Max Lucado tells the story of being dropped by his insurance company because he had one too many speeding tickets and a minor fender bender that wasn't his fault. After that, he received a letter in the mail, informing him to seek coverage elsewhere. As he thought about how he wasn't good enough for his insurance company, he thought about those who feel the same with God. Max Lucado writes, “Many people fear receiving such a letter [from God]. Some worry they already have.”
Then he imagines what that letter, straight from the Pearly Gates Underwriting Division, would say:
Dear Mrs. Smith,
I'm writing in response to this morning's request for forgiveness. I'm sorry to inform you that you have reached your quota of sins. Our records show that, since employing our services, you have erred seven times in the area of greed, and your prayer life is substandard when compared to others of like age and circumstance.
Further review reveals that your understanding of doctrine is in the lower 20th percentile and you have excessive tendencies to gossip. Because of your sins you are a high-risk candidate for heaven. You understand that grace has its limits. Jesus sends his regrets and kindest regards and hopes that you will find some other form of coverage. (Quoted in Brady Boyd, Sons & Daughters, Zondervan, 2012, page 40; www.PreachingToday.com)
Sad to say, there are a lot of believers who feel that way. They wonder if they have exhausted God’s grace and have become “high risk candidates” for heaven. They’re not sure of their future with God.
Well, I’ve got good news for them and for you if you feel this way sometimes. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 17, Genesis 17, where God gives believers some guarantees and assurances about their future.
Genesis 17:1-2 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” (ESV)
Now, Abram was anything but “blameless” at this time. We’ve caught him lying to save his skin in Genesis 14, and we’ve caught him trying to force God’s hand in Genesis 16.
Abram is anything but “blameless.” but God wants to assure Him anyway. God wants to confirm the promise he made to Abram about his future. Even though he is not “blameless,” and even though he has had lapses of faith, God wants Abram to know without a shadow of a doubt that His promises are still good.
This, on top of the fact that Abram is 99 years old, and Sarai, his wife, is 89 years old. People that age just don’t have kids. It would almost be like Bob and Ann Burns announcing that they are expecting a child. It just doesn’t happen!
Even so, God wants to guarantee his promise that he will give Abram many descendants. How?
Genesis 17:3-5 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram… (ESV)
The name means “Exalted Father.” It’s a name that looks back to his royal lineage.
Genesis 17:5 “No longer shall your name be called Abram (Exalted Father), but your name shall be Abraham…”
The name means “Father of a Multitude.” It’s a name that looks forward to his many descendants.
Genesis 17:5 “…For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.”
Notice, it’s in the past tense. It’s as good as done with God. Abram’s name change is God’s eternal guarantee that He will keep his promises to Abram.
Genesis 17:6-8 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” (ESV)
God’s promises are everlasting! That means nothing will ever stop God from keeping His promises. Abram is 99 years old and his wife is 89 years old, BUT THAT WON’T STOP GOD. Their descendants will spend 400 years in slavery in Egypt, BUT THAT WON’T STOP GOD. Babylon will carry them away in exile for 70 years, BUT THAT WON’T STOP GOD. Rome will ransack their capital city and scatter them all over the world, BUT THAT WON’T STOP GOD. They will be without a country for nearly 1900 years, BUT THAT WON’T STOP GOD. Hitler will try to wipe them off the face of the earth, BUT THAT WON’T STOP GOD. Radical Muslim terrorists will wage “holy war” against them, BUT THAT WON’T STOP GOD. No matter what happens,
God will keep His promise to give Abraham many descendants and to give them “the whole land of Canaan.” How do we know? Because God gives Abram a new name to guarantee that promise.
Do you know God does the same for us, as well? God gives every believer a new name. The moment we put our trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior, God changes our name! We were once known as “God’s enemies” (Romans 5:10), but now He calls us his “friends” (John 15:15). We were once known as “sinners,” but now God calls us “saints” (1 Corinthians 1:2). We were once known as “sons of Adam,” destined for ruin, but now we are called “sons of God,” destined for royalty. It was a title for kings in Bible days!
