Today our reading is from Genesis chapter 17 and it's the full chapter so yeah settled in for a bit of a long read.
Then Abram fell on his face and God said to him,
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 but your name shall be Abraham for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I'll make you into nations and kings shall come from you.
And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout the generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
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.
And I will be their God.
And God said to Abraham,
As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout the generations.
This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you.
Every male among you shall be circumcised.
You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised.
Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring,
both he who is born in your house and he who is born with your money shall be circumcised.
So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.
Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people.
He has broken my covenant.
And God said to Abraham,
As for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
I will bless her and moreover I will give you a son by her.
I will bless her and she shall become nations.
Kings of people shall come from her.
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself,
Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?
Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?
And Abraham said to God,
Oh, that Ishmael might live before you.
God said,
No, but Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son.
And you shall call his name Isaac.
I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.
As for Ishmael, I have heard you.
I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly.
He shall father twelve princes and I will make him into a great nation.
But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.
When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.
Then Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all those who were born in his house, all bought with money.
Every male among the men of Abraham's house.
And he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him.
Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
And Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
That very day, Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised.
And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner,
were circumcised with him.
This is God's word. May he bless it to us today.
Good morning, everyone.
It would be a great help if you have your Bibles open at Genesis chapter 17.
And also, if you have an outline, I think that may assist you this morning as well.
Now, if you do have an outline, which is in the bulletin there,
it may feel ominously long and detailed.
It is there to help you follow the flow of thought in Genesis chapter 17.
I'll be spending more time speaking about the first half of the outline than the second half.
So don't get too nervous.
But yeah, it will just help you follow the flow of ideas.
And I'll be stepping through most of the ideas on that outline bit by bit as we go through the text of Genesis 17.
Now, Genesis 17 is a chapter of monumental significance,
which reverberates through the rest of the Bible.
Genesis 17, it may not have quite the same human drama as chapter 16,
which we looked at last week.
But in the scheme of the Bible's unfolding story,
Genesis 17, chapter 17, is by far the more important.
It's the first time in this chapter that we hear the name Abraham.
We've met him before, of course, by a different name, by the name Abram.
But this is Abraham is the name by which he will be known throughout the rest of the scriptures.
The name which we mentioned 73 times in the New Testament,
second only to Moses as an Old Testament figure in the New Testament.
The first mention in the Bible of circumcision.
Genesis chapter 17, in this chapter, the word covenant occurs more times than in any other chapter in the Bible.
Thirteen times the word covenant occurs in Genesis chapter 17.
The closest any other chapter in the Bible gets is seven.
There's a lot going on in Genesis 17.
So I want to give you something to hang on to as we get into it.
And what I'm going to give you to hang on to is five speeches, four names, one promise.
Five speeches, four names, one promise.
The covenant God announces in this chapter unfolds over five speeches.
Five times the speech of God is introduced.
In four of those five speeches, God gives someone a new name.
Simon spoke about a couple of those in the kids' talk.
And those names are keys which unlock the key ideas, the key themes of the covenant in this chapter.
But everything God says, all five speeches, all four new names, are all for the sake of one staggering promise.
Five speeches, four names, one promise.
Now God makes various promises in this chapter and many more throughout the Bible.
But of every promise God has given, there is one specific promise in this chapter that I would suggest is the most important promise of all.
It's the most important promise because it is the whole point of every other promise.
And in the Bible we hear it for the first time in Genesis chapter 17.
So let's get into this chapter together.
Five speeches, four names, one promise.
It begins in verse 1, when Abram was 99 years old.
Now 13 years had passed since the end of chapter 16.
13 years had passed since Abram's son Ishmael was born to Hagar.
And Hagar, if you were here last week, you will remember, was an Egyptian servant girl who belonged to Abram's wife Sarai.
It's been 13 years with Abram, his wife Sarai, Ishmael and Hagar living together under the one roof, so to speak.
13 years, we might imagine, of some domestic tension.
But nonetheless, at the end of those 13 years, at age 99, as an old man, Abram probably thought that the most important events of his life were past.
