Walk Before Me and Be Blameless

Call to Worship

Psalm 101 NKJV

A Psalm of David. I will sing of mercy and justice; To You, O Lord, I will sing praises. I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy; The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure. My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve me. He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land, That I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord.

Intro

Last week Hagar and the birth of Ismael

God sees and hears us

Body: Genesis 17

Genesis 17:1–8 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. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 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. 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.”

13 years of passed since the conclusion of the previous chapter.

God wasn’t constantly speaking with Abram

He only directly speaks with him a handful of times

sometimes there are decades of silence.

“Walk before me and be blameless”

Before God reiterates the covenant promise with Abram, He says: I am the Almighty God

El Shaddai - the first time this Title is used by God in Scripture

And then He tells Abram to “walk before Him and be blameless”

How can a man be Blameless?

How can a man be perfect before God?

That seems impossible, yet Jesus says something similar in Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

We’ll come back to this.

This is the third time God has promised this covenant to Abram.

But each time, he includes more details

Genesis 12:1–3 “Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.””

Genesis 15:4–5 “And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.””

Genesis 15:13–16 “Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.””

The last time, Abram had no children of his own, this time he has a son: Ismael

Earlier on, the Promises of God could have been interpreted to mean Abram wouldn’t have biological children of his own.

At this point, Abram interpreted the promise to be fulfilled in Ismael

God progressively revealed Himself to Abram in the same way He revealed Scripture to us.

The older revelation is not any less true

The newer revelation does not contradict what came previous.

But as more details are added, what was initially said is clarified and comes into focus.

Another way to think about it: God does not shift the objective and focus of Scripture and Revelation

It is always revealing who He is and what He requires from us.

Those with a low view of Scripture will say that “Maybe God hasn’t changed, but our ability to understand him has.”

“Those bronze age sheepherders weren’t very smart, so they tried to write down their understanding of God to the best of their abilities, but we can’t really trust the authors of the Old Testament to be accurate about God. We just need the red letters of Jesus.”

So then they teach a Christian faith that is at odds with the majority of Scripture and then reinterpret even the Red Letters when they don’t fit in with their leftist religion.

“Jesus never said anything about homosexuality”

“Jesus said to love your neighbor, so you have to support infinity immigration, lgbtxyz, transing kids, abortion, and unlimited welfare”

Or, they will have a “trajectory” view of Scripture.

The OT requires the death penalty for adultery

Jesus didn’t cast a stone against the woman caught in adultery

if you follow the trajectory, today, adultery isn’t wrong

Similar logic used for sodomy.

OT says it’s bad

Jesus doesn’t’ mention it.

Therefore, today, it is good. (they ignore Paul as speaking for Christ)

They do the same thing for Women’s ordination:

Women were treated poorly in the OT (according to their interpretation)

Jesus elevated women and they were the first witnesses tot he resurrection.

Paul said there is neither male nor female...

Therefore, women can and should be pastors.

hunting for elk

point at tree

Elk is down to the left

Didnt change mind

clarify and focus initial instructions

Abram- high or exalted father

Abraham- father of many or a multitude

God calls things that are not as though they were.

He calls us saints though we are far from perfect.

This Covenant that God has made and is making is an everlasting Covenant

It is not just with Abraham, but with his descendants

Physical and Spiritual

Genesis 17:9–14 NKJV

And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 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; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. 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. 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.”

This covenant promise that God is giving to Abraham requires him to do something as a sign: Matthew Henry

The token of the covenant, and that is circumcision, for the sake of which the covenant is itself called the covenant of circumcision, Acts 7 8.

It is here said to be the covenant which Abraham and his seed must keep, as a copy or counterpart, v. 9, 10. It is called a sign and seal (Rom 4 11), for it was,

1. A confirmation to Abraham and his seed of those promises which were God's part of the covenant, assuring them that they should be fulfilled, that in due time Canaan would be theirs: and the continuance of this ordinance, after Canaan was theirs, intimates that these promises looked further to another Canaan, which they must still be in expectation of. See Heb 4 8.

2. An obligation upon Abraham and his seed to that duty which was their part of the covenant; not only to the duty of accepting the covenant and consenting to it, and putting away the corruption of the flesh (which were more immediately and primarily signified by circumcision), but, in general, to the observance of all God's commands, as they should at any time hereafter be intimated and made known to them; for circumcision made men debtors to do the whole law, Gal 5 3. Those who will have God to be to them a God must consent and resolve to be to him a people.

Now, (1.) Circumcision was a bloody ordinance; for all things by the law were purged with blood, Heb 9 22. See Exod 24 8. But, the blood of Christ being shed, all bloody ordinances are now abolished; circumcision therefore gives way to baptism.

(2.) It was peculiar to the males, though the women were also included in the covenant, for the man is the head of the woman. In our kingdom, the oath of allegiance is required only from men. Some think that the blood of the males only was shed in circumcision because respect was had in it to Jesus Christ and his blood.

(3.) It was the flesh of the foreskin that was to be cut off, because it is by ordinary generation that sin is propagated, and with an eye to the promised seed, who was to come from the loins of Abraham. Christ having not yet offered himself to us, God would have man to enter into covenant by the offering of some part of his own body, and no part could be better spared. It is a secret part of the body; for the true circumcision is that of the heart: this honour God put upon an uncomely part, 1 Cor 12 23, 24.

(4.) The ordinance was to be administered to children when they were eight days old, and not sooner, that they might gather some strength, to be able to undergo the pain of it, and that at least one sabbath might pass over them.

(5.) The children of the strangers, of whom the master of the family was the true domestic owner, were to be circumcised (v. 12, 13), which looked favourably upon the Gentiles, who should in due time be brought into the family of Abraham, by faith. See Gal 3 14.

(6.) The religious observance of this institution was required under a very severe penalty, v. 14. The contempt of circumcision was a contempt of the covenant; if the parents did not circumcise their children, it was at their peril, as in the case of Moses, Exod 4 24, 25. With respect to those that were not circumcised in their infancy, if, when they grew up, they did not themselves come under this ordinance, God would surely reckon with them. If they cut not off the flesh of their foreskin, God would cut them off from their people. It is a dangerous thing to make light of divine institutions, and to live in the neglect of them.

Genesis 17:15–18 NKJV

Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 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.” 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?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”

Here, we see more of that focus and clarifying of revelation

Not only would a multitude come from Abraham, but his wife Sarai would bear a son and be a mother to nations and kings.

Sarai also receives a name change.

the same letter added to her husband’s name is added to hers

Henry: Sarai signifies my princess, as if her honour were confined to one family only. Sarah signifies a princess - namely, of multitudes, or signifying that from her should come the Messiah the prince, even the prince of the kings of the earth.

Abraham, however, dismisses this revelation from God, saying his son Ismael is sufficient as fulfillment of God’s promises.

He laughs at God and doubts in his heart because of her old age.

Perhaps Abraham was looking out for his son Ismael whom he loved.

He didn’t want him to be replaced by another, yet unborn son.

This is understandable from the perspective of a father and parent.

Genesis 17:19–22 NKJV

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. 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. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.” Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

But God had other plans

He did not change is plan, but revealed what was there from the beginning

Genesis 17:23–27 NKJV

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. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.