Oh, it may not be evident yet – just as it wasn’t evident for Abraham, a 99 year old childless man being called “the father of a multitude.” Our new name may not describe what we look like today. But our new name guarantees who we will be. Our new name guarantees our new future, as believers in Christ, because God Himself gave it to us.
Ravi Zacharias talks about an orphanage which works with children who have been deformed from birth. They give these children a home and find medical help to correct what can be corrected. Then they look for families who will adopt them.
One little boy had always been passed over for adoption because he has a particular brain malfunction that is very rare. He often doesn't connect thoughts. At about nine years of age, he was losing all hope as, one-by-one, he saw his housemates being selected by families and leaving. He began to ask those who were taking care of him why no one was adopting him. Why didn't anybody choose him?
Then through an incredible series of events, a couple from Texas, who had already adopted one child from the same orphanage, called to ask if this boy was still there. Through the goodness of the parents' hearts, and the generosity of the couple who established the orphanage in agreeing to cover all the costs of his adoption, the day was set for this little boy to be taken to his new home. The special part of the thrill for him was that was going to be reunited with one of the little boys who was his housemate at one time.
His actual name is quite hard to pronounce, but it is quite a normal name in his native setting. His adoptive parents sent him the name they wanted to give him – Anson Josiah, A.J. for short – and he began to walk around the orphanage, before his new parents came for him, telling everybody as he points to his chest, “You can call me A.J. My name is A.J.” (Ravi Zacharias, Why Jesus? FaithWords, 2012, pp. 166-167; www.PreachingToday.com)
Even though his thoughts were disconnected, he was able to connect to his new name and all that meant for him now as someone’s son.
My dear friends, if you have put your trust in Christ, you too have been given a new name. John 1:12 says, “To all… who believed in His name, he gave the right to become children of God.” There is no higher name than to be called a “child of God.”
Once, when Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was waiting to board a plane, he overhead the desperate pleas of a private at the ticket window. “I’m going overseas in three days. I want to se my ma before I go. I can go home and back only if I travel by plane!”
The ticket agent explained to him that every seat on the plane was taken.
That’s when Brigadier General Roosevelt stepped forward and said, “I’ll surrender my seat to him.”
A fellow officer protested. “But sir,” he said, “this is a matter of rank.”
“That’s right,” General Roosevelt replied, “He’s a son; I’m only a general.”
When God called us “His children,” He conferred upon us the highest honor He could. It’s His guarantee that we will make it “home” someday. Are you unsure about your future? Don’t be. Just put your trust in Christ and…
ENJOY YOUR NEW NAME.
Find confidence and joy in what God now calls you as a believer in Jesus Christ. It’s His guarantee of your new future. It’s His guarantee that He will indeed keep all of his promises to you. So enjoy your new name as a believer in Jesus Christ. Then…
ENJOY YOUR NEW LIFE, as well.
Find confidence and joy in the signs of change happening in your own life. And let those outward signs of change assure you of an inward reality, which guarantees your future.
That’s what God did for Abraham. He gave him an outward sign of an inward reality.
Genesis 17:9-14 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” (ESV)
God told Abraham to circumcise every male in his family? Why? Because it’s “a sign of the covenant” (vs.11). It’s a symbol that God will indeed keep his word to give Abraham many descendants.
In Genesis 9, God gave Noah a rainbow as “the sign of the covenant” never to destroy the earth with a flood again. Here, in Genesis 17, God gives Abraham the rite of circumcision as “the sign of the covenant” to give him many descendants. And I can’t think of a more appropriate sign. Every time a Jewish man and his wife make love, they are reminded of God’s promise to their ancestor, Abraham, to give him many descendants.
Now, to reject the sign was to reject the promise. That’s why circumcision was such a serious matter for Abraham’s descendants. But circumcision was never more than a “sign.” It was never intended to bring about God’s blessings. It was only intended as a sign that God had indeed already blessed His people.
Turn with me to Romans 4, where we have the New Testament commentary on this passage.