God had given him promises in Genesis chapter 12.
He had journeyed to the land of Canaan.
He had defeated a coalition of eastern kings in chapter 14.
God had made a covenant with him in chapter 15.
And we had the birth of Ishmael in chapter 16.
The major events of Abram's life seem complete.
He has a son.
He has an heir.
Sure, it may have come about in an awkward way, but his line would continue.
God's promises would continue.
But God was about to interrupt Abram's thoughts.
And so we come to the first of God's five speeches in this chapter.
Verse 1.
First, God says, I am God Almighty.
In Hebrew, El Shaddai.
I am El Shaddai.
This is the first of the four new names in this chapter.
God identifies himself here as El Shaddai for the first time in the Bible.
And that's not the most common name for God in the Bible.
I think it occurs 48 times through the Old Testament, mostly in the book of Job.
It pops up at some significant places in Genesis.
And there is some uncertainty about how it should be translated, El Shaddai.
But God Almighty is probably close to the mark.
Or maybe, as the New English translation has it, the sovereign God.
El is easy.
That just means God.
What about Shaddai?
Well, I think the most likely suggestions for Shaddai are that it's related to either the Hebrew word for sufficiency
or to a Hebrew word to destroy and overpower, a word for strength.
Either way, here is a name that suggests God's absolute power, sovereignty and strength.
The early Christian scholar, Jerome, 4th century scholar who translated the Hebrew Old Testament
into a Latin version called the Vulgate, he consistently translated this word Shaddai with the Latin word omnipotence.
El Shaddai is not a God to be trifled with.
He is a God who can do whatever he wishes.
I am El Shaddai.
And what El Shaddai had for Abram in this first speech was a two-part command and a two-part promise.
And in each case, the two parts work together really to convey a single idea.
So first the command, walk before me and be blameless.
God calls Abram to allegiance, obedience and moral integrity.
Walk before me and be blameless.
And what follows is a two-part promise that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly.
Now let me say something in general about covenants and then we'll look at the specifics of this particular covenant.
A covenant in the Bible is a solemn agreement which establishes a lasting relationship.
It's similar to a contract, we have contracts today, but contracts in our context have a very different spirit to the covenants God makes in the Bible.
Contracts, our modern day contracts, are transactional.
They're agreements that serve the self-interest of each party.
They're limited, narrow and clearly defined in scope.
But God's covenants are deeper and much more open-ended than that.
So my wife and my family, we've just moved house.
But at our old house, some years ago, we were doing some renovation work and we engaged a plumber by the name of Anthony.
And Anthony had just started a new business.
We were one of Anthony's first customers.
The first invoice we received from Anthony was number 20.
His invoice number 20.
And we got Anthony, you know, I got on well with Anthony.
He was a hard worker.
We seemed to have a good relationship.
He charged reasonable prices.
He did a good job.
We got him to do more and more work.
We had invoices 20, then 22, then 34, then 52, then 86.
Five of his first hundred invoices written out to us.
We must have been a significant customer for Anthony in the early years of his business.
So we stuck with Anthony from then on.
But over the years, things changed.
His business grew.
We stopped seeing Anthony.
Someone else would answer the phone when we rang.
Someone else would come out to our house to attend a job, a junior plumber.
The fees increased.
The invoice numbers rose.
The most recent invoice we received this year was number 21,340.
The reality is, although my relationship with Anthony was warm, it was only ever transactional.
You do this for me and I'll do that for you.
You unclog our drains and I'll pay your fee.
A lot of people have a transactional approach to God.
Heal me of this affliction and I'll start going to church.
Give me a wife and I'll consider missionary service.
Or maybe we put it around the other way.
God, I've been giving money to church and a mission.
You owe it to me, God, to make my business prosper.
Much ancient religion was transactional in nature.
But El Shaddai does not make contracts.
He makes covenants.
And his words in verses 1 and 2 are more marriage proposal than business deal.
He calls Abram to complete wholehearted allegiance and promises to bind himself to Abram in a covenant.
