Wednesday Bible Study - Foundations of Redemptive History Pt. 2 (Session 5)

Thank you. Thank you.

Lord, we'd see your heart. We'd see how you desire so desperately to communicate to your people. Father, we thank you that you care for us, that you might give us this kind of covenant. We thank you, Lord, we thank you, Lord, we thank you, Lord, we thank you, Lord, we thank you, God, for your word, and Lord, I pray that our faith would be in who you are and not just in our strength. I pray, Lord, that we'd remember that you hold us and that you cause us, Lord, to be able to stay attached to you. God, that you have given us a covenant that you yourself have walked through. And so, Lord, I pray that our worship would be matched up to what it is that we believe, and most importantly, to who you are.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. I can't help but see, faithful you are, faithful forever you will be, faithful you are.

All your promises are yes and amen, all your promises are yes and amen.

Savior, you have brought me near, you pulled me from the ashes, you have broken every curse. I can't help but see, faithful you are, faithful forever you will be. Faithful you are, faithful forever you will be. Faithful you are, faithful forever you will be.

All your promises are yes and amen. All your promises are yes and amen. Amen. My confidence is faithfulness. I will repent in your promises. My confidence is faithfulness. I will repent in your promises. My confidence is faithfulness. Faithful you are. Faithful forever you will be.

Faithful you are. All your promises are yes and amen. All your promises are yes and amen.

And so keep in mind that that's what we're entering into today. And that's what we're going to be talking about as we break off into groups. Just a real quick reminder of how important application is. Do you remember what you shared in your personal applications from last week? Do you remember? Hard to remember, huh? It's really hard to remember. But application means you're supposed to apply it. And so that's very, very important in the process of application. And so the question is, did you work on it? And I just want to remind you, I'm not meaning to guilt trip. This is encouragement. In Matthew 21:28, but what do you think? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, "Son, go work today in the vineyard."

And he answered, "I will not." But afterward he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing. And he answered, "I will, sir." But he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father? And they said, "The first." So we have to remember not to use our words empty and say, "This is what I want to do. This is how I want to apply." We share it within our small groups and we never do anything about it. So let's work on that together. If you love me, you will. Obey my commandments. Obey my commandments. So whatever it is that we know that God commands of us, what he desires of us, our desire, out of a love for him, is to obey. And so as we go into continuing into these studies, try to remind yourself of how important it is to not just let this be something that just floats around in the mind.

We talk about theological concepts, you know, like we just over our crumpets and tea, and we just talk about these things like so sophisticated like, and nothing changes in our lives. That's not good. Let's keep that in mind. Here are personal study questions. We'll meet back here at eight o'clock. We'll meet back here at eight o'clock.

We'll meet back here. We'll meet back here at eight o'clock. We'll meet back here at eight o'clock.

We'll meet back. We'll meet back here at eight o'clock. We'll meet back here at eight o'clock.

We'll meet back here at nine o'clock. We'll meet back here at eight o'clock. We'll meet back here at eight o'clock.

at eight o'clock. We'll meet back here at eight o'clock. We'll meet back here at eight o'clock.

All right. All right. Let's go ahead and begin here. So I'll pray for us, and then we'll go into today's study in chapter 17. Okay. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you. I pray, God, for your help to be able to see. There's a lot in this chapter. God, give us that grace that we need. And thank you, Lord, for being so communicative with us, wanting us to be able to see what the covenant is and why our faith in Christ is everything. in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay. So we have God's covenant of circumcision that we'll be covering today.

So just to start off, there is absolutely no way we're going to be able to cover what needs to be covered to understand what happened in today's chapter. There's no way. There's no way. We can probably do this for months and still not be able to cover everything because out of this chapter, it's going to take us into so many different parts of the Bible. So there's no way. Just know that we're creating, for many of us, a category of thought. For some of us, we've wrestled with this. And it's okay. It's okay. There's much more of a Venn diagram here. Sometimes, out of confusion, there are going to be times where, back in the day, it used to be something like Wikipedia. You go to Wikipedia and try to figure out what do these people say?

