Gen 17:1, Now 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.
This morning, in one sense, we come to the end of our consideration of this passage. We will move forward in our scripture reading when we next continue. In another, more important reality, however, we will never leave this passage’s truth. As we have, hopefully, been emphasizing over and over again, this is the very basis of everything that we see as our life on this earth and in all of eternity. Why we were born, who we are, what is established as our purpose in life, in fact every facet of what we do and experience is all tied up in this glorious declaration of God to Abram and to us. "I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. 
We will never be finished with the full effects of this reality, no matter how limitless the length of eternity. We are brought before God Almighty in Jesus Christ. We should be so overwhelmed and humbled beyond measure at the mere idea that God could so fully manifest Himself, the Almighty, in such love to any member of humanity, much less to you and to me. 
This should serve as a great reminder that as we are contemplating the nature and character of God in the limited manner of our understanding, we need to do so with utmost reverence and awe and humility. We have been using a compiled list from Hope for the Heart Biblical Counseling Library.
(Hope for the Heart Biblical Counseling Library © 2006 by Hope for the Heart) It is but a means to classify and to identify those scriptures which serve to highlight, in a concise and organized fashion, some portion of the limitless attributes of God. This is but a meager attempt at the impossible and we do so with absolute reverence and humility and contriteness before God. 
	We saw that this passage can be broken down into two facets of God’s nature of Being. The first section highlights some of those truths which remain singularly God’s own. He Alone is, and ever will be Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Eternal, Unchangeable, Unfathomable, Self-existent, Self-sufficient, Infinite, Transcendent, and Sovereign. These are all elements, and along with many more that comprise some of the limited understanding that we have of just how Almighty He truly is. 
	The second facet of this passage, then, provides a glimpse into some further reality of the greatness of God Almighty as should become evidenced in His working power in our lives. These are those aspects which are to have a direct outflow in the manner in which, through Jesus Christ, by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, He manifests Himself in our lives on this earth unto others. So far, we have briefly highlighted, with all meekness of heart and veneration and astonishment of purpose, the truth that He is Holy, Righteous, Just, Merciful, Long-suffering, Wise, Good, Wrathful against sin and its effects in His people, Truthful, and Faithful. By His Holy Spirit, in Jesus Christ, these are to become the expression of His power in our lives today and always.
	We now have two more of the limitless realities of God’s nature that are directly attributed to us in Christ Jesus. The first is the fact that God is Jealous. He is unwilling to share what is rightfully His. He tells this directly to His people in Ex 34:14 for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
We often convey very negative conceptions of jealousy, with our tainted human understanding of the rudiments of jealousy. We think of jealousy as, quote, an ugly emotion because it signifies ownership and expresses selfishness. However, it is entirely appropriate in God because He does own us. He is our Creator. He is totally without selfish motive. End Quote (Hope for the Heart Biblical Counseling Library © 2006 by Hope for the Heart). God watches over us and He cares for us and He does everything necessary to keep us unto Himself in all His lovingkindness and tender mercy. We should be so very thankful that God is jealous, because it means that He will do all that it takes to guard His glory and His name’s sake in Jesus Christ in our lives. That is fully manifested in the manner in which He envelopes us into the covering of His grace and His mercy and His lovingkindness.
This perfect and untainted jealousy should have its basis in our lives with regard to how we love and honor and seek to please Him. We too, should be absolutely and resolutely unwilling to share what is rightfully His in our lives when it comes to tainting our relationship with Him in sin or self-righteousness. We should be jealous against sharing what is His place in our hearts with all those defiling and distracting elements and cares and concerns of this world. Everything in our life is to be guarded with that heart which will not allow itself to put anything else in the rightful place of God. We should be utterly jealous of the time and the energy and the dedication and the commitment required to please God. 
This then brings forth the final characteristic of God’s perfect nature of Being that we will discuss that is to be made part of our lives in Jesus Christ. It is the indisputable and overriding and extremely glorious revelation that He is Love. God’s very character is seeking another's best, doing the most positive, selfless and redemptive thing possible for another. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. 
The Lord declared His so great love through the Prophet in Jer 31:3, The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. All the limitless realities of God are brought together, in no small measure, into the fact that He is the very Character, Nature, Being, and Expression of Love.
This is so imperative because it is the whole essence of what man desires and craves, no matter what it may entail. When we think about the greatest need of mankind, what man searches for relentlessly from birth to death, it is summed up in his need for love. He will strive for it to the ends of the earth. He will do anything in order to grasp onto it and to achieve it. Every motive of humanity is utterly tied up in the striving after love, no matter how perverted and twisted the understanding of what love is. We have all kinds of substitute terminology for it: power, wealth, adoration of fans, status, recognition, marriage, family, selfishness, generosity, devotion, intellectual excellence, camaraderie, fidelity just to name a few. But it all comes down to the fact that man is seeking some real expression of finding the insatiable desire to be loved! 