A covenant that's summarized in the words that I may multiply you greatly.
Now God had already made one covenant with Abram in chapter 15.
The covenant to your descendants I give this land.
But here in chapter 17 he proposes a second covenant.
Or at the very least an expansion of the covenant.
A covenant upgrade.
Now why do I say this is a second covenant or at least a covenant upgrade?
Because the covenant in chapter 17 is future, not past.
The one in chapter 15 is already given.
But this one in chapter 17, when God announces it here in verse 2, it hasn't yet been made.
It's not yet ratified.
He proposes giving Abram this covenant.
But first Abram must walk before him and be blameless.
Chapter 17 is the engagement.
The marriage is yet to come.
So the Lord appeared to Abram with this searching command and this priceless promise.
And Abram did what we might expect a human being to do, a mere mortal to do in the presence of El Shaddai.
Verse 3, he fell on his face.
Which brings us to the second speech in verses 3 to 8 and the second new name.
Verse 3, Abram fell on his face and God said to him,
Now the Hebrew word Ab means father.
And the name Abraham means, or Avram, probably a better pronunciation, means exalted father.
But the name Avraham, as Simon explained in the kids talk, means father of many.
Father of many.
In chapter 15, God had promised Abram many descendants.
And it's implied that they would form one nation in the land of Canaan, the land God was giving.
But in this second covenant, or this covenant upgrade, Abraham would be the father of many in an even greater sense.
He would be the father of a multitude of nations, not just one, but many.
Now that's the promise that's at the heart of this covenant.
Verse 6, I will make you exceedingly fruitful.
The word fruitful there echoes Genesis chapter 1, the promise at creation, or the mandate at creation.
And Genesis chapter 9, the command to Noah, the blessing of Noah after the flood.
I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make you into nations, God says.
That's the promise that's at the heart of this covenant in Genesis chapter 17.
That's the sense in which God will multiply Abraham greatly.
Making him the father of many, not just descendants, but many nations.
But in what sense would Abraham be the father of a multitude of nations?
That's the question we need to ask.
But hold that question.
First, I want us to see three other elements of this covenant.
Kings, offspring and everlasting.
First kings.
Look at verse 6.
Again, I will make you into nations and kings shall come from you.
The Lord says.
In making this covenant, God emphasizes your descendants will include kings.
For some reason not yet explained, a royal line will be important for this covenant.
Second, your offspring, verse 7.
And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you.
Throughout their generations.
The covenant in chapter 15 was made with Abram alone.
This covenant God specifically makes with Abraham and his offspring.
It would fully belong to future generations.
Third, everlasting.
Between me and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
For an everlasting covenant, God says.
This covenant would be perpetual.
It would endure.
It concerned God's ultimate plans.
His plans for an everlasting future.
For days without end.
God's everlasting covenant.
His eternal plan was that Abraham would be the father of a multitude of nations.
So let's return to that question.
In what sense would Abraham be the father of a multitude of nations?
Well, one option is maybe he's the father of many nations by physical descent.
Now, he's their ancestor.
Now, getting ahead of ourselves a little bit here, but I have a family tree for Abraham that I think will come up on the screen.
There we go.
Showing Abraham's descendants.
And ultimately, Abraham would have children by three women, by Hagar, Sarah and Keturah.
And from them came multiple nations.
The Arab tribes descended from Ishmael.
Edom and Israel descended from Sarah, through Sarah.
And Midianites and others through Keturah.
Now, maybe you could say that if you take all of those different people, groups and nations together, that adds up to a multitude.
And in that sense, Abraham is the father of a multitude of nations.
Although maybe that feels like it's stretching the language a little.
I think next slide we go.
But actually, Genesis doesn't really let us reach that conclusion anyway.
Because later on in this chapter, in verses 19 to 21, God distinguishes between Isaac and Ishmael, two sons of Abraham, and says the covenant will be through Isaac, not through Ishmael.
So that seems to narrow it down even further.
