Introduction
Let me begin with a discipleship question: will we trust and obey Jesus in the real decisions of everyday life? Christ forms us through truth received, repentance practiced, and obedience lived out.
Main Points
Repentance and Renewal
i'm going to use genesis 17 as a springboard to talk a little bit about god's covenants um and then this idea of circumcision ultimately want to land on this concept that is used in both the old and the new testament and called circumcision of the heart and what that is um and even how we build on that as god's people i feel like it's one of the things that has become less and less talked about in the church is the inner person and fortifying the inner person that the part of us that moves on into eternity when these outward bodies die these shells or these tents um as paul uh might describe it when we when we put this body off that inner person goes to be with the lord um in genesis chapter 17 we are catching up with abraham and i suppose i told jessica's so good to make slides i told her i was going to read part of 15. maybe we still will i'm just to get a little bit of the context as to what's going on um in chapter 15 we see god actually going through the process of making a covenant with abraham um if you've been here over the weeks we've been talking about abraham you have noticed that there's this constancy of god coming to abraham and telling him i'm going to give you a son i'm going to give your you descendants i'm going to give you uh descendants that are as numerous as the stars in the sky or like the dust of the earth um and up to this point in chapter 15 he's not yet seen that son and he's kind of curious as to when is all this going to happen um god calls him at 75 when we jump into this work that god is going to call abraham to do that's going to mark this covenant that god has given him we're going to see that he's 99 so quite some time has passed um in between 15 and 17 is chapter 16. you guys know that mark but what happens in chapter 16 it's the it's the hagar saga where sarah tells abraham hey why don't you just take my maidservant hagar and go be with her and have a child with her that they felt like they needed to help god apparently um and god makes it very clear in chapter 17 and 18 that son ishmael is not the son that god was promising them that they were going to have a son that would begin this process of these many descendants with a son named isaac through sarah he even changes sarah's name from sarai to sarah and i have no idea why or what that even means because sarah means princess and sarah means princess so it kind of leaves you wondering what's going on there and i feel like there's so many parts of this story that kind of leaves you bewildered as to what is happening um explaining a little bit in chapter 15 we're just gonna read it let's look at let's start in verse seven um previously because remember he was with lot his nephew lot was captured by these kings uh and mesopotamia i believe it was and um ultimately he has to muster his men and go and rescue lot and bring them back uh and when he brings them back lot who was situated in sodom is won back all the people of his household all his goods and the king of sodom comes to abraham and says hey you know what give me the people you can keep the stuff and abraham says nope absolutely not because it'll never be said that you made abraham rich but he relies upon god um and he even uses the name that melchizedek this priest king of a place called salem calls god melchizedek says blessed be abraham by god most high possessor of heaven and earth blessed be god most high who has delivered your enemies into your hand um when he talks with sodom he calls him the exact same name and then when we show up in verse 7 it's almost as if god is telling abraham great job for being faithful i'm going to bless you and he said in verse 7 i am the lord who brought you out from ur the chaldeans to give you this land to possess but he said o lord how am i to know that i shall possess it he said to him bringing me a heifer three years old a female goat three years old and a ram three years old a turtle dove and a young pigeon and he brought him all these cut them in half and laid each half over against the other but he did not cut the birds in half and when birds of prey came down on the carcasses abraham drove them away okay so he pretty much made this bloody mess okay he had to take a heifer cut it in half put half of it here half of it there take this three-year-old goat cut it in half of it here half of it there and then the birds it says he didn't cut them in half but he set them in to be a part of this process and what this was is abraham understood god's saying we're going to make a covenant because this was the process and when you would take the animals and cut them in half and you had this bloody mess there was like this canal of blood that the people in the covenant would walk through as to say that i will become like these animals if i go back on my promise so god is setting this up for abraham and abraham understands what's going on and he figures at some point he's probably going to have to walk through this bloody mess in this covenant relationship that is being established with god in verse 12 as the sun was going down abraham's waiting a deep sleep fell on abraham and behold a dreadful and great darkness fell upon him then the lord said to abram now or know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there and they will be afflicted for 400 years but i will bring judgment on the nation that they serve and afterward they shall come out with great possessions as for you shall go to your fathers in peace you shall be buried in a good old age and they shall come back here in the fourth generation