Genesis 17:1-27 NKJV When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. (2) And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” (3) Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: (4) “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. (5) No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. (6) I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. (7) And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. (8) Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (9) And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. (10) This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; (11) and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. (12) He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. (13) He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. (14) And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.” (15) Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. (16) And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.” (17) Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” (18) And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” (19) Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. (20) And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. (21) But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.” (22) Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. (23) So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him. (24) Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. (25) And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. (26) That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; (27) and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
- Now that was a lot of text, but if you have been with us for a while, most of it is not new… Genesis for the last few chapters has been dealing with this theme of God’s covenant with Abram and the promise of children from his own loins, and the promise of a land to inherit, the land of Canaan…
- In Genesis chapter 12 God called Abram out of his home and away form his family… God told Abram that God would bless him and make him the father of many nations.
- God told Abram that he would be the father of God’s people, a special and chosen people.
- And God has reconfirmed this covenant a few times and here in Chapter 17 God confirms it again.
- This time also entering into covenant with Sarai, promising her that Abram’s son would come through her.
- And so in the chapter we just read we see some wonderful things.
- We see promises of God… we see covenants… we see commands and signs of the covenant, namely the sign of circumcision, and we see the wonderful moment where God changes Abram’s name and Sarai’s name.
- Now I have preached about circumcision before, in fact in the 34th sermon from Genesis titled “A called out people” we talked about how we are circumcised of the heart.
- Meaning as Christians, regardless of the nature of our… erm… skin… we are marked with the sign of circumcision because our hearts are circumcised… if you want to know more about that, go listen to that sermon.
- In one of my favorite sermons I ever preached, I preached about names. The 20th sermon from Genesis was the sermon “He knows my name”.
- It was an encouraging sermon about how God knows us and loves us… that sermon is worth a listen as well…
- And of course I have preached a lot about covenants, the 29th sermon from Genesis was “Behold the God of Covenants” and just a few sermons ago we talked about this specific covenant in the sermon “An Heir and an Estate”.
- So this morning instead of talking about names, or covenants, or circumcision… I believe the Holy Spirit would have me focus on something else…
- Something I mention from time to time, and something we talked about when preaching through James…
- This morning I want to talk about Religion and Relationship.
- Religion and Relationship…
- You see in James we learned that religion is not a bad thing in God’s eyes, when done correctly…
James 1:27 NKJV Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
- So here at CLC we don’t use the word “religion” as a bad word.
- We tend to think it is a good thing to take care of widows and orphans… and to keep ourselves unstained from the world.
- As such we outright reject the popular phrase “It is not a religion, it is a relationship”.
- No, dear ones, I know your heart is right… but do not be so easily led astray by popular sayings that are easy to say and sound good in the ear… but have no theological depth.
- I am a religious man, because I have a relationship with God.
- I follow God’s commands religiously, keeping myself unstained from the world… not because I am a legalist, but because I have such a strong relationship with God Almighty that I have learned to trust Him, that His commands mean a better life for me and those around me… I trust Him far more than I trust the ways of the world which so easily stain and spot the righteousness which Jesus bought for me with His blood.
- It is because of my relationship that I am able to practice, or at least STRIVE to practice, a pure and undefiled religious life.
- Now what does ANY of that have to do with what we just read in Genesis 17 is full of this duality… Religion and Relationship…
- Verse One God says “Walk before me and be blameless”…
- In other words, be unspotted from the world… that is religion.
- Verse Three says that God “Talked WITH Abram”, that’s relationship.
- Verse Five God changes Abram’s name, that is a very intimate thing to do, that is relationship.
- Verse nine God says Abram and his generations, that’s you and me included church, God says we must KEEP God’s covenant… that’s religion.
- Verses 10-14 God gives specific physical instructions on what Abram must do, circumcising all the males… that is religion as well…
- But then in verse 15 God changes another name, God now changes Sarai’s name… That is relationship… not just with Abram that patriarch, but with his wife Sarai… now Abraham and Sarah.
- You see this whole chapter is Religion AND Relationship… and I think it is beautiful, and when you can learn to live a pure kind of religion based on your relationship with God, I think your life will begin to more and more look like the life of Jesus…
- I believe that living a life of religion and relationship produces blessings, and growth, and peace.
