Covenantal Joy

WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:15.509 What's night. We're in genesis chapter seventeen. It's been really easy to remember 2 00:00:15.630 --> 00:00:19.469 where we are in these passages, John Seventeen, in genesis seventeen, for 3 00:00:19.510 --> 00:00:23.260 a while now. We will move out of these eventually, but there's so 4 00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:28.339 many good things here. Can't quite do that yet. But today we are 5 00:00:28.420 --> 00:00:36.250 going to read Genesis Seventeen, fifteen through twenty, twenty seven. I have 6 00:00:36.329 --> 00:00:48.530 written twenty six here, but twenty seven. Let's give our attention to God's 7 00:00:48.530 --> 00:00:54.119 word. And God said to Abraham. As for Sarah, your wife, 8 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:58.280 you shall not call her name Sarah, but Sarah shall be her name. 9 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:03.430 I will bless her and, moreover, I will give you a son by 10 00:01:03.590 --> 00:01:07.670 her. I will bless her and she shall become nations, kings of people 11 00:01:07.670 --> 00:01:12.430 shall come from her. The neighbraham fell on his face and laughed and said 12 00:01:12.469 --> 00:01:17.269 to himself, shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred 13 00:01:17.349 --> 00:01:22.019 years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? 14 00:01:23.180 --> 00:01:26.900 And Abrams said, or an Abraham said, to God, Oh, 15 00:01:26.980 --> 00:01:30.780 that Ishmael Al might live before you. God said, no, but you'R 16 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:34.609 but Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son and you shall call 17 00:01:34.769 --> 00:01:41.450 his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant 18 00:01:41.489 --> 00:01:45.810 for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you. 19 00:01:46.530 --> 00:01:49.640 Behold, I've blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. 20 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:55.400 He shall father twelve princes and I will make him into a great nation. 21 00:01:55.439 --> 00:02:00.799 I will establish my covenant with I but I will establish my covenant with Isaac, 22 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:06.670 Whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year. When he 23 00:02:06.750 --> 00:02:12.030 had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham the Neighbraham took Ishmael, 24 00:02:12.110 --> 00:02:15.030 his son, and all those born in his house or bought with his 25 00:02:15.150 --> 00:02:19.979 money, every male among the men of the Abraham's house, and he circumcised 26 00:02:20.060 --> 00:02:23.419 the flesh of their for skins that very day and God, as God had 27 00:02:23.539 --> 00:02:30.169 said to him. Abraham was ninety nine years old when he was circumcised in 28 00:02:30.210 --> 00:02:34.650 the flesh of his foreskin, and Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years 29 00:02:34.689 --> 00:02:38.770 old and he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very day. 30 00:02:38.770 --> 00:02:43.810 Abraham and his son, Ishmael were circumcised and all the men of his 31 00:02:43.930 --> 00:02:46.919 house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner 32 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:53.319 were circumcised with him, since the reading of God's word he blessed to us. 33 00:03:02.909 --> 00:03:07.270 Well, here, as we come to the end of genesis, chapter 34 00:03:07.469 --> 00:03:15.979 seventeen, we are reminded of several important things, particularly regarding our salvation as 35 00:03:15.020 --> 00:03:21.900 it comes to us in Christ what is at the very basis of that work? 36 00:03:22.819 --> 00:03:30.409 Is this the extraordinary grace of God doing things that only God can do. 37 00:03:31.169 --> 00:03:38.330 We forget this a lot. We forget and we think that somehow we 38 00:03:38.610 --> 00:03:45.120 have become Christians or we stay Christians because of our particular striving, because of 39 00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:47.759 the things that we've done or the things that we're are doing. And while 40 00:03:47.800 --> 00:03:54.789 God is certainly bless has certainly does bless and chooses to use the means, 41 00:03:54.990 --> 00:04:00.990 particularly the means that he is ordained. The means