Genesis 17 - September 5, 2021

father we thank you for this day i want to thank you for yesterday lord that was just glorious getting outside running around having some fun beautiful weather we pray as we open your word lord you will open our hearts draw us closer to you thank you for recording these things for our learning and our understanding and i pray your word would richly touch everyone here in the room and everyone who may be listening now or in the future may they draw near to you because of the things you've recorded for us to learn in jesus name amen so genesis chapter 16 we saw where sarah had said verse two you know the lord's restrained me from bearing so go in unto my handmaiden hagar perhaps i'll obtain children from her they've been there 10 years no child produced by sarah and abraham she basically comes up with plan b of course hagar gets married to abram immediately she conceives of course that causes a kind of a fallout and that now that hagar is able to bear children sarah is not you get sort of this rivalry going and sarah gets upset and hagar eventually after being treated harshly runs from the scene gets away meets an angel the angel of the lord who asks her what are you doing and tells her the last thing she wants to hear which is return and of course then lets her know that you're going to bear a son multitudes will come from him he's going to be a wild man his hand's going to be against every man every man's hand verse 12 will be against him he's going to dwell in the presence of her brethren of all of his brethren she called the name the lord that sees me or bila birla hayroy the lord who sees me or the living well the one who sees me and so she returned and abraham verse 16 was four score and six years old which is 86. scores 20. four score and six years old when hagar bear ishmael to abram abram so here we go chapter 17. when abram was 90 years old and nine which means it's how many years later how many got 13 how many still working on it 13. no mention of any communication from god to him doesn't mean it didn't occur doesn't mean it did just means we have no record of it 13 years no record of anything from the lord after that plan b option of going with hagar and getting ishmael if he heard nothing that was probably a difficult time it's also now 24 years since chapter 12 when he was ur the chaldees and he told them leave your family your kindred to a land that i will show you to put that in perspective if you've been with us a long time it's now 24 years we've been doing sunday mornings 25 years ago we started with four people in the living room on dean street in westchester it's amazing how quick it goes 24 years since he left abram was 90 years old and nine and the lord appeared to him fifth time we know of the lord appeared to abram and said unto him i am el shaddai god almighty el god shaddai coming from the idea of mountain or strong or powerful there's also a word play there the word sad which is shad in the center sad and it comes from the word breast and in the case of a nursing mother she provides everything that child needs and that in a sense she's sufficient for the needs of that child so some interesting word play you can study for yourself but at the end of the day what it means is all powerful one strong or all-sufficient one i am god all-powerful all-sufficient what you need i have i am el shaddai walk before me and be thou perfect that's tamim is the word which is without defect or blameless innocent or unblemished be upright walk before me and be thou perfect and i will make my covenant between me and thee and we'll multiply thee exceedingly and that word exceedingly is literally mood which is much much exceeding exceeding anytime a word is repeated it means really really going to do this malud exceedingly and abram fell on his face and said now he's prostrate before the lord which is a sign of worship and reverence when you bow down your face down before the lord appearing it is a it is a sign of complete submission reverence and respect he is on his face before the lord and god talked with him saying as for me behold my covenant is with you remember two chapters ago and the animals cut in two and abram falls in kind of like a deep sleep but he's awake and he sees a burning oven the smoking oven the burning kind of torch go between the pieces anybody we none of you were there my covenant which god made with him in chapter 15 is between thee is with thee and thou shall be a father of many nations now you read that and if you don't pay attention the whole book of genesis you might say like many nations i mean he's got the jews israel wait a second time out let me give you a list from sarai spoiler alert she's gonna have a kid you have the israelites when the northern ten tribes fell into idolatry refused to keep the sabbath began to get into ungodly behaviors they were deported out through being conquered by the assyrians they were taken away by sennacherib and sargon and all those guys who were involved in that and they brought pagans back and populated that now baron or that that area void of people with pagans and the remaining jews who didn't get taken away began to intermix with them and mary and they produced a group called the samaritans half jews that's why ezra and nehemiah wouldn't let them help rebuild the temple because they were not full jews and that started of course a long acting kind of bitter relationship between them so you have the israelites you have the samaritans you have the southern kingdom obviously you have also he had two sons he had isaac isaac had two sons jacob