Maybe the multitude of nations, next slide, is just Edom and Israel.
But then that doesn't really sound like a multitude at all.
That's just two.
Even more definitive, though, is when we get to it, Genesis chapter 35, verse 11, when the Lord repeats this or reaffirms this covenant to Jacob, Abraham's grandson.
Genesis 35, verse 9, God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan Aram and he blessed him.
And God said to him, I am God Almighty, El Shaddai.
Be fruitful and multiply.
A nation and a company of nations shall come from you and kings shall come from your own body.
Can you hear all the echoes of Genesis 17 there?
I am El Shaddai.
Be fruitful.
A company of nations.
Kings.
I mean, this is the Genesis 17 covenant being reaffirmed to Jacob.
And about the kings, God is explicit.
He says, kings shall come from your own body.
That is, by physical descent from you.
But what about the first part?
A nation and a company of nations shall come from you.
Well, physically, Jacob was the ancestor of only one nation.
Israel.
So God distinguishes.
A nation would come from Jacob, a nation by physical descent.
But a company of nations could only come from Jacob in another sense.
In other words, to bring us back to Genesis 17, the covenant in Genesis 17 is not about Abraham's physical fatherhood of a few nations,
but his spiritual fatherhood of a multitude of nations.
The covenant of Genesis 17 is God's formal, binding, eternal ratification of the promise initially announced in Genesis 12, verse 3,
in you, all families of the earth shall be blessed.
That's the meaning of the name Abraham.
It signifies God's promise and plan and purpose to gather together all nations, all peoples, all the families of the earth,
that they might receive his blessing.
And what is the blessing?
What is the ultimate goal of this covenant?
Well, it's there before us in that one promise, that one most important promise, which is the purpose of every other promise.
Verse 7,
And I'll 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.
Or as God puts it simply at the end of verse 8,
And I will be their God.
God has made an everlasting covenant, from which he will not budge,
to bring together a multitude of nations, all the families of the earth,
so that he might bless us by being our God.
Now think about that promise, and I will be their God.
God has made an everlasting covenant, from which he will not budge,
promise that, because that is just a given of reality.
What God promises here, when he says, I will be their God,
is the kind of relationship with God that Adam and Eve enjoyed in the garden.
When they dwelt in his presence,
heard his voice,
delighted in his blessing,
when they walked with the Lord in the cool of the day.
It's the kind of relationship in which God is over us,
and with us,
and for us,
and nothing in all creation can separate us from his love.
God pledged himself to restore,
with a multitude of nations,
all the spiritual offspring of Abraham,
that perfect union of love,
and worship,
and joy,
for which we were made.
God promised to give himself to us,
that we might glorify him,
and enjoy him forever.
And that promise is for people of every nation.
And I will be their God.
Now I want us to think about some implications of that.
We're going to think about one implication now.
We're going to think about some further implications
after we've looked at the rest of chapter 17, briefly.
One implication now.
Martin Luther King used to say,
11 a.m. Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America.
That is,
he's making the point that in mid-20th century America,
nowhere was the division between black and white
clearer than on a Sunday morning,
when the country divided into black churches,
and white churches,
African-American churches,
and European-American churches.
Now,
at one level,
it doesn't matter if there are ethnic churches.
Think about it.
If in Glendale here,
we had a Chinese church,
and an African church,
and a Korean church,
and a Spanish church,
and an Aboriginal Australian church.
Well, if that happened,
if we had all those churches here in Glendale,
praise God.
There was a 1969 song
by Blue Mink,
which proposed putting all the people of the world
into a melting pot.
And then,
stirring the melting pot
for a hundred years or more,
and then turning out
coffee-coloured people
by the score.
Anyone know that song?
I could sing one or two nods, right?
It's not a very good song.
But,
but,
but while God's plan
is to gather
one church,
that one church
is not uniform,
it's not monochrome.
God wants to be known
and worshipped
in English,
and in Mandarin,
and in Swahili,
and in Spanish,
and in Arabic,
and in Indonesian,
Telugu,
Creole,
and thousands of other languages.
