Chosen for Covenantal Obedience

*The sermon manuscript below was generated from the recording by AI…

If you’re not familiar with the Book of Genesis, God has been revealing Himself to Abraham, calling him out, seeking to lead him and guide him. Abraham stumbles and gets it wrong. He has those failure moments where he does things like allows his wife to be taken by other people, saying, “Oh, she’s just my sister.” Tragedy upon tragedy and, and now in Chapter 18, the Lord reveals a wonderful promise that, “This time next year you will have a child.” And then, from verse 22 onwards, we le- we get led towards Sodom and Gomorrah.

And you might think to yourself, “Sodom and Gomorrah, what a wonderful passage for a baptism.” Uh, and it is, because of what happens just before it.

And so in Chapter 18, I’m gonna read from Verse, uh, 27 downwards to the end of the chapter. And we’re gonna be looking at, uh, just—Sorry, from Verse 16 down to Verse 21, and we’re looking at Verse 19 today.

So that was Genesis Chapter 18, picking up at Verse 16.

Then the men—That’s the 3 men that Abraham had hosted.—Then the 3 men set out from there, and they looked down towards Sodom, and Abraham went with them to set them on their way. The Lord said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the Earth shall be blessed in him?’ And this is our text. ‘For I have chosen him that he may command his children and his household after him, to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.’ Then the Lord said, ‘Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.’

Amen.

May God bless His word to us.

And before we come to consider it, let’s just seek God’s face and ask for His blessing upon it. Let’s pray.

Father in Heaven, we come before you today because we want to hear from you. We want to hear the voice of the Lord, Jesus Christ, echoing in our hearts. We want the Holy Spirit to take your Word and seal it upon our hearts. Lord, we know that though we would apply all of human logic and wisdom and understanding, all of the literary genius of the world, yet we cannot benefit from Your Word unless your Holy Spirit blesses it to our hearts. And so we pray, Spirit of the Living God, illuminate your Word. Cause light to shine upon it and upon our hearts that we might receive what you have to feed us today. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Well, brothers and sisters, in the Lord Jesus Christ, I, I wonder if you’ve ever had the experience of sitting in a room and listening to other people talk about you. Uh, it’s been a common refrain, uh, in my life, generally because I was naughty, and so I would get called to the principal’s office and summoned there with my parents. And you’d sit there and listen to your parents being told by the principal everything you had done wrong. I’m sure none of you had that experience growing up ’cause you were always well-behaved, but—You know, or y- or you sit in a room and you listen to your parents with other adults talking about you, and your, sort of, your ears listen very intently, don’t they? As soon as you hear your name, it’s like everything else fades into the background and all you think about is, “What are they gonna say about me? What are they speaking about?”

You know, our text today invites us, it welcomes us, into the seat and the life of Abraham, and t- to be given the opportunity to hear the Lord God hav- have a dialogue—This sounds strange, but have a dialogue with Himself about Abraham. So we get to listen in to God speaking with Himself about Abraham. And not just for his sake, but of course for our sake, because it’s recorded for us, right? So that we might know, so that we might learn, so that we might, in a sense, sit with Abraham and hear the Lord speaking, Lord willing, about you and I.

A- and it all begins with 3 men turning up at Abraham’s house at the beginning of the chapter. I, I trust many of you will know the story. Abraham’s chilling out under his oaks of Mamre, enjoying a good life, and all of a sudden, 3 men walk up. He has no idea who they are, but what does he do? He graciously welcomes them. He invites them to stay. He prepares food for them. He feeds them. They fellowship together. They, they don’t really say anything. It’s a bit odd, this is the story. But we don’t hear any words from them, they’re just there.

But while they’re there, the Lord Himself speaks to Abraham, and the Lord comes to Abraham and He assures him of a promise he had already received. Abraham had been told previously in, in earlier chapters that he would have a son, that the covenant would not be established through his servant, Eleazar, but through his own son from his own loins. And now, God comes to him to confirm and reassure Abraham, because Abraham’s tempted to what? To doubt. He lacks faith. I mean, you can’t blame the guy, he’s 99. No one hears 99, but I can’t imagine having a child at 99 is particularly easy, especially if your wife is also 90-ish. As she herself says, “The way of woman has ceased to be.” It’s not possible, and yet the Lord says, “I will return this time next year and you will have a son.”

