When Laughter is Not Good - Sermon Notes | Bible Baptist Church of Ballincollig

I. Background and Review (Genesis 17:1,4-8)

A. Do you really believe God’s promises? Or do you have your limits to how far you can trust God?

Abraham believed God’s promises
But he had limits - there was only so much he could accept before he said “No way!”
“As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God” - Genesis 17:4-8
Abraham has heard this all before, over and over
He no longer believed it like he used to
In Chapter 17, God reminds Abram He is God Almighty!
God has to remind Abram this fact… Genesis 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, **I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
God is Omni-potent - able to do anything! ANYTHING! Created everything
But nothing has happened for 24 years (TWENTY FOUR YEARS) since Genesis 12 when Abram heard and believed God promises first day!
Except for Abram and Sarai getting older
I don’t think Abraham doubted God’s ability - he didn’t stop believing in God…
He just doubted God’s dependability - that He would still keep His promises
We know God is God
But do we believe He is the faithful God? The dependable God - the God you can completely trust! The God who keeps His promises, and accomplishes His word and His will!
Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, **he is God, **the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

B. The Sign of the Old Covenant was Circumcision

We learned a little bit about circumcision last week
“This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you” - Genesis 17:10,11
Abram was told to circumcise every male in his household
It was a proof, a sign that a family was following the God of Abraham - trusting Abraham’s God, and wanting to be included in the blessings promised to Abraham

It was supposed to be to be between God and Abraham and anyone who believed God like Abraham did.
It specifically applies to Abram’s descendants, the nation of Israel.
But under the old covenant, it was available to any and all who would desire to follow and trust the God of Abraham.

But there is more to circumcision than just the cutting away of a babies’ foreskin

It was part of the Abrahamic Covenant - Old Covenant - between God and His people
It was the first law God gave before the Law of God came in Exodus
It was necessary if you wanted to be included in the blessings promised to Abraham
It was ONLY an outward act though - a cutting of the flesh
A picture / symbolic of what actually needed to happen in people’s HEARTS
- “Ye stiffnecked [STUBBORN] and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye” - Acts 7:51
- Physical circumcision never changed anybody - it was just a ceremonial act
- A shadow / symbol of something far more important
God gave circumcision to show what needs to happen to a HEART, not to a body!
- The better circumcision is the cutting away of our old nature from our soul
- A SURGICAL OPERATION ON OUR HEART/SOUL, not our bodies!
- “And ye are complete in him [IN JESUS], which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, [AN INVISIBLE SURGERY] in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh [THE OLD YOU] by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism [HIS DEATH], wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” - Colossians 2:10-15
- When you get born again, God separates your soul from your old nature - from your past, you sinful record, your lusts, and your flesh - and that is what we need!
- “Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law” - Galatians 5:2,3
- “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love” - Galatians 5:6

Let’s pick up where we left off in Genesis 17… after Abram is told to circumcise his entire household

II. Message

A. Sarah’s Part in the Covenant (Genesis 17:15,16)

“And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her” - Genesis 17:15,16
God changes her name to Sarah

Adds one letter ‘ha
Added it first to Abram - to AbraHAm
Sarai to SaraHA
From ‘My Princess’, to ‘The Princess of Nations and Kings’

She was already a believer in the God of Abraham, the God of heaven and earth
And she trusted God

Enough to trust her husband, To follow him, To stay with him.
Because she was trusting God, not just Abraham.

But she found it hard to continually trust God

For the impossible things - It was impossible for Sarah to get pregnant.
For the times when it hurt to believe God, waiting on God
It was same with Mary and Martha when Jesus said, “Don’t worry about Lazarus, even if he is dead… I am the resurrection! Just believe in me, trust me!”

God Promises Sarah will be Blessed / Honoured

She’s Going to be blessed, honoured, and enabled, by God, to do something great.
That is the blessing of God
- Not money.
- But honour.
- Birthing a literal, physical son from her own ancient womb.
And nations and kings would come from her, pointing to the King of kings, Jesus, being born from Sarah’s womb.
And it IS going to happen.
- It may take a while.
- It has taken a while. It’s taken over 24 years.
- But real faith ignores delays.
- And faith trusts God’s faithfulness, not our feelings
She just needs to not give up when it takes too long. Or else she is going to miss it!
And so, From that moment on, Sarai believes God enough to trust Him!
“Through [HER] faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable” - Hebrews 11:11,12

Sarah needs to stay intimate with her husband.

This was not going to be a virgin birth!
She needed to be intimate, very close to Abraham for this to happen
There is no cut-off date for physical intimacy, no matter how old you are.
Unless you’re physically unable.
“And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” - Matthew 19:5,6
‘One flesh’ means exactly that, and that’s why people used to get married.
That’s why people wait until marriage because that’s the joining of 2 bodies together for life. Worth waiting for!
And when you stop having sex, you are breaking a vow.
You’re hurting the other person. God calls it, Defrauding them… Cheating them from what they should have access to, and what every marriage needs

B. Abraham’s Limit (Genesis 17:17,18)

“Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!” - Genesis 17:17,18
He has stopped believing

Abraham can’t believe any further. He has reached his limit.
Abraham has been respectful of God’s words. And believed them up until 10 years earlier.
But since Ishmael was born, he has stopped believing.
He didn’t stop believing in God…
He stopped believing God was going to do what He said He was going to do - give him a son by Sarai!

