I Will Establish My Covenant

Minister:
Date: AM
Text: Genesis 17:7
Psalters: 134, 94, 393, 360
Sacrament of Baptism
  1. The Idea.
    1. God spoke about this relationship with Noah and Abram earlier.
    2. Proximate blessings to Abram because of the relationship are given in 12:1-3.
    3. God made it clear that He establishes this relationship alone; it is not a mutual agreement.
      1. God declares that He, not Abram, would establish the covenant. Altogether a divine work.
      2. Also important to the relationship is that it is “everlasting.”.
  2. The heart of the covenant is the relationship of being a God to His people.
    1. To be a God.
      1. All humans have a god, even after the fall into sin.
      2. God regenerates, giving man to know Himself as the only One to be worshiped and thanked.
    2. He is a God to them so He is “their God!”
      1. The covenant is not a promise, nor a contract, nor a way to some higher end, nor an alliance. But it is a very definite relationship God has with Abram and his seed.
      2. He is their God, their sovereign King and Judge.He is the God who loves them with an eternal love.
      3. When Jehovah is their God, then they are God’s people.
      4. If we have Jehovah as our God, then we need nothing more, for He is everything.
    3. Amazing because God is so far above us. What an honor!!
  3. This relationship God will establish in the seed of Abram, i.e., in his generations.
    1. While this was said to Noah, this aspect is emphasized in our text because the sign of circumcision is added (10ff).
    2. God declares that He is pleased to use parental example and instruction (18:19) as the means to establish the same relationship with the children of believers’