The Distinctiveness of God's People By Paul Thompson

In recent weeks two very interesting articles appeared in our state's leading newspapers.
One was by a social scientist and it was titled,
As good as it gets, our material comforts are catered for,
but meanwhile social connection seems to have collapsed.
It's time to rethink our search for happiness.
The article is a fascinating social commentary on where we as a society,
and it has this amazing quote by another social commentator, Hugh McKay,
We have yearned for a guiding story to help us make sense of what is happening to us,
but no such story has emerged.
Now contrast this with an article on the Anglican Church in Sydney,
in which Peter Jensen, its head is questioned,
why the church has grown by 9% in the last 12 months.
Listen to his answer.
It's about getting back to the basics, God, Jesus and the Bible.
In other words, to quote McKay again, some people in Sydney have yearned for a guiding story
that would help them make sense of what is happening to them,
and have found their guiding story to be, as Peter Jensen says, God, Jesus and the Bible.
Now I want to suggest to you that God is doing a similar thing with Abraham and you and me tonight.
He is taking us back to basics to convince him and us to trust him
and his great promises, which include Jesus.
And having done this, he desires that we respond appropriately as we hear his guiding story.
Last week we went around the circle one more time.
It really was, as we saw, a sad tale of listening to the wrong voice, as David reminded us.
Chapter 16 begins with Sarah's determination to realise God's promise,
but of course the scheme fails miserably, and the Lord has to work his purposes through the mess.
Now notice in chapter 17 and verse 1 that God appears to Abraham.
He has appeared before in chapter 12 and verse 7, and he appears again in chapter 18 and verse 1.
Why? Well God has something important to tell him and us.
Look with me then at chapter 17 and verse 1.
When Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him,
I am almighty.
But why does God appear to Abraham again?
I believe it is to arouse Abraham out of his complacency.
Notice our text says he is 99 years old.
It is now 13 years since Ishmael was born.
Abraham accepted him as his son, but then suddenly God appears to shake him out of his complacency
and refocus him on the basics of his faith.
Look with me again at verse 1.
When Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him, I am almighty.
Firstly, we need to trust God's mighty power in our weakness.
Why does God say he is all powerful?
Well he says to Abram, I am creator, I have ultimate power,
and therefore it is not a hard thing for you to have a son when you and your wife are old.
In chapter 18 and verse 16, the Lord asks Abraham why Sarah laughs when she hears she is going to bear a son.
Notice the Lord's reply, Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Do you feel your weakness tonight?
Do you lack the strength, the power to do certain things or cope with difficult circumstances?
Maybe it is a new job or change coming, or some difficult subject at uni or school,
or maybe it is persevering at work or in the home with difficult children,
or financial pressures or even loss or health problems,
and you are thinking, How on earth am I ever going to be able to do this? It is just too hard for me.
Be encouraged. God says to you what he said to Abraham,
I am going to display my power to you, I am going to make it happen.
But you must trust me, lean on me, rely on me to demonstrate my mighty power.
What did God say to the Apostle Paul when he prayed to be delivered from a constant difficulty?
My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
It is the same thought, trust God to show you his strength in your weakness.
We not only need to trust God's almighty power in our weakness,
but secondly we need to trust God's mighty promises.
Look with me at verse 2a,
And I will make my covenant between you and me.
But hadn't God established his covenant in chapter 12 verses 2-3 or chapter 15 verse 18?
Yes, but now he is making it operative, he is putting it into force.
It is like when I flick on one of my light switches, the electricity shoots into the bulb and there is light.
It is as though God says to Abraham, you have been waiting 24 years, but trust me,
and 12 months later as we see in chapter 22 in verse 5, Isaac becomes a reality.
God promises Abraham a new family and a new name.
Look at verse 4 of chapter 17,
and here it could be translated,
As for me, my covenant with you still stands.
Then have a look in verse 6,
I will make you exceedingly fruitful.
Now verse 5,
No longer will your name be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham,
for I have made you a father of many nations.
Why did God give Abraham a new name?
To match his new character and function.
That's why names in biblical times were very important.
Every time Abraham threw his undies on the tenth floor,
or left the lid off the toothpaste or the toilet seat up,
and Sarah would shout, Abraham, you have done blah, blah again.
He thought to himself, whoops.
But then the sound of his new name made his heart leap.
I am going to be a father, not just of one son, but generations.
So God promises not only a new family, but a new name.
But notice God promises a new relationship and a new home.
Look at verse 7 with me,
And I will establish my covenant between me and you,
and your descendants after you and their generations,
for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and your descendants after you.