This is the place that God has carved out in His creation for Himself. Since He is Love, we can only find true and absolute satisfaction when we have found Him. Then, because love is only manifested as it covers and lays down its life for others, we are to do so for the sake of all those whom God brings into our lives. This is described in 1 John 3:16, We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. This is exactly how He has always intended for His love to be spread abroad in this entire universe. As Christ lives in us, so will we learn, day by day, to lay down our lives for the sake of His name to be declared to those in need. The search begins and ends with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who laid down His life for us because He loves us.  
	This is the heart of God as expressed to Abram on the momentous day of our reading. This is the heart of Almighty God as voiced by Jeremiah in Chapter 9, verses 23+24, Thus says the Lord, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the Lord. 
The Lord delights in His people as they come into the knowledge that He is the living embodiment and source of all these wonderful characteristics and many more that we have not listed. It is impossible to know all the fullness of God, yet, as we seek Him, He reveals Himself in increasing measure unto us. He delights in making Himself the every truth of who we are on this earth. His Divine revelation will always be reflective of His glory and His revealed Being of Love. 
	There is a final certainty that we need to voice before we leave this passage. It is the surety that God is Almighty in every possible aspect of His divine power and ability to perform what He says He will accomplish. This has been evidenced historically, as we know in scripture. Abraham and Sarah are the immediate focal point of our current reading. As we will discern next week, God takes the actuality of His tremendous pronouncement of I am God Almighty… to the very personal level with Abraham and Sarah. Gen 18:14, "Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son." He told them what would take place by His power alone and it was accomplished. 
	We hear this same truth spoken to Moses in Num 11:20, as the Lord put before Him the very question with which we often struggle. And the Lord said to Moses, "Is the Lord's power limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not." So often, we find ourselves in those seemingly impossible situations and circumstances in which there appears to be no way out. We struggle with our understanding of what is taking place and we seek to find some escape from it all. We bang our heads against the wall of frustration and inability and desperation, constantly searching for an answer to open the door of escape until we find ourselves so boxed in that we cannot move in any direction. We are shackled in the human horror that unless God intervenes we are doomed. That is when God the Almighty shows Himself in all His glory, and let us ever praise Him that He does! He never leaves us or forsakes us. He constantly rescues us as we count on Him to do it, despite our inability to understand all that is before us.
	As we are admonished in Job 11:7-10, "Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? "They are high as the heavens, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? "Its measure is longer than the earth, And broader than the sea. "If He passes by or shuts up, Or calls an assembly, who can restrain Him? God is not limited by what we understand and by what we hope to happen! He is Who He is and the Lord God Almighty will do what He will do when He chooses to do it! All that we have to know is that He loves us and that He guides us into ever increasing measures of spiritual life if we will but seek Him and His ways with all our heart.
	The Psalmist understood this as he relates in Ps 115:3, But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. God is not under our control! He is not a God who is limited to do what we want when we want Him to do it! He does completely and fully as He determines! We will best come to know Him as we give ourselves over to Him. We need to learn to live by His direction and by His guidance and in complete obedience to His Word by the Holy Spirit. This is how we will come into a living relationship with God.
	The Prophet emphasizes this in Jer 32:17-20. Please turn to it so we can read it together. Jer 32:17-20. Highlight this passage for those times of needed encouragement and enlightenment as we struggle in this realm. Jer 32:17-20, 'Ah Lord God! Behold, Thou hast made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power and by Thine outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for Thee, who showest lovingkindness to thousands, but repayest the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God. The Lord of hosts is His name; great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds; who hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day both in Israel and among mankind; and Thou hast made a name for Thyself, as at this day. 
	Who are we to question the Lord God Almighty? Who are we to demand that He perform according to our ways and our feeble comprehension? Rather, we need to humble ourselves before Him, prostrate ourselves in His presence, and determine that we want nothing other than His way in our lives and in the lives of all those whom He has redeemed unto Himself for His glorious name! 
	King Nebuchadnezzar understood this as we read in Dan 4:34+35, "But at the end of that period I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. "And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, 'What hast Thou done?' The absolute sovereignty of God is beyond any dispute!
	As well, in the fact of the truth of the Almighty God, we have complete reassurance in the manner in which He will work in and through every one of the dilemmas of our lives. As we are sustained and encouraged by Our Lord Jesus, Himself, in Matt 19:26, And looking upon them Jesus said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." There is nothing beyond the scope of God in this world in any manner. Everything that seems impossible to man’s eyes falls under the might and the power of God Almighty to do as He has so determined. 
	This includes even the manner in which those aspects of His Divine nature that He has purposed to be evident in His people will be accomplished. We do not have to despair or bemoan the fact that we are not perfect of ourselves. We were never intended to be perfect except in Jesus Christ. It is in Him that God has ordained and will have that perfect witness of His grace and His mercy and His love on this earth. Phil 4:13, I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Let us never waste any time or energy with our recalcitrance and human failures before God. Rather, in all purity and desire of heart and soul and spirit, let us seek for Him to do His good work in our lives to a greater and greater measure in the fact that He is the Lord God Almighty. Let Eph 3:20+21 be the first, the sustaining, and the final prayer of our hearts each day of our lives. Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. So be it!
Now 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. Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is Ps 104:31-34, Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works; He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smoke. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall be glad in the Lord. Amen.