for the iniquity of the amorites is not yet complete um that latter part the iniquity of the amorites is not yet complete i believe is an indication that god was actually going to use israel as a tool of judgment on the paganism on the nasty rituals that were happening in that land and he was going to give that land to israel they would move into canaan and they would own it verse 17 it says when the sun had gone down and it was dark behold a smoking fire pot and flaming torch past between the pieces on that day the lord made a covenant with abram saying to your offspring i give this land from the river of egypt to the great river the river euphrates the land of the kinites the kadamites the hittites the perizzites the raphaem the amorites the canaanites and the gurgashites and the jebusites god passed through the canal of blood made by those animals god made the covenant with abraham did not pass through the animals which i find very interesting which can only be saying one thing there's one person responsible for this covenant and who's that god i've even heard it said that as god passed through the canal of blood of these animals that he wasn't just saying that he was going to uphold his part of the bargain and that if he failed to uphold his part may he become like these animals but he was also saying that he was going to uphold abraham's part of the bargain and if abraham failed then he god would become like these animals and some people look at this as a projection to christ in the purpose of the cross because we know the story the people of god didn't remain faithful to him okay but god would use it he would use it god is constantly showing us these glimpses throughout the scripture of the bigger plan of what he's doing and the salvation of man and this being brought through the jews and that's the point that's being made here in this covenant that god is making with abraham as well that god is going to be responsible in the end look in chapter 17 there are a number of covenants that god makes in the old testament up to this point he says that he is going to do the work um when adam and eve sinned and god is handing out the curse he makes a promise that just to the serpent he says that her seed that there's going to be this animosity between your seed and her seed and he will crush your head and you will bruise this heal that will happen it's going to happen we know that to be a projection of jesus noah when noah comes through the flood god makes this promise to know that he would never flood the earth again that he would never wipe out the civilization of humanity and he gives them a promise and he says that the sign of that promise is what it's the rainbow okay that every time you see this it's a reminder to you of the promise that god made that he is not although he's fully aware that humanity is still going to be sinful he's making a promise in that the rainbow is the reminder of that promise he gives them a sign by that rainbow and here in chapter 17 that's what he's going to do with abraham regarding this covenant that he's making with abraham that there will be a sign that you were my people let's read it chapter 17 we're going to read most of this chapter it says when abraham was 99 years old the lord appeared to abram and said to him i keep saying abraham we're going to get there i promise he says to him i am god almighty walk before me and be blameless that i may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly all of a sudden god is using this language of condition there's a condition that i'm going to put on this covenant okay before he's just saying hey i'm going to i'm going to give you this a son uh descendants this land now he's saying abraham you have responsibility you need to be blameless and he's saying be blameless he's saying hey you need to not waver on the condition that i'm about to put on this deal all of a sudden now god's beginning to bring this concept of work that abraham is going to have to take as a part of this covenant with god in verse 3 then abraham 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 thank god because now i can see it for i have made you the father of a multitude of nations i will make you exceedingly fruitful and will 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 their generations for an everlasting covenant to be god to you into your offspring after you and i will give to you unto your offspring after you the land of your soul journeys all the land of canaan for an everlasting possession and i will be their god here it comes and god said to abraham as for you shall keep my covenant we haven't heard that now god is going to put a condition on abraham in this covenant as for you shall keep my covenant you and your offspring after you throughout their generations this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you every male among you must 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 your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised so shall my covenant be in your flesh and 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 god sets a condition in the condition of circumcision i've never seen a movie about this chapter of the bible by the way i don't think we will um first things first guys link think of a covenant in this covenant that god is making um and it's going to grow as moses steps onto the scene as we know they exit egypt and they go out into the desert and then the mount sinai incidents take place and they receive the law from god and it's this expansion of this covenant there's this deal between god and israel that they will be his people if they abide by this covenant they abide by the law the things that god would bring forward in leviticus and in exodus and deuteronomy and numbers um the law