and esau that side got it jacob and esau esau comes from him the which we'll get to later but they're in the area of eastern side of dead sea jordan that area you know that with hagar they produced ishmael ishmael will have 12 princes the name of the first and the nabajoth from which gets the nabataeans the nabataeans eventually attack the ear you can do this all day no they attack the they kind of take over eventually out of that you get sort of this the idumeans the idomians are partly jewish but also partly pagan because esau marry canaanite wives much of the chagrin of rebecca which is why they sent jacob but we'll get that later but from them comes herod the great he's in he's an i do mean edomite and that's why the people hated him he's not fully jewish yet he thinks he's the king over the jews now you know why the new testament's got conflict also comes kadar that's another prince that produces a tribe that's known for its black wool that the tents of kadar you'll read that later saudi arabia area ab advil trust me it's clear here ab bill yemen is that territory we think mib sam again sons of ishmael northeast of medina mishmag in that region duma northwest of arabia hate oregon this region tima north east arabia jet tour south east they say of mount hermon nuffish he's in that area again heading towards saudi arabia kadima in the area toward the persian gulf masa the twelfth of those princes near yemen then you get katura whom abraham will marry after sarah dies she bears him six sons zimran jokshan medan midian you ever hear the midianites it's where they're from abraham and katura ishaq shua these guys are essentially southern arabia to yemen and oman and the uae and even if you think about bahrain this total sinai or not signing this there you go this saudi peninsula pretty much whether it's north from the ishmaelites south coming from katura and then of course israel if you think about that region quite a few tribal groups slash nations have indeed come from abraham so we can prove that that's actually spot on and we're going to see some interesting things as we go through as for me verse 3 my covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a father of many nations is he yeah we've just read a bunch of tribal groups which eventually form into larger tribal groups and on and on neither shall thy name be any more called abram which means high father exalted father but thy name shall be called abraham a father of many nations or a father of multitude have i made he's still there with his face down the ground listening i'm changing your name you're going to be abraham father of multitudes how many kids does he have one and it wasn't exactly what god had intended but he's got one plan b ishmael and i will make the exceeding fruitful how many kids does he have one how's it going with sarai nothing i will make the exceeding fruitful and i will make nations of thee and kings shall come out of thee now that will be king saul and king david and king solomon and all throughout chronicles and kings but it also come ultimately to the king of kings and the lord of lords jesus christ himself who is the son of david who is the king whose kingdom has no end and you can be in that kingdom and have his forgiveness if you put your trust in him by faith that when he died and rose again he paid for your sins the wrath they deserve and rising again proves god accepted that payment so if you will turn from your sin and put your faith in christ god will forgive you and bring you into his kingdom fantastic offer but he will not force you to do it that's up to you to receive it even to the present day how many have heard of saudi arabia right now they have king solomon eventually connected ultimately to abraham current day king but we'll come back to that later kings shall come from thee and they will come out of thee verse 7 and i will establish my covenant the one we had back in chapter 15 if you were there you remember between me and thee and thy seed after the in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a god unto thee the word used as elohim and to thy seed singular after thee and i will give unto thee and to thy seed after the land wherein thou are a stranger all the land of canaan for an everlasting possession and i will be again their god elohim and god said now all through this elohim el more than two but in verse nine elohim said third person masculine singular anybody catching this elohim he said father son holy spirit one elohim said unto abram thou shalt keep my covenant therefore thou and thy seed after thee in their generations this is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee every man child among you shall be circumcised now there are a couple things to consider about this number one it's an outward sign it's a token of the covenant that's being made however it also points to another reality in a sense spiritually and it's actually mentioned even in the old testament so first place let's go to deuteronomy chapter 10 right turn deuteronomy chapter 10. deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 12 right turn now israel what does the lord thy god require of thee but to fear the lord thy god to walk in all his ways and to love him and to serve the lord thy god with all thy heart and with all thy soul verse 13 that keep the commandments of the lord and his statutes which i command thee this day for thy good behold the heaven and the heavens of heaven is the lord's thy god the earth also with all that there it is only the lord hath a delight in thy fathers to love them and he chose their seed after