And so, having delivered this reassurance, the 3 men now head off and Abraham s- sees them off out the door. By the way, side note, this is why the Dutch way of far- farewelling people from your home is the correct one. In case you don’t know what that is, you see people out to the door and wave them off. If you’ve never experienced this at my house, you’ll come to learn one day, whenever someone leaves, we stand at the door and wave, “Bye,” as they drive off. I- it’s, he’s what? He’s showing them this final act of l- of love and kindness as they walk out the door, wishing a blessing upon them.

And then as the 3 men walk away, the Lord begins a dialogue. It’s not addressed to Abraham. The text doesn’t say in verse 17 that the Lord said to Abraham. The Lord just speaks, and He, He speaks to Himself. You see this. He says, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation?”

And this might sound a little bit strange to us, right? It’s almost like the Lord’s not sure what He’s gonna do, which seems very alarming to us. Like, surely the Lord knows what He’s planning on doing. Why is He debating with Himself whether He should tell Abraham or not?

Well, of course, God is not doing this for His own sake, is He? The Lord’s not doing this because the Lord is not sure what He’s gonna do this, do. The Lord is talking to Himself before Abraham so that Abraham would hear, learn, and recognize God’s will for him.

And so the Lord speaks to Himself and He, He, you might say He condescends Himself. He doesn’t need to do this, right? And yet in His mercy and kindness, knowing Abraham’s weakness and frailty, He lowers Himself down and speaks like a human speaks. It’s like, “Oh, I wonder if I should tell Abraham or not.” And Abra- I mean, you can imagine Abraham’s ears, right? You go, “Oh. Oh, what’s the Lord gonna tell me? Will He tell me?” And then the Lord says, “Shall, shall I tell him what I’m planning on doing?” I mean, you go, “Oh, I wonder what he’s gonna say? What’s He gonna do? What if He doesn’t tell me? I’ll spend the rest of existence wondering what He was gonna say.”

And then in the Law—In, in the Lord’s mercy and condescension, He speaks to Abraham, and He, He s- He says 3 glorious truths in the presence of Abraham. Sorry, said He speaks to him. He’s still speaking about him in verse 19, but as Abraham and as you and I listen on, we hear 3 truths.

Firstly, that Abraham has been chosen in covenant grace.

I don’t know if your Bible has little footnotes in it. You know those things right at the very bottom that you need, like, a magnifying glass to read? Unless maybe you’re young, and your eyes still kind of work. You, you might see a little footnote in verse 19. And, and you skip down, and it’ll say, “Hebrew knowing, for I have known him.” You could translate it as, “For I have chosen him,” is what the ESV provides us with. What they’re trying to do is, is help you get an understanding of what’s intended.

See, the word is yada, which is a very broad word. Like, it’s just everywhere in the Old Testament, and it’s used in a plethora of different ways. It, it’s a type of knowledge, broadly speaking, but it can be used of generic knowledge. So, it’s used, for example, when Noah looks out the window of the ark, and he recognizes the water’s going down. And it just says, “He knew that the water was receding.” It’s nothing special, right? He just, “I’m aware that this thing has happened.”

It can be used in an experiential type of knowledge. So, when Adam and Eve, after the curse, or after they’ve eaten the fruit, they- they’re naked. Do you remember? It says they, all of a sudden, they knew that they were naked. They sinned, and all of a sudden, though they had been naked for a long time, all of a sudden, it was aware to them. There was this experiential reality of knowledge pressed in upon them, so that they knew something in a way they had never known it before.

It can also be used of a very intimate type of knowledge. So, Adam knew Eve. All of the adults in the room, you know what that means, right? A husband knows his wife in an intimate, relational way.

And so it’s a word that can be used very generically, or it can be used very precisely, and specifically, it can be used very covenentally to express an electing, a choosing, love, knowledge of God upon an object of his mercy. So, an example of this is in H- is in Amos. Uh, it happens in Amos, it happens in Hosea 13, but especially in Exodus. You remember the, the moment when Moses says to the Lord, “Lord, show me your glory. Show me your glory.” Do you know why he says that? What’s the foundation for why he says that? He says, “Lord, you said that you know me.” That you have known me, or chosen me. It’s this covenantal knowledge and love bestowed by God upon someone.

And then later on again, he says, “See, since you have known me, since you have set your love upon me, to know me in particular, outside of every other person, you’ve set your face upon me to know me, please show me your glory. Show me your goodness. Cause it to pass before me.”

