WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.500 Well, if you have been with us, you know we are in the middle of a series in the book of Genesis 00:00:06.500 --> 00:00:12.820 and looking at the Abraham story, and we're going to continue in doing that tonight. 00:00:13.880 --> 00:00:23.660 And as we look at it, we're going to look at God cementing and clarifying what it means to make a covenant with Abraham. 00:00:23.660 --> 00:00:30.940 You know, covenant is not an idea that is a common one in our culture today. 00:00:31.060 --> 00:00:41.659 We talk about treaties, we talk about contracts, but neither of those really capture the richness of what the Bible talks about when it talks about a covenant. 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:49.140 In fact, the closest analogy in our culture today is probably that of marriage. 00:00:49.140 --> 00:01:02.200 Marriage, traditional understanding of marriage, a binding agreement between two parties that in its best form is for the mutual benefit and good of those who enter into it. 00:01:02.980 --> 00:01:09.659 It is meant to be a binding promise to enter into relationship with one another for good. 00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:17.700 Of course, in our world today, even that analogy is breaking down, isn't it? 00:01:17.700 --> 00:01:19.280 Consider this. 00:01:19.380 --> 00:01:30.620 According to the Atlantic Monthly in 2014, cohabitation has increased 900% in the last 50 years in our culture. 00:01:31.560 --> 00:01:35.180 More and more couples are testing the water before diving into marriage. 00:01:36.140 --> 00:01:37.439 Census data, check this out. 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:44.579 Census data shows that from in 2012, there were 7.8 million couples cohabiting, 00:01:44.579 --> 00:01:52.099 which is compared to 2.9 million in 1996. 00:01:52.859 --> 00:01:58.280 So that's in a span of 18 years, it has tripled in our culture. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:04.799 So if you think it's changing in a perception, and maybe in your perception too, it is. 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:11.039 But the idea of covenant in the old fashion, or the idea of marriage in the sort of old fashioned, 00:02:11.159 --> 00:02:16.180 and I would say I think biblical sense of it is exactly what we're talking about. 00:02:16.979 --> 00:02:19.240 And yet our culture is moving away from it. 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:20.819 Why do you think that is? 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:25.359 Well, I think it's fundamentally because of fear. 00:02:26.079 --> 00:02:27.500 I think there are a couple of things. 00:02:27.500 --> 00:02:36.340 One is that I think we have a fear because we've seen a pattern of impermanent marriages. 00:02:36.979 --> 00:02:41.259 In the last 50 years, we've seen so many marriages in our culture. 00:02:41.379 --> 00:02:47.300 The people we know, the people we love, our parents, our brothers and sisters, our friends, 00:02:47.860 --> 00:02:54.639 that marriages that were meant to be by God permanent and stable and secure have proven otherwise. 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:56.599 And so we have a fear. 00:02:56.959 --> 00:02:58.479 I don't want to be disappointed. 00:02:58.679 --> 00:02:59.699 I don't want to be hurt. 00:02:59.979 --> 00:03:01.959 I don't want to be left high and dry. 00:03:02.179 --> 00:03:04.519 And so we don't enter into this covenant. 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:08.699 Instead, we play with the relationship without the commitment. 00:03:10.859 --> 00:03:14.539 I think there's also a culture of independence in our world today. 00:03:15.959 --> 00:03:21.659 That makes us afraid of making a commitment because if I make a commitment, it might limit me. 00:03:21.659 --> 00:03:30.139 If I commit to this person, what if 15 years from now, I meet that person and they might be my soulmate. 00:03:30.659 --> 00:03:35.960 And now I've missed out on the greatest gift that God could ever give me. 00:03:37.639 --> 00:03:40.000 I think this is real in our culture today. 00:03:40.139 --> 00:03:42.219 And maybe you've identified with some of this. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:44.300 Maybe you've struggled with some of these things. 00:03:44.300 --> 00:03:51.740 But I think this is a reality in our culture that is something that's real about how we think about marriage. 00:03:53.980 --> 00:04:01.120 But, you know, I think that we might have the same fears about entering into a covenant with God as well. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:07.140 We wonder, is God going to leave us high and dry? 00:04:07.139 --> 00:04:11.339 If I commit myself to Him, like, is He going to take care of me? 00:04:13.259 --> 00:04:14.799 Is He going to take care of me? 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:20.659 Or am I going to find myself alone at some point, abandoned by Him? 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:28.539 And certainly I think that committing ourselves to God feels like limitation, doesn't it? 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:31.500 The world says, don't tie yourself down. 00:04:31.500 --> 00:04:37.379 Don't fall into that old religious trap of right and wrong and good and bad. 00:04:42.620 --> 00:04:49.279 This is the challenge I think we face as we come to this story about a God who promises 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:53.420 and invites His people to enter into a covenant with Him. 00:04:53.980 --> 00:04:59.199 That our hearts are captured by fear that this won't actually be good for us. 00:05:01.500 --> 00:05:06.040 Abraham is the third movement of God in His relationship with humanity. 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:08.620 The first one with Adam and Eve. 00:05:08.740 --> 00:05:13.639 The second one with Noah were different kinds of covenants that God made with His people 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:15.600 to invite them into relationship with Him. 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:24.420 And we saw way back in chapter 12 that God began this process of inviting Abraham, 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:27.040 initiating a covenant with Him. 