From Abram To Abraham

>>The promise that God made to Abraham when he first called him from ear of the
calledees in Genesis chapter 12 was really a threefold promise. God said to
him, "You follow me, and I will give you a land. I will make of you a mighty
nation, and through you I will bless all the nations of the world." One little
glitch, however, the fulfillment of that promise hinged completely on Abraham's
ability to be get an heir through Sarai. And that of course is worldly, the
problem because Sarai was barren. Not only that, she was by this time long past
her child-bearing ears. There was no way in the natural that she could ever
get pregnant. So they try to work around. You will remember Sarai said, "Well,
since I can't have any children, take my maid servant, a haigar, you can have a
child by her." You and I, we look at that, think it's scandalous, but we need to
remember that in that culture, the servant was an extension of the mistress and
the child that she would bear to Abraham would be considered her child. Ishmael
was born, gave nothing but trouble, and in the long run God made it very clear
that his promise would not be fulfilled through haigar's child Ishmael, but
rather through Sarai's child. And so much to his pain, Abraham had to send away
haigar and Ishmael. And Ishmael, as we know today, serves as the forefather of
many of the Arab nations still living in the Middle East. But it brought
Abraham and Sarai's problem back squarely to where they had begun because they
still faced infertility and they still faced the problem of how do we get a
male heir. And so it is that here in Genesis chapter 17, once again, at the age of
99, God appears to Abram and he steps into the picture because now the promise
is about to be fulfilled. And as we look for a few moments at these verses that
we've read together in Genesis chapter 17, I want you to notice there are two
things God does in addressing Abram's concern about their inability to produce
a male heir by Sarai. The first thing that happens is that God renews or he
confirms his covenant with Abraham. Verse 2, "I will confirm my covenant between
me and you and will greatly increase your numbers. I will confirm my covenant."
A covenant, as you know, is a solemn agreement. It typically consists of public
vows, two parties make to each other, made in the presence of witnesses,
usually the signing of a document and the exchange of a symbol that reminds
them of the covenant. The closest thing we have to it today I think is the
marriage covenant. Last night when Cheryl and David got wed, they exchanged their
vows in the presence of their witnesses and family and friends. They signed the
appropriate documentation and then of course they exchanged wedding rings and
wedding rings today serve as a sign of marriage when people are single and in
the market looking for a mate. What's the first thing you look for? Does she or
he wear a band whether engagement or wedding on their ring finger and that is
a sign of their status? So in this particular passage as the story goes on God
institutes circumcision as the sign of this covenant that God has made with
Abraham. We read in verse 10 and 11, "This is my covenant with you and your
descendants after you. The covenant you are to keep every male among you shall be
circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision. It will be the sign of the
covenant between me and you." And so in circumcision and we won't expand on that
this morning God by the cutting of the flesh of the foreskin is reminding
His people that they are His holy people. They are in covenant with God and
they are to put off the works of the flesh. And again we don't have time to
expand on it but in the New Testament Paul makes a huge issue of the fact that
this sign of circumcision was instituted in the Old Testament in Abram's life
before the law was given and he uses that to prove as we'll see later that
salvation is by grace through faith not by keeping the law. So the first thing
that God does here is He renews and confirms His covenant with Abraham and
that covenant was actually made to chapters earlier in Genesis chapter 15 in a
very complex and sacred covenant ceremony. We won't dwell on it today. But
there's a second thing that happens here in this particular passage and that's
the one that I'm anxious for us to get to this morning and that is the fact that
God changes their names. You'll have noticed that, have you not? As we read the
scripture together Abram becomes Abraham and Sarah becomes Sarah and so we read in
Genesis 17 5 no longer will you be called Abram? Your name will be Abraham. For I
have made you a father of many nations. Similar leave verse 15 as for Sarah your
wife you are no longer to call her Sarah. Her name will be Sarah. So here's the
question why the name change as Shakespeare said many years ago what's in a name?
