The Sign and the Snicker

I don't know if you all can see it, but on my left ring finger is a ring. It is not just any ring. It's in a very symbolic position. Whenever a man or a woman has a band on their left ring finger, it symbolizes a wedding band. It symbolizes the covenant ring, the covenant symbol of marriage. This ring symbolizes the covenant that I made with my wife. And the covenant that she made with me, it's a token of that, that I made before witnesses and before God and to her, that I am hers and she is mine. I have separated my affections, my thoughts, my heart, my actions to her alone. There are only things, there's no other woman that I'm going to relate with in the same way that I relate with my wife. She is my only female friend that I share intimacy with. If I take the ring off, if I could take it off, and I put it down, the covenant still stands. It's just a symbol. The covenant between me and the witnesses, which I actually view now as my local church, those who are holding me accountable to that covenant, between me and my wife and God, it's a covenant until death. It's not a covenant until I take the ring off. This ring can be destroyed and the covenant still stands. What we're looking at, what we're looking at this morning is a text where God gives his covenant, a symbol, a token, a sign, very much like the ring. We're looking at Genesis 17, where God gives the sign of circumcision, which is a token between God and man, that God's covenant is true and faithful. As we look at this, I want to remind us where we're coming from, because it's very important to keep the Abrahamic covenant and all its reminders, all of its reiterations in proper context. We can go back to Genesis 3.15 where God told Satan that he would send a son and that son would crush Satan's head. There will be an offspring of man. There will be a child, one single child that will crush sin and death. One single child is expected who will reverse the curse. And then we see the tracing of the offspring throughout the genealogies until we get to Avram. And Avram is called out in chapter 12. And he is only 75 years at the time. 75 years old. He's called out of Ur. He's called to go into a land and God gives him many promises. One of which is children. Many children. Well, Avram gets sick of waiting. Genesis 15 comes and he tries to adopt a child. And here God reminds him of the covenant. You will have children. You will have this land. And here he gives an elaborate ceremony. He walks through dead animals to say, if I do not keep this covenant, I will be like these animals, giving him the surest foundation. God alone swears by his own life that he will keep this covenant. Well, as we looked at last week, Genesis 16 here, Sarai leads Abram to try to find another way to fulfill the covenant. God needs help, apparently, in their minds. And Hagar is given to Abram, and they have a child. And God again reminds them, no, I will give you a child through Sarai. And here we come to Genesis 17. Now, notice Genesis 17 is like Genesis 12. Every other time God has actually reinforced the covenant, every time God has had to remind Abraham of the covenant, it's because Abraham's done something stupid. It's because he's failed. It's because he's lost sight of God's goodness and his faithfulness and his promises. But here, God initiates the conversation out of his own goodness. It doesn't seem like Abraham is faltering in his faith or he's failing. God Himself begins the conversation. And if you look, chapter 16 happened when Abraham was 86. Here in chapter 17 it begins, he was 99. Our text this morning is we've broken up into a number of divine speeches. God declaring His covenant to Abraham or Avram. The first divine speech is simply verses one and two. We have the context of Romans 99 when the Lord appeared to him and he said to him, I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless that I may make my covenant between me and you may multiply you greatly. Here we see a few things that are tweaks in the covenant. It's not a new covenant. He's reminding him of the old covenant. He's reestablishing the old covenant. But here God introduces himself with a new name, El Shaddai. God Almighty. I believe this is probably to remind Abraham that the impossible situation that he sees himself in at 99 is not impossible with God Almighty. The God who can do anything. One commentator says, this name shows that he possesses the power to realize his promises. Even when the order of nature presented no prospect of their fulfillment, and the power of nature was insufficient to secure it. Sarah's way too old to have a child. Nature is completely against them. It is impossible. But here, God represents himself with the name El Shaddai. I am the God. who can keep my promises. Something else that stands out is this command to be blameless. Does Abraham have to be blameless in order to enjoy the covenant? I don't think so. God called him out back in Genesis 12, knowing he would fail miserably, knowing he would lie in Egypt twice, Knowing he would lie about his wife, lie about who he is, knowing that God, knowing that Abraham would falter over and over again, lapsing in faith. Here God is calling him out to be blameless because that's what the covenant family is supposed to be. Being blameless doesn't bring you into the covenant. Once you are brought into the covenant, once you experience grace, once you experience faith, once you experience the goodness of God, then you respond and worship. Being blameless isn't a requirement for Abraham to get into this covenant. It's what's expected of him now that he is the covenant family. And again, we can see there in the very last part, I will make a covenant between me and you. and multiply you greatly. The offspring is still at the heart of this covenant. Now let's go to the second divine speech, which is interrupted with Avram's response. He falls on his face. Verse 3, the only proper response when God gives you great promises, the only proper response when God comes and speaks to you, it's an act of worship and respect. Here, God reiterates the covenant. Look at verse 4. Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Avram, but your name shall be Abraham. For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful. And I'll make you into nations and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant. To be God to you and your offspring after you, and I will give to you and your offspring after you the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. A couple of things stand out as God reiterates the promise. There's a few new aspects to the covenant. One, we have a name change. He receives a new name, Abraham. He is the father of many nations. God gives him a name change to give him an assurance. As sure as your name has been changed, as sure as your name has been given to you, what your name means, my promise will be fulfilled. What an interesting way to assure him every time someone calls him, every time Sarai calls him to dinner, every time his children call out to him, he remembers the promise of God. Now, I am the father of many nations. We see here a great affirmation, a great assurance given to the man who was a wrong, but is now Abraham, he will be the father of many. The second thing that isn't actually straightforward from the text, but I think as you read it, you hear what is known as the covenant formula in this text. The covenant formula of God is this. I will be your God and you will be my people. I will be your God and you will be my people. That is a sweet covenant formula. It's a sweet word to hear because when you hear that, when you're Israel in Exodus, When you're Israel in exile, when you're Israel wandering through the desert, God is saying, I am with you. You are my people. I am connecting myself with you. I am intimately involved in your life. I am there present with you in your suffering, in your trials and tribulations. It's a redemptive covenant. It's a redemptive promise because it's necessarily connected to deliverance from Egypt. Exodus 6-7, I will take you to be my people and I will be your God and you shall know that I am the Lord your God who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. This covenant, I am your God and you are my people, it's redemptive. Listen to the redundancy here of what God is going to do. I will make you exceedingly fruitful. I will make you into nations. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring. To be God to you and your offspring. There you hear that intimate connection God is making with his people. I will give to you and your offspring after you the land of your sojournings. I will be their God. God is connecting himself necessarily to Abraham. The last thing that stands out in this text, it's an everlasting covenant. It's an eternal covenant. You see that there in verse seven and in verse eight. It's an eternal covenant, an everlasting covenant. We saw this phrase in the Noahic covenant. God said to Noah, I'm going to make with you an everlasting covenant, one that will not end. And that promise to Noah was, I will no longer destroy the world. I'll no longer flood the world and destroy everything. And then he gave him a sign, the rainbow. Well, that Noahic covenant, which was eternal, was for all of creation. It's for every one of us. And it was that He would not destroy the world again. Here, this covenant is more precise and focused in that it's for a particular people, God's chosen people, who He has said, I will be your God and you will be my people, and it's to redeem them. This covenant promise, this eternal covenant, is different and better than the Noahic covenant. Now, I'm glad God has promised we're not going to be destroyed by rain again, given how much rain we've had and given the Mississippi River. Those are comforting words. But this promise is better because it's not just saying, I'm going to keep you alive. I'm going to give you eternal life, is what he's saying. He's going to redeem his people. The third divine speech begins in verse nine. And God said to Abraham, As for you, 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 shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, 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 an everlasting covenant. Any circumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant." Here we get the second affirmation. The second assurance. The first one was Abraham getting his new name. The second affirmation is the sign of the covenant, the symbol, circumcision. Now, this wasn't the first time circumcision was introduced in the ancient Near East. Egyptians, other people in Mesopotamia, they were practicing circumcision. It's not unique to Israel. But here, the covenant is unique and the symbol that God chooses to represent, to