them even you above all people as it is this day note this circumcised therefore the foreskin of your heart soften your heart toward god be no more stiff-necked he goes on to talk about how he provided for them and cared for them go to jeremiah the prophet chapter 4 to the right jeremiah the prophet get to isaiah keep going get to ezekiel go back jeremiah the prophet jeremiah is preaching to the southern kingdom of judah while they are going down in three successive waves to the babylonians they're going down and being judged yet in chapter four verse three it says with us saith the lord to the men of judah in jerusalem break up your fallow hard ground sow not among the thorns circumcise yourselves to the lord look at this and take away the foreskins of your heart hard hearts ye men of judah and inhabitants of jerusalem thus my fury come forth like a fire and burn that none can quench it because of the evil of your doings so it is an outward sign of a covenant with abraham but it speaks of another picture and that is when we surrender and submit to god there's that removal of our hardness of our heart toward god when the ethiopian eunuch was there in the chariot with philip and he said look here's water what keeps me from being baptized philip said if you believe with all your heart you may not head heart a lot of people who will intellectually acknowledge that jesus existed he's a historical figure that's as far as they'll take it but it's a whole life-changing experience when you go from a head knowledge of a historical figure to a heart knowledge if he's the savior he loves you he surrendered his life to pay for you and you've received that forgiveness that love that open door of salvation by asking for his forgiveness and asking him to change your life it's a whole different thing from knowing about him to knowing him and sadly a lot of people know about him and may well be churched but they haven't reached past their religion yet to lay hold of them and know him by faith very important this is my covenant which you shall keep back to genesis chapter 17 verse 10 in case you're way out there and some other prophet this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and thee or thy seed after thee every verse 10 every man child among you shall be circumcised note carefully man child not women now if you don't know why i'm pointing that out blessed are you if you know why i'm pointing it out because in africa and part of arabia and all that basically the middle east it is an abhorrent practice never prescribed or mentioned in the bible sadly we've seen it come even to the united states for example in michigan where there's a heavy muslim population one doctor i know of got busted for performing it it's illegal in the united states man child every male child among you we're flying this plane at thirty thousand feet for sake of others every man child among you shall be circumcised and you shall circumcise verse eleven the flesh of your foreskin wait a second what are we missing between verse 10 and 11 instructions anybody that's a serious move which means it's a practice that's already known we're told by some historians that the egyptians select classes of the egyptians some argue the priests and others would do this we're told among some of the ethiopians they would do this this is a known practice but it was not something that abraham had yet employed in his life you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token a sign a non-verbal symbol or signal that has meaning it will be a token of the covenant between or betwixt me and you and quite frankly it is a reminder throughout the day right and it speaks to the causal link of this covenantal promise a descendant from abraham with sarai will be a blessing to all the nations and he will have multitudes that come from him and so the outward sign is basically a reminder of this process and god's promise so if you sit there like well this is kind of weird he's constantly reminded throughout the day of the promise of god circumcision that through abraham's seed all the nations will be blessed and his name is jesus it will be betwixt being you verse 12 he that is eight days old among you shall be circumcised again every man child in your generations we've learned later thanks to studying of hematology blood clotting and all that if you're going to circumcise a newborn day eight is where that clotting properties reach where that will be most effective to clot and to stop of course the procedure the the should we say impact of the procedure it will allow the clotting to occur so day eight it's it's almost like god knew oh wait he created them day eight you do day eight the little guys will be just fine the clotting properties are where they need to be and of course any time after that though where they need to be but you want to wait till day eight we now know that's correct science caught up to our bibles eight days old among you shall be circumcised every man child in your generations he that is born in the house or bought with money of any stranger no matter how they've come under your household which is not of thy seed anybody in your household abram that supplies every male he that is born in thy house and he that has bought with thy money must needs be circumcised literally what's there is circumcised circumcised again repeated twice everybody everybody male under your roof must be circumcised no matter how they came to you and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant and the uncircumcised man-child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised we'll