What do these people say? Nowadays, it's probably going to be something like AI. You go and say, what do these people say? What do these people say? And don't get confused because what you're going to realize is that if you think of a Venn diagram, there's a lot more overlapping than you think. And so it's not that one thought is going to be owned by any one side. I don't know if that made sense to you, but I hope it kind of did. This is going to be just a launching point. You could file many of these things away as you continue to study Scripture and as we study Scripture together. We'll try to hit points as we go through Genesis anyway. But these are the six points we're going to cover today.

All about the covenant. Purpose. Abram's sign. Sarai. Ishmael and Isaac. And then the response. Here's the first. God's covenant. We have to start with the purpose of the covenant. We can get so lost in trying to figure out what the covenant was about. Just like what was happening in this covenant. Who did it apply to? Things like that. But we have to remember the purpose. Now, first of all, one of the things you might have thought about was the fact that it seems like God's timing is insensitive. And what I mean by that is, it starts off with now when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said. Now, why does this seem insensitive? Because it was when he was 75 years old, many, like decades ago, when God had given the covenant to him.

That he would expand not only the land, but also the nation, his people, his descendants. And now he's 99 years old and he doesn't even have a single child. It seems insensitive. But it starts at that. This is how the setting is laid out. And then it kind of reminds us of some of these thoughts. In 2 Peter 3:3 Know this, first of all, that in the last days, mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

God is working out his redemptive plan. Remember, this is the foundations of redemptive history. He has his eyes set on something. And so it's not immediate outcome. Right? It has nothing to do with what it is that Abraham wanted. God has something that he's working towards. And he is not slow in his promise. He's methodical. He's intentional. And he's beelining towards Jesus. And even once Jesus comes, the question still remains. Where is Jesus? Right? And he's doing the same thing today. People might say like, oh, where's the promise? When is it going to be fulfilled? When is Jesus going to come back? When is he going to take us home? But his goal is for salvation, redemption, to be full.

But he doesn't wish for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. And so what might seem slow is actually right on time. And so we see that God's timing might seem insensitive, but it's not. Now, what else about the purpose of the covenant? It has to do with who God is. The covenant has to do with who God is. It's so important to remember that all of what we're doing is giving us a glimpse of God. Everything that we read in scripture shows us who God is, what his heart is like, what he desires, and how he might be glorified. And so he just says this. Again, the drop. He says, I am God Almighty. And that's how he starts. If you read through the Pentateuch, that's just how he sets up almost everything.

He says, here are the laws. And he says, why? I am the Lord your God. And he says that over and over again. He says here, I am God Almighty. This is who he is. And we can go a little bit deeper into this if we wanted. That the term El, there are many gods, even Canaanite religions. El was actually a god in the Canaanite religion. But this is El Shaddai. God Almighty. God of gods. God over everything. God over all creation. And so he says, I am God Almighty. This is what the covenant is based on. Who he is. He does what he pleases. In Exodus 14:4. Thus I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will chase after them. And I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army. And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.

And they did so. Why am I putting this up? To remind us that everything is about who God is. Everything is to his glory. All things are for his purposes. He does not exist here to serve us. I know when Jesus comes into the world, we get this idea of he came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus made it clear that he is here to glorify the father. And what that might look like. God was always about his own glory, about making himself known. In Psalm 106, by the way, in explaining this time period, nevertheless, he saved them. Great, right? Foundations of redemptive history, salvation. He saved them for what? For the sake of his name.

For God's glory. Because of who God is. He is God Almighty. That he might make his power known. See, we can flip this real fast. And so he just says that. He says, I am God Almighty. Look at Isaiah 48. For the sake of my name, I delay my wrath. And for my praise, I restrain it for you. In order not to cut you off. And the word cut, this is the same word. The cut in covenant, like we're going to see some of this. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction for my own sake. For my own sake. Repetition. It's important. I will act. For how can my name be profaned? And my glory, I will not give to another. And so in Romans 11:36. A reminder for us.