- I believe that living a life of religion and relationship leads to more people being saved, more devil’s being shamed, and more glory going to God.
- So this morning we are going to talk about religion and relationship. Y’all with me? Let’s pray.
- So I have two points this morning about Religion and Relationship from Genesis 17:
- Point One: Religion Calls Us to Be Blameless
- Point Two: Relationship Endures Through Faults
- I want you to know these two points before I start preaching them, because I am going to preach hard this morning about Religion Calling us to Be Blameless, and you might be tempted to feel like you can never be perfect, you can never be blameless…
- You might start thinking about all the sin and failures and mistakes and your life, and it might cause you to want to shut down and shut out my voice… to run away and hide… feeling like you will never be good enough…
- BUT THAT IS NOT THE MESSAGE THIS MORNING.
- Without God’s help NONE OF US are good enough… without God’s help, none of us are even good, period…
- So yes point one is Religion Calls us to Be Blameless, but point two is that Relationship Endures through Faults.
- If point one makes you feel hopeless, and I pray it doesn’t, but if it does, stick around for point two… it will restore your hope and keep you in the loving arm’s of Christ.
- But before that sweet encouragement, let’s get to point one… religion calls us to be blameless.
Point One – Religion Calls Us to Be Blameless
Genesis 17:1 NKJV When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.
- I AM ALMIGHTY GOD, WALK BEFORE ME AND BE BLAMELESS.
- I Think if God said that in many of churches today… if God just came down, filled the room with His glory and said “I AM GOD ALMIGHTY! WALK BEFORE ME AND BE BLAMELESS”
- I think He would get booed off the stage…
- God you can’t say that… you can’t tell people to be blameless…
- You can’t call people to perfection…
- You need to be more understanding…
- I mean, God… No perfect people are allowed in our church..
- NONESENSE. I want perfect people in our church… Specifically I want Jesus at the head of the church! Perfect person Number One.
- But more than that, Jesus the first perfect person is the example we are supposed to aspire to be like.
- We are CALLED to be blameless… walk before me and be blameless, God says.
- This week I was listening to a Christian Radio station… now I won’t tell you the name of the station, because I am not about that life… but I was listening to this radio station…
- I normally don’t listen to the radio I normally listen to YouTube music… but on Monday I just happened to have the radio on…
- And on this station a lady comes on to read the verse of the day… and she reads the verse of the day… “
2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
- Now, I have been suffering from whiplash for a few weeks from a small car wreck… and that morning the pain was wearing on me a lot…
- So hearing this verse filled me with determination… I can boast in my weakness… God’s grace is sufficient for me! GOD’S STRENGTH IS MADE PERFECT IN MY WEAKNESS!” Thank You Jesus, may you be glorified in my pain, and may your Strength shine through! Even when I suffer, you make me strong! For when I am weak then I am strong, because of Christ in me…
- I was hyped to hear this verse, I needed to hear this verse, it blessed me, it was like water to my thirsty soul…
- But then the lady on the radio started talking about it… and she said “You guys… you just need to hear this today… whatever failures you have… whatever sin you are struggling with… YOU DON’T NEED TO BE PERFECT… God’s grace is sufficient… in your failures God’s strength is made perfect…”
- WAIT, WHAT?! THAT’S NOT WHAT THIS VERSE IS ABOUT! It is about physical sickness, pain, persecution… Paul wasn’t saying “I just keep sinning, and look how great God looks when I sin!” NO THAT IS THE OPPISITE OF WHAT PAUL PREACHES.
Romans 6:1-2 NKJV What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? (2) Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
- Paul was suffering, he was in chronic pain, and God was giving him comfort… but this radio host took the power out of the verse and made it about being ok with your sin.
- This right here is the spirit of the “It’s not a religion, it’s a relationship” mantra….
- It is nonsense designed to make you feel ok with your sin. AND IT IS NONESENSE…
- God calls us to perfection “Walk before me and be blameless”
- And it’s not just Old Testament… Matthew five drops this banger…
Matthew 5:48 KJV Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
- A perfect God has perfect expectations. God expects perfections… He gives grace, yes, but He call’s us to perfection.
- To sinlessness… to blamelessness….