Romans 4:7-10 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. (ESV)
God had declared Abraham righteous in Genesis 15 long before he was circumcised in Genesis 17.
Romans 4:11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. (ESV)
You see, circumcision didn’t make Abraham righteous. NO! Circumcision was only a sign – an outward sign – of something God had done years before in Abraham’s life. God had ALREADY declared him righteous. Circumcision was just God’s “seal,” God’s guarantee of that righteousness. It was an outward sign of an inward reality and a sure promise of eternal life.
Do you know, God has done the same for us. He has given us an outward sign of an inward reality of our righteousness in Christ. He has given us His “seal,” His guarantee of a glorious future.
Do you know what that seal is, like the sign of the rainbow, or like the sign of circumcision in the Old Testament? Turn with me to 2 Timothy 2, 2 Timothy 2, where God tells us what His seal (or guarantee) is for believers today.
2 Timothy 2:19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal [same word used in Romans 4]. But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
Every time you turn away from sin, it is God’s seal or guarantee that He has indeed already declared you righteous. It is an outward sign of an inward reality that God has already blessed you.
Like circumcision, our righteous deeds do not bring about God’s blessing; they are simply a sign that God has already blessed us. In other words, we don’t do good works to get blessed. We are blessed to do good works. Good works follow as a sign of God’s work already in our lives.
One fall afternoon, an elderly man and his wife were at home when they heard a knock on the door. The visitor was a neighbor lady who said to the man, “I was out feeding the horses, and I felt like God was prompting me to come and say thank you for the difference you've made in my life.”
She sat down and began to tell stories about times he had been merciful to her as a widow and cared for the cows and horses and done all of kinds of practical things. She thanked him for being so real. She went through this litany of good deeds, including bringing peace in relationships with some of her children. She finished with, “I just felt like God wanted me to tell you that.”
The old man paused, looked at her and said, “It was the Lord Jesus Christ who did it.”
There was another pause, and the old man’s wife struck up a conversation with this lady. A few seconds later they heard a cough and saw the old man slumped over. He was with Jesus.
His last words were, “It was the Lord Jesus Christ who did it.” (Dale Durie, speaking about his grandfather in the sermon, Mission Possible, 6-1-03; www.PreachingToday.com)
Do you ever get discouraged about the future? Do you ever wonder if you’re going to make it? Then look at what Jesus is doing through you. Look at those little acts of kindness. Look at those times you have turned away from sin. Look at those times you did what was right. That’s not you. That’s GOD at work in your life, and that’s God’s guarantee that He will complete the work He started in you.
Dear friends, don’t be discouraged. Don’t doubt. Instead, put your trust in Christ and enjoy your new name; then enjoy your new life as God’s guarantee of a glorious new future.
Harry Adams was a pastor for 23 years before Lou Gherig’s disease forced his retirement. Then in a matter of eight short years, the disease took his voice, robbed him of the use of his limbs, and forced his family out of a lovely home. That’s when he wrote these words:
“I desire a healthy body, and Jesus promises me a body that is powerful, incorruptible, glorious, and spiritual.
“I desire a home that is beautiful and spacious, and he is preparing such a home for me in a city whose builder is God.
“I desire a world without crime, lies, or violence, and he promises me a world where righteousness dwells.
“I desire to be with those I love, and he promises that I will be caught up together with them forever.
“I desire an end to my sorrow, and he promises me fullness of joy in his presence.
“I desire a heart so filled with love that there is no room for sin, and he promises to make me like Jesus when I am in heaven.
“I desire a ministry, and he promises I will serve him eternally.
“I desire a voice with which to praise him, and he promises I will sing before his throne.
Most of all, I desire to see him, and he promises I will always behold his face. He will keep his promise to give me the desires of my heart. (Harry Adams, Fayetteville, North Carolina, Kindred Spirit, Summer 2005 Vol. 29, No. 2; www.PreachingToday.com)
Count on it, believing friend. No matter what your circumstances, God will keep His promises to you, as well.