be a token It's circumcision. It's supposed to be done at eight days of age. This is strictly observed. We see Jesus being circumcised at eight days. Paul in Philippians 3, 6 boasts of being a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Jew of Jews, because he is circumcised on the eighth day. Here the covenant of circumcision does not replace the previous covenant. The previous covenant was God giving Abraham promises and Abraham believing those promises. And God's counting his faith as righteousness. This doesn't replace that. The covenant is still God giving promises and God's people believing those promises. The sign of circumcision just gives another assurance. That God's word is true, it's another reminder for us, just like we have the ordinances of baptism, Lord's Supper. We do those regularly as a reminder. And what God has done for us and what he will do for us and giving us a feast when he returns. Circumcision is a sign of the everlasting covenant. Now, if one did not follow circumcision, he's showing that he doesn't believe God. He doesn't believe God's promises. He doesn't want to follow God's instruction. That is what it means to be forsaken in this covenant. Let's go on to the fourth divine speech. Verse 15, And God said to Abraham, As for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and she shall become nations. Kings of people shall come from her. Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, Shall a child be born to a man who is 100 years old? Shall Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, Oh, that Ishmael might live before you. And God said, No. But Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you and behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes and I will make him into a great nation, but I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year." So we have another name change. Sarai goes to Sarah. It's not a major name change. It's still the same basic route. It goes from my princess, which would be referring to Abraham, I think. He's the one who would say she's my princess, Sarai, to Sarah, which is more of a general, the princess. Maybe he's referring to the fact that she is the mother of all salvation at this point because she's the mother of the promised child. Kind of like Eve. God keeps his word that Sarah, Now, we'll be the mother of the promised child. One of the key things we have to ask here is, how do we interpret Abraham's laughter? What is he doing when he laughs? This has actually been a great point of debate through the history of interpretation. Is he laughing because he doubts? Is he actually laughing at God because he's made a promise that he thinks is impossible? Was he laughing with joy and exuberance? Oh, will my child finally be born? I don't think either of those options are whether they're possible, but I think given the other context around what Abraham is thinking and what he says afterwards about Ishmael, I think the laugh is an awkward response. You ever Have somebody say them to you, and the only way you can really respond is to laugh awkwardly. He falls on his face to worship. He falls on his face showing he's respecting God. He's honoring God. He knows God keeps his word. But the laughter. Why the laughter? I don't think he thinks it's funny. I think he has questions. Can you really do this? But I don't think it's pure doubt. I don't think it's pure joy. I think it's simply an awkward response to a promise in an impossible situation. His response, oh that Ishmael might live before you. I don't think here he's trying to present Ishmael as the child again. I think he probably learned his lesson. I think what he doesn't want is Ishmael to be cut off. He doesn't want Ishmael to be thrown out or destroyed or killed. So here God makes many promises to Ishmael. It's interesting, verse 20. As for Ishmael, I have heard you, Ishmael's name is God hears. There's some Hebrew irony there. I will bless him. I will give him 12 nations. I'll give him 12 princes rather. And that corresponds with the 12 tribes of Israel. God is saying, I will give him good things. I will establish his lineage. I will give him a great life and a great prosperity. But he's not the one. I'm going to manifest my goodness. I'm going to manifest my power. I'm going to manifest my promise-keeping ability by making your wife pregnant. And she will have a child at this time next year. God affirms his promise. And then verse 22 on, Abraham simply responds to God's promises. This is how we see that he is a man of faith. When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. Then Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all those born in his house, or bought with his money, every male among them, among the men of Abraham's house. And he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin that very day, as God had said to him. Abraham was 99 years old. when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael, his son, was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very day, Abraham and his son, Ishmael, were circumcised. And all the men of the house, those born in the house, and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him. Abraham is obedient. He believes the promise, he obeys the command, and he does what God says. Now, let us think about what we learn from this text. Well, it stands out as God is faithful to His promise. Now, if you're paying