Abraham is not the father
of one coffee-coloured nation,
but of a multitude of nations.
So there's no problem
with specific ethnic
or language-based churches.
Every,
in fact,
every congregation
is a language-based church.
You can't avoid it.
At the same time,
every church,
while it may operate
in a specific language,
should in principle
be a place
where people
of every nation
and ethnicity
and background
are welcome.
Now,
when the multitude
of nations
in the church
is mirrored
in a plurality
of nations
in a church,
well,
that's a beautiful thing.
we have some
of that diversity
here at Grace.
Praise God.
We might pray
for even more.
So let's strive
to be hospitable
to one another,
to build bridges
across culture
and across language,
so that anyone
who walks through
the doors
of our church
will know
they belong,
wherever they come from.
And so God's
covenant with Abraham
might be visibly
displayed
right here
in this place.
Okay,
I have some more
implications later,
but let's just
fly through
the rest of chapter 17
because there are
some more things
we need to notice here
and then we'll
wrap it up together.
The third speech
of God
in verses 9 to 14
begins,
verse 9,
And God said
to Abraham,
As for you,
you shall keep
my covenant,
you and your offspring
after you
throughout their
generations.
Now what God
means by this
when he calls
on Abraham
to keep his covenant
is to keep
what he calls
in verse 11
a sign
of the covenant.
Abraham's descendants
were to be marked
by that sign.
It was a way
of saying
we belong
to the covenant.
We are waiting
on God's promises.
God is our God.
The sign
of the covenant
was circumcision.
Now why circumcision?
Well,
this chapter
doesn't directly
answer that.
In fact,
I don't think
really anywhere
in the Bible
directly answers
that question.
but I think
it's reasonable
to suppose
that there is
some relationship
between the sign
and between
what God
has promised.
Just as you
think about
the covenant
with Noah,
there's an obvious
connection between
the sign,
a rainbow,
and the promise
not to flood
the earth.
Well,
the promise
of the covenant
in Genesis 17
is,
I will multiply
you greatly.
I will make
you exceedingly
fruitful.
I will make
you into nations
and kings
shall come
from you.
So perhaps
the best suggestion
as to why
circumcision
is because
of the association
with procreation.
Circumcision
was to serve
as a visible
sign
that fruitfulness,
multiplication,
descendants
are from
the Lord.
They are the
blessing of
El Shaddai.
And ultimately
it was a
reminder that
it was God
himself who
would fulfil
his promise
to bless
all families
of the earth
through the
seed of Abraham.
God commands
in verse 10
that every male
among you
shall be
circumcised.
And verses
12 to 13
go on to explain
that this includes
both those
born in your
house and
any bought
with your
money from
any foreigner
who's not
of your
offspring.
That is,
this sign
of the
covenant
wasn't only
for the
natural
descendants
of Abraham,
it was for
any who
became
attached
to Abraham's
family.
Whatever
people or
tribe
they might
be from.
All could
be included.
And so
the covenant
with Abraham
was both
universal
and
particular.
We've
seen the
universal,
Abraham the
father of
a multitude
of nations.
But there's
also a sense
in which this
covenant is
particular.
And the
fourth and
fifth speeches
of God in
this chapter
sort of draw
out the
connection
between the
universal and
the particular.
Speech 4,
verse 15,
And God
said to
Abraham,
As for
Sarai,
your wife,
you shall
not call
her name
Sarai,
but Sarah
shall be
her name.
I will
bless her
and moreover
I will
give a
son by
her.
I will
bless her
and she
shall
become
nations.
Kings
of peoples
shall come
from her.
Now,
when God
says I
will bless
her,
I will
give you
a son
by her,
that's the
particular.
family
line.
Physically,
Sarah would
be the
mother of
a particular
family
line.
When God
says I
will bless
her and
she shall
become
nations,
that's the
universal.
Spiritually,
Sarah would
be the
mother of
a multitude
of nations.
