God’s Timeline – Part 25
Sarai
and Isaac
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House
of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
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SERMON INTRODUCTION (2021 A.D. = 5781 Jewish
Calendar Year)
-
Creation Week
(Approximately 4000 B.C.)
o Adam, Eve, and the Fall
-
Cain and Abel
o Evil Fills the World
-
Noah Did All God
Commanded Him
o The Flood 2400 – 2300 B.C.)
o God’s Covenant with Noah
-
Noah’s Sons and Ham’s Sin
-
Nations of Noah’s Sons
-
Tower of Babel
-
God calls Abram (2090
B.C.)
o Abram and Lot part ways
o Rescue of Lot
-
The Lord’s Covenant with
Abram for Isaac
o Hagar and Ishmael Born (2101 B.C.) Abram 86
years old
o Sarai and Isaac (2088 B.C.) Abraham 99 years
old
Genesis 17
“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to
him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2
Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your
numbers.”
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me,
this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No
longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you
a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations
of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an
everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the
generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as
an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be
their God.”
9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my
covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10
This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you
are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo
circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12
For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be
circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a
foreigner—those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household
or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh
is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been
circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my
covenant.”
15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you
are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her
and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the
mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself,
“Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at
the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live
under your blessing!”
19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a
son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an
everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I
have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will
greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I
will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with
Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” 22 When he had
finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
23 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all
those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his
household, and circumcised them, as God told him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine
years old when he was circumcised, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen; 26 Abraham
and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. 27 And every male
in Abraham’s household, including those born in his household or bought from a
foreigner, was circumcised with him.
I.
THE LORD REMINDS ABRAHAM OF THE COVENANT
a. Once again the Lord appears
to Abram to tell him of the covenant
i.
Twice
already the Lord has given Abraham His plans
ii.
We
see that Abraham and Sarah decide to carry out the Lord's plans in the flesh
instead of waiting in faith on the Spirit to do what the Lord promised.
iii.
The
result was Ishmael, a product of the work of the flesh trying to accomplish the
promise of the Spirit.
iv.
Ishmael
was not the promise of God
v.
Abraham
is now 99 (13 years after the birth of Ishmael) and the Lord appears to him
once more saying, “I am God Almighty” (El-Shaddai)
vi.
The
Lord explains in the next verse what the problem is, “Walk before me faithfully
and blameless, THEN
I will make my covenant between ME and you and will greatly increase your
numbers.”
1. Abraham failed at being a
faithful, trusting in his own abilities rather than the promise of God which is fulfilled by the Spirit.
2. He was not blameless, rather
to be blamed for trusting in his flesh rather than the Spirit and promise of
God.
3. This is not how a Patriarch
should lead God’s people
b. God explains what the
covenant entails
i.
Abraham
fell face down and God said to him; “As for Me,
this is MY
covenant with you; you will be the father of many nations. No longer will you
be called Abram, your name will be Abraham, for I
have made you a father of many nations.
ii.
The
Lord made it clear He did not forget His covenant, His promise to Abraham.
But He wants Abraham to understand, everything will be by the hand of God, NOT
the works of men.
iii.
“As
for ME, this is MY covenant with you…”; “I will make you the father of
many nations…”
iv.
God’s
covenants have three elements to them.
1. Promise of blessings for
obedience
2. The command to be obeyed to
unlock the promise
3. The curse/consequence/result
of disobeying the command
v.
In
this chapter we see the promise of the blessing of Abraham being the father
of many nations if he is obedient to the command
vi.
The command
is to Walk before the Lord faithfully and blameless, marking all those in the
flesh (circumcision) to show they are part of the promise.
vii.
The
consequence for not being obedient to the command, Verse 14, anyone NOT getting
circumcised will be cut off from his
people (those in God’s covenant) “for he has broken my covenant.”
c.
God breaks down what He is going to do
i.