and the recap of the law i think it's good to note that what we're reading right now in genesis the first five books of the bible genesis exodus leviticus numbers deuteronomy okay we know these to be books that moses wrote it's called the book of moses those five books i mean moses is writing these books just before they step into the promised land okay he's letting them remember the covenant that they have made with god that if god is going to dwell amongst them and in their camp there are these rules of engagement that need to take place that's what the covenant is there's a behavior that needs to be established between the infinite almighty perfect holy being of the universe and broken untrustworthy sinful humans there's got to be some rules if there was a guy who had just gotten out of prison that the friend of yours and you hadn't seen each other in 10 15 20 years and you take them into your house i hope you have some rules you wouldn't just let them move in with no rules you got to set some guidelines because you want to protect the people in your house you don't want them to wind up reverting back to this criminal mindset you know maybe there might be people that they're still connected with and you know if you're going to be in my house you got to save those relationships i do not want those kinds of people around my children and you got to get a job i'm going to expect you to pay rent okay there's this process of bringing that person to independence to where they can go out and be good citizens of society right so you would expect there would be rules for an individual who is trying to reintegrate into society well in the very same way god establishes a covenant with his people that if they are going to have a relationship and he'd dwell with them there's got to be some guidelines there's got to be some rules i'm going to read a passage in deuteronomy chapter 7. he's encouraging moses is encouraging the people not to forget who they are in the covenant commandments they received at mount sinai as he says in verse 6 in deuteronomy chapter 7 for you are a people holy to the lord your god you are people who have been set apart you have been made different because you have a relationship with the god of the universe you've been set apart to the lord your god the lord your god has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth it was not because you were more in number than any other people that the lord set his love on you and chose you for you are the fewest the least of all peoples but it is because the lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers that the lord has brought you out with a mighty hand redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of pharaoh king of egypt know therefore that the lord your god is god the faithful god who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments so to a thousand generations and repays to their face those who hate him by destroying them he will not be slack with one who hates him and by the way this isn't just a sentiment of hate that is included but there's this stance of stiffness and rejection of god that they know exactly what is required for them to be able to dwell in the presence of god and they make light of it they hate they reject it they push it away it says he will not be slack with the one who hates him he will repay him to his face you shall therefore be careful to do the commandments and the statutes and the rules that i command you today and because you listen to these rules and keep and do them the lord your god will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers he will love you bless you and multiply you he will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground your grain in your wine and your oil the increase of your herds and the young of your flock in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you shall be blessed above all peoples there shall not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock and the lord will take away from you all sickness and none of the evil diseases of egypt which you knew will he inflict on you but he will lay them on all who hate you does that sound like a pretty good deal sounds like a pretty good deal but it's kind of a catch-22 because the covenant in the like the uh what's the word i'm looking for the elements of the covenant they would not keep um we know that it became this curse on israel because israel would get into the promised land they would see these other gods and they would begin to pursue after these other gods and they would commit idolatry that's why god says that they are an adulterous generation because there was a covenant you see the picture when two people get married they enter into a covenant it's a lifelong covenant i have yet to do a marriage where we slice animals apart and the bride and groom walk through those animals i think we should re-adopt that might put a little more urgency on the commitment that's being made um but marriage is a covenant and it's ultimately the picture that's being brought forth in this relationship that god has with israel that there is this relationship that is special and unique amongst all of humanity between god and his people israel but there's also an expectation in that relationship there are rules of engagement as a man with a wife i can't just go and beat my wife up and even within our vows of marriage we vow to forsake all others to keep ourselves to them in them only to honor them and respect them and cherish them to listen to them we're making a covenant how well we keep that covenant i don't know i think marriage is a beautiful example of the relationship in israel although we might not be adulterers and leave and forsake our marriage and maybe some of us have and we've seen the consequence