Genesis 17 verses 15 through 27. These are God's words. Then God said to Abraham, As for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her, and also give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples shall be from her. Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, O that Ishmael might live before you. Then God said, No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year." Then he finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. So Abraham took Ishmael, his son, who was all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins at that very same day as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very same day Abraham was circumcised into son Ishmael and all the men of his house born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him." So far, the reading of God's inspired and errant word. God here gives the only name change, the only divine name change that we have in the Bible for a woman. There are other people whose other men, whose names are changed. And we just saw Abram's name changed to Abraham going from exalted father to father of a multitude, making his connection with the visible church on earth more a part of his identity, as would, of course, happen as well when he receives the sign of belonging to the visible church on earth, Abraham's household, as all the men from eight days old and up would receive that sign and have that be a significant part of their identity. Sarah, of course, is not circumcised, cannot be circumcised, but the Lord changes her name from Sarai, which has that possessive pronoun on the end of the noun, my princess, to Sarai, takes away the possessive pronoun. No longer is she identified primarily as Abram's wife, my princess, but she is just in a fuller and more general sense, princess. She is the one from whom these nations and kings of people will come. the visible church on earth, of course, being for a time a nation and for a time a kingdom. And during this time, the visible church on earth would be, as it were, the children not just of Abraham, but the children of Sarah. And so God, by giving the sign to her husband and to the men, but not to her, has not diminished or demeaned her. He gives her a name that is equivalent to, a name change that is equivalent to Abraham's name change. And he makes a great part of her identity also, her membership, her part in the visible church. This is similar to what the scripture reminds us of in 1 Timothy 2. when it says that although a woman may not teach or have authority over a man, 1 Timothy 2 verse 12, nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with self-control. And so women today not only receive the covenant signed, since the sign of admission into the visible church now is baptism and not circumcision, And that, of course, is applied to women as well. But they continue to have this very significant role in God's work in His church on earth, bearing the covenant children and having a significant role in their own sanctification and their children's sanctification, seeking not only for themselves to continue in faith, love, and holiness with self-control, but notice she will be saved in childbearing if they continue, a wife and a mother having a significant instrumental role as God uses her to bring her children to faith, to grow them in love and holiness. and self-control. So, whereas the rest of the world is a place where the fall is especially emphasized, where men or women desire to control men rather than submitting to them and taking their proper place, and men domineer over the women. the way that Cain was supposed to master and dominate his sin in the church as God's grace works in in both The women are submissive and embrace their role rather than trying to control or take the role that doesn't belong to them and the men highly value and treasure recognize that Their wives have this glorious place bearing the covenant children and having this significant effect significant role in bringing the children to faith and growing them in love and holiness and self-control and so you have that pattern throughout scripture where The first name change given to a woman was not given by God, it was given by the man who had originally named her woman and he hears the promise about her role in God's work and in redemption and names her Eve, mother of all the living. And then at this stage and phase in God's redemptive work in the earth as he's establishing the visible church in Abraham, and now not Sarai, but Sarai's household. She is the mother of nations and kings of peoples, etc. And so this is an elevation and recognition of the great place that God has given covenant wives, covenant mothers, in his visible church on earth, and the great dignity that they have. A reminder that for every one of us, back then, whether they had the covenant sign or not, but now for us, who all have the covenant sign, a significant part of our identity on the earth is that of church member. We may be a husband, or a wife, or a daughter, or a son, father, mother, may have other aspects and roles in the church, in the world, neighbor, brother, but church member is a significant part of our identity. And the sign is given along with these name changes because that is part of what God is saying. when he puts his sign on us is that church member is a significant part of our identity. Little Katie is going to be baptized in a couple of days. And that's because although she has various parts of her identity, baby sister and daughter, most of all in her home, church member, Is a significant part now of her identity because the Lord has given her to a covenant family and so the sign is put upon her and the fact that that is a big part of her identity is communicated to her and Then Abraham falls on his face laughing and we must remember from Romans 4 verses 9 to 22 and especially verses 19 to 21 which tell us that Abraham did not doubt when he received this promise. but that he became strong in faith. This laughing is not like the unbelieving laughing of Sarah in the tent in the next chapter. This is the laughing of amazement at the truth of what God has said about Sarah. And yet, Abraham, in love for the son that he already has, desires that the covenant would come