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:34.400 A covenant of making Abraham and his descendants into a people for God's own glory. 00:05:34.620 --> 00:05:40.360 That He would gather them into a land where they could shine like lights in the world 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:43.540 and display the goodness of the God that they serve. 00:05:44.980 --> 00:05:50.040 But as we've seen, if you've been here, even Abraham's journey has had ups and downs. 00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:53.000 And so God has had to do this again. 00:05:53.180 --> 00:05:57.100 He reaffirmed it in chapter 15 and now we're back in chapter 17. 00:05:57.240 --> 00:06:02.040 And this is the third affirmation and invitation into this covenant. 00:06:05.660 --> 00:06:07.500 So let's look at our passage together. 00:06:08.860 --> 00:06:14.120 Let's read it together and let's look at it for a few minutes to think about what is it about this covenant? 00:06:14.120 --> 00:06:18.840 What has God invited Abraham and by extension his people into? 00:06:20.340 --> 00:06:22.660 This is page 11 in your pew Bibles. 00:06:23.100 --> 00:06:24.540 So look, turn all the way to the front. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:26.079 We're looking at Abraham. 00:06:27.180 --> 00:06:29.519 We're looking at Genesis chapter 17. 00:06:29.840 --> 00:06:33.840 And we're going to see four things as we look at this. 00:06:33.899 --> 00:06:35.980 We're going to walk through it section by section. 00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:39.019 So let's read verses 1 through 8 together. 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:41.660 And before we do this, let me pray. 00:06:42.040 --> 00:06:42.399 All right. 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:44.839 Lord, thank you for your word. 00:06:45.159 --> 00:06:50.379 And thank you for the opportunity that we have tonight to look at it. 00:06:50.859 --> 00:06:54.879 Lord, we ask that you would open our eyes to see you as you truly are. 00:06:55.620 --> 00:07:05.079 And Lord, open our hearts, Lord, to know, to be moved, Lord, by your spirit, to trust and to love you. 00:07:06.120 --> 00:07:11.120 God, I ask that you would help me tonight to speak your words and that you would be at work, 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:13.100 Lord, teaching us your word tonight. 00:07:13.579 --> 00:07:15.139 And we pray this in Jesus' name. 00:07:16.120 --> 00:07:16.459 Amen. 00:07:18.300 --> 00:07:19.300 So let's start. 00:07:20.620 --> 00:07:22.480 Genesis chapter 17, verse 1. 00:07:23.340 --> 00:07:27.860 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, 00:07:27.860 --> 00:07:37.980 I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between you and me and may multiply you greatly. 00:07:38.780 --> 00:07:40.620 And then Abram fell on his face. 00:07:41.379 --> 00:07:49.160 And God said to him, behold, my covenant is with you and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 00:07:49.160 --> 00:07:59.140 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 00:07:59.620 --> 00:08:06.760 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and the king shall come from you. 00:08:06.759 --> 00:08:20.920 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 00:08:21.560 --> 00:08:29.259 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:32.980 And I will be their God. 00:08:32.980 --> 00:08:45.360 So the first thing we want to see tonight about covenant and God's invitation is that covenant relationships secure a blessing beyond ourselves. 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:47.279 What do I mean by that? 00:08:48.779 --> 00:08:56.580 Covenant relationships put us in a position to receive something that is beyond our ability to do for ourselves. 00:08:56.920 --> 00:08:59.659 And this is what God does when he comes to Abraham. 00:08:59.659 --> 00:09:02.920 He says, I'm inviting you into a relationship with me. 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:05.759 And I want to bring to you blessing. 00:09:06.680 --> 00:09:06.940 Right? 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:08.360 And we've seen this before. 00:09:08.580 --> 00:09:09.639 Blessing of a land. 00:09:09.879 --> 00:09:11.240 Blessing of a people. 00:09:11.379 --> 00:09:22.840 Your descendants will become, remember the metaphors, as many as the stars in the sky, as many as the grains of sand on the seashore, as many as the particles of dust in the ground. 00:09:23.420 --> 00:09:26.800 Your descendants will be numerous beyond counting. 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:29.399 And I will make them my people. 00:09:29.399 --> 00:09:34.259 And the second thing is I will give this people a land. 00:09:34.439 --> 00:09:36.319 I will put you in this place. 00:09:36.500 --> 00:09:39.059 And I will give you a place for you to live. 00:09:39.059 --> 00:09:44.219 And he's pulling on this promise. 00:09:44.339 --> 00:09:46.000 He says, the land of your sojourning. 00:09:46.099 --> 00:09:49.379 So the place where Abraham is sort of living in a tent right now. 00:09:49.379 --> 00:09:54.619 He says, this is going to be the place where you're going to be permanently soon. 00:09:54.620 --> 00:10:03.960 But greater than the descendants and greater than the land, as great as that is, look at verses 7 and 8 with me. 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:08.740 Because the greatest thing that God is promising is relationship. 00:10:09.980 --> 00:10:11.200 Look with me at verse 7. 00:10:11.259 --> 00:10:13.019 What does he say near the end? 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:16.980 I will make a covenant to be God to you. 00:10:16.980 --> 00:10:21.899 And then verse 8 he says, and I will be their God. 00:10:25.259 --> 00:10:29.200 Friends, do you see that this is nothing that Abraham could do on his own? 00:10:29.980 --> 00:10:34.159 Remember, the narrator reminded us how old Abraham is. 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:36.560 He's now 99 years old. 00:10:37.259 --> 00:10:42.840 And God is promising him to be the father of a great nation of many nations. 00:10:43.740 --> 00:10:46.080 That's impossible humanly. 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:48.080 It could not happen. 00:10:48.500 --> 00:10:53.360 But not only that, he's saying, you're going to be able to have all this land for yourself. 