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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Verse six, I will make you exceedingly fruitful. I will make nations plural of you, not a nation, notice 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 generation for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also, I give you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession.
I will be their God. Last week when we were back in chapter 15, and I skimmed through the last part of that, the borders of the land were given. Do you remember that? From the river of Egypt, which is Wadi al-Arish, all the way to the Euphrates River. And the borders were outlined in that chapter, and it's up on the map. There it is. What you're seeing outlined in yellow is 300,000 square miles God promised them. Now they have never ever occupied all that God gave to them. They have only at the peak of the kingdom under Solomon occupied 30,000 square miles, and we'll show you what they have in comparison to what God promised them.
There it is. Okay, so that is their land. That's what they occupy. That's where they live. The yellow is what God promised that they have never yet occupied. Now, they wouldn't have much luck going to all these neighboring countries now like Egypt and Jordan and Syria and Saudi Arabia and Iraq and Iran and saying, oh, this is our land. God promised it to us.
Kindly move out of here. But what I want you to see is this. What God said they would have, they only took one fraction, one tenth of all that God said He would give to them. And what God told them is this. Every place that your foot walks is yours.
That little portion that you saw on the map, that's the only place their foot walked. They obviously evidently didn't believe God for all of it. So even at the peak of their kingdom under King Solomon when He expanded the borders, one tenth of all that God promised, they enjoyed. Does that make sense to you? Does that at all sound familiar to you?
You think of all the promises that God has made you. How many of them are you enjoying? All of them? Half of them?
A small fraction of them? What kind of victory are you living in? What kind of a cache of God's promises are you enjoying?
I tend to believe we're just living on a small fraction of all that God has for us. Now God one day will allow them to enjoy all of that border that He promised them, and that will be in the earthly kingdom outlined so often in the Old Testament called the Millennium in the New Testament. A thousand year reign of Christ upon the earth. It will be then that their borders will be expanded to all that God gave to them. Well that's just the land, that's part of the covenant God says, the land that He promised Abram. But not just that, not just property.
Notice the promise includes posterity. Notice the plural nations. You know we often think Abram is the father of the Jewish nation, he is, but he's the father of many more. There's 13.3 million Jewish people on the earth.
There's 22 Arab nations with 300 plus million people. All of them trace their lineage back to Abram. That means that today 5% of the earth's population can trace their genealogy directly to Abraham. So now you know why God says, I'm changing your name to father of a multitude. God has made good on His promise. Verse 9, 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, it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. Circumcision was not something invented here. Understand that circumcision had been for generations practiced by nations all around that part of the world in the Middle East. The ancient sixth dynasty of Egypt practiced circumcision. Even into the Roman Empire the priests of Rome and their offspring were circumcised.
The Ammonites and the Moabites. So here you have God taking a social practice and turning it into something with spiritual meaning. I love that. It's a social practice. It's something that had meaning to other cultures, but God is sort of redeeming that and letting it apply to a sign of the covenant. Now He will do that with baptism. Baptism didn't begin with Christians. Jews had practiced ritual baptism for generations, being purified before they would go up to worship. And then John the Baptist did that in a river down in the Jordan and then later on they took that symbol of being cleansed for worship and that ritual purification and we know it now as Christian baptism, the immersion in water.
But it's symbolic. It's an outward sign of a covenant. Now we discover that whenever God makes a covenant He then provides some kind of a sign, an outward indicator. So when you see the indicator you're reminded of the agreement that God made with people. And so what was the sign of the covenant God made with Noah? A rainbow. Beautiful.
Colorful. You look at it, it brings a smile to your face. Everybody goes, oh it's a sign of a deal that God made with Noah. And God made a covenant with Moses and the children of Israel through the law of Moses. What was the sign He gave them? It was the Sabbath.
On that day you rest, it's restful, it's peaceful, it's wonderful. And now to the church it was the symbol of baptism, the outward sign of an inward reality. Now God makes a sign with Abraham. I'm sure that Abraham was not having this in mind when he's thinking God is going to ask him to provide some kind of an outward sign.
Remember he's 99 years old so just let the impact of this fall in your ears. 99 year old man and God says it's time to get circumcised. Abraham's going what is this walk of faith all about?
I didn't sign up for that. This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised. And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins. Verse 12, 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 was born in your house, he who is bought with your money shall be circumcised. My covenant 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 child shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.
Wow. Why the eighth day? Interesting the science tells us that on the eighth day of a child's life all of the vitamins, all of the nutrients, all of the antibodies, protrombrane is present in the bloodstream that causes the clotting of the blood. If you were to circumcise a child say at three days old there would be hemorrhaging. The clotting elements aren't there till the eighth day.