For from him. Through him. And to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. And everybody, we say this. We say amen to this. We say amen. Because this is what we know of God. This is what we know of our lives. Of our salvation. That all things point to his glory. So the covenant has to do with him. Who he is. And then we have an appropriate response from us. This is our part in the covenant. He says walk before me and be blameless. And we have to think what does it mean to walk before me. That's very simple questions. It means walk in his presence. Walk in his sight. Like we have. We have. We talked about this earlier. But we have a. Have a tendency to walk differently. Depending on who.

Or live differently. Depending on who. We're in front of right. And so he says walk before. Me. Walk before me. God almighty. And be blameless. What does it mean to be blameless? We should ask these questions. Not going to cover that. There's too much. In this chapter. But we do know that Abraham. Abraham falls on his face. And what does that mean? It doesn't mean his hands are behind his back. And he just falls on his face. It means that it's respect. It's awe. It's fear. It's trembling. He falls on his face. God appears and he says. I am God almighty. Walk before me. And be blameless. Bam. He's on the ground. And so this is the purpose of the covenant. Our appropriate response. The covenant is based upon this.

And then he says. I will establish my covenant between me and you. And I will multiply you exceedingly. And it continues. If we don't have this as a drop down. As the kind of the. Why do I keep saying drop down? What do you call that? Huh? Foundation. Foundation. Backdrop. I don't know what I'm thinking. Face time. Oh baseline. Oh baseline. Yeah. That's a good one. So something like a baseline. If we don't have that. Then we're not going to be able to. Like everything after that. We hijack. What does this have to do with me? How do I get sick? You know. All this kind of stuff. This has to do with God. And who he is. And so Abraham. Remember just some application coming out of this. What is the difference between lament.

That expresses faith. And complaint. That reveals unbelief. How can I examine my own heart. In this. Remember Abraham was 99 years old. And he has all these thoughts. And questions in his mind. And I know this question came up before. Is it okay to complain? The answer to that. No. If you said yes. You're wrong.

Because he says do nothing. Out of grumbling and complaining. Right. Nothing. There is a difference. Between. Complaint that reveals unbelief. Which is sin. And lament. That expresses faith. But our faith is just very weak. Very small. And we see. We see Abraham. He's growing. He's growing before our eyes right now. Look at Abraham's response. He falls on his face. When I. Here's another question. We can ask for application. When I think about God's covenant promises. Do I tend to focus more on what I receive. Or on who God reveals himself to be. We could be so quick to this. What does Genesis 17 correct in my thinking. As he displays this. Secondly. Unconditional covenant given. Covenant given.

Now we're revisiting this. Remember. That the unconditional covenant was given. And there are three parts. And we're going to just revisit this over and over again. Every time we hit the covenant. Land. Nation people. Blessing. Every single time. Okay. And there's no difference here. So we're going to look at this. Abram. Goes to Abraham. His name. Is changed. In verses. Three through nine. And we're going to see. Just like we saw. Land. Being mentioned. The land of Canaan. The Genesis 17 three. It says this. And then. In verse six through nine. It says. And I'll just read verse eight. I will give to you. And to your descendants. After you. The land of your sojournings. And then he names it.

All the land of Canaan. He says. I'm going to give this to your descendants. Right. And then he says. For an everlasting possession. What does everlasting mean? Forever. It means forever. Forever possession. And I will be their God. Now. And somebody needs to make some good maps. I just can't find good maps. Yet. But. If you look at like. Kind of the borders. Of. What Canaan was. Was supposed to be. And he says this. In different places. In Genesis 15:18. We saw that. A few chapters. A couple chapters ago. When he says. On that day. The Lord made a covenant. With Abraham saying. To your offspring. I give this land. From the river of Egypt. So the brook of Egypt. Down here. To the river Euphrates.

Way. Up there. In Exodus 23:31. Later on. He says. I will set your border. From the Red Sea. To the Sea of the Philistines. And from the wilderness. To the Euphrates. For he will give the inhabitants. Of the land. Into your hand. So he's giving actual. Markers. Very specifically. He doesn't waste any words. First Kings 4:21. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms. From the Euphrates. To the land of the Philistines. Way down here. Philistines were down here. Right here. And they brought tribute. And served Solomon. All the days of his life. So let's look at some more. This is what we saw. Right? Red Sea. We know where the Red Sea is. The Sea of the Philistines. Does everyone know what the Sea of the Philistines is?

