The life and faith of Abraham. Part 7 – The covenant and its sign. Genesis 17.

This is a bit of an epic um chapter of

scripture and I'll be honest with you,

I've spent hours trying to cut it down

and get it into a shape that's easy to

deal with, but it's just big and there's

lots to say. So, I think I failed in

cutting it down. So, apologies. Lock in.

Uh we will do this. Um and uh I'm sure

there'll be many questions still lasting

after today, but that's what home groups

are for. Uh being a parent

it can be hugely challenging

because our children are sinners and

often our children like us they've got

their own opinions own ways of doing

things and they don't like to be told

what to do and uh as a parent maybe

yourself or watching other parents you

will have probably no doubt issued

threats. You know if you don't do this

then this will happen. The problem is,

of course, when we uh threaten things

that aren't possible to do. So, if you

don't put your shoes on, we're going to

leave you here and you're you're at the

beach and you know you're not really

going to leave them there. Or you're on

holiday. They're misbehaving and you

say, "Stop. Otherwise, we're never

coming on holiday again." You think,

"Well, really, is that true? Are you

actually going to do that?"

The trouble is, if we make issue issue

empty threats to our children, they

learn we don't mean what we say. And of

course, if you deal with grown-ups,

adults like that as well, if you keep

saying things and it's not really true,

people learn not to trust you. And it's

it's a real shame when you say things

and people decide they can't believe

what you say.

It undermines everything. But this is

one of the wonderful things about God.

He cannot lie.

So what he says is 100%

true.

what he says we can build our lives

upon. God doesn't make empty threats or

empty promises.

And throughout history, God has laid

down how he will deal with humanity

in what's known as covenants.

A covenant is a binding agreement. It is

God laying out how he will relate to

people. Now, in chapter 15, God made a

covenant with Abraham. But here in

chapter 17, it seems almost like he's

making another one.

But it's probably best to see this as

another stage, the second stage of the

same covenant. Chapter 15 fixes the

pattern of grace and faith. And now God

here is outline um laying out the

details and implications. So the

framework has been laid out in chapter

15. Now the details are fleshed out and

expanded. And we'll look at this in our

first point. God Almighty,

you might have noticed the sun is out

and it's the holiday season. Together

are off on their holiday this week. Some

of us will be joining them for a day.

And uh I don't know about you, but I

always look forward to my holiday. The

sad thing is I've already had my holiday

this year and now I've got to wait what

seems like a long time before my next

holiday. And some of you might be

thinking, well, you're lucky having a

holiday at all. Some of us don't get one

at all. But we have to wait for these

things. And waiting is often something

that we see a lot in the Bible. It's

easy to miss because sometimes years and

years are summed up in a word or two or

a quick sentence. And you you can't you

don't feel you don't have to live

through those years that are just

quickly uh spoken about in a sentence.

So Abraham was 17 75 when he left Haron

with the promises of a land and the

promise he was going to become a great

nation. But at that point he had no

children. He waited 11 agonizing years

and nothing happened.

But then we get to chapter 16. Abraham

was uh Abraham was 86 years old when

Ishmael was born for Abraham. This would

have been a wonderful moment. It seemed

as though God's promises were finally

coming true. Yes, they had to help God

out a bit to make it work. And yes, it

had been messy and it was far from

ideal, but between Abraham, Sarai, and

Hagar, they got there. And Ishmael is

born and he grows. And we we don't hear

that God spoke with Abraham during this

time. If God did speak to Abraham in

this time, it wasn't significant enough

to record.

It's almost like everything was on pause

for those 13 years. It was around 13

years later when Ishmael would be

hitting puberty. And then later on in

Judaism, the bar mitzvah would take

place. That's when a Jewish boy would be

recognized as accountable for obeying

the law for themselves. So effectively,

Ishmael's childhood had come to an end.

And it's at that point that the Lord

appears to Abraham again. That's a long

wait, 13 years of not really hearing

from God.

Our culture is one of the immediate,

isn't it? We don't wait. Well, our

parents used to save up or my parents

used to save up for things for years and

then finally you would get them. Now, if

we want something, we buy it on credit.