see that later with moses but i don't want to spoil that one that soul shall be cut off from his people for he hath broken my covenant now the word cut off is karate to cut off 145 times make cut down or destroy in other words some speakers severing out or even go to eliminate you refuse to be circumcised and you're not part of this covenant some would argue that means either harm has come to them that's it you're being in rebellion to the covenant others say no they're ejected from the community we'll wait till we get to heaven to figure it out for sure but if you are a descendant of abraham and you don't want to be part of this and you don't want to face repercussions the answer is very simple move leave but we'll get to that more in the law cut off from his people he's broken my covenant verse 15 abram's still there god said unto abram as for sarah thy wife thou shalt not call her name sarai which is princess some argue contentious so stick with princess and be nice but sarah shall be her name which most degree speaks of noble woman so she gets a name change and i will bless her and give her a son also i give you a son also of her yea i will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations kings of people shall be of her king david king solomon king saul all the other kings it's true it happened and she gets a name change then abram fell upon his face which again is a sign of reverence and respect he fell upon his face went back down i mean obviously the lord's talking he's coming up and he's like oh my oh my then he hears that sarah is also and he's boom he's right back down he fell on his face and he is the word in hebrew you try it like bach come on you know you have it it's a which means to laugh sport play or even mock laugh he laughed and he said where verse 17 in his heart that's to himself he's down there like oh wow shall a man child be born unto him that is a hundred years old shall sarah got the name right that is 90 years old bear they're 10 years apart now you know and abram said unto god oh that ishmael might live before well this is just too good you know lord i'm happy just to have ishmael before you and be accepted by oh that ishmael might live before you and god said sarah verse 19 thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed remember i promised you a seed from your own bowels back in chapter 15 and you had one wife at the time sarah sarah shall bear a child indeed bear you a son thou shall call his name yitzhak say it yitzhak yitzak what does it mean isaac what does isaac mean laughter wait a second but he laughed and spoke in his heart god's like i got a name for you buddy you're going to call him laughter guess what god heard what was going on in his heart oh that's convicting guys you're walking out to the garage ladies you're in the kitchen you're what you know is anybody here married or you know what i'm talking about you have that conversation you wouldn't have in their presence and guess what he heard the whole thing oh you are so busted just warning you because we're warned we'll give a count for every idle word so you want to watch out for that he's down like i'm a hundred she's 90. we're gonna we have a kid he goes you know that's great let's call him laughter just to remind you sarah indeed shall bear thee a son and you shall call his name yitzhak anybody heard a yitzhak rabin what's his name mean isaac thou shall call cause name isaac and i will establish my covenant with him with him what's been going on here well we're 24 years in the from when he left or the counties were 13 years after plan b that brilliant idea let's just go for it on our own terms which we tell from galatians as a work of the flesh and was not faith what's going on here is god had to wait until it was absolutely positively clear that it had nothing to do with them he had to wait them out so it would be clearly a divine work of god to bring this child into their lives and that happens with us sometimes where you've got all you've got plans you've got ideas you're going to make something happen and god just he's got to wait he's got to wait you're absolutely positively finished trying to help him out before he can move things like well that's it i don't even i just give up being married oh good now god can move well i'm tired i'm not i don't think i'll ever be in ministry great now god can actually call you it's amazing how god has to let you just run out of gas then you start getting upset with god i give up he's like at last at last now i can give him a job you'll see happens all the time he does it with me i know he does it with you now finally i can establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant with his seed after him yet verse 20 as for ishmael he heard abram's heart no rebuke no plan b hey this is what i told you you didn't listen to me no correction i love that as for ishmael i have heard thee i heard your heart as a dead behold i have blessed him it will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly in fact you learn here twelve princes i gave you their name shall he beget and i will make him a great nation that's interesting twelve princes yet a great nation wait a second where do most of these princes reside what part of the world saudi arabia well never fails when i'm teaching on something the news always cooperates this is coming from zero hedge last friday september 3rd this is an opinion piece which is quite long so we're going to just get to a few points it's coming from tom longo he says breaking the empire a logo breaking the empire means breaking with the saudis to say