God's Promised Fulfilled By God's Power

God’s Promises Fulfilled By God’s Power

Genesis 17:1-8, 10-21

I. God reveals Himself to Abram as El Shaddai – God Almighty

It’s now been 25 long years from the time God first promised Abram that he would have a son. Last week we saw how after 10 years go by Sarai loses heart and take matters into her own hands and suggests Abram take her servant as a wife in the hope that Hagar would conceive and her son would be counted as Sarai’s son in accordance with the customs of the time. Hagar does conceive and makes life miserable for Sarai, her son rather than being a blessing to Sarai is a constant reminder of her own inability to conceive and bear a son. Fast forward now 13 years later. Abram is 99 years old. Sarai is 90 years old. They’ve been holding onto hope all these 25 years – sometimes with a strong grip, sometimes just barely holding on. But their hearts ache for the fulfillment of God’s covenant promise – they long for a son. Why is God taking so long to fulfill His promise to them? Is He being cruel – playing with their hearts month after month, year after year, now decade after decade?

ILL: we have friends who got married at the same time Janice and I did. 10 years later we had two children, they were still trying. Remember gathering to pray for them and Janice sharing with them that she felt strongly that God had heard their cry and they would have a baby – their own baby. I knew Janice wouldn’t say that unless really felt from the Lord, but also knew how sensitive this is – never want to give a false hope. Within two years they had twins.

25 years. Why the delay? Well, God is not being cruel and He’s not playing with their hearts. God is waiting and waiting until Abram and Sarai’s ability to conceive has moved well past the natural realm of possibilities. He waits until all natural hope is gone. Dead.

ILL: My grandmother on my mother’s side, Della Minnis, just turned 90 in April. Sarai’s age. It's hard to think of someone that age conceiving! Now granted things were a little different back then in terms of age but having a child at the age of 90 was physically impossible. And that’s the point. That’s exactly why God waited.

Ishmael was a product of what they could do, this child would be a product of what only God could do. So in verse 1 the Lord again appears to Abram and says, “I am God Almighty” – in the Hebrew, El Shaddai. It’s the first time God reveals Himself by this name.

In essence He is saying, Abram, don’t judge My promises by your ability to make them come to pass, for My promises will be fulfilled by My power. Oh, and by the way, I am God Almighty. Not just mighty, almighty. Not just powerful – all powerful. As the angels will ask in the next chapter, is anything too hard for the Lord?

So almighty God sovereignly changes Abram’s name to Abraham – father of multitudes. Like changing a bald man’s name to Harry. Now people are really going to mock Abraham’s faith that he will have a son who will become a great nation. Father of Multitudes. And God changes Sarai’s name too – she is Sarah – princess – and God promises Abraham’s beloved wife that she will be the one to have a son. At this point even Abraham laughs. He and Sarah are ready for AARP and God’s talking about diapers and midnight feedings.

All this so that they would know – and the scriptures would record for all of us to know – that this child would not be a child of the flesh. He would be a child of promise. God’s promise fulfilled by God’s power. He would represent the line of faith – those who don’t look to men for their hope but to God.

Through Isaac the nations of the world would be blessed because through Isaac and his offspring would come the hope of all nations – Jesus Christ. Jesus came to demonstrate as no other what only God can do. His birth would also be the miraculous work of God. People discredit the virgin birth because they say it’s impossible for a virgin to conceive. Exactly. God Almighty. Jesus was God Almighty born in frail human flesh– the flesh of a baby. In the Person of Jesus Christ God Almighty entered the human race and He demonstrated the supernatural power of God to heal the sick, cast out demons, and raise the dead. And He spoke the word of God with authority that amazed the crowds and showed love and grace to outcasts and sinners. And He would die an excruciating death on the cross in order to do what man could never do – the absolute impossible – that is to pay for all our sins perfectly and completely. And then He would rise from the dead in resurrection power – and ascend to heaven in power and glory. None of this is natural. None of this is possible with man. It is the work of El Shaddai, God Almighty. And God first revealed Himself as such a God to Abraham at this very point.

Church, it’s good to remember that our God is God Almighty. Nothing is too hard for our God. We need to remind ourselves of that regularly or God will begin to seem small to us – the kind of God who helps us find lost keys or a good parking space on a rainy day like a rabbits foot charm but when it comes to the real big problems or challenges of life, we’re on our own.

Don’t get me wrong, God isn’t into sensationalism. He doesn’t do miracles or suspend the laws of nature just to prove himself to doubters and skeptics. Jesus rebuked those who ran around looking for signs and wonders like ambulance chasers. He told them the only sign they would get would be a sign they couldn’t recognize as a sign – the resurrection. But brothers and sisters we serve a God who is still almighty. The impossible is still possible with God. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a supernatural gospel. For through the gospel we who were dead in our sins are made alive in Christ. Our sins are washed clean and we are reconciled to God. All of that is impossible with man – no religious good works or performance could do that. Only God can do that. Only Christ can do that.