that he's ordained are often 42 00:04:00.069 --> 00:04:06.870 very humble and often are attached to extraordinary things. So, for example, 43 00:04:08.110 --> 00:04:15.060 he speaks to hear to Abraham, using words, he uses covenant and forms 44 00:04:15.100 --> 00:04:18.939 and structures that are familiar to him, and yet at the same time he 45 00:04:19.060 --> 00:04:26.610 promises extraordinary things. He promises him a son that will be born to a 46 00:04:26.769 --> 00:04:34.129 man and a woman in their very old age. God has promised Abraham more 47 00:04:34.250 --> 00:04:40.639 recently in genesis, seventeen here to make him the father of multitudes. How 48 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:46.040 will this come to pass? Abraham wonders, and Abraham perhaps things he knows. 49 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:50.160 Ishmael, of course, and of course it's right that God would come 50 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:56.389 to him right at this time, as Ishmael is entering into his adulthood, 51 00:04:57.230 --> 00:05:02.110 thirteen years old. Ishmael. It's going to be Ishmael, isn't it? 52 00:05:02.189 --> 00:05:08.779 Yes, the thing surrounding Ishmael were not quite what we had planned, but 53 00:05:08.939 --> 00:05:15.339 nevertheless Abraham has this son, a son. Will God use this one? 54 00:05:16.540 --> 00:05:23.529 But instead of using the product of Abraham and Sarah's striving to achieve the promises 55 00:05:23.569 --> 00:05:29.209 that he is given to Abraham, God decides to use means apart from their 56 00:05:29.410 --> 00:05:33.649 striving. He chooses to bless them and all the people of the world in 57 00:05:33.769 --> 00:05:39.680 a way that they simply could not in they would be impossible for them to 58 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:45.720 bring about on their own. In particular, he has chosen to bless them 59 00:05:45.879 --> 00:05:50.430 through an extraordinary birth, a birth to a woman who has been barren her 60 00:05:50.470 --> 00:06:01.110 whole life and is now ninety years old. We say of our Savior in 61 00:06:01.230 --> 00:06:13.100 our catechism that he is born not of ordinary generation, sort of understated way 62 00:06:13.540 --> 00:06:18.970 perhaps to put it not born of ordinary generation. It's amazing about that. 63 00:06:19.209 --> 00:06:24.529 Of course, in the miraculous birth of Jesus, on born of a virgin, 64 00:06:25.170 --> 00:06:28.569 is that there's somewhat of a history behind this. Jesus wasn't just born 65 00:06:28.689 --> 00:06:33.519 in this amazing way of a virgin, but even his great great and so 66 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:40.519 forth. I can't count them, grandparents, Abraham and Sarah themselves. The 67 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:48.069 very beginning of these covenant promises begin with this extraordinary birth, this birth to 68 00:06:48.189 --> 00:06:53.629 a woman who is barren her whole life and is now ninety years old. 69 00:06:53.670 --> 00:07:00.069 And this, of course, isn't just our modern day conjectures about what might 70 00:07:00.230 --> 00:07:03.139 or might not have been. Both Abraham and Sarah are very explicit about this, 71 00:07:03.860 --> 00:07:09.060 that this is how they understand their own situation, and it is, 72 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:15.459 of course, God's understanding of the situation. He is specifically choosing someone who 73 00:07:15.459 --> 00:07:23.089 cannot have children to bring forth children from her. It sets a pattern for 74 00:07:23.209 --> 00:07:28.209 the work of the Gospel, for the work of Christ to bring forth some 75 00:07:28.490 --> 00:07:33.560 things out of nothings, to bring life out of death, to bring hope 76 00:07:33.639 --> 00:07:41.439 and joy when there is nothing but sorrow and desperation, to bring blessing out 77 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:46.149 of a curse even and that reminds us that we can even get extend this 78 00:07:46.709 --> 00:07:51.550 a miraculous birth of Isaac even back further to God's promise to Abraham are, 79 00:07:51.670 --> 00:07:58.110 to Adam and to eve, another woman who was given a name, the 80 00:07:58.189 --> 00:08:03.220 mother of the living. She was called after she had been cursed to death 81 00:08:03.420 --> 00:08:07.579 by God. Why did Adam call her the mother of the living? Why 82 00:08:07.620 --> 