And it’s this type of language that the Lord is using here. He’s saying to Ab- in the presence of Abraham—I’m gonna keep slipping into 2, but in the presence of Abraham, “I have elected and chosen and set my face upon Abraham in love. I have bestowed my covenantal favor upon him.”

And you might ask yourself the question, “Well, what does, what’s that look like?” Well, it started back in Genesis 12, didn’t it? If you turn there very quickly, we’ll just skip through a couple of sections. We won’t read through them all, but in Genesis 12, do you remember what Abraham was before Genesis 12? Well, it, it doesn’t say here, but if you go to Joshua and to the prophets, what you discover is Abraham, well, Abram at this point, was a moon worshiper. He was an idolater. He was a pagan who loved to bow down to the gods of Terah, his father.

And we’re told, in the midst of his moon worshiping sin, in chapter 12, “The Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you, and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I shall curse, and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’”

So, as Abraham is devoting himself to idolatry, the Lord turns up, and he says, “I choose you.” Completely undeserving. Done nothing. I mean, what has he done for A- for God to come and choose him? Idolatry. That was all that he contributed to the Lord choosing him, and yet the Lord chose him.

Then we pick up in Genesis 15. The Lord returns to him, and he says to him in chapter 15, verse one, ‘Fear not, Abram. I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great.’ In other words, ‘I have not forgotten you. I have chosen you, and I’m still with you. I have not forsaken you.’”

But Abram doesn’t feel that way. He still hasn’t got a child. He says, “Lord, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” A servant. Abram said, “Behold, you’ve given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And the word of the Lord came to him in verse 4, “This son- this man shall not be your heir. Your very own son shall be.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and number the stars if you’re able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

And he makes this covenant with him. You might remember it. He, he takes animals and he cuts them in 2, puts one on each side. There’s a bull, there’s a goat, a- a dove. He cu- separates them, a- and then he falls asleep. And normally what would happen at this point is 2 people would walk through, and as the 2 people walk through what they say is, “We’re making a covenant together, and if either one of us forsake this covenant, we will be like these dead animals.” But, but instead Abram falls asleep, and then he sees a vision of a pot and a flame, and they go through the animals. And it’s the Lord, right? And the Lord goes through the animals and he says, “I am making an everlasting covenant with you, to be your God, to fulfill my promises.” And there’s no one to fail it, right? Because Abram’s not in the covenant in the sense of being able to fail it. Only God’s life is on the line, and God will give his life up to ensure the covenant is made, because he will send the Lord Jesus Christ in order to fulfill the covenant, and he will lay down his life as a ransom for many.

And then it’s sealed, isn’t it, in verse se- 7 ch- chapter 17, when God comes and he reminds Abraham of the covenant, and he says, “It’s time to seal the covenant.” He said, “I’ve made the covenant with you. Now we’re going to have a sign for the covenant, and it’s circumcision.” Children, if you’re wondering what that is, you can ask your parents when you go home.

So, he gives them the sign of circumcision, and he says to them, “This sign is a reminder for you, and it’s to be put upon every male in your household.” Why? Because everyone in his household is a part of this covenant, without exception. The slaves, the servants, all of them are in the covenant. “And my covenant will not fail.”

Brothers and sisters, this is, this is God’s, this is God’s way of pouring out grace and favor upon an unbelievably undeserving sinner. And this pattern that God establishes in Abraham is the exact same pattern that we testify to every Lord’s day, every day of our life. For our God, the God of Abraham, Galatians 3, that we have believed the promise in. We are sons of Abraham. We are daughters of Abraham.

This same God comes to us and he says, “I have made a covenant, and I have sealed that covenant in my blood. And I seal that covenant upon you in baptism, and this gift is Acts 2:38 for you and your children after you.” It’s a blessing bestowed upon all of you. It’s a promissory gift. Abraham hadn’t received it yet, right? Genesis 17, he receives the sign, but he hasn’t received what it points to. In fact, Hebrews 11 says he won’t even receive it in his life. He did not see the promise being fulfilled, but he believed in the promise.

this is what we lay before, brothers and sisters, that the people of this world and the Malachis of the covenant would lay hold of a promise that God bestows upon them, “If you will trust in me, I will redeem you. I am the God of your fathers. I am the God mighty to save.”