The Mediterranean Sea. The big one. On the left side. And from the wilderness. The wilderness. To the river Euphrates. Now. I hope we're starting to get some geography put together. The wilderness was down below. If you remember. All the way up to the river Euphrates. Northern. The northern boundary.

It's a lot. Just look at the underlined parts. Numbers 34:2. The land of Canaan. And then he describes it again. This is in Numbers. This is way later. Right? From the wilderness of Zin. Along the side of Edom. Southern border shall extend from the end of the Salt Sea. That's the Dead Sea. Eastward. The brook of Egypt. And its termination shall be at the sea. Which is the Mediterranean Sea. Okay. So we're seeing that. Deuteronomy. Before they enter into the Promised Land. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon. And from the river. The river Euphrates. As far as the Western Sea. Western Sea. It's also the Sea of the Philistines.

It's also the Great Sea. Or the Mediterranean Sea. Okay. There are a lot of names. For these. Joshua 1:2. Now they're about to go in. Moses has died. This has turned over. Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise across this Jordan. So there. If this is the Jordan River. Remember Jordan is. It's this long thing that goes from the Dead Sea. All the way up to the north. And it's going to hit the Sea of Galilee. And it continues up north towards Mount Hermon. Now he says. So we're going to. We're going to go from the east side. They're getting ready to go into the Promised Land. To Canaan. He says. From the place. The sole of your foot treads. I've given to you. Just as I spoke to Moses. Just as I told Moses.

Same thing to you. From the wilderness and this Lebanon. Even as far as the great river. The river Euphrates. All the land of the Hittites. And as far as the great sea. Toward the setting of the sun. Will be your territory. These markers are marked. Over and over again. Now. There's a bigger one. Okay. It's huge. Right. You get to Ezekiel. Now we're. We keep going. And God doesn't get off this. And now the interesting thing. As it gets more and more. He's trying to show that. This is. These markers are here. What's interesting. A thing about this. Is the fact that this is the exilic period. That Israel has already disobeyed. And they're out. And he still says. I swear to give this to you. And he gives.

Specific borders. That they understood. And that they knew. And so that's the land of Canaan. Okay. But it also says. That he's going to be. The father of a multitude of nations. A father of a multitude of nations. And so. We see that. You'll be the father of a multitude of nations. In fact. His name was changed from Abram to Abraham. Which means the father of a multitude of nations. There's a lot. If you read the original language. It's really funny. Because it's like. You will be an Abraham. Abraham. And then your name will be Abraham. Like it's like stuff like that. You know. Isaac too. It's really funny. Because it says. And he fell on his face. And he Isaaced. You know. Like. It's really funny stuff happening.

Like. Their names had meanings. The Genesis 17:6. He says. I will make you exceedingly fruitful. And I'll make nations of you. And kings will come forth from you. Okay. So. Okay. I don't know what color this is actually. But. We're going to. We're going to. From now on. If I use this color background. It means we're going to go on a rabbit trail. Okay. Okay. All right. Literally. Literally. What this means. Is that there's going to be physical nations and kings that come out of. Abraham. Okay. So we see that. Israel through Isaac. Edom. We're going to see the Edomites come through Esau. The Ishmaelites. Maybe the Hagrites. Hagrites might have come from the line of Hagar. Through Ishmael. More through Keturah.

Like Midianites. Some people will say. Like. A lot. Kind of has a role in it. You know. There's an interesting argument about that one. And all the additional peoples extending out of these. And so. Even when Ishmael is talked about. There's going to be 12 tribes of princes that come out of Ishmael. Things like that. All of these things are literally going to happen. Okay. But. There is a spiritual component. So this is what I mean. Just because we practice here. What you would call the literal grammatical historical approach to hermeneutics. It does not mean we don't believe in the spiritual understanding of things. Like in Galatians. Like Abraham is my father. You know. Like we used to sing a song long time ago.