00:08:13.329 did he call her eve? Because he, like Gabraham, put his faith 83 00:08:13.410 --> 00:08:18.889 in the promises of God. The despite their sin, which had rightfully on 84 00:08:20.050 --> 00:08:24.970 brought them into a state of judgment and death, the God had promised to 85 00:08:26.089 --> 00:08:30.519 bring something new. God had promised to save them, to crush the head 86 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:35.000 of the evil one and to bring forth life where there was death. This, 87 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:41.549 this amazing pattern that God sets with Adam and Eve and Abraham and Sarah, 88 00:08:41.509 --> 00:08:46.909 and then eventually with the Burge and Birth of Christ himself, continues to 89 00:08:46.110 --> 00:08:54.830 extend to our own births, not our biological births, but are new births 90 00:08:54.950 --> 00:09:01.220 in Christ. You remember what John's says the apostle in John Chapter three. 91 00:09:01.899 --> 00:09:07.940 He's recording to us and an event that happened between Jesus and a man named 92 00:09:07.940 --> 00:09:16.409 Nicodemus. Jesus says to Nicodemus, he says truly truly. She can possibly 93 00:09:16.490 --> 00:09:20.450 read is always pay attention. Pay attention or listen. Listen. Say is 94 00:09:20.490 --> 00:09:24.440 truly truly. I say to you, unless one is born of water and 95 00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:31.360 the spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. There's no part in 96 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:37.320 God's kingdom unless one is born of the water and the spirit. That's justification 97 00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:39.509 for this. Jesus says that which is born of the flesh is flesh, 98 00:09:39.870 --> 00:09:43.870 that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do Not Marvel that, 99 00:09:43.950 --> 00:09:50.710 I said to you. You must be born again. The wind blows where 100 00:09:50.710 --> 00:09:54.740 it wishes and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it 101 00:09:54.899 --> 00:09:58.179 comes or where it goes. So is with everyone who is born of the 102 00:09:58.220 --> 00:10:05.299 spirit. God does what he does. You can't predict it. He chooses 103 00:10:05.740 --> 00:10:11.049 to cause people to be born again, to give them new life, a 104 00:10:11.210 --> 00:10:15.409 miraculous birth. And so when we look at our own position in the family 105 00:10:15.570 --> 00:10:20.049 of God, as we look at our own places as daughters and sons of 106 00:10:20.570 --> 00:10:24.399 the most high, we know that we are very much a part of the 107 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:33.279 family of Abraham, the family of Jesus. We are Isaac's. We are 108 00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:37.750 those who are born of a miraculous birth, as those who are born in 109 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:43.870 Christ, we are those who share in that spirit. So this is one 110 00:10:43.870 --> 00:10:48.190 of the great lessons of genesis seventeen. This is one of the things Jesus 111 00:10:48.269 --> 00:10:52.740 wants us to know from this passage, is that his birth is a miraculous 112 00:10:52.899 --> 00:10:58.340 one, an extraordinary one at every level, and our new birth in Him 113 00:10:58.460 --> 00:11:03.409 is likewise extraordinary. And that extraordinariness is not meant to just make us go 114 00:11:03.850 --> 00:11:09.049 wow, isn't that amazing? It's make us it's to make us go this 115 00:11:09.090 --> 00:11:13.529 is all belongs to God. There is nothing here that I have brought in, 116 00:11:13.649 --> 00:11:24.240 that I can bring so that takes us to our response. If God's 117 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:30.039 work in us is by His grace alone, by his sovereign choice alone, 118 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:35.629 what should our response be? Well, we can start by thinking about what 119 00:11:35.750 --> 00:11:45.750 Abraham's response was. The scriptures say that Abraham fell on his face. Verse 120 00:11:45.830 --> 00:11:48.860 Seventeen, that Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, 121 00:11:48.899 --> 00:11:52.220 shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? 