If you wrote a letter, you wouldn't

expect to reply for days or weeks even.

But now, if someone doesn't reply to

your text within a few hours, you're

thinking, "What's wrong? Have I did I

send that? You know, what's going on?"

Oh, if you want to know something, you

expect the internet or AI to be able to

give you the instant answer. And we can

carry that attitude into our

expectations of God. It can be hard

to wait.

But God doesn't work to our timetable.

God isn't some giant AI

waiting for our inquiries.

God does things in his perfect timing.

And whilst God never delays longer than

is required, sometimes a wait is

necessary.

And to learn to wait upon the Lord, to

learn to trust him is actually a big

part of the lesson.

And it can't be rushed.

So if God doesn't answer your prayer in

six minutes or six days or six weeks or

even six years, you know, I prayed about

it and and nothing happened.

Don't be tempted to think God doesn't

care or assume he's not listening or has

forgotten you or has abandoned you. God

does all things in his proper time.

It's always been the case, but it's easy

to miss in a story like this where you

just sort of read through and you can

read through a life in a few minutes.

There is this pause for around 13 years

whilst Ishmael grew up.

Perhaps Abraham wasn't even aware of it

because he had he had what he wanted. He

thought he had what had been promised to

him, the promised son.

But he didn't have the promised son yet.

He's taken this detour.

But in case we think that the awful

events of chapter 16 have derailed God's

plans and God has given up on Abraham

and gone to find someone else,

we are assured, no, that is not the

case. God hasn't given up on on Abraham.

And God is faithful despite Abraham and

Sarah's sin and their missteps.

We can be so quick to write people off,

can't we? They said that, they did that.

I'm I'm finished with them. God is so

patient, so loving, so kind. What a

relief and encouragement it is for those

of us who are prone to getting things so

wrong

to know that that doesn't mean God's

just finished with us when we blow it.

But God appears to Abraham and one of

the first things he does is clarify who

he is. And if we are going to entrust

our lives to God,

it is vital that we know who God is,

isn't it?

Verse one, I am God Almighty.

That translates El Shai.

That's a name that carries the idea that

God is the allsufficient one.

He is all powerful.

He is sovereign.

Why did Abraham need to know that

especially?

Because he and actually we need to know

God is more than capable of fulfilling

his promises.

He doesn't need Abraham's help. He he

need he wants Abraham's faith to be in

him because God is the giver. He is the

sustainer. He is the the one who

provides all things.

Don't we need to remember that when

things are not turning out as we hoped

or imagined?

God is El Shai.

God almighty.

If there's a delay, there's a reason.

Second thing God does is call Abraham to

walk before him. That is to live in such

a way as to acknowledge and honor God.

God isn't to be just a little little

part of his life. You know, the

religious bit. I'm going to do my my

churchy bit. Abraham's whole life was to

be lived out in a reference to God and

before God.

Because

if God is to be our God,

then he needs to be our God, doesn't he?

Not just a God for a day or an hour or a

moment or when we feel like it. It's no

different as New Testament believers. We

are to be always looking to El Shadai,

the God Almighty, and living our lives

out before him. If your faith is merely

showing up on a Sunday morning and

that's it, that really is no faith at

all. Our faith is to be lived out daily

before God,

constantly looking to him, calling upon

Elshadai, the God Almighty.

So Abraham was to walk live faithfully

before God but also to live with

integrity. Verse one and be blameless.

That's what it means integrity. Now it

doesn't mean that he is to be sinless.

Rather this is a call for Abraham to

ensure his character and his behavior is

upright and sincere.

He is to be sincere and transparent

before God and man. For Abraham and for

us, perfect sinlessness

isn't possible this side of glory. But

we are called to live in a way that is

right before God. It matters how we

live. If our faith is in God, we will be

careful how we live.

And it's worth noting God isn't saying

this to make Abraham's life miserable

or just to hem him or spoil his fun. God

says this because he intends to bless

him. He intends to be his God. And the

fitting response to that is faithfulness

and obedience. If God is our God, our

lives need to be God- centered because

actually that is at the heart of this

covenant and most covenants

to know and enjoy God himself.