And what does this remind us? What lessons do we learn from this? Firstly, we learn that it’s not by works, right? I mean, what did Abraham contribute? Uh, what has Malachi contributed? All he’s done is been born, eaten, and pooped. There’s not much else, and cried and kept the parents up pretty much constantly throughout their entire life. But what does the baby contribute? Nothing! And what do you contribute? Nothing! Because, as Paul says in Ephesians 2, “It is not by works but by grace so that no one may boast.”

And so, Lord willing, one day Malachi will grow up. Well, I’m assuming he’s gonna grow up, but Lord willing, after he’s grown up, at some point, he will receive the promises that God has bestowed upon him today, and he will say, “I believe the good word that the Lord has spoken over me, that if I call upon the name of the Lord, I will be saved, me and my household.”

It also reminds us that this is a promise for us and our whole families. Don’t neglect the glory of the covenant of grace. God is not just a God of an individual. We’re so individualistically driven. I remember this being illustrated to, to me so beautifully when a minister asked me, a, a principal of a Bible college, he asked me, “How many pe- how many attend your church?” We were discussing individualism. He said, “How many y- people attend your church?” And at that time, there was, I don’t know, 150 or 200 or something like that in a different church, and I said, “150 to 200.” He said, “Really? That’s a lot of families.” I said, “Oh, no, no, no, no, I meant people.” And he said, “Why did you say people and not families?”

See, the Bible almost never talks people, individuals. It talks households, it talks heads, because that’s the way God administers and works in the world. That’s why there’s heads of homes, that’s why there’s heads of churches, that’s why there’s heads of states. Don’t miss out on the blessing of the covenant of grace working out in you and in your family and also in our church.

But there’s another lesson here which is really important, and that is that this grace is offered to the most hardened idolater on the face of the planet. God called a moon worshiper, and if you’re an idolater, God will call you. He offers to you freely, “Come. Come to me, and I will cleanse you. I will wash you. I will make you new.” It’s a promise that you can bank on every day of your life. So if you are a hardened idolater, a moon worshiper like Abraham, come to Christ, and He will set you free, you and your household.

And so, the Lord speaks and reminds and shows Abraham third-handed that Abraham has been chosen in covenantal grace, but then He also goes on and, and He says, He says of Abraham in, in Chapter 18, have a look with me, Verse 19, He says, “I have chosen him that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice.”

The, the Lord reminds him of a glorious second truth, and that is that Abraham is charged with covenantal care. He is charged with covenantal care.

You see, the, the wonderful thing about covenants is though God is the one who fulfills the covenant, there are still covenantal obligations on everybody within the covenant. A- And we actually, we actually understand this very easily if you think about your marriage covenant. Marriage is a covenant, right? Where 2 people covenant together for the rest of their life.

Now, people often want to cry out legalism as soon as someone says, “As a Christian, you have to do A, B, and C.” Let me ask you, would it be legalism if your wife said to you, “You’re not allowed to sleep around with other people?” S- Well, I mean, that’s legalistic, isn’t it? I’m my own free individual. Aren’t I free to live my life any way I want? Who do you think you are putting these laws upon me? I mean, that would be ridiculous, right?

You see, every covenant has obligations and expectations. Husbands, you are to love your wives. You are to serve your wives. You are to die for your wives. Wives, you are to submit to your husbands and to obey your husbands and to follow them and serve them. This is the way covenants work.

And so, the Lord reminds Abraham and establishes again the obligations that come to Abraham in the covenant, and they are 4fold.

Firstly, he must command his children and his household. He must train them up. He must teach his children what the Lord requires of him. But not just his children, right? His slaves, his servants, everyone that’s within his household. Now, w- we live in an era where we don’t have slaves and servants, fortunately. Well, a servant wouldn’t be a bad thing, but we don’t have them, because most of us aren’t rich enough to have maids and stuff like that. But if you had one, you would have to train them. Or maybe you have friends who live with you, under your care, or- or foster children, or your children’s friends, and they stay with you for a season. The Lord gives them to you to command them, to train them, to charge them to walk in the way of the Lord.