00:10:53.660 --> 00:10:59.120 Well, right now the land is full of warlike people who aren't going to give up that territory easily. 00:10:59.379 --> 00:11:04.220 There's no way that Abraham, by himself, could ever claim this land. 00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:11.300 And even more than that, the God who created the universe has come and says, 00:11:11.420 --> 00:11:14.060 and I will be your God, and you will be my people. 00:11:14.059 --> 00:11:18.519 All of these blessings come externally. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:22.339 There are things that Abraham could never achieve on his own. 00:11:22.419 --> 00:11:26.759 But God says, come and enter into this relationship with me. 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:30.000 And all of these things are yours. 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:36.539 And Abraham, even though he's heard this, we've already seen him fail to grasp the implications. 00:11:36.539 --> 00:11:37.539 Right? 00:11:37.539 --> 00:11:41.919 I will be your God, and I will provide all these things for you in chapter 12. 00:11:42.099 --> 00:11:44.199 And then what happens at the end of chapter 12? 00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:49.659 He goes down to Egypt, and he lies about his wife putting her in grave danger, 00:11:49.659 --> 00:11:52.379 because he doesn't believe that God can protect him. 00:11:52.379 --> 00:12:01.220 And then we saw last week in chapter 16 that the son hadn't come. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:03.220 There had been no fruit. 00:12:03.899 --> 00:12:05.080 There had been no child. 00:12:05.299 --> 00:12:06.639 How could you do this, God? 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:10.360 So Abraham and Sarah cooked up this plan to do it another way. 00:12:11.820 --> 00:12:14.860 God intervened and said, no, this is not the way. 00:12:15.259 --> 00:12:15.919 Don't you see? 00:12:16.039 --> 00:12:18.340 You can't provide this for yourself. 00:12:18.340 --> 00:12:21.160 I am going to be the one who will give it to you. 00:12:23.800 --> 00:12:28.700 And in doing so, I will show myself to be your God, and you will be my people. 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:37.080 Called into a dependent relationship, where we are putting ourselves in a place of both vulnerability, 00:12:37.580 --> 00:12:38.759 but also a blessing. 00:12:39.800 --> 00:12:44.940 Because we can't get it on our own, and yet it's the very thing that we most want. 00:12:46.100 --> 00:12:47.280 We want to belong. 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:49.360 We want to know whose we are. 00:12:49.620 --> 00:12:50.799 We want security. 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:51.939 Where am I going to live? 00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:53.779 Who's going to take care of me? 00:12:54.740 --> 00:12:57.539 And God has said, I will give you all of these things. 00:12:59.220 --> 00:12:59.980 Think about it. 00:12:59.980 --> 00:13:03.819 Isn't this the ideal parent providing for a child? 00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:07.120 Maybe you've had a great experience with your parents. 00:13:07.259 --> 00:13:09.539 Maybe you've had a terrible experience with your parents. 00:13:09.539 --> 00:13:20.019 But an ideal parent provides security and safety and a sense of belonging by providing a house to live in, 00:13:20.099 --> 00:13:25.419 by providing rules to follow, by providing food and comfort and shelter, 00:13:26.059 --> 00:13:31.099 by giving love and relationship, by even bestowing a name. 00:13:31.259 --> 00:13:32.059 You are mine. 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:36.339 You are part of my family because of the name that I give to you. 00:13:36.340 --> 00:13:44.680 And we know that human parents may be, may be, may, may fall short. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:48.639 In fact, we know human parents will fall short of that ideal. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:53.899 But when God comes to Abram, he says, I am the perfect parent. 00:13:54.220 --> 00:13:55.620 I am the heavenly father. 00:13:56.360 --> 00:13:57.960 And my name is faithful. 00:13:58.460 --> 00:13:59.939 And I will not fail you. 00:14:00.740 --> 00:14:02.779 I will not fail you in this covenant. 00:14:04.500 --> 00:14:07.220 And friends, isn't this what our hearts long for? 00:14:07.740 --> 00:14:12.299 Isn't this what we, deep in our hearts, want more than anything else? 00:14:12.299 --> 00:14:20.099 To know where we belong, to know whose we are, to know where we can live and who will take care of us. 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:26.740 And God has come and initiated this covenant with Abram and with all who follow him. 00:14:29.179 --> 00:14:35.079 So that's the first thing we learn is that covenant relationships secure blessings for us from beyond ourselves. 00:14:35.080 --> 00:14:42.720 And then when we get to verses 9 through 14, we see that covenant relationships require a costly sacrifice. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:46.300 So let's read this, 9 through 14. 00:14:47.580 --> 00:14:49.280 And God said to Abraham, 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:56.420 As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:02.740 This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you. 00:15:02.740 --> 00:15:05.480 Every male among you shall be circumcised. 00:15:05.680 --> 00:15:08.600 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins. 00:15:08.840 --> 00:15:12.860 And it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 00:15:13.680 --> 00:15:16.759 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:22.440 Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money, 00:15:22.600 --> 00:15:25.259 from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 00:15:25.500 --> 00:15:29.480 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:31.879 shall surely be circumcised. 00:15:31.879 --> 00:15:36.919 So shall my covenant be in your flesh, an everlasting covenant. 00:15:38.039 --> 00:15:42.399 And any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:44.039 shall be cut off from his people. 00:15:44.519 --> 00:15:46.840 He has broken my covenant. 00:15:49.139 --> 00:15:51.980 So if you could see it in the Hebrew, it's a cool thing. 