If we miss that, if we think I I just

want the blessings and not God, we are

missing the point because God is the

ultimate blessing.

He is love, he is light, he is truth, he

is life itself.

God is at the heart of the covenant, at

the heart of the blessing.

So El Shadai appears to Abraham and

calls him to walk before him and and he

can bless him. And Abraham's response,

can you see it? Can you see it? Is to

fall on his face. He fell on his face.

Now, Abraham's 99 years old at this

point, but this fall isn't from frailty.

He hasn't had a fall.

It's a fall of worship

and reverence and awe.

Again, this is wholly appropriate

behavior for a Christian. It's what we

find the Apostle uh John doing in the

last book of the Bible. So we find at

the first book the book book of the

Bible someone falling on their face

before God. At the last book of the

Bible there's John falling on his face

before the risen savior.

He falls at the at his feet. And perhaps

it would help our attitude and our

worship

if we did this too. And that sounds a

bit strange to our modern ears, doesn't

it? because it's not something we're

accustomed to to doing actually

physically falling

on our face or front or whatever before

God. It it feels a bit weird, but but

why not?

Why not? If he is your God,

isn't this quite appropriate to actually

bow before him? Personally, I I find it

quite helpful. You know, we say, "Oh,

worship's in the heart and it's not a

matter of your Yeah, that's that's true.

But I find it quite helpful sometimes to

physically enact what is happening in my

heart

before God. Perhaps the really odd thing

is if he is our God that we never

actually bow before him. May maybe

that's the weird thing.

If we're to trust God with our lives and

give him our worship, we need to

remember who he is.

El should I God

Almighty?

And it's all sufficient. God is full of

promises. And that's our second point.

Promises restated.

After years of waiting and all the wrong

turns of chapter 16, God comes to

Abraham and restates the promises.

Abraham shall be a father of multitude

of nations. This is a big promise, isn't

it? It's not just you're going to be a

father of a nation. It's not just going

to be you're a father of a of a few

nations. It's a father of a multitude,

many, many, many nations. Not only that,

verse six, I will make you exceedingly

fruitful. You can see the genealogies um

that work out here physically from him

in chapter 25 and chapter 26, sorry, 36.

You can see that that happened. But this

promise isn't limited to Abraham's

physical offspring. It's one of the the

verses she read out for us earlier. For

those who are in Christ by faith, we are

now counted as Abraham's offspring. Heir

heirs according to the promise. It's

Galatians 3:29 if you want to look it up

Galatians 3:29

later.

So these promises given to Abraham these

thousands of years ago are still being

fulfilled even today. He's still getting

more offspring in the form of us

spiritually. We are his offspring.

But that's not all. Kings shall come

from you. God says, and again that that

that was very true. Many kings came from

Abraham

and eventually that included the the

messianic king Jesus.

God then reaffirms the promises of the

land for his offspring which that was a

real land. But again, ultimately that

finds its fulfillment in a heavenly

land. You can read about that in Hebrews

Hebrews 11:16

11:16. I'm not going to read it to you,

but you can look it up later. Abraham

tried to bring about God's blessing in

his own way by his own methods. But you

know, when we do that,

we're aiming too low. Abraham was aiming

too low. He thought if he could get

himself a son, then then it would all

work himself out. And and that's always

the case when we think we know better

than God. We aim too low. We settle for

too little. God has so much more to give

him if he would trust God. Not just

little is Ishmael and the things the

people that would come from him. It was

this huge heritage. When we decide we

are not going to trust God, we're going

to go it our own way. We're going to get

that thing that he said we shouldn't

because we think we need that. We are

aiming too low. We are settling for too

little. We need to trust God for what

he's promised us.

God has given Abraham some big promises.

And to mark the occasion, Abraham is

given I'm glad uh Abraham is given a new

name. Um uh Abraham means exalted

father.

Abraham means father of a multitude.

Father of a multitude. So exalted father

to father of a multitude. Now bearing in

mind Abraham at this point he only had

one child, one son. And now when anyone

speaks to him and calls his name, it's

going to be a reminder he is the father

of the multitude, which would seem a bit

funny because he's only got one son.