Secondly, he is charged to lead by example, and so God says that he may command his children and his household after him. After him. Not just, you know, sit back like a teacher and yell commands at his children, and I’m sure you’ve all heard this before with your dad. It’s almost always the dad, I don’t know why. At least it was always my dad. Who says to you, “Do as I say, but not as I do.” Uh, it’s hypocrisy, right? I shouldn’t pick on my dad, he probably only said it once. My parents often accuse me of over-exaggerating everything from my childhood when they watch the sermons. But it’s- it’s- it’s- it’s hypocrisy, right? “Do as I- do- do as I say, but not as I do.” Abraham was to teach them to follow after him. In other words, “I’m commanding you in the way that I am already going.”

And so, if you are gonna- if you are gonna train up your children to love the Lord, you must love the Lord. If you don’t want your children to blaspheme the name of God, and to break the Sabbath, and to bow down to idols, it’s not good enough for you to just say, “Read the 10 Commandments.” You must walk before them so that they follow you.

And brothers and sisters, this is not just true for parents, it’s true for the Church. You’ve taken vows this morning to set before Malachi an example of faith and life. And, oh, how burdensome it is for a parent’s heart when you’ve just finished teaching your children about something of the Lord, okay? So, you’ve just finished instructing them on the joy of the Sabbath, and what a delight it is to be given a whole day to worship and rest in God, and that we don’t need to work and we don’t need to do this. And then you go to church, and then what your child hears from the mouth of someone else in church is, “Oh, no, we don’t worry about that, I’m going shopping after s- church.” And, “I’m gonna go mow my lawns.” And, “Actually, I’m just gonna go to work.” And they neglect the Sabbath. And then you- if you’ve got children, you notice how this plays out, right? You then hop in your car and your kid says, “Yeah, but Mr. So-And-So doesn’t do it.” You’re like, “Ah.”

And so it takes a whole community of going after the Lord. And if we, as a family, serve the Lord with all of our hearts, what a testimony that is to the children of this church when they come in and they see the delight of God’s people gathered in worship. Not hearts of stone filled with hypocrisy, and legalism, and coldness, but hearts overflowing with joy and delight because they are face-to-face with the living God.

I will never forget the day I said to my son, in a little Baptist church in Huntley, he was a wee, wee little tot. And he was f- he was alwa- he’s still fidgety. He can’t s- he just fidgets 24/7, and he’s fidgeting in the chair, and we’re trying to teach him to sit still during church and to stand still during church and not to look around at everybody. And there was this old man, he was about 86-odd years old, maybe some of you are going, “Well, that’s not old. That’s not that old.” 86, and he’s on the other side of the church, and I said to Isaiah, “Look at him and do what he does.” And you know what? For weeks and weeks, Isaiah would come into church and he’d sit down and he’d immediately go—and look at him, and then he’d, like, cross his legs like him. He took it really literally, it was great. And then he, the guy would stand up, and he’d stand up and he’d put his arms behind his back like he did. Uh, but it worked. By seeing an example and following it, and we can be that to all of the children in our midst, and also to brand new children of the faith as well, right? When an unconverted person comes in, they’ve got no idea what they’re doing. They don’t know their left spiritual hand from their right spiritual hand. And we can lay before them not just the words and commands of the Lord, but a life of godliness for them to follow in.

2 more, gonna need to do these much quicker.

Thirdly, it is in the pattern of Yahweh, the pattern of the Lord. Okay, it’s not in my pattern, it’s not in your pattern. Abraham was not to train them up in the way of Abraham, in the way of Terah, but in the way of the Lord. Because there’s only one right way, and it’s God’s way, not our way.

The 4th thing he was to do was to fulfill righteousness and justice. Why righteousness and justice? Well, this is summary wording, but righteousness is what you aim to constantly establish towards other people, and justice is what you seek to do when people are wrong. And so taking the second table of the law, how you treat your neighbor, love th- your neighbor with all your heart, God says, “Maintain righteousness,” so keep a level path of godliness towards everyone around you, and when people are wronged, seek to restore it. Fight for the justice of your household.

There’s a warning in this for us, isn’t there? You know, in the Scottish Presbyterian Church, when it first started, they, they wrote these books. Like, you’ve h- probably heard of the Westminster Confession of Faith? They wrote catechisms, they wrote a directory of public worship, and they wrote a guide to family worship. A directory for family worship. If you have not read this and you are the head of a home, go home and Google it, and if you can’t find it, message me, I’ll find it for you. Whatever you do, as a father, read that and do it. And if you’re a solo mum, I don’t think there’s any here, but if you’re a solo mum, do it yourself anyway.