attention, that's exactly what I said last week. God is faithful to His promise. He's patient with His people. That was an application point from last week, before we went on the Easter break from Genesis. It's the point of all Genesis. As you read Genesis chapter after chapter, that's the application. God is faithful to His promise. He is patient with His people. We continue to fail. God continues to keep His promise. That is the whole message of Genesis. That's the whole message of the Bible. As I look at, as I want to walk through what it means that God is faithful to his promise here, I want to look at the different parts of the promises and I want to show you how each one of these specific promises are actually ours now as New Testament believers. So it's gonna be a little different. I want to look at the particular promises of an offspring. The particular promises of a land, the particular signs of the promises and giving a new name and circumcision. And I'm going to show how the New Testament interprets these promises for us. You see, these promises are ours. These aren't promises to the Jewish people. These are promises to God's people. We are God's people. We are the new Israel. These are our promises more than the Jews. We know how God fulfilled these promises. These are ours, because every promise in the Old Testament is yes and amen in Jesus Christ. So let's start looking through how, well, Paul especially interprets these passages to help us understand how the promise for an offspring is ours, the promise for land is ours. Abraham has promised children, nations and kings, and specifically he's promised in Genesis 49, 10 that Judah will be the line of the king. Now, what's interesting in the passage in chapter 17 is that the word offspring is in the singular. God is promising him a offspring in the singular, and this is going to get a little grammar-ish here, but follow me. Offspring is a collective noun. We know what a collective noun is because we order beans and rice. We don't order bean and rices, right? Rice is a collective noun. You don't pluralize it. Sheep, deer, shrimps, sometimes I say. But collective nouns, they represent many. So, it's in a singular, right? Rice, not with an S, but it's singular, but it represents many. Well, offspring is like that. It can be like that. It can refer to the number, even though it's in the singular. It can refer to the many, even though it doesn't have an F in English. So why is that important? Well, I believe as God is making promise to Abraham, he is referring to many offspring. But then we have that passage that Brian read for us and preached on a few weeks ago, Galatians 316. Now, the promises were made to Abraham into his offspring. This is Genesis 3, Galatians 316. It does not say into offsprings. Referring to many, but referring to one and to your offspring, who is Christ. There's a key interpretive decision. We have kind of the classic problem of the one and the many here. This is a lot of fun because we have to figure out, what was God saying? Was He actually saying the promise is for, do you have many children? Or was He promising you'd have one child? Well, the answer is, quite frankly, yes. The passage is promising that Abraham will have many children. And he did have many children. He had that one child, Isaac. He had that one special child, the promised child, the special delivery child, the one promised child, Isaac. And then through Isaac, he had numerous children throughout the ages. But all those numerous children, the point wasn't to have all those numerous children as an end in itself. The point of having all those numerous children was to get to the one son, the real promised child. The point of having the many children is to get to the one child, Jesus Christ, born of a virgin. So after years of silence of revelation, when God comes to Mary, she says, praise God, you have fulfilled the promise to Abraham. You have fulfilled the promises to David. You see, what we see is God has promised one child because there's the one child in Genesis 3.15 that's going to reverse the curse. There's one child upon which all the hope of the world is dependent. There's one child, one offspring that was going to come and be the Savior. There's one child who was both God and man, who died on the cross and rose again. Then we have to ask, well, what does it mean to have the many? See, we get to be the many. We get to be a child of Abraham, a child of God, when we believe in Jesus Christ. When we believe in the offspring that God promised, the one child, we then get to be part of the many because we believe in that child. See, the whole point of this covenant with Abraham is not to fill the earth with Abraham's children. The point is to bring about that one child, the one Savior, so that many from all nations will come and worship that one child and see him as their Savior. Really, the best way to understand this is that that one Jesus Christ, He represents the many. That one man, Jesus Christ, He represents the many. He is the head of the body. And all those who have their faith in Him, well, God sees them as His children. You see, the true children of Abraham are not children of flesh, the children of faith. Ishmael was a child of Abraham by nature. Ishmael received great blessings and promises from God because he was a child of Abraham. But he didn't get the redemptive covenant. The