Well, not only did he get a new name,

Sarah did, too. In fact, God is careful

to spell out to Abraham that these

promises include Sarai. She is not a

problem to be bypassed.

And in a touching touching section, the

Lord says how he will bless her.

God will give Abraham a son by Sarai and

she will become nations and kings will

come from her. Don't underestimate her

importance, Abraham. She's part of the

miracle of grace. She gets the promises.

She gets the blessings, too.

And actually the impossibility

of her old age and her baronness they

are an essential part of the plan

Abraham because it proves the promise

doesn't come because of his crafty

cunning or his virile fertility.

This blessing is a miraculous gift that

can only be achieved by the hand of El

Shai, God Almighty.

It has to be seen this is from God and

not by any other way.

So Abraham and Sarah they get they get

new names. Now, as Christians,

we might not be given individual new

names for everyday use, but we are known

now by Christ's name. And our existence

is no less miraculous. As we saw in our

recent studies in Ephesians, we were

dead in our sin. We were far from God.

We were in the dark. We were without

hope. But now in Christ, everything has

changed. We are now called from being

saint of sinners to being called saints.

We are called the sons of God. We are

new creatures in Christ. We are known by

his name. We are known as Christians.

We are known by Christ's name. And now

every time you tell someone, "Yeah, I'm

a Christian." Don't be ashamed of that.

You're speaking about the miracle that

God has done in your life to take you

from life from from death to life. It's

the impossible miracle that has happened

in you.

And the impossible

is what has occurred in us. The

impossible was what needed to occur in

Abraham's situation as well if God's

promises was going to come true. Because

firstly, his old barren wife will be

having a baby. And that was impossible.

It was so impossible that Abraham laughs

because the idea was totally absurd. It

was so out there as as to be funny.

However spritly they may have been,

clearly Sarah was well beyond natural

child bear bearing age at at 90. And

we'll think more about this next week.

Uh but God was making it abundantly

sure, abundantly clear to Abraham that

all this blessing can only come about by

his hand. But Abraham isn't quite get it

yet. And he thinks it would make much

more sense if the promises could be

fulfilled through Ishmael, the son. He's

already got no need for a miracle. We

got the son. Why? Why doesn't that just

happen? If only that could be the case.

Humanly speaking, that makes sense. But

no. If Abraham thought God had needed

his help and that Ishmael was the son of

promise, he was wrong. God had his plan

and that was how it was going to work.

And although God agrees to graciously

bless Ishmael as well, the son of the

promise is not yet born. And so the

promises were restated. The plan for an

amazing blessing is given with more

clarity. And then the time timetable

here is set. Hasn't been set before this

point, but it's set here. Verse 21. This

time next year, Sarah will bear you

Isaac, whose name means he laughs. So

every time Sarah or Abraham call, Isaac,

Isaac, can you put your shoes on? Yeah.

Now, yeah. Seriously, you know, they

would remember that name he laughs. The

time when they they found it really hard

to believe what God had said.

It was a reminder that Isaac existed

because of the promises of God, because

of El Shai, the God Almighty. At the

time, it seemed impossible, so they

laughed. But that is how awesome God

Almighty is.

I wonder if we have forgotten who our

God is.

Have we mostly given up on prayer

because it just doesn't seem to work?

Why bother coming to the prayer

meetings? We don't share the gospel out

of fear because well, it never seems to

work anyway. You know, we sort of walk

with God when he happens to be going in

my direction and giving me what we want.

But if it, you know, if the two diverge,

I'm going to go my way.

Maybe we fear missing out if we walk

faithfully all the way with the Lord.

Maybe we need to remember who our God

is. Else should I, the sovereign, the

allsufficient one, Lord God Almighty.

You may have to learn to wait,

but you can trust him.

Well, as well as revealing one of his

own names, reaffirming his promises and

giving them new names, God also gave

them a sign of the covenant. And we'll

look at that in our final point,

immediate obedience.

