Sermon – Genesis 17 – Commands

1 … Last week, we were in Genesis 17 and looked at the names mentioned. This week, we will look at one of the commands the LORD gives Abraham, and next week, the other.
2 … Recap from Genesis 17 – Names
- Abram’s name is changed to Abraham.
- Sarai’s name is changed to Sarah.
- The LORD says that He is “El-Shaddai – God Almighty.”
3 … Abram’s name is changed to Abraham.
- Exalted Father to Father of many.
4 … Sarai’s name is changed to Sarah – even though both mean princess.
- She is no longer associated with Ur, but is now associated with Canaan.
5 … The LORD says that He is “El-Shaddai” or “God Almighty.”
- He is the God who is able to destroy or overpower.
- He is God of the mountain.
- He is the God who supplies, nourishes, loves, provides, and blesses.
6 … There are two commands in this chapter; one we will take a look at this morning; and another we will look at next week. The first command is to serve the LORD faithfully and live a blameless life. The second command is circumcision.
7 … The first command is found in Genesis 17:1 (NLT), and reads as follows … When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him, and said, “I am El-Shaddai – ‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life.”
8 … Amplified Bible (AMP) … Walk [habitually] before Me [with integrity, knowing that you are always in My presence], and be blameless and complete [in obedience to Me].
9 … Darby … Walk before my face, and be perfect.
10 … English Standard Version (ESV) … Walk before me, and be blameless.
11 … Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) … Live in My presence and be blameless.
12 … King James Version (KJV) … Walk before me, and be thou perfect.
13 … New International Version (NIV) … Walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
14 … Wycliffe Bible (WYC) … Go thou before me, and be thou perfect (and do thou what is right).
15 … Genesis 17:1 (Hebrew) … hiṯ-hal-lêḵ הִתְהַלֵּ֥ךְ
- To move about, to walk around, to pace, to wander, to spread
16 … Genesis 17:1 (Hebrew) … lə-p̄ā-nay לְפָנַ֖י
- Before, in advance of, prior to, in front of, facing,
17 … Genesis 17:1 (Hebrew) … weh-yêh וֶהְיֵ֥ה
- To be, to exist, to happen, to take place, to occur, to become, to develop into … this has a future tense which is something that should continue happening.
18 … Genesis 17:1 (Hebrew) … ṯā-mîm תָמִֽים׃
- Honest, simple, innocent, complete, full, upright, God-fearing, unblemished
19 … So, simply put, the LORD tells Abraham that he is to continually walk before Him and to be honest, complete, unblemished, and have a reverential fear of Him.
20 … We are also told to do the same; and this is reaffirmed in Matthew 5:48 (NLT), which says, But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
21 … The Greek word that English translates as perfect is “teleios” … It can mean the following: brought to completion, fully accomplished, fully developed, fully realized, thorough, complete, entire, full grown of ripe age, fully accomplished in Christian enlightenment, or perfect in some point of character without shortcoming in respect of a certain standard.
22 … So, we are to be blameless and perfect before God. We are to strive to rid ourselves of sin and strive to serve God more and more each day and in all aspects of our lives.
23 … Which is very similar to how the Amplified Bible words this verse … You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into spiritual maturity both in mind and character, actively integrating godly values into your daily life], as your heavenly Father is perfect.
24 … Do you remember the expression, “We are called to be ‘in’ the world, but not ‘of’ the world?” While this isn’t in the Bible, it is quite compatible with what the Bible teaches. While we live in this world, we are not to be like it, but still preach, teach, and reach out.
25 … John 15:19 (NLT) … The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.
26 … John 17:14-16 (NLT) … I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do.
27 … Romans 12:2 (NLT) … Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
28 … 1^st Corinthians 5:9-10 (NLT) … When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that.
29 … James 1:27 (NLT) … Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let this world corrupt you.
30 … 1^st John 2:15 (NLT) … Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.