Father Abraham and many sons. I am one of them. And so are you. You know. Like. Okay. All right. So. So yes. Romans 4. Galatians 3. Gentiles become Abraham's children. By. Faith. By faith. Not. By. Ethnicity. That's easy. You. You. But I am a believer. Right. The spiritual blessings expand to the nations the way it was supposed to. But. But. I gotta put this here. Because. We're just. Not tonight. But it doesn't cancel Israel's national promises. We'll get to this. Ethnicities are a. Huh. Sorry. Hold on. Ethnicities are a scar from human sin and rebellion. But. They will remain in the end to God's greater glory. We believe that. That there will be ethnicities. That there will be nations. In the future.

Yes. We do believe that. Why. Because the Bible says so. At the end. Revelation 24. The nations will walk by its light. And the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Now. Revelation 21 is meant to be a bookend on this side. Where Genesis is supposed to be a bookend on this side. And Genesis is strange. Because when the table of nations in Genesis chapter 10 comes out. It's supposed to be alarming. Because out of one family. There is brokenness that happens. God. Scattered them. And gave them different languages. And different tribes and nations. But here. In the end. It's not going to go away. There is going to be something about the nations that. Give. Greater glory to God. It's kind of akin to the fact that.

Jesus will likely. Retain his scars. Right. And it will be to God's greater glory. Okay. So we see that. On either side of the river was the tree of life. Bearing 12 kinds of fruit. Yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Okay. So what we see. The spiritual blessings of Abraham. Are fulfilled now in Christ through the church. It's going to be fulfilled now in Christ through the church. But the national and land promises. They're coming. For Israel. Fulfilled in the future. And we will call it the millennial kingdom. To Israel. Now again. I'm just dropping thoughts here. But let me explain a little bit of. What happened scripturally. This is what was supposed to happen.

Right. Abram. Israel. God's chosen people. To the nations. But is that what happened? It's not. Just like how Adam and Eve. Or we'll start with Noah. Just like how Noah was supposed to. Like they were supposed to go out. And you know. And scatter. And fill the. Fill the world with God's glory. They didn't. They came together. They said no. Like that. That we have a tendency to do that. And so. They didn't do what Genesis 12. That covenant. Was supposed to do. In terms of like. Like what God wanted of them. Right. God commanded them. To go. And through you. All the nations will be blessed. That's what's supposed to happen. But instead what happened. I ran out of space. I shoved together Abram and Israel.

Right there. They disobey. Right. They disobey. They don't. And so what happens. Because of their disobedience. They get exiled. And God. It happens in waves. Sort of like. Egypt thing happens. And then. Interesting. Interesting. Like just. Extrapolating of these things. But ultimately. They get exiled. They lose their land. Right. And they never quite get it back. Until recently. And then. We go to the nations. We go to the nations from there. And we're going to look at a passage. As to how from the nations. We go back to Israel. Okay. Oh man. Okay. We don't have time. Okay. Acts 1:6. Verse 6. So when they had come together. When Jesus. This is right before Jesus goes. Right. So when they had come together.

They were asking Jesus. Saying Lord. Is it at this time. You are restoring the kingdom to. Israel. And they're not thinking like. To the church. You know. Like. Something like that. They're thinking to the actual national. Israel. And he said to them. It's not for you to know the times. He doesn't correct them. He doesn't say. Uh-uh. Like I was. I just wanted to show you that. That this was supposed to. Spiritualize everything. He says. It's not for you to know the times. Or the ethics. Which the father has fixed. By his own authority. Which he had already explained. In the all of it discourse. About when that time would be. Coming at the end. Let's keep trying to follow along here. Okay. This is very interesting.