Okay. It's hot, isn't it? Should we just

have a take a deep breath or something

or wiggle around and just I don't know,

stretch or something to get some air in

your lungs. It is hot. Um I was thinking

maybe I should stop there, but ah I

think we need to press on. Okay, just a

little bit more. Okay, we can do this.

When you start a job, uh you will

usually be given a contract setting out

the expectations and the

responsibilities.

It's important to have, you know, that

contract of expectations. So, everyone

knows where you stand. You do this, we

do that. You know, that's helpful. As I

mentioned at the beginning, God deals

with humanity on the basis of what is

known as covenants. A covenant is a

divinely imposed agreement that

stipulates how God and man relate to

each other. In any covenant, the main

parties are stated as here. So, verse

one, I am God Almighty. That's one.

Verse four, behold, my covenant is with

you, Abraham and your descendants. So,

we know who's involved there. Uh, God

and Abraham and his descendants. But

just notice, he says, behold my

covenant. My covenant. This is God's

covenant that he makes with Abraham.

He and we

don't get to decide or negotiate.

God sets out how people can relate to

him. And that's worth noting because

humanity has so lost sight of how

awesomely transcendent God is,

how very different he is, how majestic,

how above everything else he is, how the

whole universe depends on God. We've

lost sight of that.

Now we imagine we can approach God as

equals however we might fancy.

We imagine that we are in a position to

bargain or dictate or even correct God

and say we don't really like that bit.

We're just going to change that or

reinterpretate that and interpret it

that.

But we are completely dependent upon him

for everything.

Even just the very idea of approaching

him and not dying depends on the fact

that God has made a way that that can

happen because for sinners to stand in

the presence of a holy God, it would be

fatal. So the very fact that we can

approach God at all is a sign of his

mercy.

That's this is the case in the new new

covenant as well. This is how we relate

to God post the cross. There is

continuity with what went before but it

but what we have now is new. It is a

better way. Hebrews 8:6 by which we can

Hebrews 8:6

know and relate to God. So now we come

to God. How do we come in our own names?

No. We we come in the name of Jesus. We

are forgiven by his sacrifice washed

clean by his blood with Jesus as our

high priest clothed in his

righteousness. We can only approach God

because of Jesus and through Jesus.

There aren't many different ways to come

to God. You can't look at all the

different religions like a box of

chocolates and choose the one you fancy.

Oh, I like that. I'll have that one. No,

that that that's complete completely

wrong. No religion, no amount of trying

to obey the law or just trying to do the

right thing is enough. God has made

Jesus the way. As Jesus says in John

John 14:6

14:6, I am the way and the truth and the

life. No one comes to the father except

through me. So Jesus was either lying or

wrong

or he was telling the truth. And he is

the only way. The only way to know to

God and enjoy peace with him is to come

in the way that he has made. That is

through faith in Jesus. And that's what

the covenants are about. God laying down

how he will relate to us and deal with

us. We're familiar with the the the new

covenant hopefully, but there were a lot

of covenants that came before. But um at

the the heart of most of these

covenants, including the new covenant,

is the promise that God will be their

God and they will be his people. That's

the basic idea. And that's again, that's

where we end up in Revelation chapter

21:3. That's the the end goal. That's

where we're going to. God will be his

God. uh new humanity in Christ will be

with him uh for all eternity. But we're

that's that's kind of there. We're not

there yet. But this the same idea we get

here in this Abrahamic covenant. So

verse seven, and I will establish my

covenant between you uh between me and

you and your offspring after you

throughout their generations for an

everlasting covenant. Here it is. This

is this is the the heart of it. To be

God to you and to your offspring after

you. That means that they will recognize

and trust and worship God as God and God

will protect them and provide for them

and bless them. That's at the heart of

the covenant. It's God and his people.

Now, often in covenants, not in all of

them, but often in covenants, they have

conditions.

So whereas inaugurating the covenant is

entirely God's initiative,

confirming it involves a human response.

God has just outlined all the wonderful

things he would do. But there's

something for Abraham to do too. So

firstly, we've already seen uh verse

one, he's got to live in a way that is

fitting for one of God's people, upright

before God, transparent, sincere.