00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:55.379 Because in verse 3, God comes to Abraham and says, 00:15:55.740 --> 00:15:58.759 As for me, this is what I'm going to bring to you. 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:03.860 And then you see in verse 9, and it's more clear here, verse 9, 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:08.639 then he says, okay, that's my part of the relationship. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:12.340 And now, as for you, this is your part. 00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:18.100 And suddenly we're in this very odd world of circumcision, right? 00:16:18.100 --> 00:16:23.540 Circumcision is the cutting off of the foreskin of a male private part. 00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:25.180 We're just going to leave it at that for the night. 00:16:26.340 --> 00:16:32.139 And it was a common practice in the ancient Near East. 00:16:32.259 --> 00:16:34.920 So this was not created by God. 00:16:35.100 --> 00:16:40.399 It was actually something that many of the nations around Abraham at that time would have done. 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:46.039 In fact, if you think about it later, the Philistines are mocked by all the nations around them 00:16:46.039 --> 00:16:48.139 because they're the uncircumcised ones, 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:53.340 which in their view made them more beastly and less cultured and more refined. 00:16:53.459 --> 00:16:55.740 So anyway, just a side note. 00:16:56.480 --> 00:16:58.819 But God came to Abraham and said, 00:16:58.819 --> 00:17:06.180 I want you to enter into this covenant by doing this costly sacrifice 00:17:06.180 --> 00:17:10.279 as a sign of your response to me. 00:17:12.320 --> 00:17:14.840 One Bible commentator put it this way. 00:17:15.660 --> 00:17:21.940 Whenever, after this day, Abraham would look upon that sign in his body, 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:29.240 he would say, I am the man to whom God has made his promises. 00:17:29.240 --> 00:17:35.500 This is exactly what God wanted to do, 00:17:35.700 --> 00:17:41.200 is to have Abraham enter into this agreement in such a physical way, 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:43.519 in such a particular way, 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:47.640 that it would remind Abraham for the rest of his life 00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:50.819 that God had made this promise to him 00:17:50.819 --> 00:17:53.920 and therefore to whom he belonged. 00:17:53.920 --> 00:18:00.600 This cutting off of the foreskin has other connotations 00:18:00.600 --> 00:18:05.120 as the scripture sort of unpacks the significance of circumcision. 00:18:05.400 --> 00:18:09.539 In Joshua 5, 9, as the people are entering into the promised land 00:18:09.539 --> 00:18:14.420 and there's a call to circumcise the people who haven't been circumcised 00:18:14.420 --> 00:18:16.240 because when they were wandering in the wilderness, 00:18:16.519 --> 00:18:19.080 they didn't have time to wait for them to heal. 00:18:19.220 --> 00:18:22.060 So there was a generation who hadn't been circumcised 00:18:22.060 --> 00:18:23.240 as they wandered in the wilderness. 00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:24.720 And so as they entered in, 00:18:25.220 --> 00:18:28.660 Joshua calls people to be circumcised 00:18:28.660 --> 00:18:34.240 to do this as a way of distinguishing them from the heathens around them. 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:36.799 To say, you need, and the heathen is just being, 00:18:37.019 --> 00:18:39.400 the other nations that worship other gods. 00:18:39.799 --> 00:18:42.940 This is a sign of a covenant with a particular God. 00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:46.000 And so Joshua says, come, in Joshua 5, 9, 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:50.359 come and do this again to reaffirm your connection with this God, 00:18:50.359 --> 00:18:52.940 the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. 00:18:53.240 --> 00:18:58.839 And then interestingly, in Deuteronomy 10, verse 16, 00:18:58.920 --> 00:19:00.700 I'm going to turn there so that we can read it 00:19:00.700 --> 00:19:04.240 because it's a fascinating move that he does here. 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:12.259 Now, Israel, what does the Lord require of you but to fear the Lord your God, 00:19:12.700 --> 00:19:16.839 to walk in all his ways, to love him, 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:18.620 to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, 00:19:18.700 --> 00:19:19.440 with all your soul, 00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:21.480 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, 00:19:21.799 --> 00:19:24.759 which I have commanding you today for your good. 00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:30.940 behold, to the Lord your God belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens and the earth and all that is in it. 00:19:30.940 --> 00:19:37.400 Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after him. 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:41.400 You, above all peoples, as you are this day, 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:47.299 circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn. 00:19:47.299 --> 00:19:52.319 And it's a fascinating, again, Deuteronomy is a reaffirmation of the covenant 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:55.599 as God's people are entering into the promised land. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:20:01.159 But here, Moses points to circumcision not simply as a physical reminder 00:20:01.159 --> 00:20:03.319 of God's promises to his people, 00:20:03.859 --> 00:20:05.819 but as a symbol of something greater. 00:20:05.819 --> 00:20:09.659 It's a cutting off of the sin, 00:20:09.939 --> 00:20:13.659 of extra, of the flesh that is extra, 00:20:14.299 --> 00:20:18.819 so that we might see that this is what God wants to do with our hearts. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:23.159 To cut off our fleshly sinfulness. 