And this is probably where. We're going to just kind of. Move on. There are Jews living in Jerusalem. Okay. Cool. That sounds. Normal. It's like saying. There are Koreans living in Korea. Something like that. Right? Devout men. But look at this. From every nation. Under heaven. What is that? What do you do with that? And he says. And when this sound occurred. The crowd came together. And were bewildered. Because each of them. Was hearing them speak. In his own language. What? Why are there languages? It's like. You go to Korea. And there's like. Spanish. French. You know. Why are not all these. Who are speaking Galileans. And how is it that we. Each hear them. In our own language. To which.

We were born. Who's talking? Jews. Living in Jerusalem. During the time of Pentecost. This was. During the season. Where they would travel. To Jerusalem. Because of Pentecost. Because. And that's why. And that's why. They say. Parthians. And Medes. And Elamites. And residents. Of Mesopotamia. Judea. And Cappadocia. Cyrene. And visitors from Rome. And visitors from Rome. Both Jews and proselytes. Cretans and Arabs. We hear them in our own tongues. Speaking of the mighty deeds of God. And so what happened here was. They. Were not doing what they were supposed to do. And going and blessing the nations. And so they're exiled. And through the exile. What happens to the Israelites. They get scattered.

What they were supposed to do. God. Makes it happen. Right. And so they go out. Into all the nations. And then they come back. To Jerusalem. It's really cool. Right. They come back to Jerusalem. And from there. We see. That the nations. Are represented. In God's people of Israel. Very very cool. And so. That's why. In Romans 9:1. There is something. Left. For Israel. If you remember. Those thought bubbles. That I put out. It's going back to Israel. How do we know that? Because the Bible says so. I'm telling the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience testifies with me. In the Holy Spirit. That I have great sorrow. And unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish. That I myself were cursed.

Separated from Christ. For the sake of my brethren. Kinsmen. According to the flesh. Israelites. They had the adoption of sons. The glory. The covenants. The giving of the law. And the temple service. And the promises. Whose are the fathers. And from whom. The Christ. According to the flesh. And he continues. For I do not want you brethren. To be uninformed. Of this mystery. So that you will not be wise. In your own estimation. That a partial hardening. Has happened to Israel. Until. The fullness. Of the Gentiles. Has come in. Because. From the standpoint of the gospel. There are enemies for your sake. From the standpoint. Of God's. Choice. Election. They are beloved. For the sake of the fathers.

For the gifts. And the calling of God. Are irrevocable. And they understood this language. To be covenant talk. That everything that God promised. Is irrevocable. It is going to be given. If we are going to retain. A national identity. Entity. We will also be given. Everything that God. Actually promised. Including the land. And the blessings.

So. Just for more reading. Read these passages. And ask these. Three questions. Who is Israel? Who are the nations? And when is this going to take place? So if you read three. These three passages. And answer those three questions. It's going to lead you. To a conclusion. Okay. All right. Oh. We're in big trouble right now. So. Just real quick. Participation. Does not mean replacement. God choosing Israel. Is called election. It doesn't erase distinctions. Distinctions. Or functions. It doesn't flatten. Everything out. To be the same. There is difference. Between unity. And uniformity. That God uses Israel. And he will. Like it. Just because. Men and women. Are equal. In God's sight. Does not mean.

That he erases distinction. Jews. Had a place. Israel has a place. And he will. Make sure. That it is followed through. For I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God. For salvation. To everyone who believes. To the Jew first. And also to the Greek. Is how he started off. That book of Romans. Okay. This everlasting covenant. And an everlasting blessing. Who were called. To keep it. This is where we move on.

He says. He says. That. Okay. He will keep. All that he says. God is not a man. That he should lie. Nor a son of man. That he should repent. Has he said. And will he not do it. Or has he spoken. Will he not make it good. And so we have applications. Do I believe. That God means. What he says. Do I mean. Do I believe. That what is the difference. Between knowing. What he says. And believing. What he says. This is such an important application. For us. Do I understand. The distinction. And knowing what he says. Does not mean. I believe what he says. Third. Third. Covenant sign. Chapter 17. Verse 10 through 14. So what was the circumcision. And why use this. Why would. Like. Very strange. Right.