that saudi arabia has been the linchpin of u.s foreign policy objectives in the middle east and central asia is to engage in a massive understatement for more than 50 years the saudis have helped prop up the us foreign policy by exporting their oil to the world and taking only dollars in return their currency the rile or the real has been pegged to the us dollar since the then secretary of state under president nixon henry kissinger remember him third service will be googling it henry kissinger brokered that deal that built the so-called petro dollar system now in the intervening decades the petrodollar has been a buzzword thrown around by many including the author here myself to explain the architecture of the us imperial ambitions in many ways it has served as a crucial part of that at times but it was most needed during the early years of the dollar reserve standard helping to legitimize this new currency regime and provide a market for u.s debt around the world to replace gold as you can see he goes on and he goes on but we don't have enough time so going further down the office off a copy of this you want to read it so with the us's presence in afghanistan now officially part of history big changes are coming to the entire region fast and furious and the biggest one was the vague but significant defense coordination deal between russia and saudi arabia because now after having wormed its way into control over the marginal barrel of oil produced globally russia controls opec plus pluses venezuela argentina russia so it's a nominal power sharing agreement with the saudis but ultimately with trump out of the picture the saudis have realized that they have very few if any friends left in the world i went on this history lesson which is the rest of the article to remind you that this moment didn't just happen it was built over a decade of u.s foreign policy mistakes three administrations he mentions them mistakes that tried to extend the benefits and the narrative of the petrodollar for far longer than it should have the system that should have died years ago or the system should have died years ago but it's limped along indulging mbs's muhammad bin son to king solomon of saudi arabia it just goes by mbs it's easier indulging mbs's bloodlust in yemen syria and lebanon rather than again an opinion piece rather than subsidizing u.s foreign policy goals it subsidizes saudi royal families continued delusion that it was a global power broker that continued again in opinion peace don't email me that continued until trump was overthrown and biden was installed since then mbs and the rest of the house of saud understood what their future looked like and in whose hands it was guess whose russia's be interesting if russia decided to roll into the middle east to further ingratiate themselves to the arab world so they could more fully control the world oiled market that sounds like ezekiel 38. getting to the end of the article because that has too many pages to read now he concludes and says the saudis however for their part have learned the lessons well that happens when you get into a price war with russia you lose so instead of fighting russia for market share they've decided to coordinate production for the big win-win for everyone while the u.s continues to grapple with the reality that its empire is not only crumbling but is being actively dismantled from within wow so guess what nation is a very important player right now one that came from ishmael 3 400 years ago moses wrote this about 3 800 years ago abraham's hearing it from god and here we are today on friday it's in the news just pointing it out but the covenant i will make will be with isaac so i've heard you about ishmael 12 princes he will beget i will make him a great nation how many of you remember even in odd days for gas excuse me less hands third service you're gonna be like what's that who was the primary driver of that saudis because we helped israel 1973. go look up your history i will make him a great nation ishmael he's in the news but my covenant will i establish with isaac he's the one which sarah note the use sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year listen abraham your names change sarah's names change you're gonna have a son you're gonna have a son by this time next year i'm faithful and he verse 22 the lord left off talking with him note this too interesting and god went up from abraham he saw something there was some kind of interaction here and as he leaves the reality hits abraham for 13 years he has put all of his bags all of his eggs are in the basket of ishmael this is my heir this is the eye this is it it's ishmael teaching him everything he knows if you've been with us a while this will be a mind blower but this coming not this week next week caleb turns 13. same age he's becoming a young man i mean the boy's getting like he's busy he's out welding in the garage that's impressive seriously 13 years very vivid picture to me and yet some sad things are coming but i can't spoil the next few chapters because he won't come back so we'll get to those later he's 13. he left off talking with abram god went up from abraham and abraham i'm sure hearing this he's like i think he ran home oh come on he's a hundred he runs in the next chapter so he can run in this chapter okay i'm just just i think he runs home he's like wow gets into the compound all the tents remember he's a sheik all the outer tents support people animals in the center of the sheik's tent and the lives tents and all that and he gathers easy come come come come you know remember that like