00:20:25.559 --> 00:20:29.379 To cut us off from those things that separate us from God. 00:20:31.579 --> 00:20:34.879 And offend the God who has invited us into covenant with him. 00:20:35.819 --> 00:20:39.319 In fact, this is exactly what, if you were here at the beginning, 00:20:39.439 --> 00:20:41.480 when I read from that passage in Colossians, 00:20:41.539 --> 00:20:42.879 what the Apostle Paul does. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:45.879 He says, what circumcision is, 00:20:45.899 --> 00:20:47.919 is the putting off of the body of flesh. 00:20:48.019 --> 00:20:51.679 And by that, what he means is not putting off our physical body in its totality, 00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:53.759 but putting off our sin nature. 00:20:54.339 --> 00:20:57.599 Putting off the propensities of our heart, 00:20:57.960 --> 00:20:59.480 the patterns of our life, 00:20:59.619 --> 00:21:01.399 the inclinations of our will 00:21:01.399 --> 00:21:04.859 to reject and rebel against God. 00:21:05.819 --> 00:21:07.740 And to go our own way. 00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:09.939 And to live a life of sin. 00:21:10.359 --> 00:21:13.179 And so circumcision takes on this whole meaning 00:21:13.179 --> 00:21:17.039 beyond just this physical sign of a covenant. 00:21:17.720 --> 00:21:22.679 But it is a forsaking of an old way and of an old life. 00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:29.380 It is repentance when we get to the New Testament. 00:21:29.820 --> 00:21:33.820 Turning away from something and turning towards something else. 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:38.980 As God does this work of circumcising our hearts, 00:21:40.120 --> 00:21:41.720 of freeing us from sin, 00:21:42.100 --> 00:21:46.420 and taking us in to a relationship with him. 00:21:46.420 --> 00:21:57.220 So a covenant relationship often requires costly sacrifice. 00:21:57.220 --> 00:22:02.980 And this is partly why what we need to hear in the call of God unto us. 00:22:03.180 --> 00:22:07.600 Is that God calls us to forsake a life apart from him. 00:22:07.700 --> 00:22:09.779 To forsake our sinful patterns. 00:22:09.960 --> 00:22:12.960 To forsake our proud independence. 00:22:14.140 --> 00:22:17.339 And to enter in instead into a relationship with him. 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:20.240 But we need to make sure that we get the order right. 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:22.299 Romans chapter 4. 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:24.900 If you want to turn with me there, 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:26.339 I want to look at this really briefly. 00:22:26.460 --> 00:22:27.700 Because this is important. 00:22:28.440 --> 00:22:30.259 Romans chapter 4 verse 9. 00:22:31.579 --> 00:22:33.400 God is talking about Abraham. 00:22:33.620 --> 00:22:37.099 And how it is that God entered into this covenant with him. 00:22:37.140 --> 00:22:38.220 And he says this. 00:22:39.140 --> 00:22:40.120 Verse 9. 00:22:40.700 --> 00:22:44.660 Is this blessing only for the circumcised? 00:22:45.019 --> 00:22:47.039 Or for the uncircumcised? 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:51.220 We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 00:22:51.659 --> 00:22:53.399 How then was it counted to him? 00:22:53.639 --> 00:22:57.659 Was it before or after he had been circumcised? 00:22:57.899 --> 00:23:02.000 It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 00:23:02.180 --> 00:23:08.539 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith. 00:23:08.980 --> 00:23:11.440 While he was still uncircumcised. 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:14.279 The purpose was to make him the father of all. 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:17.000 Who believe without being circumcised. 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:20.500 So that the righteousness would be counted to them as well. 00:23:20.740 --> 00:23:23.519 And to make him the father of the circumcised. 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:25.379 Who are not merely circumcised. 00:23:25.480 --> 00:23:29.779 But also who walk in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham. 00:23:30.579 --> 00:23:33.000 Had before he was circumcised. 00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:34.519 Okay. 00:23:34.619 --> 00:23:35.279 This is jumping. 00:23:35.720 --> 00:23:37.779 Parachuting into a sort of complicated argument. 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:39.420 But what is he saying here? 00:23:39.900 --> 00:23:46.340 Part of what he's trying to say is the salvation that God has worked through Jesus is for everybody. 00:23:46.340 --> 00:23:51.440 It's not just for the Jewish people who are physically circumcised and descendants of Abraham. 00:23:51.860 --> 00:23:57.160 He's saying that the true descendants of Abraham are people who are like Abraham in faith. 00:23:57.320 --> 00:23:58.720 Why do we know this? 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:03.019 Because Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. 00:24:03.980 --> 00:24:09.960 Not Abraham was circumcised and it was credited to him as righteousness. 00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:12.100 This is the distinction. 00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:16.579 Abraham received the promise and believed in it. 00:24:16.579 --> 00:24:28.939 And out of the overflow of that as a sign of that was then he responded by being circumcised. 00:24:29.639 --> 00:24:29.819 Right? 00:24:30.159 --> 00:24:35.079 And the reason why this is so important is because we so desperately want to do the right 00:24:35.079 --> 00:24:37.139 thing so that God will say, okay, you're okay. 00:24:38.439 --> 00:24:40.139 You've stopped doing something bad. 00:24:40.259 --> 00:24:40.879 That's enough. 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:41.539 That's okay. 00:24:41.819 --> 00:24:43.279 You're doing good things. 00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:43.819 That's enough. 00:24:43.919 --> 00:24:44.439 That's okay. 00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:45.460 You're giving money. 00:24:45.559 --> 00:24:47.059 You help the old lady cross the street. 