But but also verse N, as for you. So

this is Abraham's bit. as for you. And

God goes on to explain that every male

must be circumcised. And the

consequences of not obeying this

stipulation is that they will be cut off

from God's people. So if they won't obey

God and if they won't make God their

God, they can't have God as their God.

It it's kind of common sense, isn't it?

It makes sense. If you don't if you

won't have God as your God and treat him

like God, then you won't he won't be

your God. That's that's the idea here.

So circumcision is the sign of the

covenant and it represents the part of

the covenant that Abraham and his

descendants were to keep. Circumcision

is the sign that they were counted as

counted God as their God and that they

counted themselves as God's people.

Circumcision represented their faith in

God and their obedience to God. Sadly,

as the years went by, the spiritual

significance became lost and it became

more about just the the physical act.

And Paul offers a corrective in the New

Testament in Romans 28 for this. He

says, "For no one is a Jew who is merely

one outwardly, nor is circumcision

outward and physical, but a Jew is one

inwardly. And the circumcision is is a

matter of the heart, by the spirit, not

by the letter." The outward sign was

meant to demonstrate an inward reality

that they trusted God. They are

committed to him, that they are his

people, and they're committed to his

ways. So the sign was to be accompanied

by real faith lived out in our real

life.

So why don't we practice circumcision

today? Well, because in Christ

the covenant of circumcision is

fulfilled and we we have already

actually been circumcised. So, if you've

got your Bibles open, good bit of waking

up exercise here. Colossians chapter 2

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

11. Colossians chapter 2 11. Fan

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

yourself with those pages as you turn

the turn the the pages of your Bible.

Colossians chapter 2 11. So the idea

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

here is is that we've already been

circumcised. This has already happened

to us.

Colossians chapter 2 11. In him also you

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

were circumcised with a circumcision

made without hands. Now just notice that

bit. Circumcision made without hands.

This is not a human thing. It's not

something that people do to other people

here that he's talking about. This is a

circumcision made without hands.

Remember that. is important by right. So

in him also you were circumcised with

the circumcision made without hands by

putting off the body of the flesh by the

circumcision of Christ.

The spiritual reality is demonstrated by

the physical circumcision that went on

in the Old Testament. That's what the

two are linked. See the physical was

meant to illustrate the spiritual but

now that takes place in our hearts by

the spirit in Christ.

The New Testament fulfillment of

circumcision is performed in Christ on

our hearts to those who accept Christ

and his work by faith and God then

becomes our God and we become his people

in Christ.

Now the sign of that is baptism.

So the sign of being in Christ is

baptism.

Baptism is a picture of what Christ has

done in our hearts by faith. He is our

God and we are his people. That's why we

don't practice infant baptism here in

this church because baptism we believe

is a sign or a picture of what we hope.

It's not a sign or a picture of what we

hope will happen. It's a sign or is a

picture of what we believe has already

happened as per Colossians chapter 2

Colossians 2:11

verse 11. A circumcision made without

hands. So there's there's links between

baptism and circumcision. But there's

also not a straight line between

circumcision and baptism. Circumcision

is fulfilled in our hearts. And then

baptism is the picture of what Christ

has done in our hearts.

So if Abraham had to make a response to

what was done for him, is there a

response for us to make under the new

covenant?

It's the same as Abraham

to believe God.

Romans chapter 10:9.

If you confess with your mouth that

Jesus is Lord and believe, note that

word, believe in your heart that God

raised him from the dead, you will be

saved. Jesus says in John chapter uh 6

29, this is the work of God that you

here it is. Believe in him whom he has

sent. Do you see? Believe, believe,

believe.

Remember on what basis? And Hugh backed

this up, read from from a verse that

helped bring this to clarity. What basis

was Abraham declared righteous?

It wasn't on the basis of circumcision

or something that he done or some

ritual. Genesis 15:6, here it is. And he

Genesis 15:6

believed the Lord and he counted it to

him as righteousness.

It's the same for us. We believe, we put

our tra tr trust in Christ because

Christ has done it all. And therefore,

the only right response to the new

covenant is faith in Christ. We believe

the promise of God in Christ. That's the

beauty of the gospel.