High circumcision. All over the place. Like circumcision. Circumcision. Circumcised. Circumcised. It's just weird. Well. There are a few things. It was the reproductive organ. And what we know. Is that it is going to be. The. Seed. It was all about the. The genealogy. And there is. There is going to be. Sin. And that is passed on. And on. And on. Death. Upon death. Upon death. He begat. This guy begat. This guy. And they died. And they died. And so. It was passed on that way. But. There is going to be. Jesus. That comes. It was a reproductive organ. For that reason. Blood was involved. That's probably another reason. And this word. Cut. Is very important. In the covenant. I'm just going to kind of.

Number three. It signified. Cutting away the flesh. That idea. Is very. Very clearly. Painted out. In scripture. That we're cutting away. The flesh. The way we used to live. We're dying. To ourselves. Some would call it. Mortification of the flesh. It was permanent. You cannot put. It back on. Right. It just can't happen. It's permanent. Number five. Those males only. Has something to do. With. Entire households. Yeah. Now. Here's the big question. Unconditional. Unconditional. Or conditional. Do you remember this? Well. This was a unilateral covenant. Right. That God himself. Walked through. This was a theophany. So this was a. You know. This is called a unilateral covenant. That he himself.

Is going to keep this covenant. Now. The question here though. Is. When we get to this. This is my covenant. Oh. I love God's covenant. It's unilateral. He'll love me. He'll never forsake me. He's going to hold me. And then. Which you shall keep. And you're like. Uh oh. God keeps it. He holds me fast. You know. Like. He holds me. I don't have to hold on to him. Because I know. He'll hold on to me. But he says. Which you shall keep. Between me. And you. And your descendants. After you. Shall. Be. Circumcised. And so. Is this conditional. So. If God. Just makes this covenant. With Israel. Are all. Israelites. Going to be. Saved. And obviously. The answer to that is. No. That's not the case. That is not the case.

Right. So. The circumcision. Has. Less to do with. Individual salvation. And more to do with. Jesus. Jesus. His covenant. That he's keeping. To his people. That will. Go down the line. For the Messiah. To come up. And our place. In the covenant. I'm just. I'm going to skip a bunch of slides. Like. I'm just. I'm going to say it out loud. Which is. That our part of the covenant. Is called. Faith. Called faith. Covenant has to do with. Jesus. And my faith. In him. Okay. All right. We know things. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. He says, didn't we do all these things? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. You do not keep my, the ones who do not keep my law, the ones who do not obey me, right? 1 John 2, 3, by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Right? So it seems like there's condition. But this is what we know about circumcision. Deuteronomy 10, 16, he says, so you, you do this. I applied that, okay? But when he says, so circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer, he's saying you do that. You circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer. But he also says this, moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants. To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, that you may live.

Doesn't it remind us of what we know? For I'm confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Cool. And then he says, so then my beloved, just as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, you, you do this. You work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is working. And so we understand that there is this dynamic. So what is it? What is it? We know it has everything to do with Jesus. And my link to this is faith. The faith is not just mental assent. It is not just knowing what is right and agreeing in my mind. It is faith is called, or it can be likened to surrender.

You surrender to it. When you surrender, you obey. Many theologians will call faith the first act of obedience. Because God regenerates, and I have no part in that. God regenerates, and those whom he regenerates respond in faith. But he keeps his covenant unilaterally, without condition, upon the condition of our faith. Okay. Simply being in the covenant community did not save an individual, and that was the point. Ishmael was circumcised, but he is not a part of the covenant community. Covenant theologians have problems with this one. And then we have Jacob and Esau that come later, and we know that Esau was likely circumcised, but he is not. We see different instances, like Timothy, who was circumcised for the gospel, and Titus, who was not circumcised for the gospel.

That's not fair. Titus is probably like, dude, that's awesome. I heard Timothy got circumcised. I don't have to? Okay. So it's not about circumcision. We know, we understand that, right? That there's more to it than that. Okay. Okay. Who did it apply to? Every male. So I just have the man, the baby, the servant. I don't know what to get for a servant. And then the servant's children. And everybody, all of these males would be a part of this covenant community. Okay. So this is what God was telling Abraham. Like, make sure that they're circumcised, and if they're not, it says here, remember, but an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off.