122 00:11:56.100 --> 00:12:03.850 Some commentators believe that this is an act of faith. The Abraham falls on 123 00:12:03.970 --> 00:12:09.409 his face as an act of worship, that he laughs with joy, believing 124 00:12:09.690 --> 00:12:13.450 that the promise has been given. Other people say that this is an act 125 00:12:13.490 --> 00:12:18.679 of of unbelief, that he laughs with incredulity, he doesn't believe what he's 126 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:28.039 he's being told. The first thing, before we get to that exact question, 127 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:35.950 I want maybe just sidebar for a moment here and point out that emotions 128 00:12:35.990 --> 00:12:41.230 can be difficult to read right laughter, for example. We usually, perhaps 129 00:12:43.350 --> 00:12:46.820 maybe in an immature way, we think that laughter is only a sign of 130 00:12:46.899 --> 00:12:52.019 joy, but of course there's such a thing as nervous laughter or laughter from 131 00:12:52.019 --> 00:12:58.649 sorrow or laughter from from fear. Our emotions can be expressed in various ways 132 00:12:58.690 --> 00:13:05.370 and sometimes outward expressions can can show a lot of different things internally in our 133 00:13:05.490 --> 00:13:09.809 hearts. Does does Abraham laugh out of joy, falling his face and worship, 134 00:13:09.889 --> 00:13:15.200 or does he laugh in this incredulous way and offer Ishmael is a perhaps 135 00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:20.320 more realistic alternative to the impossible? Well, still on the side Bar. 136 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:28.950 What we do know for absolute sure is that God knows Abraham's heart and we 137 00:13:30.110 --> 00:13:33.149 know that because of this little detail that the Holy Spirit includes here. He 138 00:13:35.309 --> 00:13:39.990 says Abraham fell in his face and laughed and said to himself, shall a 139 00:13:41.070 --> 00:13:45.220 child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, 140 00:13:45.220 --> 00:13:48.620 who is ninety years old, bear a child? And then it says 141 00:13:48.659 --> 00:13:54.980 in verse Eighteen and Abraham said to God, possibly out loud here, well, 142 00:13:54.059 --> 00:14:01.330 that Ishmael might live before you, and God Says No. What I 143 00:14:01.450 --> 00:14:05.570 just want to mention is that God always hears our inner conversations, where we 144 00:14:05.690 --> 00:14:11.639 might have difficulty sort of knowing even ourselves and especially other people. Are they 145 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:15.320 angry? Are they sad, are they happy? What's going on? And 146 00:14:15.399 --> 00:14:18.360 that can be very difficult to tell. God always hears the inner conversation. 147 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:26.269 God always knows what's going on, and that's not necessarily a bad thing to 148 00:14:26.429 --> 00:14:31.029 know that everything you say, either out loud or quietly, God hears. 149 00:14:31.309 --> 00:14:37.149 That's something that we should very much want. Of course, that's embarrassing, 150 00:14:39.179 --> 00:14:43.139 at least for me, to think that God hears all of my inward thoughts, 151 00:14:43.259 --> 00:14:48.779 to know my heart. That's an embarrassing thing, but imagine how things 152 00:14:48.820 --> 00:14:56.409 would be if God could not figure you out. That would be awful, 153 00:14:58.370 --> 00:15:03.330 because we know what it's like to struggle to figure other people out. Or 154 00:15:03.610 --> 00:15:07.360 perhaps when relationships with friends or on family members were like, I just want 155 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:13.440 to know what you're thinking. We struggle to communicate. Can you imagine how 156 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:18.399 terrible things would be if God didn't really know what you were thinking or feeling 157 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:26.389 or what you really needed? Pastors and doctors and psychiatrists and people that try 158 00:15:26.470 --> 00:15:31.710 to probe into your health and your inner life, we just sort of ask 159 00:15:31.750 --> 00:15:35.220 questions and try to draw out as best we can, and sometimes we don't 160 00:15:35.220 --> 00:15:41.779 even know what to say. We have a hard time diagnosing ourselves. It's 161 00:15:41.779 --> 00:15:45.820 a good thing that God knows. He always knows, and that's good because 162 00:15:45.820 --> 00:15:50.889 he always knows exactly what to do. He hears us, he knows us 163 00:15:50.970 --> 00:15:54.169 and he knows what we need, which means you can trust him like you 164 00:15:54.250 --> 00:15:58.970 can't trust anybody else. That's not to encourage you to fear everyone either. 