God
wants Abraham to understand the promise will be fulfilled by God, not man
1. I will make you fruitful
2. I will make nations of you
3. Kings will come from you
4. I will establish MY
everlasting covenant between ME and you
5. I will give you the whole
land of Canaan
6. I will give it as an
everlasting possession to you and your descendants
7. And I will be their God
8. Seven promises from the
covenant to be fulfilled BY the Lord, not man
II.
THE LORD GIVES ABRAHAM THE COMMAND
a. God said, “As for you…”
i.
Remember,
every covenant promise of blessings from God also comes with a command to
unlock those benefits of the covenant for the obedient (righteous)
ii.
God
said to Abraham, “As for you (your part, the command to be obedient) You
MUST keep my covenant, you and your descendants for generations to come. This
is MY
covenant with you and your descendants.”
b. The covenant Abraham and
the descendants are to keep
i.
Every
male among you shall be circumcised
ii.
It
will be a sign of the flesh of the covenant between ME
and you
1. Every male 8 days old must
be circumcised
2. Every male in your
household, even paid servants who are not your offspring
3. My covenant in your flesh is
to be an everlasting covenant
c. My covenant in your flesh
i.
The
result/consequence for being disobedient to the command of the covenant?
ii.
Verse
14, Any uncircumcised male will be cut off from his people
(obedient) he has broken my covenant.
1. When Adam broke the covenant, he
was cut off from the blessings of the promise (Eden)
2. When Cain broke the covenant
(murdering his brother) he was cut off from the blessings of living with his
people who were obedient (righteous)
3. When the world broke
covenant with God, living in sin and their hearts filled with evil all the
time, they were cut off from the living (the flood)
4. There is always a
consequence to breaking a covenant with God. Depending on the covenant, the consequence
may be losing the benefits and blessings of that covenant, or more, losing your
position, status, home, kingdom, anything that was given to you through
obedience will be lost through disobedience.
III.
THE LORD TELLS ABRAHAM OF THE BLESSINGS
a. As for Sarai
i.
“Her
name is now Sarah, and I
will bless her and give you a son by her.”
ii.
“I will bless her so she will
be the mother of nations. Kings will come from her.”
b. And Abraham laughed at what
God said, but only to himself
i.
Abraham
fell facedown and laughed saying to HIMSELF, “will a son be born to a man 100 years old? Will
Sarah have a child at the age of 90?”
ii.
Abraham
said aloud, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
iii.
Abraham
still doesn’t fully understand…Ishmael was not God’s doing, but Abrahams.
Ishmael is not the fulfillment of the promise.
iv.
God
answered Abraham, “Yes (to Ishmael living under the blessings of God) BUT
your wife Sarah WILL bear you a son (this is the fulfillment of the promise
of God, done by God, not man) and you will call him Isaac (meaning he
laughs). I will establish my covenant with him.”
v.
God
knew Abraham’s thoughts, that’s why he said to name his son Isaac.
vi.
Abraham,
like us, sometimes does things (even when we think it’s what God wants) in our
flesh, then pray to God to bless it afterward.
c. The blessings for Ishmael
and the covenant with Isaac
i.
God
tells Abraham He hears his request for Ishmael and says He will bless him.
1. God already promised to
bless the “offspring of Abraham” and make them many nations. He had to bless
Ishmael because God is true and does not lie.
2. God says Ishmael will be the
father of 12 rulers
3. “I will make him a great
nation”
4. “BUT…my covenant I will
establish with Isaac.”
ii.
BECAUSE…the
Lord already said HE would give Abraham a son, and He would establish the
covenant with him.
CONCLUSION –
On that very day Abraham
spoke with the Lord, he took Ishmael and all the men in his household,
including servants, and everyone was circumcised.
Abraham was 99, Ishmael
was 13.
It would be another year
before Sarah would give birth to Isaac, the promise of God.
Next week we will look at the three visitors who came to Abraham.
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