Well quite a bit biblically because names in scripture are not just labels by
which you distinguish one person from another. They are often a description of
character and not infrequently they are an indication of God's purposes for
that person's life. And so in changing their names God in this passage is
really doing two things. First of all the name change is a prophetic declaration
of God's promise to bless them and make them a mighty nation. Let me say that
again it is prophetic indication of God's determination to fulfill his
covenant promises to Abraham that out of him will come forth a mighty
nation and that is indicated by the meaning of the names. The name Abraham means
exalted father. The name Abraham means father of many because God says you're
going to be the father of many nations and kings will come forth from you. Now
the story is not without its irony because if Abram means exalted father picture
yourself as one of Abram's contemporaries. And so you meet Abraham on the road
and you introduce yourself. I am your be your local Canaanite living down the
road. What's your name? Well my name is Abram. Oh what does Abram mean? Exalted
father. Oh well let's talk about your children. How many children do you have and
what are they like? Well the wife and I ain't got no kids. You know but we're
waiting on God because God told us we would have a child. Oh really and how old
did you say you were? Well I'm 86 and how old is the Mrs? Well you know 77
somewhere in there and we forget sometimes that having the call of God on your
life can entail a launt of shame. Can you imagine the feeling of going through
life? I'm an exalted father but my wife can't have any kids and we're
childless. It's a little bit like Mary the mother of Jesus when the angel comes
and the clairs that she's going to be pregnant and how do you handle a
pregnancy in your unwedded state and how do you live with the humiliation? Don't
ever think that when God places a call on your life that is automatically going
to be you know sunshine and roses down the road because sometimes it
involves a lot of humiliation. So the name Abram means exalted father. It's
changed to Abraham which means father of many nations. The same thing happens
with Sarah. It's a lot more subtle because Sarah means a princess and Sarah
means the princess and there's a lot of speculation as to really what's
happening here other than to say that as a princess there was a sense of
nobility. There was a sense of I'm a high-born woman but when it becomes the
princess she becomes the princess to many many nations because God again
repeats the promise of many nations she's going to be the mother of many. It's
much more subtle than with Abraham. So the name change is prophetic I am going to
change your status from people who cannot have a child to people who are going to
be the forebears of a multitude of nations because remember the covenant as
numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore so numerous will
be your descendants what I'm finished with you but there's a second thing and
that's really easy to miss. God reveals his strategy that is to say God
reveals how he is going to fulfill his promise to enable them to bear fruit.
Let's think about that a little bit because what is it? What is the common
element in the change of names? Think that's three with me. Abraham becomes
Abraham. Sarah becomes Sarah. What is the single letter those two names have
in common? It is the age. Now think about this how do you make the sound of an
age? It is a ha sound. It is a breathing out. Is it not? An inscripture the word
for breath, the word for spirit is the identical word ruach and the
equivalent in the Greek is the word numa which we find in pneumonia and
pneumatic and all of this sort of thing and throughout scripture remember the
opening verse of Genesis there's the water of chaos that covers the whole
earth and what is the spirit of God doing? He's hovering over the water and then
when God speaks it is the spirit of God who is the agent of God who
separates the waters brings life out of the into the creation and eventually
you have what we have today and similarly when God makes Adam what happens
what does God make Adam out of? Makes him out of dust and then what does he do?