165 00:16:00.090 --> 00:16:03.649 That's not what I'm trying to say, but I'm saying the Lord is good, 166 00:16:03.809 --> 00:16:07.480 good, and he knows you, just as he knew Abraham here in 167 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:12.759 this situation, and Sarah as well in chapter eighteen, when she also laughs 168 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:21.629 about this situation. So back to Abraham's reaction. What is going on here? 169 00:16:22.389 --> 00:16:26.629 I tend to think it's a mixture of both belief and unbelief. On 170 00:16:26.710 --> 00:16:30.590 the one hand, we see in God's response to these inner thoughts and to 171 00:16:30.750 --> 00:16:34.940 what Abraham says out loud. May it be Ishmael. He is rebuked, 172 00:16:36.100 --> 00:16:41.059 and a minor way, but he's rebuked and he's told no. We also 173 00:16:41.179 --> 00:16:44.419 note that in the next chapter, Sarah has a very similar, almost the 174 00:16:44.500 --> 00:16:49.889 exact same, reaction, and she tries to hide it when it is pointed 175 00:16:49.929 --> 00:16:55.250 out to her. You laughed. No, I didn't, yes, you 176 00:16:55.370 --> 00:17:00.529 did. Genesis Eighteen, thirteen, the Lord said to Abraham. Why did 177 00:17:00.649 --> 00:17:03.480 Sarah Laugh and say, shall I indeed bear a child now that I am 178 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:07.880 old? This is, of course, exactly what Abraham said. Verse Fourteen. 179 00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:15.069 Is Anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time, I 180 00:17:15.390 --> 00:17:19.269 will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a 181 00:17:19.390 --> 00:17:23.069 son. But Sarah denied of saying I did not laugh, for she was 182 00:17:23.150 --> 00:17:30.619 afraid, and he said no, but you did laugh. I think that 183 00:17:30.740 --> 00:17:37.019 these things lead us to believe that Abraham and Sarah did have doubts. However, 184 00:17:38.259 --> 00:17:42.059 they were not doubts of the deadly sort. I could, if I 185 00:17:42.099 --> 00:17:45.329 could, put it that way. They were not a doubts of the deadly 186 00:17:45.490 --> 00:17:51.970 sort that keep us from God, the keep us separated from him in a 187 00:17:52.089 --> 00:18:00.319 state of unbelief. They're they're doubts that they had were the doubts and struggles 188 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:07.920 of believers who belong to God and were being kept by him. Now why 189 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:14.789 might I think this? Well, couple reasons. One comes from Romans Chapter 190 00:18:15.029 --> 00:18:18.430 Four, which I'll read to you now. It's it's a brief verse, 191 00:18:18.549 --> 00:18:26.470 but Romans Chapter Four, verse Nineteen, we read about Abraham, that he 192 00:18:26.630 --> 00:18:30.420 did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as 193 00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:34.980 good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, or when he 194 00:18:36.140 --> 00:18:41.369 considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. So the scriptures tell us themselves that he 195 00:18:41.569 --> 00:18:51.329 did not weaken, he did not that he did not doubt. So what 196 00:18:51.410 --> 00:18:55.759 do we do? This seems like he's doubting, he's rebuked for his doubting, 197 00:18:55.960 --> 00:18:59.599 Sarah tries to cover up her doubting, and yet Romans, for I, 198 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:04.359 says he didn't doubt. I think the way to reconcile these these things 199 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:11.029 is to recognize that there's a difference between doubting is one who does not believe, 200 00:19:11.269 --> 00:19:18.509 and doubting is one who does believe, and that's the latter here with 201 00:19:18.670 --> 00:19:22.430 under him and with Sarah. In other words, like all believers, they 202 00:19:22.589 --> 00:19:30.019 had bumps on the road. Some of those bumps are even very serious car 203 00:19:30.220 --> 00:19:37.420 crashes, like David that we wrote about earlier in Psalm fifty one. Sometimes 204 00:19:37.460 --> 00:19:41.049 we