So what's
the relationship
between the
two,
between a
son and
nations,
between a
particular
family line
and all
the families
of the
earth?
Well,
Genesis 17
is giving
us hints,
right?
It's laying
seeds,
it's beginning
threads that
will flow
through the
rest of
the Bible.
Here's
another hint.
Kings
of peoples
shall come
from her.
The
particular
line
through
Sarah's
son
would be
a royal
line,
a line
that would
produce
kings,
which
may well
explain the
third new
name we
encounter in
this chapter,
Sarah.
No longer
Sarah,
but call
her name
Sarah,
because Sarah
means princess.
It's a name
fitting for the
mother of
kings.
Kings of
people shall
come from
her.
So as the
Bible unfolds,
the particular
promise,
Sarah's line,
is the
key to the
universal
promise,
all
nations.
It's
through
the son
of Sarah
that the
nations would
be blessed.
The promise
to Sarah
sets us
waiting for
a king,
a king
to whom
would belong
the obedience
of all
nations.
Now
Abraham
responds to
all this,
the promise
that Sarah
will have
a son in
verse 17,
by falling
on his
face again
and laughing.
And then
he speaks to
himself and
he speaks to
God.
In verse 17,
Abraham says
to himself,
shall a child
be born to
a man who's
a hundred
years old?
Shall Sarah
who's ninety
years old
bear a
child?
I mean,
it's impossible.
His laughter
is laughter
of disbelief.
I'm too
old.
Sarah's
too old.
This can't
happen.
It's
ludicrous.
And so
Abraham
speaks to
God in
verse 18
and offers
a very
practical
solution.
And Abraham
said to
God,
oh that
Ishmael
might live
before you.
Abraham
already had
a son.
Oh may
that this
son,
the son
born according
to the
flesh,
the son
born through
Sarah's
and Abraham's
scheme back
in chapter
16,
may this
son be
enough.
Abraham
laughed at
the impossible
but in his
fifth speech
God picks up
on Abraham's
laughter.
Verse 19,
no but
Sarah your
wife shall
bear you a
son and
you shall
call his
name
Isaac.
Which means
he laughs.
You shall
call his
name Isaac.
I will
establish my
covenant with
him as an
everlasting
covenant for
his offspring
after him.
As for
Ishmael,
I've heard
you and
behold I've
blessed him
and will
make him
fruitful and
multiply him
greatly.
He shall
father twelve
princes and
I'll make
him into a
great nation.
but I
will establish
my covenant
with Isaac
whom Sarah
will bear to
you at
this time
next year.
Here's the
fourth of the
new names.
Isaac, he
laughs and
the name
here, the
naming of
Isaac points
to the
improbability
of what God
was going
to do.
How
ludicrous
it was.
But you
see the
blessing of
all nations
couldn't be
achieved by
man but
only by
God, by
El Shaddai.
It couldn't
be achieved
by the
flesh or
our plans
but only by
the promise
of the
Lord.
And as
for Ishmael,
well Ishmael
wouldn't be the
son through
whom all
nations would
be blessed.
Rather Ishmael
would come to
be a nation
who must
come to
that son
for blessing.
Let's draw
together some
implications for
us.
What does
this mean
for us?
One of the
places Genesis
chapter 17 is
picked up later
in the New
Testament is in
Galatians
chapter 3.
Here are some
verses from
Galatians
chapter 3,
verse 26
to 29.
In Christ
Jesus,
you are all
sons of
God through
faith.
For as many
of you as
were baptized
into Christ
have put on
Christ.
There is
neither Jew
nor Greek,
there is
neither slave
nor free,
there is no
male and
female,
for you are
all one
in Christ
Jesus.
And if you
are Christ's,
then you
are Abraham's
offspring,
heirs
according to
the promise.
God's
covenant,
God's
plan,
God's
promise was
that whoever
you are,
whatever your
nationality,
whatever your
background,
whether you're
rich or poor,
whether you're
educated or
illiterate,
slave or
free,
male or
female,
whoever you
are,
that you
might know
him through
the Lord
Jesus
Christ.