Breeds into him the breath of life and Adam becomes a living being. So what's
God saying in this passage to Abraham and to Sarah in changing their names to
Abraham and to Sarah? What are you saying to them is this you cannot have kids on
your own your bodies are as good as dead there is no hope for you in the
natural but guess what? I'm gonna come along with my spirit in fulfillment of my
covenant promises I'm gonna breathe life into you and your dead bodies will
come to life and they will bear fruit and that's exactly what happens shortly
later she gets pregnant Isaac is born who remembers what Isaac means means he
laughs he laughs because Abraham laughed the left of faith Sarah laughed the
left of unbelief but there is this wonderment at how in the world could God pull
this off and give people our age the fulfillment of the promises of God and a
child to cherish and to nurture I think you have to be childless for for you
know all your married life to be able to appreciate the incredible wonderment
I mean later on you see it in the New Testament when Elizabeth gets pregnant
and you see it when Mary gets pregnant you get these supernatural miraculous
impartations of divine life and so what is happening in this story and what brings
it really home to us and what makes it so important for us today is that God is
establishing the foundation of salvation by grace through faith that is to say
God is laying the foundation in Abraham who is our forebearer to show us how
it is that God is going to bring the world back to himself specifically God is
teaching us three very foundational truths that we need to understand and
embrace with all our hearts number one we cannot save ourselves we cannot
save ourselves there is nothing we can do to move us from a world of bondage
and alienation and sin back into the presence of God Romans 3 10 and 12 there
is no one righteous no not even one all have turned away they have together
become worthless there is no one who does good no not even one and I can tell
you that when God begins to work salvation in somebody's heart it always
begins at this place of realization I don't have what it takes to get to where
I need to be I need help outside of myself and so in the New Testament Paul picks
up on this and he says for example in Romans 4 13 the promised Abraham and his
descendants that they should inherit the world did not come through the law but
through the righteousness of faith what's he doing he's going back to the story
of Abraham back to the story that they could not make this happen themselves the
fact the circumcision was instituted before the law was given to demonstrate you
do not become a Christian you do not become part of the family of God until you
realize that no matter what it is that you bring to the table it's never enough
because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God now then he goes on
to make the observation that God must do the saving Titus 3 5 he saved us not
because of righteous things we had done but because of his mercy he saved us
through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit the reason the
cross of Christ is so offensive to so many people is because God is not
impressed by our natural attributes our natural strengths the family that we
come out of the good things that we have done Paul says I count them all as
garbage the word he uses in Philippians 3 is I count them all as as menor it is
worthless he says the only thing that matters is being found in Christ who as
we'll see in a moment is the fulfillment of all of this so in Abraham and in
this story God is laying this foundation of how he is building his new people it
starts by the realization that what I have to offer is not enough I cannot us
share in the presence of God or the favor of God more than that it's got to come
from God unless God breeds into our dead bodies we will never be able to have
a child and that's why Paul then again picking up on this in the book of
Romans describes the story this way Romans 4 19 20 and 21 without weakening in his
faith he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead speaking of Abraham
here since he was about a hundred years old and that Sarah's womb was also dead
yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was
strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God being fully persuaded that God
had the power to do what he had promised fully persuaded that God had the power
to do what he had promised you see it's like Paul says later on in Ephesians
2 we are saved by grace through faith not because of works less any man should
boast there isn't a one of us who in that final day when we stand before gone
is going to be able to boast that we had something that we could bring to the
table that gave us an edge over somebody else good and bad the worst and the
best of the human race all need Jesus because we are saved by grace through
faith and that then is the third practical lesson that flows from this
Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the covenant that God makes with Abraham
a verse you've heard is quote a lot around here acts 412 salvation is found to
no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we
must be saved this salvation this life out of death comes through Jesus because
Jesus becomes this ultimate fulfillment this merging of heaven and earth he is
the son of God who brings the values of heaven in human flesh remember in the
beginning was the word in the word was with God and the word was God and then he
goes on to say and the word became flesh and dwelt among us I'm mindful of the
words of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary when he announced to her that
she was going to be the mother of Jesus and she said how in the world can this
be since I'm only a virgin and the angel responded with these words the Holy
Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you so