strugle. How could he be called a man of God when these sins 205 00:19:41.289 --> 00:19:48.970 so greatly at this particular point in his life? Way Beyond externally anyways, 206 00:19:48.049 --> 00:19:55.799 what many people do who are not not given these great are standing ovations and 207 00:19:55.960 --> 00:20:03.640 God's word. Why do scripture speak in that way? Or Peter the Rock, 208 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:08.309 a pillar of the church who gave into peer pressure when his fellow Jews 209 00:20:11.269 --> 00:20:15.950 wanted him to reject or spurn the gentiles, earning him a public rebuke from 210 00:20:15.990 --> 00:20:21.819 Paul, among other things. Jesus said to Peter at one point, get 211 00:20:21.859 --> 00:20:30.140 behind me, Satan. And yet he is the rock some people that think, 212 00:20:30.180 --> 00:20:34.420 if some people think, that faith is like a person at a swimming 213 00:20:34.420 --> 00:20:37.490 pool. You jump in, your jump out. You're either in or you're 214 00:20:37.529 --> 00:20:41.410 out, your innery out, and we're sort of constantly falling in and out 215 00:20:41.450 --> 00:20:47.809 of the grace of God, falling in and out of God's protection and his 216 00:20:47.970 --> 00:20:53.759 promises, including his promise to preserve our faith and keep our faith. But 217 00:20:56.559 --> 00:21:00.720 the Christian life is not like that. The faith of a believer is like 218 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:04.509 a road. If you use a maps APP, lets say, on your 219 00:21:04.630 --> 00:21:11.029 computer or smartphone, and you you you might look at that map from a 220 00:21:11.190 --> 00:21:17.470 distance and you see this almost perfectly straight line going from here to here, 221 00:21:17.549 --> 00:21:21.019 let's say, use zoom in on it a little bit and you see that, 222 00:21:21.140 --> 00:21:25.140 okay, it's a little bit wiggly as it goes from here to here, 223 00:21:25.380 --> 00:21:26.619 and then you zoom in a little more you like, you realize this 224 00:21:26.740 --> 00:21:30.500 is actually some ups and downs like this, and then new zoom in more 225 00:21:30.500 --> 00:21:36.250 than you realize there's actually some big backtracks. Even the Christian life is like 226 00:21:36.450 --> 00:21:38.490 that. In the moment there can be, you know, great ups and 227 00:21:38.650 --> 00:21:42.849 downs. There can be serious falls, car crashes. I'm mixing all kinds 228 00:21:42.890 --> 00:21:48.400 of metaphors now. But when we but when we look at the trajectory of 229 00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:52.960 our lives as a whole, when we look at what God is doing as 230 00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:57.720 a whole, what do we see? We see that he perseveres his saints, 231 00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:03.190 we see that he makes his promises to them and he does not give 232 00:22:03.269 --> 00:22:12.750 up that's why Paul says this about Abraham. And he was strong in many 233 00:22:12.789 --> 00:22:17.940 ways, and you see it, I think, even here in genesis seventeen. 234 00:22:18.339 --> 00:22:22.819 That is what he says. In seventeen he says the neighbraham fell on 235 00:22:22.940 --> 00:22:27.140 his face and laughed and said to himself, shall a child be born to 236 00:22:27.220 --> 00:22:33.170 a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is nine 237 00:22:33.250 --> 00:22:37.650 years old, bear a child? Maybe it's not a big deal, but 238 00:22:37.769 --> 00:22:42.410 it seems significant to me that he's already using the new name that his wife 239 00:22:42.529 --> 00:22:48.640 was given just a verse or two before. He's hearing God's word, he's 240 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:56.160 responding to God's word, but he's struggling too. It reminds me of that 241 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:00.029 famous story of the man who came to Jesus with a boy in Mark Nine, 242 00:23:00.710 --> 00:23:06.269 and his boy was had a spirit in him that was causing him great 243 00:23:06.309 --> 00:23:10.470 harm. They brought the boy. I'm reading now Mark Nine, verse twenty. 