That's the perfect day. Verse 15 is the change in his wife's name. Oh by the way, something just about circumcision. The whole idea behind circumcision is that the life of the flesh that once dominated you is not to dominate you any longer. The symbol of the cutting of the flesh is the repudiation of the fleshly life because the foreskin of the male, this was the organ that generated life, is cut showing that like the Bible says in Psalm 51, in sin my mother did conceive me. I was born in iniquity. Born in iniquity. But I'm making a covenant with God that the life of the flesh will be pushed back repudiated and it will be something that I live now by faith in the spirit. I'll live in the spirit not in the flesh.
That's the whole idea behind it. It was a symbol. What happened unfortunately among the Jewish people and it has likewise happened among Christian people with baptism is they turned it from a symbol into a sacrament. If you perform this sacrament it will confer some grace, some merit to you and you will have a right relationship with God. So all you have to do is be circumcised or all you got to do is be baptized or all you have to do is keep this ritual. They made a symbol into a sacrament. All along the Lord said no it's inward not outward. In Deuteronomy chapter 10 God says, Circumcise therefore the four skins of your heart and be stiff-necked no longer. That's what it meant. It was inward not outward. It was simply symbolic.
They turned it into a sacrament. You're listening to connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, in his book, Is God Real?, Lee Strobel, author of the New York Times best-selling book, The Case for Christ, provides a rational exploration of the proof of God's existence and the basis of our eternal hope. Writing to skeptics and believers alike, Strobel turns his critical mind and expert interviewing skills to perennial questions like, how do we know which God is real? And if God is real, why does he seem so hidden? Is God Real?, along with two messages preached by Lee Strobel at Calvary Church, are our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your resources when you give at least $50 today to reach people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. God said to Abraham, that's his new name. God said to father of many nations, a multitude, as for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
Oh, now this is a wonderful change. Sarai means domineering and contentious. Imagine when Abraham came home one day and said, hello, princess. That's what Sarah means, princess. And I'm sure her heart just skipped a beat when her husband said, hello, princess. And that was the name that God gave her. And that was the name her husband and everybody else would call her from then on, princess. By the way, husbands, there's a great name for your wife. Call her your princess.
Just try this. Speak kindly unto her. Somebody once said, if you treat your wife like a thoroughbred, she won't ever turn into a nag. Speak kindly to her. She's your princess. And I will bless her and also give you a son.
Now watch this. Give you a son by her. Then I will bless her and she will be the mother of nations.
Kings of people shall be from her. And Abram fell on his face. Now he's doing that a lot. And as an old guy, you wonder, I hope he's not getting too bashed up.
He fell on his face and he laughed. And he said in his heart, shall a child be born to a man who is 100 years old? And shall Sarah, who is 99 years old, be born to a man who is 100 years old?
And shall Sarah, who is 99 years old, bear a child? Now this is not unbelief. This is faith. We've already established that last week when God said, you will bear children as numerous as the stars. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. He believed that promise. This is a laughter of sheer joy. How do I know that?
Because God doesn't look them. And in chapter 18, Sarah laughs when she hears this and it was the laughter of unbelief because the Lord said, you don't believe what I'm saying, do you? But here's an old guy just going, I can't believe it. I dig it.
I'm an old dude and she's an old chick and we're going to have a kid. It was something along those lines. The very next verse, there seems to be a sort of a coming back down to earth. Like, you know what? Wait a minute.
I'm old and I live in reality. Abraham said to God, oh, that Ishmael might live before you. And 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. He's an old guy.
His son's 13. And, you know, the promise is exciting, but then it's like, you know what? I think maybe I'm done now. You know, can't you just take Ishmael and do what you said you're going to do just through him? Let him be the one that you fulfill your promise and let him live before you. God says no. Now God is going to bless Ishmael. Many nations will come from him. God's hand will be upon him. But the covenant that God wants is through a son of promise, not a son of the flesh. It's going to be through Isaac.
Oh, that Ishmael might live. How many times have you said that? You've had your dream, your agenda, and you just say, God, here, this is what I really want. This is what I produced. Would you just bless my gig, my thing? No, just bless this.
I don't want to do anything else. Just bless this. And sometimes God may require the death of your vision. And maybe your prayer should be, oh, that Ishmael might die within me.
That my little episode, my little agenda of the flesh would die and I would be open to whatever he wants from me. No, God said, Sarah, your wife shall bear you a son and you will call his name Laughter. And I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant with his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him and I will make him fruitful and I will multiply him exceedingly.
And he will beget 12 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. Now we have something that I neglected to get into last week.
I just posed a problem and I left it hanging. If you remember at the end of chapter 15. If not, I'll refresh your memory. In the Bible, we have two different kinds of covenants. One is called an unconditional covenant. The other is called a conditional covenant, or if you will, a bilateral and a unilateral covenant. In the bilateral covenant or the conditional covenant, God has his part and man must keep his part. If man doesn't keep his part, it negates the deal. Then there's the unconditional covenant. It's unilateral.