But one of the things that the Scottish Presbyterian Church did is they put any father who failed to do family worship under church discipline. That’s a striking thought, isn’t it? Imagine if your church turned up at your home and said to you, “Have you been leading family worship in your home?” And you said, “Oh, nah, not really.” And they said, “Okay, we’re putting you under church discipline. You need to repent and you need to change. Otherwise, we will bar you from the Lord’s table, because you are not fulfilling the obligations of God.”

Why? Because they knew that, under God’s covenant, it is essential that heads of home raise up their children to worship and love the Lord. Now, as much as I’m a huge proponent of family worship, the point is, it is a very serious thing to neglect the obligations that God puts upon you. God, the Father, Hebrews, disciplines those whom he loves. The church also, in God’s name, disciplines those whom he loves. So let us be faithful.

The wonderful thing is, there is mercy. So the Lord says in Ezekiel 16, “You sacrifice my children.” a striking phrase. It’s the a- almost, I think it’s the only time in the Bible the Lord uses the word my children about children in the covenant. But he says, “You sacrifice my children to the fire of Molech, and I’m going to, like, wipe the plate of Israel and Judah.” And then he says at the end of the chapter, “And then I will establish a covenant with you, a covenant of grace and mercy, and I will restore you.”

If you’re sitting here today and you’re thinking, “I have messed up royally,” maybe it’s way too late. Your children have all flown the nest, and you’re thinking, “I’m an abysmal failure,” there is mercy and grace in God. Repent. And every time you mess up, repent again.

Lastly, the last thing the Lord wanted him to hear, have a look with me at the text again. He said, he charged him to do these things so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has promised him.

You’re gonna have to deal with this heading more quickly. So the Lord wanted him to know the truth that God had confirmed covenental hope upon Abraham.

See, one of the dangers we fall into is one of a couple of errors. One is we start to think, “If I do everything, I am going to bring about the results that I want in my children.” Error. The second is, it’s hopeless, because, you know, John Smith, he did everything right, and his kids all ran away. So there’s no hope.

And what Abraham needs to know from God is that God faithfully ensures that His means of grace achieve the purposes He sends them for. And so what he’s done is he said to him, “I’ve called you and I’ve chosen you, and I’ve charged you and commanded you to do these things. And if you do them, I will fulfill what I’ve promised.”

This is a wonderful hope for us, brothers and sisters. You see the words “so that” can be used in one or 2 ways. It can be used as, “If I do A, then I will achieve B,” so cause-effect, or it can be used as consequence, which is what is intended here. “I will do this so that,” consequence, “the Lord will do these things.” And what’s happening here is the Lord is basically communicating to Abraham that he can have hope, that if he as a father, as a covenental head, faithfully does what God calls him to do, God will faithfully do what He promises.

And that’s a glorious hope, because you can have confidence as a parent, as a husband, as a wife, and as a child of God, that if you will simply do the things God commands, God will faithfully fulfill what He promised. And He did to Abraham, didn’t He? What was the promise? That he would be a blessing to the nations. Brothers and sisters, look at the nations in Christ. From shore to shore, there are people who believe in Christ, and by faith are children of Abraham. God did it, and He will do it for you as well.

So believe, have hope, serve, but don’t be afraid of the outcomes. Serve faithfully, and leave the outcomes to God with boldness and confidence that He will do it. Serve with dependent faith, knowing that God is the one who achieves the results, and serve with expectation. How many times in the Old Testament does Saint says, “God, you promised. Lord, you promised to do this. Now fulfill it.” And you can have the same attitude. “Lord, you promise that if I command my children after me, you will fulfill your promises. You promise that if I raise up children in the way you should go, in the fear of the Lord, you will make sure he doesn’t depart from it. Now fulfill it. Do that which you’ve promised.” Come to the Lord with expected faith.

Brothers and sisters, the Lord dialogued before Abraham in order to confirm His promises with him and to charge him to move forward and fulfill the commands and to remind him of the glorious covenant that he had been chosen into. And this God never changes. These same words echo here to us today. They echo for us, calling for a better way. They’re like the, the seller in the marketplace, crying out, “Who will buy my wares? Who will buy my wares?” And the question is, do we have ears to hear, and respond, and say, “Lord, I want it. Lord, I want to walk in it”?

Well, may God Himself magnify Himself in us and raise up in us, and through us, a generation of obedient believers, and may His glory be established as we fulfill His obligations.

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