I'm just, I picked two people. So if they do not get circumcised, then they will be cut off from the people. So there is condition, right? There is condition. And so what God is doing here is he is, as he is extrapolating, as he is unfurling the covenant, he is focusing in on forming faith over time. God is showing that he wants to build a relationship, not just delivering an outcome. And so for those people who believe in him, who have faith in him, what will happen? What will they do? They will get circumcised. And if you don't, then they don't have a relationship with him. Right? So it has less to do with that. God is starting to just put more and more pieces together to flesh it out, because we are thick-headed, stiff-necked people.

He is trying to show more and more things that are going to make it clearer and clearer and clearer. You must obey, because that is what faith is. Okay. There are four applications. Number four. Sarai to Sarah. Sarah means my princess, specifically one household. Sarah means princess of many. And that's what was said. Let's just skip everything. Number five. The covenant, Ishmael versus Isaac. Why did Abraham insist on Ishmael? Why did Abraham insist on Ishmael? Remember that? Where he's, where, will a child be born to a man 100 years old? And will Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, Oh, that Ishmael might live before you. Now remember, before this point, God never said it's going to be through Sarah.

Remember? He never said that. And so they're trying to function off of faith. He's actually trying to, like, he's using his faith here. It's just not clear. And so he says, yeah, Ishmael. And God's like, no, no, no. Sarah is going to bear a child. Like, it didn't, it's like, does not compute in his mind. And he says, did you forget about Ishmael? Like, Ishmael. That's what, that's what's happening here. And that's why he laughs. Well, Isaac means he laughs. And we see this three different times. What we see in this passage is a laughter of amazement. We know because there's no rebuke, as we're going to see in the next chapter, upon him. He falls on his face with awe and reverence. It's a laughter of amazement.

This can't be. And he says, here's Ishmael. Later, we're going to see a laughter of doubt with Sarah. And then there's going to be a laughter of joy once Isaac is actually born. Okay? That's what Isaac means. Oh, okay. Six, lastly. Covenant response. 17, 22 through 27. Here's our last point. So, then Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all his servants were born in his house and did this. And then all the men of his household who were born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner were circumcised with him. And so he got all his people. They were circumcised. And then I just want to make note. It says, in the very same day as God has said to him, if there was any question about his faith, when God made it clear, hey, no, no, no, it's not Ishmael.

It's going to be from your very own lineage. Abraham and Sarah. Okay. He believes. And he surrenders himself to that belief through obedience. No circumcision was not necessary. But it is necessary to show what it looks like to be a people of the community of God. In the very same day, he did this. And so one application, is there anything God commands me to obey him and that I am delaying? How is delaying obedience similar to disobedience? Next time, we're going to go through Genesis chapter 18 and 19, the promised birth of Isaac and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. You take note here, it's two chapters, so it's long. It's long. Start early. I plead with you. Start early. Don't get upset at me as you're doing it because it's so long, you know?

Like you might start cursing my name or something. But there was no hope, no other choice to go through all of what we need to go through. So we're going to go through two chapters before we meet in a single week. Okay? The next one after that is also two chapters, but thank the Lord we have two weeks to do that one. So what I would suggest is start chapter 18 tomorrow. And then you hit Saturday and start chapter 19 or something like that. Okay? All right. Just try your best. There are your personal study questions. There's actually two slides. So this is going to be chapter 18 and this is going to be chapter 19. I know, I know, but this is the Bible. I don't know why you're groaning. Like, hallelujah, we get to read the Bible.

Okay, right? What a privilege. Here's our application. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the privilege of going into your Word. Thank you, Lord, for the painstaking way in which you show us who you are, how much you care for us. And Father, we are simply amazed that you, God, we remember from this past Sunday sermon, God, the question just beats down upon us. Why? Why do you care for us? Why do you go through all this? Lord, we just respond, not understanding, in gratitude. Thank you, Lord. I pray that this time of discussion would be honoring to you, that it would be all about you and not us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Thank you.