That’s why prayer is so vital to the church. God has chosen prayer to be the conduit through which His power flows. Jesus said “my house shall be called a house of prayer.” Sadly too often God’s house is everything but. We should pray – not because we “have to” but because we see our need for God, and we hear His invitation to come before His throne of grace. And we see the world’s need to see Almighty God, not just what we can do, and that makes us desperate for God and we pray.

II. God gives the rite of circumcision as a sign of His covenant

Gen. 17:9-14, 22-27

God reveals Himself as El Shaddai and then calls Abraham to walk blamelessly before Him. Then He gives Abraham and his descendents a command: circumcise every male child in your home. This was to be a sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham and his descendents.

Circumcision was meant to be an outward symbol of an inward spiritual truth. It represents the cutting away of the flesh – that which is sinful and selfish and hostile to God. It was a symbol, it wasn’t the real thing. The Bible will go on to speak of the circumcision of the heart – in other words the flesh being cut off where it originates – in the sinful, selfish, rebellious human heart.

Abraham, out of faith-filled obedience, obeyed God immediately as we see in the end of the chapter. This wasn’t some kind of legalistic, dutiful obedience. Abraham had seen and heard from the living God – and the last thing on his mind was ignoring or dismissing God’s instruction. Unfortunately over the years, Israel focused on the outward act of circumcision and grew proud about it and forgot the inward reality that it was to symbolize. God meant for circumcision to be the outward expression of a heart that loved, trusted and obeyed God.That’s why Paul will later say in Galatians that in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. (Gal. 5:6)

In other words, what we’re supposed to see in Abraham’s example isn’t the rite of circumcision but his living faith that led to a life of obedience. We look to Jesus Christ who died for our sins and we believe with all our hearts and He gives us a new heart – a heart that wants to obey and love God. A heart that no longer wants to live for the flesh, for selfishness, for rebellion against God. A circumcised heart.

And that work – the work of circumcising the heart – is both our responsibility to do and an impossibility for us to do - we need God’s power even to do that.

ILL: Today being father’s day let me be honest and tell you that I had a rough day this past week as a father. Instead of faith working through love it was more like frustration working through irritation. Some of my buttons were pushed and I responded with harshness and anger. No perfect fathers here…

The next morning in our time of Bible reading and prayer together Matthew and I talked about the previous day. Talked about the heart being squeezed and sin coming out. It’s not the squeeze that creates the sin – be it anger, selfishness, manipulation, self-pity, whatever. That sin is in there – the squeeze just causes it to ooze out. That’s the flesh – the junk that oozes out of our hearts when they are squeezed. For me last week it was irritation and frustration – which are really just forms of anger. For you it might have been anger or it might have been something else.

• Anxiety

• Self-pity – no one has it as hard as you do

• Manipulation – you want to control things and you’ll manipulate as much as you can to get your way

You can fill in the blank. That’s the flesh. God’s answer to the flesh isn’t to reform it, it’s to kill it. To cut it away. You and I are responsible to do that, but we ultimately can’t. Only the Holy Spirit can give us power to die to our flesh and bear the fruit of the Spirit.

So you don’t need a list of how to’s. Or another pep talk about how you can do it if you try. Or someone to come along and just emphathize with you – “yeah, you really do have it rough. Don’t beat yourself up.”

You need the power of the Holy Spirit to cut the flesh (and so do I) – crucify the flesh – put it to death – so that you and I can live unto Christ. And so we come to Christ – needy and desperate and humbled. But with faith that He is El Shaddai, God Almighty. He has the mercy to forgive us and the power to change us.

If you’re not a Christian, you may not know it, but what you need most in all he world is Jesus Christ. You don’t need to come to this church or say or do certain things that make you look religious enough. You need Jesus. He came and lived and died to rescue lost sinners which is me …and you.

I believe God wants to meet some of us in a powerful way. There’s a situation that seems impossible to you. God is here to meet you and show Himself powerful.

1. Heart changed.

• Maybe you’ve been hurt in ways you don’t think can ever heal. Someone you thought really loved you hurt you, disappointed you, maybe betrayed you. It’s been years and nothing has healed the wounds. God can. God can. He is El Shaddai. God Almighty. Believe Him, come to Him. Don’t try to be religious, just be genuine and come to Jesus Christ.

• Maybe you’re the one who is hurting others. You’ve made promises to them and yourself that you will never do that again – but then it happens. You need God, El Shaddai. Come in faith and ask Him to change you from the inside out and to take away the anger and replace it with love. God can. God can.

2. Physicial healing.

3. Financial provision.

4. Broken relationship – maybe a son or a daughter who is estranged. Or a parent. Someone who once was a dear friend.

5. Prayer for someone to come to know Christ.

Believe God wants to meet you and there will be testimonies. Maybe next week, next month, but God wants you to testify when He answers. Let’s pray – reach out for God right where you are.

Finally – if you are not a Christian, won’t you ask Jesus to save you today? You don’t need to get more religious, you need a relationship with God. And the Bible tells us that because of sin that can only happen by putting our faith and trust entirely in the Lord Jesus Christ.