31 … God called Abraham out of Ur, which helped him to avoid living in a pagan society. Abraham’s obedience to leave Ur and move to Canaan, changed the way he thought and his lifestyle. He no longer was associated with idols or pagan revelry or finding fulfillment in what the world had to offer. Abraham was God’s now and not the world’s.
32 … God also calls us out of this world. He calls us to leave our sinful lives. He doesn’t want us to be like this world, and wants us to think more like Him each and every day and be closer to Him as He changes us each and every day; and in all aspects of our lives.
33 … If we are saved, then we need to getting closer to God and obeying Him each and every opportunity we have. We are to serve Him and Him alone. We are to be holy people. We are not to be controlled by sin or live like the fallen world does.
34 … Romans 6:5-7 (NLT) … Since we have been united with Him in His death, we will also be raised to life as He was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.
35 … 2^nd Corinthians 5:17 (NLT) … This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
36 … Ephesians 4:24 (NLT) … Put on your new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy.
37 … Colossians 3:10 (NLT) … Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him.
38 … We always go to Galatians 5, but we need to not just talk about it, we need to live it.
39 … We don’t just need to have this as a nice catchphrase or motto, but it should really be how we model our life because we are living by the Spirit.
40 … Galatians 5:16 (NLT) … So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.
41 … In our lives there are two natures that do battle within us. We have our sinful nature that wants us to disobey God; and we have the Spirit that wants us to obey God and walk with Him and serve Him.
42 … Galatians 5:19-21 (NLT) … When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
43 … 1^st Corinthians 6:9-10 (NLT) … Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people – none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
44 … Ephesians 5:3-6 (NLT) … Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes – these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
45 … Revelation 21:27 (NLT) … Nothing evil will be allowed to enter (The New Heaven), nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty – but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
46 … Revelation 22:12-15 (NLT) … Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. Outside the city are the dogs – the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.
47 … Those five passages give us many things that we are to avoid – many sinful behaviors and lifestyles that should not control us and should not be our identity. However, avoiding sin, not pursuing sin, or being able to say ‘no’ when we are tempted is just one part of being a believer in and follower of Jesus Christ – of being a Christian, but it is not all of it.
48 … Beyond, just not being evil or sinful, we are to be righteous and active in our world. We are to teach, preach, and reach out to meet the needs of people.
49 … Matthew 25:45 (NLT) … I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.
50 … So, if we do not take care of needs – hunger, thirst, clothing, loneliness, shelter, etc. then we are ignoring Jesus.
51 … It is easy to stay in our little world and just not commit anything on those lists of sinful behavior, but it takes much more effort to take care of people. Simply put, we are love others, share the Gospel, teach sound doctrine, baptize, take care of needs, and fellowship.
52 … However, without the Holy Spirit leading and controlling us, we won’t be able to do anything effectively, and honestly we probably won’t have the desire to do anything, be it worship, fellowship, pray, study, teach, preach, or reach out to our community.
53 … Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) … But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
54 … So, if we are perfect and blameless, then we have no reason to not exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit. If we are not showing these Fruit, then that should be a warning that something, if not many things, in our lives are not right.
55 … If we are walking habitually with God and if He is #1 in our lives, then we need to make sure His priorities are ours.
56 … James 4:17 (NLT) … Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and not do it.
57 … We need to be in church at every opportunity for worship, study, fellowship, and accountability – and refusing to worship God or being with His people could be a sign of a weaker faith or hidden sin. We need to be studying our Bibles to know more about God and His will. We need to pray for each other and pray through until something happens. We need to fulfill the Great Commission by taking the Gospel to our lost and dying world. We need to take care of each other’s needs. We need to share our faith – our testimony. We need to teach sound doctrine. We need to pursue righteousness and avoid all sin.
58 … If we keep doing the wrong things and/or refuse to do the right things, then we are not walking with God and we are definitely not perfect or blameless.
59 … Closing Challenge / Commitment … Make sure God is #1 in your life. Make sure you are fully committed to Him and Him alone. Be perfect. Be complete. Continue to grow and pursue God and His will for your life and that of His Church, both worldwide at here as well.