00:24:47.140 --> 00:24:47.900 Whatever it is. 00:24:48.840 --> 00:24:52.160 And you think if I can only do the right thing then God will accept me. 00:24:52.840 --> 00:24:57.799 And no, what you need to see is instead the way that God works and the way that the covenant 00:24:57.799 --> 00:25:03.160 works is God comes to us and makes promises and he calls us to trust and believe in that. 00:25:03.799 --> 00:25:09.759 And then out of that, the fruit of that is that we repent of our sin and change our lives 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:14.140 and turn away from this body of sin. 00:25:14.140 --> 00:25:16.180 From our patterns of our flesh. 00:25:16.500 --> 00:25:19.660 We don't have to clean ourselves up to come to the promise. 00:25:20.059 --> 00:25:26.180 The promise is the thing that draws us in and frees us so that we can finally turn away. 00:25:26.660 --> 00:25:33.019 And this is the incredible work that circumcision of our heart is, is that it's God's work in 00:25:33.019 --> 00:25:34.660 us when we believe in him. 00:25:34.660 --> 00:25:38.160 And this is the order of how it works. 00:25:38.360 --> 00:25:43.259 When we believe in him, God does this work of freeing us from the body of sin that we 00:25:43.259 --> 00:25:45.620 then respond to by living it out. 00:25:46.019 --> 00:25:49.759 By living out a pattern of repentance and faith. 00:25:49.960 --> 00:25:51.400 When we sin, we repent. 00:25:51.500 --> 00:25:52.500 We turn away from it. 00:25:52.620 --> 00:25:54.980 And we believe again in the promises of God. 00:25:55.660 --> 00:25:56.920 And that's costly. 00:25:56.920 --> 00:26:02.660 But it's the fruit of what God has done in us, not the cause. 00:26:05.660 --> 00:26:12.820 So, circumcision, as much as it was in its initial form, a costly sacrifice that was an 00:26:12.820 --> 00:26:13.740 external sign. 00:26:13.940 --> 00:26:16.880 But God was going after our hearts when he was doing it. 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:23.019 And saying, I actually am going to call you to a greater costliness, but with a greater reward. 00:26:23.019 --> 00:26:26.740 And based on the promise that I'm making to you. 00:26:28.500 --> 00:26:29.500 Let's keep going. 00:26:29.900 --> 00:26:31.139 We're most of the way there. 00:26:32.460 --> 00:26:35.160 Verse 15 through 22, let's read together. 00:26:39.480 --> 00:26:40.859 I'm still looking at Romans. 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:41.920 That's not going to be helpful. 00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:43.160 Let's look at Genesis. 00:26:49.160 --> 00:26:50.160 Verse 15. 00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:53.900 And God said to Abram, as for Sarah, your wife. 00:26:53.980 --> 00:26:56.740 Remember, as for me, verses 1 through 8. 00:26:56.920 --> 00:26:59.680 Now to Abram, as for you, and for 9. 00:26:59.779 --> 00:27:00.779 Now, verse 15. 00:27:00.860 --> 00:27:05.300 As for Sarah, as for Sarah, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarah. 00:27:05.900 --> 00:27:08.100 But Sarah shall be her name. 00:27:08.140 --> 00:27:09.040 And I will bless her. 00:27:09.180 --> 00:27:13.060 And moreover, I will give you a son by her. 00:27:13.380 --> 00:27:14.279 I will bless her. 00:27:14.320 --> 00:27:15.740 And she shall become nations. 00:27:16.259 --> 00:27:18.860 Kings of people shall come from her. 00:27:18.859 --> 00:27:26.759 Then Abram fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, shall a child be born to a man who is 100 years old? 00:27:27.179 --> 00:27:31.199 Shall Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child? 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:36.319 And Abram said to God, oh, that Ishmael might live before you. 00:27:36.859 --> 00:27:38.339 And God said, no. 00:27:38.339 --> 00:27:41.839 But Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son. 00:27:42.159 --> 00:27:44.259 And you shall call his name Isaac. 00:27:44.799 --> 00:27:52.919 I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 00:27:53.199 --> 00:27:55.119 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. 00:27:55.199 --> 00:27:59.240 And behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. 00:27:59.659 --> 00:28:02.319 He shall father 12 princes. 00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:04.539 And I will make him into a great nation. 00:28:04.539 --> 00:28:12.319 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year. 00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:21.539 So, if covenant secures blessings that are beyond us, if covenant requires a costly sacrifice, 00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:28.059 here we see covenant relationships bring awe and wonder to our lives. 00:28:28.059 --> 00:28:32.619 The big question that everyone asks here is, why did Abraham laugh? 00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:33.359 Right? 00:28:33.460 --> 00:28:39.460 And it's a good question because what we, because remember what Abraham's circumstance is. 00:28:39.539 --> 00:28:43.059 He's now 25 years out from the original encounter. 00:28:43.359 --> 00:28:47.039 It's been 25 years since God said, I'm going to make you a father. 00:28:48.700 --> 00:28:55.000 Any of us, when we get 25 years older, are starting to be at the end of our ability to have children. 00:28:55.460 --> 00:28:55.740 Right? 00:28:55.899 --> 00:28:57.299 This is just a reality. 00:28:57.299 --> 00:28:59.839 And Abraham is older than most of us. 00:29:00.059 --> 00:29:03.639 And so, he's sitting here saying, are you kidding me, God? 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:05.759 It's been 25 years. 00:29:05.940 --> 00:29:08.019 Are you seriously going to do this? 00:29:12.399 --> 00:29:14.279 But I don't think it's just that. 00:29:14.639 --> 00:29:18.980 I think it's also that there's this sense of awe and wonder. 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:21.519 It's not just, it's incredulity. 00:29:21.659 --> 00:29:22.919 But I don't think it's doubt. 00:29:23.559 --> 00:29:23.779 Right? 00:29:23.779 --> 00:29:28.500 When we get to chapter 18, when Sarah laughs, God kind of rebukes her for it. 00:29:28.740 --> 00:29:30.879 Says, do you really doubt I can do this? 00:29:31.180 --> 00:29:33.559 But here, there isn't that sense. 