through Ishmael, but God has just honored his wife and said that the covenant would come through her. Ishmael did not come through Sarah. And Abraham, perhaps, thinks that the problem is Ishmael's character. And so he says to God, having heard this promise about Sarah, having believed the promise about the child, growing strong in faith, his faith is strong enough to ask for something else that seems impossible, Ishmael's conversion, Ishmael's regeneration. And he says, oh, that Ishmael might live before you. He's praying that God would do the same for Ishmael that God said about Abraham when he appeared to him at the beginning of this chapter. I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless. So taking Ishmael's sinfulness and unbelief, and at 13 years old developing into this wild donkey of a man, as he is called elsewhere in Scripture, and setting that over against God's almighty power, which one of those two things wins? why God's almighty power does, of course, because God is God Almighty. Not only is Abraham now able to walk before God and be blameless, but Abraham prays for his 13-year-old son's conversion. Oh, that Ishmael might live before you. Shouldn't this be for a father who believes God and has faith in God's promises and God's power and a father who loves his child, if he has a 13-year-old who is not yet displaying faith and godliness, shouldn't this be his prayer for his son or his daughter if He has a daughter who is not yet giving evidence of conversion. Oh, that Ishmael might live before you. And also for our converted children, of course, because they're still only partially sanctified. And it is the power of God Almighty who has put his sign upon them and has given them, during their life on earth, this significant part of their identity that they are members of the visible church All of that encourages demands that we pray and we labor for our children to live before God. Now, as far as the covenant coming through Ishmael, God says no, and he basically repeats that Sarah is the one from whom the Son, that the covenant, the everlasting covenant, will come from. Yet, as far as Ishmael, he says, as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him. And so the first part of I have heard you, of course, has to do with Ishmael's walking before God. And that's ultimately going to be answered through Sarah, because it's Isaac's descendant, Christ, in whom Ishmael must come to faith. from whom Ishmael must get forgiveness and life to walk before God. And so the no answer is actually part of the yes answer. that she will bear the son and he shall call his name Isaac, and it's through that Isaac that Ishmael will have the first part of the blessing. But also, God gives Ishmael some significance in his earthly life. He promises that he will multiply him exceedingly and that he will beget 12 princes and God will make him a great nation. but his nation will not be the covenant people," verse 21 says. And so God makes two promises, and it would have been some comfort to Abraham when Ishmael is put away, although there's grief at that time, for his son, Ishmael, who has to be put away. You remember when he mocks Isaac at Isaac's weaning ceremony. But as princes start to come from Ishmael, as it becomes apparent that the second part of the promise is being kept. and that Ishmael is becoming a great nation, Abraham would be able to remember back to this day, the day on which he was circumcised, the day on which Ishmael was circumcised, and the day on which he prayed for his son, O that Ishmael might live before you. And God said, as for Ishmael, I have heard you. We must always trust God, of course, but what a help that must have been to Abraham to be able to remember God saying that about his son. And so they apply the sign that identifies not just a major part of Abraham's identity, being the head of the Visible Church on Earth at the time and Ishmael's identity being a member but also all the other men as members of the Visible Church and remembering from Sarai and her name change that all the women too were now members of the Visible Church that what God did on this day was not merely to make a promise about how his power would enable sanctification, but he constituted Abraham's household a church. by giving a sacrament as visible sign and seal. Now, our household belongs to the church. The sacrament that is upon us, however, is the sacrament of the household of God in Jesus Christ. Baptism, water baptism being put on us in the name of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and being for admission into the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a sign and seal that reminds us that it is Jesus' pouring out of His Spirit that gives us that internal, almighty work to bring us to faith, to make us, to grow us in love and holiness and self-control, although instrumentally We have various roles for that. But praise God, he demonstrates his power to us and that it is the God to whom we belong in the visible church who works all mightily to bring us to faith, to make us part of his invisible church, the elect who were chosen before the world began for whom the Lord Jesus has come and atoned, whom He brings to faith by the work of His Spirit and adopts as His children. It is the power of God that does that, and we should both pray for it and then whatever part He gives us in His work through His church on earth and in the church on earth. We should do so in dependence and confidence in Him. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this passage. Thank you for baptism, for giving us to have significant part of our identity that we are part of your church on the earth. for giving us a mark that reminds us of that, a sacrament that reminds us of that. We pray that you would make us to love you and to love your church, to desire the salvation of all who are in it, to fulfill all of our roles in our household, and in your congregation, and your church, in hope that you will use it, use us to answer those prayers. Help us, Lord, to depend upon you, to laugh with joy over the certainty of all the good that you have promised to do, and over the goodness of that good that you have promised to do. We ask all these things in Christ's name. Amen.