redemptive covenant is with a child of promise and all those who believe in that child of promise. As Romans 9, 6 tells us, as Paul is wrestling with this idea of Israel's role now in the gospel. Romans 9, 6 is where I'll start. But it is not as though the word of God has failed because Israel has rejected the gospel. For not all who are descendants from Israel belong to Israel. Here we have, we're redefining categories. Israel is not a nation and a race. Israel is God's people. You're Israel if you're a believer in Jesus Christ. Then not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said, about this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son. Paul's interpreting Genesis 17 and 18 here. He's taking that promise, he's saying the promise child is Isaac, and those who receive the promise are all those who believe in, well, the fact that Isaac was coming and then Isaac's, well, his big brother who's born years after would come, Jesus Christ. Galatians 3, 7 makes it very clear. Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. You see, as we look at these promises, of a lineage of many offspring. These are for us. These are for us to be able to look back hundreds of years and see that God made these promises that all these children would be born for our sake. So that the one child, Jesus Christ, would come. We get to look back and we get to look and see how God fulfilled these promises. We get to look back and see how faithful He is to His promise. How patient He is with His stumbling children. We get to see the beauty of the gospel in Jesus Christ. See, it's underneath the doctrines of grace, the doctrines of faith, the doctrines of the gospel that obedience must fall. I believe the command for Abraham to be blameless and walk before God, that's for us too. But you don't walk blamelessly and walk before God in order to get into his covenant. No, you believe in Jesus Christ who walked blamelessly for you. You believe that He was the blameless one, the innocent man who died on the cross on your behalf. You see, in your death, if you do not believe in Jesus Christ, when you die, you will face God and He will see all your sin and His wrath will be poured out on your sin. It's a fearful situation. The wrath of God poured out on your sin. That's why it's so important that Jesus Christ, who truly walked blamelessly, who truly was sinless, He died on your behalf. He died in your place. He died as an innocent man, taking your place. So that when God looks at Him, when God saw Him on the cross in His innocence, He poured out His wrath against your sin. So that whenever you die and you say, I'm with Jesus, when Jesus says he or she is with me. The wrath of God is no longer on you, but no, instead he sees the righteousness of Christ. The proper way to respond to the gospel, friends, is to walk before God blamelessly. Be holy for your heavenly father is holy. So the promise of offspring is our promise. Because God brought about Jesus Christ, the one offspring. Now let's look at the promise of land. God promised Abraham and many others after him a specific plot of land. It's in Mesopotamia. It's typically the boundaries of Israel. You see, a major shift changes in the New Testament. They don't talk about the land anymore. They don't talk about a specific plot of land in Mesopotamia. They don't talk about a boundaried area. No, they talk about the whole world. They talk about the cosmos. They talk about the entire creation. There's no promises in the New Testament about that specific plot of land. And I think that's because the promises to Abraham weren't intended to just be focused on this plot of land. The promises to Abraham were focused upon all the world, and not just this world, but a heavenly Jerusalem. One of the most interesting things is the interpretation of these promises of land in Hebrews 11, verse 13. You'll want to turn there. Hebrews 11, 13. These all died in faith. Now, who are the these? Abraham and Sarah. Not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth for people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they've been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country. That is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Now, if we look at this in the context of Hebrews, the author, which you can believe if Paul or not, if you want to be right. The author is telling them, believe in Jesus. Here, Jewish people are retreating from Christianity. Messianic Jews are rejecting Christ because they're being persecuted. And what the author is saying here is, why would you give up the heavenly Jerusalem? Why would you give up the heavenly temple for the earthly temple? Why would you give up the great promises that have been fulfilled by the great high priest for some priest who dies? Some priest who gives up his right year after year, some priest who's only giving an IOU, lamb and sacrifice. Why would you give up the eternal sacrifice, the eternal priest for that which is temporal? And he's going through the hall of faith, as we know it, and he's saying Abraham and Sarah, they had faith that they weren't going to receive this temporal land, this countryside in Mesopotamia. No, they knew it was a heavenly city. They knew. that they desire a better country, a heavenly one, one that's prepared for them by God. And here you can just hear the words of Jesus. I'm going before you to prepare a place for you. Friend, we're not looking for Israel to be restored. Virginia is as holy land as Israel itself. Yes, I am very thankful for the land of Israel because that's where God put Jesus. He put his promises. That's where his promised people were for many years. But now all the world is holy. All the world is holy ground because we are worshiping God wherever we are. When we hear the promises of land in the Old Testament, we have to realize those promises of land have been blown up in the New Testament to be eternal life, to be the kingdom of God, to be the heavenly kingdom. Look over to Hebrews 12, 22, where the author is contrasting Mount Sinai with the heavenly city. I'll start in Hebrews 12, 22. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels and festival gatherings, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all. into the spirits of righteousness made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, into the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. We're not looking for a plot of land. We're longing for heaven. We're not looking back to those promises and hoping that God's going to restore peace just in Jerusalem. We're looking for God to restore His peace with all of His people in the new heavens and the new earth. You're thinking too small if you're thinking about Israel. The New Testament blows it up and makes it huge. God's new city, God's promised place for us is a new heavens and a new earth. Now, how should this apply to us today? Friends, you are called to be sojourners just like Abraham and Sarah. They never got to experience the full fulfillment of getting that land. And just as we are never going to fulfill the full experience of receiving all of God's promises until we die, or until Christ calls us up to himself. We are called to be sojourners because we are aliens here. This is not our land. Our citizenship is in heaven. This is not where we belong. This is a corrupt world. This is the domain of darkness. Even though this is God's creation, this is not where we belong. God has created us to be his new children in his new place, the heavenly Jerusalem. Now, it's difficult to be sojourners because you can go to extremes. You can follow one extreme in our popular Christian movements, and that is I'm surprised it's become popular, but to sell everything you have and live freely for the world and for God. The idea that you set yourself free from the American dream and you can finally live for God. This means you have no roots, you have no relationships. You cast off all the things that appear evil and you live for God. Well, that sounds great. Once you cast off all the things of this world, your heart's just going to start being bent in another sinful direction. It's not the sayings that are the problem. It's your heart. See, we in America, we typically think the problem is outside of us and the solution's inside of us. No, the problem's inside of you and the solution is outside of you. The problem is your heart. The problem is your affections that we have not learned how to gird and direct and keep. The solution to keeping your affections is outside of you. It's Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. We need converted hearts. We need restrained hearts. The other difficulty with being sojourners is, well, we like to build up our own kingdom here and now. We would love to build up a wonderful world where there's peace and harmony. There's a new mantra. Let's redeem the culture. I have no idea what that means. Let's redeem all things physical. Yes, let's help the poor. Let's feed the widow. Let's care for the orphan. That's pure and undefiled religion. But this whole concept of redeeming all of culture, I don't know where they get this. It's about the spiritual battle that's taking place. It's about the battle over souls. It's about the battle over sin and death and eternal life. It's about the gospel that saves people from their sins, not gives them a better life. Friends, how are you going to sojourn well? It's by reminding yourself that this is not your world. It's reminding yourself that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and if He is risen, He is the right hand of the Father, and that is where you belong. You belong there worshiping Him. It's reminding yourself to put your mind on the things above, not the things of this world. See, I like the older hymns, because they typically always end with a meditation on heaven. or on Christ's return. I like the Negro spirituals because they emphasize the other life. It was easy for them to think about the other life because they hated their own life. They were in slavery. They needed to think about that other place. They needed to think about the freedom and the deliverance they could have. Friends, you need to think about that because you are in bondage to your materialism and your selfishness. We have to realize we are in bondage to sin here. We must realize that the way we think, the way we live, what our culture tells us, everything about this world is bondage to sin. And it's only in Christ that we actually receive freedom from that bondage. And it's only when he returns or when we die and go to heaven that we will get to experience perfect and pure freedom from that bondage. We must see sin as it is. Your material goods are not They're not pills to make you feel better. They're things to be used in this world to enjoy and thank God