the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God the power of the most
high well over shadow year here you have the ruach the Numa of God God
breathing into this young girl heaven's life and all of a sudden she is
pregnant with heaven's child and so Jesus is born and he lives his life unlike
any human being that has ever lived before because on the one hand he is
fully human like you and me but on the other hand he is infused with the breath
and the power of God and the message of the gospel as you know is that he not
only lives his life demonstrating what the kingdom of God looks like but for our
sins he was put to death on the cross because the light came into the world and
the darkness didn't like the light the presence of God makes sinful people look
and feel very foolish and unless they're prepared to embrace the light they do
everything they can to kill it which in the wisdom of God leads to our salvation
then he was raised from the dead for our justification the Bible says he ascends
into having sits down at the right hand of God the Father the fulfillment of
the promise made to Abraham that out of him would come kings that would rule
overall creation for an everlasting kingdom they didn't understand that very
well in the Old Testament or even in the early stages of the New Testament but
it's a it's a beautiful biblical reality for us from a God who keeps
covenant forever but then what does he do he pours out his holy spirit which is
now the spirit of Jesus who was fully human and the spirit of God who was fully
divine and what's the message of the gospel when you and I know our sin and
misery when we finally realize that nothing we bring is good enough we cannot
save ourselves we cannot earn the blessings of God we cannot bargain with God
we cannot none of the things that we try to do to usher in a better world
ultimately are going to be successful when we know our sin and misery and our
eye turns toward Jesus and we recognize that he is the perfect one and by faith in
him we are saved then the breath of God the Numa of God the the spirit of God
the Rua of God comes to dwell with in us and guess what happens when the
spirit of God comes to dwell within us the dead come to life because it is God's
resurrection life and God's resurrection power very specifically very quickly as
we bring this to a close three things happen when by faith we're joined to
Jesus and we are filled with the Holy Spirit first thing is this we become a
live to go on Paul writing to the Ephesians puts it this way and you he made
alive when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once
walked following the course of this world following the prince of the power of
the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience remember by
nature we're dead to go on we are like like a radio receiver whose tuner is
dead and therefore cannot pick up the radio waves in the atmosphere around us I
mean if you didn't know that radios existed and worked and somebody came to
you and said well you know there's thousands of voices in the air all around
you you would say you're absolutely crazy wouldn't you because there is
nothing in me that is able to pick up on these wavelengths a lot of people say
well I don't believe in God because because I can't pick him up I can't see him I
can't feel him I can't hear him well welcome to the world the problem isn't that
the waves aren't out there the problem is that your receiver is broken or
where's yet it's actually tuned to the wrong station because we have no
trouble picking up on the garbage of hell it's just God that we can't hear you
can try all you want to try to tune into God you cannot make it happen it only
happens when God reveals himself to you and when by faith you were joined to
Jesus the moment you were joined to Jesus what happens is the light goes on and
you who were dead in trespasses and sins spiritually you become alive and
suddenly you know that God is more than just a vague concept he is more than just
a stranger he's he's real he is alive and as I said earlier my prayer for this
community in this next year is that God will so reveal himself to us that he
will be more real more real than the things you can feel and touch and your
friends and your family and your business because God is the ultimate reality
who desperately longs to be in connection and in relationship with us and who
paid an incredible price to make that happen and it all starts with a
sinner's prayer it all starts where Abram and Sarah found themselves we can't
do this doesn't make any sense to us you have already done it in Christ so
Lord bring me to life we call it the new birth if anybody's in Christ he's a
new creation and if it has to be explained to you then you haven't really
clued into it and what you need to do is just say Lord help me to get this
help me to understand it help me to get the deeper levels of my inadequacy and
your great love and your great power we come alive in Christ and once we come
alive in Christ we develop a new desire and ability to obey God Roman 6 17
thanks be to God that you who are one slaves of sin have become obedient from
the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed you who
were slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart Ephesians 2 10 Paul says
where God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God
has prepared in advance to do for us Adam or Abram and Sarah they could make
love all they wanted wasn't getting anywhere until God came along breathe
into them his breath of life and suddenly they experience a new life
living listen to me well a lot of people think that living the Christian life is
doing your best to be good keep the rules we all fail and so we just sort of live
under that tension of well I'm trying but I'm not really good enough being a
Christian is not just doing your best it's not just high moral behavior I can