That's it. We believe in him and what

he's done.

As we close, those are good words to

some of you. As we close,

we see that Abraham's faith was not

static.

Faith isn't an abstract feeling just

hanging in a vacuum somewhere that you

kind of just think, yeah, I stoke the

faith somehow, waft it up or something.

Faith acts. Faith responds. Faith moves.

Faith obeys. Abraham's faith in God

moved him to immediate obedience. Now,

given the uh personal and painful nature

of what he was commanded to do, I'm sure

some of us might have been tempted to

just hold on a bit like, well, well,

let's just have a few days, prepare

ourselves, think about this, you know,

just make sure we know what we're doing.

Um, but as that's not what we see with

Abraham at all, is it? He is immediately

obedient. And Abraham would have had

hundreds of men in his his household by

now. We are talking like possibly nearly

a thousand people by this point. A

thousand men. You he would have had many

men. This was not a quick or easy or

pleasant task. And and also just note

with all the men having been having been

circumcised on the same day.

They would have been very vulnerable

from a security point of view.

So this is itself an act of faith doing

this to all the men at the same time.

This is like Lord we are trusting you

with this very personal thing and

trusting you to protect us and and keep

us throughout as as we recover from

this. His real faith wasn't just some

airy fairy thing that had no connection

to life. Uh it was uh it was immediate.

It was painful but it was trusting

obedience. That's what his faith led him

to do. I wonder

how quickly we are to obey when we know

the Lord is speaking to us. But if

you've tuned out, try and tune back in

at this moment, okay?

Perhaps you have yet to put your

personal faith in Jesus at all.

You hear him calling to you to entrust

your life to him. You hear him. You hear

him, but for some reason, there's part

of you that's just refusing to come. Can

I ask you why are you delaying? What is

it?

Why will you not put your faith, your

trust in Christ?

Or perhaps you have done that and you're

a Christian. You've been a Christian for

a while now, but you're aware that

there's some sin that God is calling you

to cut out. You know, he keeps reminding

you, touching your conscience, and you

you know, you know it's there. He's

trying to not listen. Why are you

delaying? Why are you not obeying?

Is your sin more precious to you than

God?

When God calls us from our sin, it's

always for our good. It might be

difficult, but he's always calling it us

away from sin. And that's always a good

thing. So why not now, even now, entrust

yourself to him. Bow in surrender before

him. seek his help, his power to help

you move away from that sin. And if you

need to pray the prayer, "Lord, I

believe. Help my unbelief."

Do it. Say it. Pray it. Why are you

delaying?

Or perhaps the Lord is calling you in a

bit more of a positive way

to put yourself at his disposal in some

new and scary way. You kind of think I I

really should be volunteering to do that

or maybe I should be doing this or you

know there's something there. It's a

little bit scary and

it's a positive act of obedience and you

kind of feel like you should be doing

it. Then then why are you delaying? What

are you waiting for? Abraham believed

God and responded in obedience.

And that's what genuine faith is

compelled to do. It responds to God to

his promises. It reaches out not

trusting oneself, but trusting in God. I

don't know how this is going to turn

out, Lord, but I'm I I will trust you.

That's what faith does.

So, as we close, take a few moments to

consider

if there is something specific

that you need to be obedient in. Just

shut your eyes and consider is there

something you need to be obedient in?

Father God,

we thank you that you are El Shedai,

God Almighty,

the one who is above all, who knows all,

who is all. Lord, we can come humbly

into your presence now. Or we do so

confessing,

our sin,

our reluctance,

perhaps even our love of things that are

wrong. Father, forgive us.

Have mercy on us. Turn our hearts

towards you. Lord, show us more of

yourself. Capture our hearts, Lord.

Help. Help us. We do believe. Help our

unbelief.

Lord, we thank you that you promised to

be with us, to help us, to strengthen

us, that there is power for us in the

Lord Jesus. That your Holy Spirit lives

in those who are in Christ, that we are

not alone, that he will help us.

So Lord, we come to you Lord. Pray that

you would have your way in us even this

morning in Jesus name. Amen.