Jesus
Christ
is the
King of
peoples.
He is the
royal son of
Sarah,
the son of
Isaac,
the son of
Jacob,
for whom
the covenant
was waiting.
Circumcision's
no longer
required of
us,
Paul makes
that very
clear in
Galatians,
circumcision's
no longer
required,
because we're
no longer
waiting for
the promise.
The son we
were waiting
for has
come.
Through
faith in
Christ,
the promise
that is the
purpose of
all promises
is yours
and I will
be their
God.
He is our
God and we
are his
people,
not just
his people,
his sons.
because the
one Genesis
17 is
waiting for
has come.
Four names,
one promise,
El Shaddai,
Abraham,
Sarah,
Isaac
will be their
God.
But let me
make one
last point
in closing.
Because
brothers and
sisters,
heirs of
Abraham's
promise,
the task
isn't finished
yet.
God
will be
saved.
You can
jump online
and go to
a website
called the
Joshua
Project,
which kind
of tracks
the progress
of the
gospel
throughout
the world,
the progress
of the
promise of
salvation in
Jesus Christ.
Christ.
And according
to the
Joshua
Project,
1.9
billion
people,
that's
one quarter
of the
world's
population,
1.9
billion
people live
in 3,215
frontier people
groups.
Now,
a frontier
people group,
according to
the Joshua
Project,
is a
people group,
a tribe,
a people
group,
in which
there are
fewer than
one in a
thousand
Christians,
often far
fewer.
These are
unreached
people groups
in our
world,
with virtually
no followers
of Jesus,
with no
known
movement
to Jesus,
but people
groups still
in need of
pioneering
cross-cultural
mission.
3,215
people groups,
1.9
billion
people,
a quarter
of the
world's
population.
Among
them are
the
Khunbi
people.
This is a
people group
in central
and western
India,
a people
of 22
million
people.
They speak
Gujarati,
Kannada and
Telugu,
they're the
main languages
of this
group.
Their
religion,
they're Hindu
by religion,
99.3%
Hindu.
The Bible
is available
in their
language and
yet people
in this,
Khunbi
people,
regard
Christianity
with fear
as an
intrusive
religious
system which
will disturb
their culture
and their
families.
people.
There are
very few
believers,
perhaps one
in 2,000.
But God's
plan is to
bless the
Khunbi
people through
faith in
Jesus,
that he may
be their
God.
and that's
just one of
thousands of
unreached
people groups
in our
world.
So brothers,
sisters,
let's keep
praying for
the unfinished
task.
Let's
support those
who are
engaged in
reaching the
nations with
the message
of Christ
and even
let's pray
that God
may send
out people
from our
midst
to the
furthest
reaches of
the world.
Will you
pray with
me?
Heavenly
Father,
we thank
you for
your
everlasting
promise
and covenant,
your
commitment
to us
that you
will be
our God
through your
Son,
the Lord
Jesus
Christ.
Father,
we pray
that at
church here
we might
be welcoming
to people
of all
nations
and all
backgrounds
and all
cultures.
Please,
may we
be a
visible
demonstration
of your
covenant
with
Abraham.
And
Father,
we pray
for the
progress
of the
gospel
of Jesus
Christ
throughout
the world.
There are
still so
many people,
billions of
people,
Lord,
who will
live and
die
without any
real opportunity
to know
their
saviour
unless
someone
goes to
them.
So,
please,
Father,
continue
and speed
the work
of
worldwide
mission.
Help us
to be
prayerful
and to
support
those who
go to
do that
work.
Please
raise up
more from
here and
throughout
the world
to send
to those
unreached
frontier people
groups.
we pray
for the
Kumbi
people and
thousands of
people groups
like them.
We ask
that in
this
generation
you would
bring
Christ,
his name,
his gospel,
the saving
word,
to them in
such a way
that their
hearts are
gripped,
that they
are convicted
and that
they call
on the
name of
their
saviour.
And we
ask all
this for
Jesus'
sake.
Amen.