think of a lot of pagans who probably live better lives than you and I do that
true in fact sometimes they put us to show you but it's not about how good a
life you live it is a question of is the life of Jesus in me because if the
life of Jesus is in me then something begins to change inside because now I'm
alive to God I'm beginning to understand who he is what he has done for me and
then he works in me the will and the desire and the ability to say no to the
old and to put on the new and my life begins to change there is a new hunger to
do the will of God and new conviction about the things that I do not do wrong
not just the deeds but the motivation and the attitude and I discover God calling
me forth to become the man or the woman that he wants me to be my life begins
to bear fruit in transformation that's how God changes us because it's
Jesus changing us from the inside out it's not just external behavior
modification no it is transformation from the inside when I want to walk
after the flesh when I want to get even with you when I want to walk in
unforgiveness if I want to be my rebellious stubborn old miserable self and
justify my actions the Holy Spirit will come along by the word of God and by
the power of his spirit and he will convict me and he will transform me and he
will change me from glory to glory to become more like Jesus it's the breath of
God okay one final thing he empowers me for service he gives me new power to
commit my talent treasures and abilities to his service acts one eight you've
heard it many times you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you
he says to his disciples just before he returns to heaven you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem at an old Judea in Samaria and to the ends of the
earth I mean here they were entrusted with a great commission to make
disciples of all nations he didn't give them a budget he didn't give them an
agenda he didn't give them the wherewithal to carry out that mission he said
you just wait around in Jerusalem because there's going to be something
happening the power from an high will come upon you you will receive power the
word as you know is is doonimus from which we get the word dynamite and the
early apostles who coward behind closed doors because they were so afraid of
the authorities and it didn't know where to look or what to do we're
transformed into blazing apostles who in their generation turn the world upside
down because Christ living in them had overcome death and hell and the fear
thereof and propelled them forward into the service of gone and a church like
this accomplishes what it accomplishes for the glory of God because the
Spirit of God in our lives stirs up our desire not only but gives us
abilities and powers to do things that are humanly not like us and God is
glorified because he is breathing new life into those places in our lives now
just to put some flesh in those bones I've asked Penny and Powell Slimman to
come up this morning if you'll come up here they shared with me on Christmas
day a story of a family event that I think in some small but significant way
is illustrative of what happens when God breeds new life into us many of you
have heard their stories Penny had many many issues in her life long time
back and in walking past the church building here some years ago saw our
sign that said something to the effect of messy people broken lives and a great
God and she said well maybe this is a church that I ought to go to so she came
and for a long time she sat in the back and then one service was one of the
rare services where we had an alter call and Penny is sitting in the back and
she's fighting with God and and she's saying don't let them sing just as I am and
you know what what happened it was one of those moments where that's precisely
what we sang and you know if you tend to hear regularly how seldom we do
that and she came down the aisle and we talked and prayed and that was the
beginning of huge transformation and their marriage at that point in time was
pretty shaky and Powell was not the same to use today but I first met Powell
on Thursday night suppers and he started to come eventually became part of the
service this year we've had a number of conversations and the Lord has
touched not only his life but their marriage and I was working on the extended
family and that's where we pick up the story thank you just so I can quote a
little bit of history on how we came about boxing day we had blended family and
Powell had one son and I had two sons and a daughter and all of a sudden that
became will be became married we are all put in the same household and I have one
son and his name's Trevor and he is my middle son and he has had much anger
towards his father and I'm sure myself throughout what upbringing he's had
anyway he leads a very tough life and spent most of his youth in and out of jail
and even his adult life and trying to then bring him into a household with a
stepfather like Powell who Pastor John knows is not the Powell that I have now
it was like dynamite and there was a lot that went on it caused the police to
be called in a lot it caused me to leave the family with the boys the rest of
the children had moved away but me leaving to protect the children and myself
then me getting very sick and going back because I didn't have anyone to look
after me and Powell looked after me but it didn't have the boys in the family
and there was assault charges and threats on our home we left for a weekend
because Trevor had there was such bad water between Powell and him that he'd
foam me one day when I was work and Powell was at work and there'd been a little
altercation and Powell wasn't allowing what Trevor wanted to do and he called
me and he said just stay away from the house he said I'm blowing up the house
Powell's on his way home now and I'm gonna blow up Powell you stay away from