- The church for too long has preached “No one can be perfect so don’t even try”…
- I think it is high time the church starts preaching “YOU ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS IN CHRIST!
- That addiction, in Christ, you can conquer it! YOU CAN MORE THAN CONQUER IT!
- That sin you keep going back to, YOU CAN MORE THAN CONQUER IT.
- That darkness in your life that you are ashamed of… YOU CAN MORE THAN CONQUER IT…
- That second life that you would be so embarrassed if anyone in church knew about it… YOU CAN MORE THAN CONQUER IT!
Romans 8:37 NKJV Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
- Listen, the encouragement this morning is that with God’s help you can grow towards perfection…
- You can grow towards living a sinless life…
- You don’t have to go back to lust, or greed, or gossip, or drunkenness, or godless anger…
- You can overcome, and that should be your goal… Don’t listen to preachers that make you feel better about your sin, listen to preachers who call you out of your sin.
- Now that is not to say that you are condemned for your sins, there is no condemnation in Christ… There is no condemnation for your sins in Christ but there is VICTORY over your sins in Christ… Therefore be ye perfect.
Genesis 17:1 NKJV When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.
- You will notice that throughout chapter 17 of Genesis God does some amazing things for Abram and Sarai… including changing there names…
- But God also gives them some really strict instructions…
Genesis 17:13-14 NKJV He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. (14) And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
- That’s religion, that is law, that is God’s command… circumcision is a religious practice… that is religion…
- God even says that if you disobey you will be cut off, a phrase that in the Old Testament generally means “Killed”.
- In the midst of all the relational moments in Genesis 17, there is religion… religion and relationship… And the chapter ends with Abram OBEYING… He at 99 years old circumcises himself, circumcises his 13 year old son, and all his male servants…
- Whatever God is asking you to do this morning, church, it is probably not a painful as a 99 year old circumcision! BUT ABRAHAM OBEYED… The chapter starts with “Walk blameless before God… and ends with Abraham obeying God.
- It is religion and relationship… religion calls us to perfection, and relationship endures our faults… That is the second point this morning… Relationship endures Through Faults.
Point Two – Relationship Endures Through Faults
Genesis 17:3-5 NKJV Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: (4) “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. (5) No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
Genesis 17:15-16 NKJV Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. (16) And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”
- I don’t want you to leave this sermon feeling hopeless, feeling not good enough, feeling like you will never measure up.
- I want you to leave this sermon filling loved, impowered, and close to God.
- This is why it’s not just religion… that is legalism… but that it is religion and relationship.
- One thing that I like to do as a way of showing love is to give people nicknames.
- I call my son “Ezy” and my daughter “Banana”.
- I call Grace “Ga-Ra-Kay”… I call Frances “Franky”.
- And if I find out that your name is Charles you will forever be “chuck to me”.
- Because I feel like nicknames show a level of familiarity, a level of relationship that should be shared amongst family.
- And if you are in Christ then you are my family…
- In fact, I prefer to be called PC instead of Pastor Christian… because it makes me feel loved.
- I think we all understand that to an extent… but imagine God almighty coming down and saying “Nah fam, your name ain’t doing it any more… I have a better name for you”. THAT IS RELATIONSHIP… THAT IS LOVE…. Love that only two people in a healthy relationship can share…
- Abram means “Exalted Father” and God says “That’s not right, I have a better name for you… Abraham… Father of Multitudes”.
- Sarai means “Princess”, a good name no doubt… but God says “You are more than a princess, you will be the Mother of many princes and princesses, you are Sarah which means “Mother of Princes”.
- There is relationship there… Sarah and Abraham KNOW GOD and are KNOWN BY GOD… that is relationship.
- And Chapter 17 is full of these little moments that show that Abraham and Sarai have a great loving relationship with Almighty God.
- God talks WITH Abrahm, that is what verse 3 says…
- Not God Commands Abraham… not God talks AT Abrahm… but God converses with Abraham, like a friend talks with a friend, or a Father talks with a son…
- Of course God changes their name, a very intimate thing to do, in verses 5 and 15.