they gather everybody come out we got some news they all show up like okay what is it god has spoken to me he's appeared well great what did he say he said my name is no longer abram okay it's abraham look over at ishmael look at sarai they go all right well right on father multitude fantastic all right well thanks for calling us out no no no there's more more sarah her name should now be called sarah all right okay fine we'll do that okay sarah good good good to hear okay well thanks no no there's more there's more she is going to have a son now they're going right i mean come work these are real human beings we're 24 years into this 13 ishmael's born okay that's great that's fantastic this time next year oh all right well fantastic wonderful that's uh we're so happy for you sarah is getting this she's like well thanks so much abrams it's been a pleasure no there's one more thing okay what else did he say all of you men must be circumcised these are human beings come on you know they're like what there's always one in the crowd somebody's in the back going through the employee handbook it's not in here please sign on for this this is real life okay so god appeared to you yes change your name yes change seriously yes she's gonna have a kid yes we gotta be circumcised exactly think about it so what happened verse 23 abram took ishmael his son started with him and all that were born in his house and all that were bought with his money no matter how he acquired them every male among the men of abraham's house and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin look at this in the self same day right away they get to it as god had said unto no hesitation and abraham was 90 and 9 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin and yet here at this advanced age god's about to do something new in ishmael his son was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin and then the self same day was abraham circumcised and ishmael his son and all the men of his house born in the house and bought with money of the strangers were circumcised with them in two chapters we're going to get to lot lot has two men show up suddenly the neighborhood shows up to cause trouble you'll get that in a few weeks they strike them blind lot runs through the melee goes to his sons in law plural tells them this town is about to be judged it's about to be overthrown by god you need to leave you need to come with me and how did they respond they laughed at him they mocked him they trashed him they went home and only the two daughters under his roof made it out guys i got a challenge for you men would your household go with you if god made something very clear suddenly would they be like yeah right we're gonna get right on that dad see you later if you get nothing else out of this see the integrity and the walk of abraham as a man of god that even though they might have not been too wild about the new pro new policy in place here for lack of better term they were willing to surrender to the fact that god had made clear to abraham this is what you're to do and they went for it that is a huge testimony to the integrity of abraham and his faith and his walk with god you might say well that's unfair he's an employer and he can make it well no they could you know there's 318 of them they whooped four kings this would be easy well that was crazy so ishmael you're in charge you wanna do that too no no everybody's good this would have been easy do your kids know where to find you throughout the day where you'll be reading your bible guys do they know where to find you where you're most likely there at that hour praying even if they don't agree with the things you're sharing with them do they realize you are definitely trying to follow them faithfully in other words how's your witness under your roof abraham's was such that 300 at least 18 servants plus everybody else has been added since those two chapters ago that we read through that attack they all said if that's what you're telling us we have to do then that's what we'll do respect wow but now we got to do with sarah because she's listening to this news too going oh we're out of time let's get that next time let's stand let's pray father god we thank you for your word here we are watching things unfold right before our eyes what a great time to be alive what a great time to know the name of jesus yes what a great time lord as we see darkness crowding around to have this little light of mine how i pray for these people who are here or those who are listening there are people watching you constantly in your walk with god and is it such that they hear what you say when you share a god's word because you are looking for people you can use to draw men and women out of darkness into light out of a life of sin emptiness guilt and shame into a life of love joy peace gentleness goodness self-control faithfulness the holy spirit yes we have rosh hashanah coming and lord we would sure love to see you suddenly remove your church but help us to live as though it could happen at any time so we have nothing to be ashamed of should suddenly you call us home work in your people's lives lord we pray help us to draw near to you and lord even if our kids don't agree with us can they may they see that we have been with jesus we ask this in jesus name amen

Channel: Calvary Chapel Chester Springs Media Ministry

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Keywords: Pastor Chris Swansen, Calvary Chapel Chester Springs

Id: mE0DATRZAbM

Length: 39min 17sec (2357 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 07 2021