Only able to believe what he (Abram) can do now

He is saying to God, “It just can’t be like you say, and like you promise, God.”
I will be a 100 year old man next year, and my wife will be 90 years old.
I have given you my best efforts. And at least I have Ishmael
I have accepted Ishmael as enough of God’s promise for a son.
I’m satisfied with my and Sarai’s best efforts. I wish YOU were satisfied too!
Abraham wants some credit for his best efforts.
Not knowing that his best efforts in the works of the flesh, are always wrong.
- Having a child through Hagar was so wrong.
- To Abram and Sarai it was good enough.
- But to God, it was like filthy rags.
- It was NOT what God promised!

Abram LAUGHS at God’s promise “Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed”

So when God reminds Abraham that Abraham and Sarah are going to have a child in a year, Abraham can only laugh in disbelief.
He’s not laughing out loud, but he’s laughing in his heart.
That is NOT good
Abraham is being rude toward God in his heart.
And guess who can see inside of our heart?
People USED to take what goes on inside their hearts SERIOUSLY - ashamed, concerned
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also” - Matthew 23:25,26
Quit worrying about what is going on in other people’s hearts - you cannot see the heart of anyone, so quit judging people’s hearts. Look at your own heart!
GOD will judge the heart.

Laughing was NOT a good thing, but also not an end thing - it doesn’t ruin him

C. All Doubts Overruled! (Genesis 17:19-22)

“And God said, Sarah thy wife SHALL bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him” - Genesis 17:19
You know what God does now?
He laughs WITH Abram! IMAGINE it!
He overrules Abraham’s unbelief. Goes ahead and does what He promised even without Abram believing anymore!
Abraham already had saving faith

Abraham has had faith that got him right with God. Into the family of God.
We call it born again!
He first had what is called SAVING FAITH.

But Abraham struggled to believe the harder things.

The promises of God that are outside of our expectations
That take longer that we expect
That are harder to endure, and wait for

And that’s living faith.

The just get saved by believing God, and LIVE by believing God
The just, the righteous, live by FAITH!
Israel struggles with constantly believing God, when Moses shows up.
And says, we’re going to leave Egypt, and Israel at first believed it, and then it got hard, and then they stopped believing it.
Then when Moses led them out of Egypt into the wilderness.
They believed God, and they were excited, and they lifted their hands in praise to God, and 3 days later when they ran out of water, they stopped believing.
And they got angry, and they wanted to go back.
Psalm 78:19 Yea*, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?*
The attitude of Israel constantly was, “Can God?”
If we were honest, we say the same things.
But having real, solid, strong faith is what we need

Thankfully, our unbelief after we have believed does not cause us to be thrown out.

2Timothy 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
Mary and Martha believed Jesus could heal their brother Lazarus when he was dying in John 11, but could not believe he could raise the dead.
- That was faith too far for them to go.
- That’s why Martha and Mary were so upset at Jesus when He arrived 4 days late! They should have trusted Him!

Then God names the baby…
And his name, you will call ‘LAUGHTER’

“And God said, Sarah thy wife SHALL bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: …” - Genesis 17:19
Isaac means laughter! Wait, WHAT?
- It was so embarrassing for Abraham to hear God suggest, “Hey, I’m thinking you should call his name Isaac,” meaning, “I think you should call him laughter.”
- Abraham stopped breathing when he realising God heard his laugh in his heart.
Then God says His covenant will be with Isaac’s children, and not Ishmael.
That is very important!

Let me make two things clear:

Your up and down faith does not change the promises of God - it just ruins your enjoyment of those promises!
You are not believing God for what YOU want him to do.
- You are believing God for what HE says He will do.
- And God here says that Sarah WILL have a son.
- So they can just trust it will happen, when God wants it to happen - that is TRUST

D. But What About Ishmael? (Genesis 17:20-22)

“And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham” - Genesis 17:20-22
Ishmael will have a powerful place in the world - even a blessed place

“And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren” - Genesis 16:11,12
God fortold that Ishmael was going to grow up and become a wild, uncontrollable man, yet was going to be blessed by God anyway as part of God’s plans.