- Then there is this interaction in verses 17-21
Genesis 17:17-21 NKJV Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” (18) And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” (19) Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. (20) And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. (21) But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”
- Ishmael was a mistake… a fault… a moment of faithlessness… an afront to the marriage covenant of one man and one wife…
- And even in his conversation, Abrams faithlessness shows…
- He can’t believe that God would give him a child in such an old age…
- Yet, Abraham and God have a good relationship. A loving relationship…
- So Abraham laughs, as he is talking with Almighty God, Abraham laughs.
- But God is not angry, God does not shut down Abraham and scold him…
- God knows Abrahams heart, and at least in part, Abraham knows God’s heart… they talk to each other, they spend time together… Abraham loves God and is loved by God… they are not foreigners to one another.
- So when Abraham laughs… God responds kindly.
- When Abraham offers up his mistake, Ishmael, God does not curse Abraham, nor does He curse Ishamel…
- In fact He blesses Ismael… and encourages Abraham.
- There is no hint of chiding, or chastisement, or condemnation in this conversation… it is blessings and love and relationship.
- God says “I know you have Ishmael, and I will bless him too… and I know you think it can be done… but go ahead and watch Me do it! You will have a son named Isaac and he will be a great nation!”
- Here is my encouragement to you this morning church… Religion and Relationship…
- If you are born again, if you have been saved and redeemed, fully converted, and you are now living your life for Christ… then you should be living a life of not just religion, but also relationship.
- If you feel like God’s commands are too burdensome, I wonder, how is your relationship with Him?
- Are you lying down with Him in green pastures? Are you planted by him next to streams of living water?
- Is Christ your Beloved?
- Because when you have a relationship with God like this, it helps you through those faults…
- You don’t get to stay in those faults, don’t get me wrong, but that relationship endures through those faults.
- So you messed up and had a kid with someone you shouldn’t have had a kid with.
- God’s love will endure through that mistake… have a relationship like Abraham has with God… so that you can still talk with God, and God can bless your son or daughter, while still calling you too perfection.
- So you got yourself addicted to something you just can’t seem to quit…
- DON’T BE OK WITH THAT ADDICTION… but have a good enough of a relationship with God that you can talk to Him about that addiction.
- Oh how I desire to be the kind of father that my kids feel safe to talk to me about ANYTHING…
- Not that I will be ok with everything that they tell me… but that we love each other enough to get through it together…
- That when I correct my kids they feel loved my the correction and obey.
- That when my kids come to me with their failures, that I would know them well enough to know when to laugh and when to cry… when to hold them, and when to spank them.
- This kind of relationship with God our Father is so important…
- Talking with God in prayer, in church and outside of church.
- Reading His word and growing in it.
- God centered discipleship that helps you grow closer and closer to God.
- Crying while being held in God’s embrace…
- Laughing as God calls you to something bigger than yourself…
- Trusting that God will get you through.
- Fighting alongside God instead of fighting without God, or worse, fighting against God.
- KNOW GOD AND BE KNOWN BY GOD… AND IT IS THROUGH THAT RELATIONSHIP THAT WE GET THROUGH FAULTS AND BACK ON OUR PATH TO WALKING BLAMELESS WITH GOD.
- So yes church, we have a relationship with God, but we also practice pure and true religion, loving orphans and widows and staying unstained from the sins of the world.
Conclusion
Genesis 17:1 NKJV When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.
Jude 1:24-25 ESV Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, (25) to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
- Gospel Call
Aaronic Blessing
יאר יהוה פניו אליך ויחנך
ישא יהוה פניו אליך וישם לך שׁלום
“May the LORD bless you and keep you;
May the LORD shine his face upon you and be gracious to you;
May the LORD lift up his face upon you and give you his peace.”
You are dismissed from this place but not from His Presence
ye·va·re’·khe·kha’ · Adonai · ve·yeesh’·me·re’·kha
ya·eir · Adonai · pa·nav · e·ley’·kha · vee·khoon·ne’·kah
ees·sa · Adonai · pa·nav · e·ley’·kha · ve·ya·seim · le·kha · sha·lom
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
You are dismissed from this place but not from His Presence
Join us this Sunday at either 8:30AM or 10:30AM for worship followed by this message from the Word of God. Christian Life Church of Cedar Rapids. 2808 Schaeffer DR SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404. www.CedarRapidsChurch.com
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