for his salvation. So, when you think about the land, let's not think about some plot of dirt. Let's think about that glorious kingdom God has prepared for us and how wonderful it would be to be there rather than here. But it dies, gang friends. Finally, and I'm sick and running out, so I mean, finally. God's promised assurance, we see in this passage, the circumcision, we we see this passage, two assurances, the new name and the new sign. Abraham received a new name. When we believe Jesus Christ, we get a new identity, we get a new name, it's very much like marriage when Lisa Married me, she got a new name. It's Goad. Her parents were so excited about that. But marriage is one of the most wonderful metaphors we have in scripture, one of the most wonderful pictures in scripture of the gospel. Jesus Christ, the bridegroom. The perfect lover of our souls. The perfect man who cares for his bride, the perfect bridegroom who lays down his life for those whom he loves. He gives us a new identity. When we believe in him, we accept his wooing. We submit to his wooing us. We submit to his faithfulness. He gives a new name, a new identity, a new future, a new residence, a new hope. You're supposed to celebrate your marriage. A marriage is supposed to be celebrated. That's why we have a baptism. That's why we have a great celebration when someone comes to Christ. But you're never supposed to stop celebrating your marriage. How often are you celebrating your marriage with Christ? How often are you celebrating your union with Christ? What keeps you from celebrating your union? It's your infidelity. What keeps us from celebrating our union with Christ and truly rejoicing in the love we have in Him, it's us. It's our infidelity. Scripture calls Israel the whore numerous times. Christ pursues us, even though we despise Him. He woes us, and then we try to leave Him again. If you're sitting there wondering, how can I rejoice in Christ? How can I find more joy in Christ? Quit following other loves. Discipline your love to be on God alone. Christ is as joyful as He was the day He saved you. You can have more joy today. What's keeping you from rejoicing in Christ is your infidelity. What's beautiful about the Gospel is that He still loves you. He loves his unfaithful wife, and he still forgives us for our infidelity. Finally, the second sign, the second assurance, circumcision, which is a sign of the covenant. It's an outward testimony of the work God has done internally. True Israel was not circumcised externally. Deuteronomy 10, 16 and 30, 16, Jeremiah 4, 4 make it clear that the circumcision of the heart is what matters. This is only an outward symbol of my marriage. Just like circumcision is only an outward symbol of what God has said. It really needs to be the internal circumcision. Circumcision is not the eternal sign. As we know from Galatians, it's been replaced by baptism. And as the covenant has changed, the recipient of the sign has changed. Baptism is for those who have believed. It is no longer a race. It is no longer a nation. It's for those who believe in Jesus Christ, who receive his sign and participate in his ordinances. If you want assurance, friends, if you want assurance of your covenant with God, if you want assurance of your salvation, remember what Christ has done for you as your bridegroom. And I wouldn't recommend holding your assurance completely in your baptism. It's a sign. But if all you're worried about is what you did in the past, as if your baptism was a seal of your salvation, you're misdirecting. You're misunderstanding the purpose of that sign. It is supposed to be an encouragement to you. You're supposed to remember that day you committed yourself to God and made an outward testimony proclaiming, God has saved me. I have been buried with him and I'm risen again. The seal of your salvation is the Holy Spirit. The seal of your salvation is your love for God now. You're understanding your dependence upon him in your present. Friends, as we look to those great promises in Genesis, God is faithful. God has been faithful. God has been faithful to us to keep these promises and make them better for us. It's not a number of children we get to praise God for. It's the one child, Jesus Christ, we praise God for. It's not for a plot of dirt that we praise God for. It's for the heavenly kingdom that we praise God for. and our assurance is found in our faith in what He has done and continues to do in us. Let's pray. Almighty God, we come before You. Your Word is great. The Lord, we pray that Your Spirit would now continue to work in our hearts as we think about Your Word, as we think about Your promises, as we think about the beauty of Your plan of salvation. Let us be overwhelmed with Your love for us. Let us be overwhelmed with your faithfulness to us who are unfaithful. You are faithful to us even though we have exercised our infidelity. Lord, give us again a rejoicing in your gospel. Help us, Lord, to celebrate your great marriage to us. And let us look forward to the great rejoicing that we will experience once we have removed ourselves from the bondage of this world. I prefer to live as sojourners, not tying ourselves here, keeping close roots to our friends and our families and our beloved church. Lord, let us long for the day that you will renew us and redeem us and bring us into your banquet as your children. In your name we pray. Amen.