
I will bless him.
Suppose his greatest son David becomes an adulterer
and a murderer.
I will bless him.
Why Lord?
Because I'm God and not man and I
will someday through my apostle, the apostle Paul
write if we are faithless he remains faithful
for he cannot deny himself.
But Lord that's grace without merit.
Ah yes, that's unmerited grace.
That's it.
It's unmerited grace.
That's the basis upon which he deals with
his saints.
Unmerited grace.
That's why you're in the fold if you're
in the fold.
That's why you're a child of God if
you're a child of God.
He sought you out.
Laid his hand upon you.
Has drawn you to himself.
I must tell you this in just a
sentence or two if I may.
This past week I called upon a man
who is very desperate condition.
So far as human things are concerned there
is no hope.
Not long ago so far as we could
tell in his family he was not a
believer.
Nor was his wife.
It was a great joy to me to
sit by his bed and hear him affirm
his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He even asked me to perform his funeral
service.
Not far from the presence of the Lord
but in wonderful grace God has reached out
and touched him.
His wife with tears in her eyes the
first time I think she had really cried
so I am told in a long time
over things like that.
It's the wonderful grace of God that reaches
out and touches us.
Unmerited grace.
Unmerited distinguishing grace.
If you're here this morning and you have
never believed in the Lord Jesus Christ the
objective work of the cross of Calvary is
there with the remedy for sin and sinners.
And if you're here this morning and the
Son of God through the Holy Spirit has
brought conviction to you that you're a sinner
and that you need the hope and assurance
that comes from the forgiveness of sins it
is there for you in the blood that
was shed.
May God through the Holy Spirit touch your
heart.
May you come.
The days of opportunity diminish as your life
unfolds.
May God work mightily in your heart.
May you come.
Come to him.
Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
and come to know the assurance that everlasting
life gives.
The comfort and the assurance even in the
midst of the last and darkest days of
one's life.
A man who can smile upon his deathbed
because his faith and trust is in Christ.
May you come.
Come to Christ.
Let's stand for the benediction.
Father we are so grateful to thee for
these great promises.
Unconditional.
Unmerited grace.
How wonderful it is to know that we
stand upon the same basis before thee.
Thou hast been gracious to us.
We express to thee Lord our gratitude.
We do love thee.
We praise thy name.
We desire to please thee.
Enable us in wonderful grace to walk before
thee and be blameless.
And for those here who have not yet
come, O God through the Holy Spirit draw
them to Christ.
May grace, mercy, and peace go with us
for Jesus' sake.
Amen.