Why? Why was Ishmael going to be included in any of God’s plans?
It is because Abraham pleaded for Ishmael, prayed for Ishmael, interceded for Ishmael. Asked God to bless Ishmael.
That’s a good thing. It is called ‘Intercession’

You and I need to pray for people who have no interest or part in God’s will yet!
- Pray for your children, wayward, rebellious, away from God, hating God
- Where would they be if we did not pray for them?
- Pray for our government, for our nation!
An unbelieving husband is sanctified by a believing wife, if she prays for him.
- 1Corinthians 7:14-16 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace. For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?
- If a Christian cares about her husband’s soul, she stays with him, not knowing whether God will save him or not, and so, she covers him in prayer!
- Same goes for a man married to an unbelieving wife!
There’s so many people in our church, and in our world who are blessed by God, sometimes because somebody prayed for them - maybe a godly mom or godly dad or godly grandparent.
- They are still “wild” and not controlled by the Lordship of Jesus Christ - no one can tell them how to live
- But they are saf because of your praying! Your pleading!
- They don’t realise that God is being very good to them
- All because God wants them IN the NEW covenant that Jesus purchased for us!
- Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

God says His covenant is with Isaac only

It’s very clear. Crystal clear - clear as day…
“…my covenant will I establish with Isaac” - Genesis 17:21
NOT Ishmael! The blessings of the covenant are not with Ishmael at all.
There’s a direct line from Abraham to Isaac and his descendants. GENETICALLY
The descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be blessed!
“How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee” - Numbers 24:5-9
“As concerning the gospel, they [THE JEWS] are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election [CHOICE OF GOD], they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” - Romans 11:28,29
The Bible does not teach that every individual descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is automatically spiritually saved simply because of physical ancestry. Just that they are in a place of special blessing above all other people.

So God left Abraham - stopped talking with him. Finished for the day!

“And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham” - Genesis 17:22
It must have been amazing to watch God actually appear as a man!
God Almighty will be back in chapter 18
But next time, Abraham won’t know it is Him!

E. Abraham Acts on Faith Again (Genesis 17:23-27)

“And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him. And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son. And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him” - Genesis 17:23-27
He acts or rather REACTS to God’s promises again in faith and confidence that God will work everything out in His time.

He has found it easier to believe God again.
He’s back to believing God like he did in Genesis chapter 12.
He’s had a revival of faith in God.
He’s been encouraged.
And he obeys these new instructions about circumcision and waiting on God.

He started circumcising everyone under his authority

Oh, did I say that? Yes, Abraham had authority in his home.
No, he didn’t FORCE circumcision on anybody.
But he was ‘lord’ of his home.
And he gave instructions as an expectation
- Just like your employer does - expects you at such a time, and to do such a thing
- Just like fathers used to do
And if anybody wasn’t going to do what Abraham said, they could leave.
If they did not get circumcised, they were saying to Abraham and to God they were not going to be part of a believing covenant with God. Their choice

Circumcision was a simple surgical procedure

These were not cavemen.
They knew how to do many kinds of simple surgery

Even Abraham got circumcised
Then Ishmael. Ishmael’s 13 years old and he was circumcised.
Then every male servant.

Abraham was such a godly example, and such a good leader in his home, that everyone in his household, including slaves that had been bought, all want to be in the covenant, and so were circumcised.
That’s a big thing - Who wants to obey God because of YOUR lifestyle? Huh?

F. What the Covenant Meant

The covenant has nothing to do with conversion. No one got saved by being circumcised and getting into the Old Covenant
The covenant has to do with blessings from God towards anyone IN the covenant

Was Abraham already converted? Already a believer? Yes.
It is like a wedding
- Love does not come from the ceremony
- The ceremony is a reflection of the two hearts in love
- And the ceremony just binds the two people together, and restricts them to each other, no longer as free to do as they please
- Love is the cause of the marriage
- And the marriage is the cause of all the blessings of God
- God joining two people together!
- Whether they are saved , or ungodly - they are blessed when married!
It starts with Belief first, then Circumcision, then, the obeying of the Law
It allowed Israel to enjoy God’s blessings, protection IN their land
But disobeying the covenant expectations, and not believing the promises cost them their place in the Promised Land time after time

Abraham already had a relationship with God.
But the covenant expected a walk with God, a way to live.

Not just that he have a relationship with God.
But that he lived according to God’s expectations, according to Godliness.

Not everyone that is in the covenant is saved - they are just blessed

They’re just agreeing with God’s expectations - His laws
The Jewish people are blessed by God, but will end up in hell if they do not repent of their sinfulness and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
Just like all the rest of us have to

III. Summary

Do you really believe God’s promises? Or do you have limits to what you trust God for?
We find believing easy, until it becomes hard! Impossible!
Abraham had a hard time trsuting God
So did Sarah
Sarah needed to have just as much faith and trust as Abraham
Because God promised her just as much honour and blessing as Abraham
Remember He is God Almighty!
Has your heart been circumcised? Separated from your old nature - from your past, from you sinful record, from your lusts, and from your flesh?
To those of you married - stay close - the blessings of God are not for perfect people, but submitted people, who stay intimate and vulnerable in the marriage covenant when it is hard
Just know, We will sorrow here, but God gives us joy in the end! Laughter!
Look forward to it
Live by faith, trusting God, following Jesus