244 00:23:10.710 --> 00:23:12.859 They brought the boy to Jesus and when the spirit saw him, immediately 245 00:23:12.980 --> 00:23:18.220 it convulsed the boy and he fell on the ground and rolled about foaming at 246 00:23:18.259 --> 00:23:22.859 the mouth, and Jesus asked his father, how long has this been happening 247 00:23:22.940 --> 00:23:27.529 to him? And he said from childhood, and it has often cast him 248 00:23:27.529 --> 00:23:32.369 into the fire and into water to destroy him. But if you can do 249 00:23:32.609 --> 00:23:37.849 anything, have compassion on US and help us. and Jesus said to him, 250 00:23:37.970 --> 00:23:42.680 if you can, all things are possible for the one who believes. 251 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:48.240 Doesn't that sound a lot like what we are what God says to Sarah, 252 00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:53.279 all things are possible. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, 253 00:23:53.279 --> 00:24:03.710 I believe. Help my unbelief. This makes it. Well, we 254 00:24:03.829 --> 00:24:10.019 have here a very realistic example of how experience, how believers experience faith in 255 00:24:10.180 --> 00:24:15.259 this life. It has its ups and downs, it sometimes has its failings, 256 00:24:15.700 --> 00:24:22.900 it's backtracks, it's car crashes, but when it comes to God we're 257 00:24:22.980 --> 00:24:30.289 never lost. He keeps us, he preserves us, he brings us back 258 00:24:30.490 --> 00:24:33.970 in. When we wander away, he guides us back to his path. 259 00:24:33.170 --> 00:24:37.890 He reminds us again of who we are in him, and he keeps us 260 00:24:37.329 --> 00:24:45.519 and he keeps us and he keeps us. The love of the Lord is 261 00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:56.910 steadfast even when we are not, and we see Abraham's faith even in this 262 00:24:56.150 --> 00:25:03.950 way, one commentator put it, he was that his doubt was tempered by 263 00:25:03.990 --> 00:25:07.420 the was wonderfully tempered by the faith and love in the prayer for Ishmael. 264 00:25:07.460 --> 00:25:15.980 I think this is true. Notice how Abraham. Yes, he puts Ishmael 265 00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:19.420 forth, but he's also asking that God would bless him, that God would 266 00:25:19.420 --> 00:25:25.529 bless his son Ishmael. And you know what God does? He blesses him. 267 00:25:26.970 --> 00:25:33.529 He says no regarding the promise, regarding the Covenant Promise. He is 268 00:25:33.730 --> 00:25:38.119 going to accomplish these things in these extraordinary, miraculous ways. The covenant of 269 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:45.920 Grace is going to go forward and by the very extremely clear grace of God, 270 00:25:47.079 --> 00:25:52.150 where no man can take credit. But he's not going to turn away 271 00:25:52.150 --> 00:25:59.829 from Ishmael entirely. In fact, he's going to bless him abundantly. King 272 00:26:00.109 --> 00:26:07.380 shall come from him. He will be blessed me. He Will, God 273 00:26:07.420 --> 00:26:11.579 says in Verse Twenty. Behold, I have blessed him and will make him 274 00:26:11.579 --> 00:26:15.380 fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes and I will make 275 00:26:15.420 --> 00:26:21.410 him a great nation. I don't think this cheapens the grace of God, 276 00:26:21.569 --> 00:26:25.089 but it extends it all the more. God is exercising as Grace Everywhere, 277 00:26:25.650 --> 00:26:30.569 in Especial Covenant Promises to Abraham and out in the wider world, God is 278 00:26:30.690 --> 00:26:38.599 pouring out his favor, his undeserved favor, on sinners. One conclusion and 279 00:26:38.759 --> 00:26:41.799 simply say this. What is God telling us in all of these things? 280 00:26:44.200 --> 00:26:48.349 He's telling us very simply that our salvation and really everything that we have in 281 00:26:48.470 --> 00:26:56.710 this world is by grace alone. Even our temple, temporal blessings, even 282 00:26:56.750 --> 00:27:03.500 the blessings that Ishmael received, are the result of his undeserved favor. And 283 00:27:03.660 --> 00:27:08.220 though it's hard to believe and we are often attempted into striving and pressing and 284 00:27:08.579 --> 00:27:15.700 doubting and trying to get all of these eternal things through temporal means or through 285 00:27:15.809 --> 00:27:21.529 our obedience to the law, isn't it good to know that even our faith 286 00:27:21.690 --> 00:27:26.410 does not depend on us, that it's a gift of God and that he 287 00:27:26.529 --> 00:27:32.480 keeps us in that? So, beloved, we press on in his strength, 288 00:27:33.480 --> 00:27:42.799 in his love and in His grace. Let's pray, Father