00:29:34.399 --> 00:29:39.980 It seems to me, and maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that when Abraham laughs here, 00:29:39.980 --> 00:29:44.299 it's this sense of, can you believe this is true? 00:29:44.299 --> 00:29:49.079 But not in a doubtful way, but in an overjoyed way. 00:29:49.259 --> 00:29:55.220 It's like winning the lottery and picking your ticket and saying, can you believe this is actually the one? 00:29:55.819 --> 00:29:57.599 I think that's what's going on here. 00:29:57.839 --> 00:30:01.460 There's some fun conversation among the commentators about that. 00:30:01.460 --> 00:30:05.660 But, and you know, Abraham does have some doubt. 00:30:05.799 --> 00:30:08.220 He's like, hey, can't you do this through Ishmael? 00:30:08.299 --> 00:30:09.360 I've already got a son. 00:30:09.700 --> 00:30:12.160 Can't you work it through what's already existing? 00:30:14.340 --> 00:30:16.460 And God reminds him and says, no. 00:30:17.120 --> 00:30:20.100 No, because that was you trying to do this on your own. 00:30:20.579 --> 00:30:24.680 I'm going to do this in a way that's going to bring awe and wonder to you. 00:30:24.680 --> 00:30:31.400 I'm going to make a hundred-year-old man and a ninety-year-old woman bear a child 00:30:31.400 --> 00:30:36.160 so that everyone will know that I am the one who did this. 00:30:36.320 --> 00:30:38.779 This is not a normal human thing. 00:30:39.400 --> 00:30:43.259 This is a divine intervention and a divine provision 00:30:43.259 --> 00:30:48.259 so that you will spend the rest of your life in this awe and wonder. 00:30:48.620 --> 00:30:51.299 Can you believe that God gave us this child? 00:30:51.299 --> 00:30:57.440 And this is what God brings to his covenant relationship with Abraham. 00:30:57.579 --> 00:31:00.200 He says, I'm going to do wonders among you. 00:31:04.099 --> 00:31:09.559 Friends, I wonder if we have the awe and wonder about what God has done among us. 00:31:11.819 --> 00:31:15.799 There are many ways we can see and think about how God has provided for us, 00:31:15.799 --> 00:31:19.500 how God has taken care of us, how God has protected us. 00:31:19.500 --> 00:31:24.460 But friends, the greatest thing of all that he's done is send his son Jesus. 00:31:25.180 --> 00:31:31.859 And if we ever wonder whether God is there and whether God has acted towards us for our good, 00:31:32.099 --> 00:31:38.619 we can look to the historical reality of Jesus Christ, his crucifixion and his resurrection. 00:31:38.619 --> 00:31:46.659 And then, as we sing sometimes, let us sing with awe, with joy, with wonder 00:31:46.659 --> 00:31:49.639 at what God has done for us in that. 00:31:53.079 --> 00:32:00.059 So covenant relationships bring an unbelievable blessing beyond our ability. 00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:02.419 They ask for sacrifice. 00:32:02.420 --> 00:32:10.800 Thirdly, they create in us awe and wonder as we marvel at God doing what only God could do. 00:32:12.080 --> 00:32:20.480 And then finally, in verses 23 through 27, covenant relationships require a wholehearted commitment. 00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:25.259 Starting in verse 22. 00:32:25.259 --> 00:32:28.519 When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. 00:32:29.140 --> 00:32:32.839 Then Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all those born in his house, 00:32:33.039 --> 00:32:36.680 or bought with his money every male among the men of Abraham's house, 00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:38.920 and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins. 00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:42.039 That very day, as God had said to him, 00:32:42.759 --> 00:32:48.180 Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 00:32:48.180 --> 00:32:53.600 And Ishmael, his son, was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 00:32:53.980 --> 00:32:57.500 That very day, Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised, 00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:03.140 and all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, 00:33:03.519 --> 00:33:05.380 were circumcised with him. 00:33:09.360 --> 00:33:13.900 The narrator here wraps up this story by talking about Abraham's response. 00:33:13.900 --> 00:33:17.240 And what I want you to see is that it is complete, 00:33:18.620 --> 00:33:21.640 and it is comprehensive, and it is immediate. 00:33:22.560 --> 00:33:25.820 That very day is repeated multiple times. 00:33:25.940 --> 00:33:27.880 Abraham's response was that very day. 00:33:28.360 --> 00:33:31.320 And he made everyone in his household submit to it. 00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:32.280 Okay? 00:33:32.640 --> 00:33:35.420 From the youngest child to the oldest man. 00:33:35.420 --> 00:33:41.779 It might have been more costly for the older men than for the young child. 00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:44.840 But everyone did it without delay. 00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:47.940 No one was left out. 00:33:49.080 --> 00:33:56.820 God immediately, or Abraham immediately and comprehensively responded to this. 00:33:56.819 --> 00:34:05.579 And what we see is Abraham maybe taking one more step and finally getting this covenant relationship 00:34:05.579 --> 00:34:09.380 and the greatness of this invitation that God says, 00:34:09.599 --> 00:34:12.000 Yes, God, I am all in with you. 00:34:13.019 --> 00:34:14.819 I am all in with you. 00:34:15.500 --> 00:34:18.460 And so I'm going to make everyone under my authority, 00:34:18.659 --> 00:34:20.019 everyone in my household, 00:34:20.259 --> 00:34:25.900 take this step of entering in and bearing this sign of a covenant with you. 00:34:25.900 --> 00:34:30.079 And friends, as we think about this, we need to be careful. 00:34:30.240 --> 00:34:34.460 We live in a culture today where when we talk about believing in something, 00:34:34.680 --> 00:34:36.539 it can often be a very casual thing. 00:34:36.660 --> 00:34:37.980 I believe in UFOs. 00:34:38.500 --> 00:34:40.559 I believe that JFK wasn't murdered. 00:34:40.900 --> 00:34:43.119 I believe that Elvis Presley is still alive. 00:34:43.180 --> 00:34:45.059 We talk about belief in all sorts of ways. 00:34:45.480 --> 00:34:46.539 Some of them are crazy. 00:34:46.680 --> 00:34:47.539 Some of them are not. 00:34:48.019 --> 00:34:50.440 But we talk about it in a very lighthearted way. 00:34:51.700 --> 00:34:55.500 And easy believism can easily creep into the church. 00:34:55.900 --> 00:34:57.480 I believe in Jesus. 00:34:58.860 --> 00:35:03.960 But it's not a wholehearted, immediate, and comprehensive response. 