that brings upon the family our hearts are still in a place where they really need some work and there's no better relationship than a marriage relationship to bring that to light i remember when we first got married i realized how selfish i was actually my bad she was um i mean you see it on both ends the moment you get married you begin to realize that hey wait something's not right like it has been so easy for me to serve me and do all the things that i need to be gratified in this life and now all of a sudden it's got opposition i don't understand why can't they see what i need and they're not willing to give it i thought they loved me i thought they loved me um the covenant between god and his people were designed to be a mutual agreement between god and israel which brings about a relationship of commitment between god and his people somewhat of an if then or a double-edged sword if you obey my commandments then i will bless you give you land protect you prosper you above all people but if you do not then i will curse you and you will be judged as one who hates god and be repaid by death unprotected scattered and no land no blessing and no prosperity we look back on israel and we see when israel begins to give itself to idolatry and the nation actually splits the northern kingdom israel never has a king that seeks after god and they would be obliterated first and exiled out into assyria the assyrians would come and destroy israel and then afterward there were some kings in the southern kingdom in judah who honored god every now and then you would get one that would rise up but ultimately they too would reach a place of no return and god would have babylon come in and destroy them along with the temple okay so the worship of god in the way that they know it in the in the desert how would be established at mount sinai is done because they turn their backs on god and god follows through on the commitment that's being made here but i think it's very interesting that even though assyria and babylon come in and destroy god's people their land they take it from them the throne is revert revolt revoked and cursed okay god curses the king of judah and says there will never be another son from your line from you that will sit upon the throne again and we see historically that's true because they turned their backs on god they broke the commandment between or the covenant between them and god the amazing thing is god allows them to come back from exile for another chance not because they were worthy of it but because god made a covenant with abraham and he was going to keep it god was going to keep his covenant this covenant was doing a few things one it was establishing who god is among the nations when he made this covenant with israel part of that was that they would be a light to the gentiles that they would be a light to the world to let the world know who god is okay you saw what happened in egypt when they left egypt god brought all of these plagues the death of the firstborn finally pharaoh's like get out of here and before they leave they asked their masters for their gold and they plundered them they gave it to them um the things that god told abraham came true right here and moses is reminding them in the telling of the story enslaved for 400 years now sent out into the desert set free by the miracle miracles of god and that word would get around fast people would know who the jews are how do we know well they're about to enter into the land there's this city called jericho as they send spies into the city there's this prostitute living in the city who finds the spies she hides them and says hey have mercy on me and my family we have heard of your god and the people are afraid because they know you're coming across the jordan to us will you save me and my family they knew of god he made himself known they get into the promised land and there's these people called the gibeonites who recognize who israel is and they are good at deception they roll up on horses with tattered clothes and these flasks that are empty and food that's stale and like man we've come on this long journey and we've come and we want to we want to be allies with you we want to make a treaty with you these guys live next door but they understood that god was giving the land to israel so they cut a deal i mean it goes all the way to the elders of israel and they say yeah we'll make a treaty with you and then they find out that they got deceived and they're like what are you doing to us you lied to us he says yeah we knew that your god was coming to take the land and was going to give it to you so they become their servants better to be a servant than to die they saved their people okay so you have all these people who are understanding who god is through this covenant with israel um and then ultimately god is planning to bring in this salvation of man through this covenant and we know and then i mean we just kind of looked at it for easter the coming of jesus he is going to give the messiah the responsibility of taking on the weight of the world so that mankind can enter into a relationship with god a covenant relationship with god i don't know if you've ever known that but old testament means old covenant in the new testament means new covenant this new covenant that's brought through christ what is the requirement of that new covenant well jesus tells us it's very clear that we are to believe on him okay he gives a commission to the church he says go make go make disciples baptize them in the name of the father and son and the holy spirit teach them to obey all my commandments okay paul puts it in a nutshell he says if you confess with your mouth the lord jesus and you believe in your h
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.