the home luckily I got a hold of Powell and I got a hold of the police and we
went to the police station so there was all this going on so for the last five
years I have been I have forgiven Trevor and put personal boundaries and they
had to be safe boundaries and for the last while Trevor and I have not even
talked because any time we brought into my life or our life he left a mess he
would always leave the whole family in shambles and just bleeding and raw so
Powell out of his protection from me and out of his anger towards things that
Trevor had done we hadn't had Trevor in her home he wasn't at one point allowed
to phone I wasn't allowed to see him about four and so Christmas had been
Trevor I think between five and seven years has not been allowed for any
Christmas is at home much less in her home so my young his younger brother
who's two years younger Michael he had asked me about four months ago he said
mom do you think there'll be any chance that you would ever be able to reconcile
with Trevor and forgive Trevor and he said he needs he sees me and he needs his
mommy he's mad but he needs his mommy and it got me and I said you know what I
forgiven him but let me think about that so my thinking instead of thinking with
my own head involves me praying all the time and keeping my head out of it
because my head usually doesn't know what's going on it can only pull from the
past so I have to trust in God for what should be going on in my life not in
what I think I know so about four months ago I started praying and God said
that it was about time but to be safe and to just start meeting him at a safe
place which I considered Tim Hortons and so for the last four months I've
been meeting with just myself with Trevor and I just read him my personal
testimony and let him into all the things in my life that he probably didn't
understand and made him very angry and at that time after all that and my work
with healing and being able to forgive people in my life and asking forgiveness
for what I've done in my life out of all that he didn't get that I had
forgiven those people he was really mad he said I he said I am gonna get those
people and I'm still gonna get still gonna get Powell and he went on and I
said I think you've missed the whole point honey the point is I am like I am
now because of forgiveness that I have forgiven those people and I hope you
can be at that point soon so we've done that and but not allowing him into my
home out of respect for Powell it's our home and that that would have been
something that I wouldn't have been able to understand before is this is our
home this is my home if I won't want him in my home I'm gonna have him in my
home I've really really changed and learned how to be in submission to my
husband and that's a good thing so I continued to pray and it came upon me God
touched me and said what about this Christmas I'm thinking what about this
Christmas with Trevor you mean at our house and not knowing how Powell was with
that and because I'd asked him many times and his answer would be no I'm not
ready to forgive about anything that had to do with Trevor in my mind I'm
thinking but how can you not be ready to forgive when God's forgiven us but I'm
able to give that over to God and let go and let God so I just kept praying
about that and so we sat down and I I just blurted it I said you know what Powell
what about inviting Trevor over for Christmas this year knowing that the rest
of the family if Powell did say yes there was members of the family I would
have to go on and through to ask because they have their own hurts too but I'd
first have to start with Powell. And so I asked him yes Penny did ask me about
our son my stepson and Penny son Trevor just before we get to my answer though
there was a situation a couple of years ago that Trevor could no longer come to
us because I would not allow it for our own protection for our own safety of
safety of our home and our personal being. So he'd gone to his grandfather Penny's
father and Penny's father helped him get alone to move into a place to rent so
Penny's father a co-sign form and after living there for about a year Trevor had
just totally misused that whole communication and set up and let his
grandfather be liable for all the damages that Trevor done to this
apartment totally destroying it not paying his rent and so on so Penny's
father was really upset and said that's it that's enough and had kind of come
along side me and said same thing as you I'm done with them I'm fed up I don't
want him anymore part of my life. When Penny came to me weeks ago and asked
can Trevor come for Christmas I said right off the bat I want to say no but
something in my heart went tingle and I said let me pray let me pray to God
because ultimately it's his choice because God has forgiven me so it was about a
week later I came back to Penny I said it's okay Trevor can come and the light
on her face was amazing see when I prayed to God about Trevor God said to me I
forgiven you why can you not forgive Trevor and it's my history that I want to
take control of everything and God ultimately said to me you're not in control
I'm in control of you so you accept him this year and make him part of your
home so when I told Penny that Trevor was able not to come Christmas day but
Boxing Day and both my stepson's and their families came on Boxing Day and it
was ultimately amazing the minute the Trevor and his girlfriend walked down
stairs God lifted me up off that chair it made me walk over to him and I wanted to
sit so desperately back in that chair but God picked me up and let me put my
arms around him and gave him a hug and as many of you in here know me I'm the
huggy guy and God made me hug him and it's a first time ever in 12 years
Trevor ever hugged me back and said I love you it was cool so only through the
power of God the forgiveness of Jesus on the cross that was able to happen
Amen