00:35:04.460 --> 00:35:05.820 It's a very surfacy. 00:35:05.920 --> 00:35:10.539 I believe in Jesus as long as it fits into my life and as long as he does what I want 00:35:10.539 --> 00:35:13.320 and as long as I'm happy with whatever he's doing in my life. 00:35:13.619 --> 00:35:14.940 That's good enough for me. 00:35:14.940 --> 00:35:25.860 God wants not just a sense of a truth, not just an agreement about a certain formula, 00:35:26.220 --> 00:35:28.519 but he wants a wholehearted trust. 00:35:28.519 --> 00:35:35.000 And you can see how hard this was for Abraham because he struggled already twice. 00:35:35.139 --> 00:35:38.019 He's received this promise and failed to really trust in it. 00:35:38.280 --> 00:35:44.280 And God is saying, graciously pursuing him, saying, come on, believe me, trust me, take 00:35:44.280 --> 00:35:45.259 this step of faith. 00:35:45.800 --> 00:35:47.800 And he does and he responds. 00:35:47.800 --> 00:35:54.120 And even though he struggled with that, and just like we do, and it's good to know that 00:35:54.120 --> 00:35:57.120 God's grace is with us through that struggle. 00:35:57.460 --> 00:36:02.680 The arc of the story and the tagline of Abraham is that he believed God. 00:36:03.720 --> 00:36:06.840 This is what his life was about, is that he believed God. 00:36:06.940 --> 00:36:13.300 Not perfectly, not always, but he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. 00:36:13.300 --> 00:36:23.100 And so we have to have our cultural aversion to commitment challenged. 00:36:25.460 --> 00:36:29.940 We need to recognize that God calls us not halfway, but wholehearted. 00:36:30.180 --> 00:36:32.440 Not partially, but comprehensively. 00:36:32.840 --> 00:36:37.760 All of our lives being committed to a covenant relationship with him. 00:36:39.940 --> 00:36:41.340 And what about our fears? 00:36:41.539 --> 00:36:42.519 Will God leave us? 00:36:43.740 --> 00:36:45.200 Will we fail the covenant? 00:36:45.340 --> 00:36:47.740 What if we're not good enough and we can't keep it ourselves? 00:36:50.500 --> 00:36:53.060 What if we lose our independence in all of this? 00:36:54.560 --> 00:36:57.019 Well, friends, this is the good news of the gospel. 00:36:58.120 --> 00:37:03.340 Is that God in his covenant with his people knew, even from the very beginning, that we 00:37:03.340 --> 00:37:05.060 would never keep the covenant perfectly. 00:37:05.660 --> 00:37:07.760 We'd never trust him wholeheartedly. 00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:10.519 We always struggle and we always fail. 00:37:10.519 --> 00:37:13.519 We ask that God's not God in the world. 00:37:13.519 --> 00:37:14.179 We don't trust him. 00:37:14.179 --> 00:37:20.940 And yet, in this, that he saw from long ago, he said, I will provide for you. 00:37:21.360 --> 00:37:22.840 And so Jesus Christ came. 00:37:22.900 --> 00:37:28.059 And when Jesus came, he kept the covenant that we couldn't keep with God. 00:37:28.340 --> 00:37:35.280 He was the one who came and lived the life that we ought to have lived, a perfect faith 00:37:35.280 --> 00:37:40.580 and trust in Christ. Do you remember back in chapter 15 when God made the covenant and he 00:37:40.580 --> 00:37:46.540 cut the animals in half and the pot walked through it and said, I'm, you know, the idea there, 00:37:46.620 --> 00:37:51.360 the image there is he walks through and says, may God do this to me if I don't keep the covenant? 00:37:51.780 --> 00:37:56.480 But Abraham was asleep. Abraham didn't walk through the animals. Abraham didn't make that 00:37:56.480 --> 00:38:00.460 commitment. God was the one who walked through to say, I'm not only making this covenant, 00:38:00.460 --> 00:38:06.900 but I'm going to keep it. I'm going to be the one who does this for you. And that's exactly what 00:38:06.900 --> 00:38:12.780 Christ did. And though we as human beings failed and sinned and rebelled against God, 00:38:14.220 --> 00:38:20.940 Jesus came and he lived a perfect life of obedience and perfect covenant keeping. And so he established 00:38:20.940 --> 00:38:27.300 the rightness of a covenant with God that we could never do. And then he willingly then took that life 00:38:27.300 --> 00:38:33.400 and he offered it up for us on our behalf. And he was cut off. Remember the last verse of this? 00:38:33.700 --> 00:38:39.120 If you're not circumcised, you get cut off. Jesus says, I'm going to be that person for you. 00:38:39.860 --> 00:38:48.980 I will be cut off from the people of God. I will suffer the judgment and be cast out and suffer 00:38:48.980 --> 00:38:56.600 condemnation and death for you. And this is what God did for us in Christ. He secured for us 00:38:56.599 --> 00:39:02.119 a benefit that we could never do on our own by our own covenant keeping because he kept the covenant 00:39:02.119 --> 00:39:08.900 for us. And he freed us from the penalty of our covenant breaking by taking it upon himself. 00:39:12.259 --> 00:39:20.460 And he secured for us the wonder and the awe of our salvation. And this is what Christ has done for us. 00:39:20.460 --> 00:39:28.139 And he calls us to wholehearted response to this. To believe and to trust and to follow and to make 00:39:28.139 --> 00:39:36.539 commit all of our lives to following him in all of our particulars. To repent from our sin and turn 00:39:36.539 --> 00:39:43.579 away from it and to turn towards him. But to do that in the context of knowing that he has already 00:39:43.579 --> 00:39:51.880 established this covenant forever with us. And that as we, by faith, walk into it and trust in it and 00:39:51.880 --> 00:39:59.799 hold on to it and receive it from him, all the blessings of being God's people will be ours. 00:40:00.360 --> 00:40:08.059 Let's pray. God, we thank you for the work that you have done for us in Christ. And we thank you for 00:40:08.059 --> 00:40:15.799 Abraham and for his faith. Lord, we ask that you would give us tonight, Lord, by your grace, the gift 00:40:15.799 --> 00:40:22.460 of faith. Lord, that we would believe and trust that you are a faithful and a glorious God who has given 00:40:22.460 --> 00:40:33.340 us great things in Christ. Lord, belonging and security, certainty and hope. Lord, and that you will hold us. 00:40:33.340 --> 00:40:40.360 Lord, that we will be your God, that we will be your people and that you will be our God forever. 00:40:42.380 --> 00:40:45.039 Lord, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.