God says, I'm going to do this, this and that period for you. That's solely his condition that he must keep. So one covenant called the Edenic covenant, the covenant in the Garden of Eden. What kind of covenant was that? Conditional or unconditional? Conditional because they got kicked out. They didn't keep their condition.
They're out. The covenant of the law of Moses. What kind of covenant was that? Conditional. If you do this, I'll do that.
If you fail at that, then you'll have this happen to you. The covenant that God promises to Abraham for the land that is today the land of Israel and for the people. What kind of covenant is it?
Unconditional. I will bless you. I will make your name great. Chapter 12 verses two and three. I will do this.
I will do that. Five times God says, I will, and he repeats that same kind of terminology in chapter 17. It's unilateral.
It's unconditional. Okay, well, now we have a problem because God promises them the land through this covenant with Abraham, but later on in the covenant of Moses, which is a conditional covenant, there's conditions for them in the land. You follow me?
So, and I was going to have you turn to it, but we don't have the time. We'll sum it up. In Deuteronomy 28, 29, and 30, God says, now if you obey me and you keep my laws, I will bless you in this land. You'll get a lot of rain in this land. You'll get a lot of crops in this land. You'll subdue all your enemies. If you disobey me, your enemies will subdue you. In fact, you won't have good crops.
You won't have good rain. Your enemies will come in, take you from this land, and you'll be in captivity. That's chapters 28 and 29 of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy chapter 30, the Lord says, when you are in captivity in another land, and there you pray to me because you realize we've been dumb, disobeying God, and you sort of come to and wake up, and when you're in captivity and you pray to me and repent and turn back in your heart, then I will take you out of the land to which you were taken captive and bring you back into this good land that I promised to you and to Abraham. So, here's how it works.
Here's the solution to the problem. The land given to Abraham unconditionally would be theirs unconditionally, perpetually, forever. But their tenure in the land, their occupation of the land, was conditional. Well, how does that work?
Doesn't one negate the other? No. God says, here you are. I'll put you in the land. You will disobey me. I will take you out of the land.
That's called the Babylonian captivity. You will get spanked in that land spiritually. You will cry out and ask forgiveness in that land. I will bring you back into this land.
Now you'll be good boys and girls in that land. But that wasn't the only time that God expelled. The Romans came in, subjugated them, and when the Romans came in and destroyed the temple and destroyed Jerusalem, there was 2,000 years of the diaspora. Ever heard of the term diaspora, the dispersion of the Jews around the world in hundreds of different countries? So they were dispersed and did not have a homeland. And people were looking at that and saying, you know what then, there's not going to really be a literal regathering of a literal people in a literal land.
All of that is spiritual and figurative, and it doesn't matter anymore. Until May 14th of 1948, when Palestine was now called Israel and Jews from all over the world were allowed to go back to their homeland, fulfilling many promises including Isaiah chapter 11 verse 11, where God says, I will bring you back the second time into the land. And God says, then I will establish that covenant with you perpetually. And so the land and the people, God promised that as an unconditional and perpetual covenant. Verse 21, I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at the set time next year. Then he finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. So Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and 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 day as God said to him, Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael, his son, was 13 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. We're going to see the fulfillment. Now God narrows it down, not just I'm going to make a great nation out of you, but he said it'll be from your own body Abraham, and now he says it'll be from Sarah's own body. You too are going to have a baby, and they will have a baby. It's what they always wanted, but God's going to not just give them what they wanted, but more than they wanted. Not just a kid, but kids and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and nations and kings. Remember the old saying, be careful what you wish for because you might get more than you bargain for?
He's going to get more than he bargained for or ever hoped for. I heard about a couple. They were 60 years old. They were married when they were 20, so it was their 40th wedding anniversary. They were so happy, 40 years of married bliss, and a fairy appeared to them and said you've had such a wonderful 40-year marriage. I grant each of you any one wish in the world. The wife blushed and smiled and said, oh, I know what I want. I've always wanted.
I want to travel the world. Instantly poof with the wand, and there was tickets to travel the world, cash in hand, passport, everything ready to go. The fairy said to the man, now it's your turn. You're going to have anything you want. He sort of shyly looked around and looked up, and then he said, well, I'd like to have a wife 30 years younger. The fairy said, no problem.
Poof with the wand, and he was 90 years old instantly. Be careful what you wish for. You might get more than you bargained for. But what God will give to Abraham, more than he wished for, more than he bargained for, will be nothing but blessing. He's learned his lessons.
Oh, he has more to learn. But the blessing of God will be rich in his life. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been encouraged in your walk with Christ by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resources that will help you confidently respond to questions and challenges to God's existence.
It's Lee Strobel's book, Is God Real?, and two messages he preached on the topic at Calvary Church. Request your resources when you give $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can get a weekly devotional and other resources from Pastor Skip sent right to your email inbox? Simply visit connectwithskip.com and sign up for emails from Skip. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