God now promises his descendants a new relationship that they had lost in Adam.
It also means that God promises to be working 24-7 for Abraham and us,
for his physical, spiritual and eternal happiness.
Now you and I may not get what we want,
he may bring you, he may bring me suffering,
but in the hard times he promises to be God to you as he did to Abraham.
God promises a new home.
Look at verse 8,
Also I will give you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger,
all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession.
Why did God repeat the promise of a new home?
Because he was homeless, he lived in a tent.
We are told in Hebrews 11 and chapter 13 they died not having received the promises,
but they looked forward to a homeland.
Now if you are a Christian, what a comfort this is,
and what a comfort that must be to John tonight as Anne has gone home.
So God promises you not only a new relationship and a new home,
but God promises to send a crusher.
Look at verse 6c,
And kings shall come from you, and kings shall come from you.
Who would these kings be?
Well amazingly one is to be the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings.
It's as though God says to Abraham,
This is the crusher I promised long ago to Adam.
He will make you right with me, forgiving you, bringing you into a relationship.
I want you to trust me on this.
So we need to not only trust God's mighty promises, but thirdly,
you and I need to respond to God,
because he is mighty and he makes great promises.
We need to respond because we are different.
Look at verse 10,
and I want to read verse 10 to you, but we want to consider from verse 10 to verse 27.
Verse 10,
This is the covenant you shall keep between you and me, and you and your descendants after you.
Every male child among you shall be circumcised.
For Abraham, it's his sexual organ that got him into trouble.
So it's natural for God to say, I'm going to hit you where it hurts.
Is God being cruel? Of course not.
God says, because this instrument caused the problems of chapter 16,
it's going to be the very thing that provides the solution.
The knife came out in chapter 15, and here it comes out again.
This is how Abraham is to show he is in covenant with God.
Every time Abraham was naked and saw his circumcised penis,
it reminded him that God had promised to bring a miracle of new life through it,
and the seed that came through it would issue in a greater son, even the Lord Jesus.
Christians, we need to remember we are different people, new people,
as Gordon challenged us this morning.
We're different, so God wants us to be different.
Look at verse 1d.
Walk before me and be blameless.
Walk before me and be blameless.
Why is Abraham to walk before God and be blameless?
If we think back to the Garden of Eden, what did Adam do?
He walked with God.
In other words, God is asking Abraham to live the way he intends everyone he is made to live,
in a relationship free from sin.
But if that is not enough, God adds, and be blameless.
In chapter 16 he wasn't blameless, but to blame.
The word means to be innocent, pure, free from blame.
What is to be our motivation to live differently tonight?
Isn't it the same as Abraham?
Look back at chapter 15 and verse 6.
And he believed God, and he accounted it to him for righteousness.
What would motivate him to obey?
This incredible fact that when God looked up his account to see what Abraham owed him,
because sin pays wages, he sees across the name, Abraham's name, paid in full.
Next time you're tempted to waste another hour watching some rubbish reality show on TV,
or ducking out for some retail therapy,
or you're tempted to snarl at your wife, or kid, or husband,
God says, walk before me and be blameless.
So stop and think, I'm not going to do this,
because over my name in heaven is Tomo, paid in full.
What a motivation.
But God wants us not only to be different, notice God wants us to daily adore him.
Look at verse 3a, then Abraham fell on his face.
For Abraham it was the most natural thing in the world to worship this mighty powerful God,
because he had just told him that he was going to activate this covenant with him,
and give him what he so desperately wanted, a son.
Aren't we to worship God, to adore him because of what he has promised us in the Gospel?
Read again Romans 1 to 11.
Notice what the apostle says in chapter 12 and verse 1.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.
And now I want to read from the NASB because it brings out the meaning.
Which is your spiritual service of worship, which is your spiritual service of worship.
How are we to do this daily?
As we've been challenged recently from Romans chapter 6.
And draw your attention to verse 11.
Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God.
How? Through Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is how we are to adore and worship God Almighty,
who makes these great Gospel promises to us tonight.
So God is challenging us tonight as Christians because he is powerful in our weakness.
And he makes mighty promises that are to transform our lives.
But maybe you're not a Christian tonight.
God is calling you now to become his friend.
You know enough to become a Christian.
What's stopping you?
Look at Jesus dying on the cross for someone as selfish as you.
Come to him, cling to him, embrace him.
Ask him for the power to trust him and turn from your selfishness, confessing it.
He will do it, he has promised. Amen.