Genesis #26 - The Gospel According to Abraham #16 - "How Faith Deals with Death" (Genesis 23)

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As we come to this chapter of your word, we are reminded of the reality of death.
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We even just sang about it, that a day will come when these trials will give way to glory.
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And so, Father, as we come to your word and we think about this reality of death, we pray that you would turn our eyes heavenward.
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May we not be filled with fear, but may we be filled with hope, hope that when we leave this life, we will go to be with you and hope that one day there will be a resurrection of the body and that we will live in life eternal with you.
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We ask all these things in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. Well hopefully we have your
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Bibles turned to Genesis chapter 23. Genesis chapter 23, if I can invite you to stand with me out of reverence for God's word as we read this portion of Scripture.
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Genesis chapter 23, Genesis chapter 23, if you borrowed one of the
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Bibles we give away, it's not page 15, it's actually page 17.
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Genesis chapter 23. And I will read the entire chapter. Genesis chapter 23, then beginning in verse 1, brothers and sisters, these are the words of our
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God. Now Sarah lived 127 years. These were all the years of her life.
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Sarah died in Kiriatharba, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
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When Abraham got up from beside his dead wife, he spoke to the Hethites, I am an alien residing among you.
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Give me burial property among you so that I can bury my dead. The Hethites replied to Abraham, listen my lord, you are a prince of God among us.
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Bury your dead in our finest burial place. None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead.
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Then Abraham rose and bowed down to the Hethites, the people of the land. He said to them, if you are willing for me to bury my dead, listen to me and ask
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Ephron, son of Zohar, on my behalf to give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him.
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It is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me in your presence for the full price as burial property.
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Ephron was sitting among the Hethites. So in the hearing of all the Hethites who came to the gate of his city,
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Ephron the Hethite answered Abraham, no my lord, listen to me, I give you the field and I give you the cave that is in it.
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I give it to you in the sight of my people. Bury your dead. Abraham bowed down to the people of the land and said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, listen to me, if you please, let me pay the price of the field, accept it from me and let me bury my dead there.
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Ephron answered Abraham and said to him, my lord, listen to me, land worth 400 shekels of silver.
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What is that between you and me? Bury your dead. Abraham agreed with Ephron and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver that he had agreed to in the hearing of the
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Hethites, 400 standard shekels of silver. So Ephron's field at Machpelah near Mamre, the field with its cave and all the trees everywhere within the boundaries of the field became
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Abraham's possession in the sight of all the Hethites who came to the gate of his city.
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After this, Abraham buried his wife, Sarah, in the cave of Machpelah, the cave of the field, excuse me, at Machpelah near Mamre, that is
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Hebron, in the land of Canaan. The field with its cave passed from the
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Hethites to Abraham as burial property. Pray that God will bless that reading of his word and give us understanding.
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Please be seated. For a few moments,
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I want to speak to you from the subject of how faith deals with death. How faith deals with death.
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When I was at school, one of my English teachers who loved short stories from all over the world shared a story that stuck with me.
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I had to have been 12, 13 maybe. I've never really forgotten it. The story goes something like this.
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It's based in the land of Iraq. A fabled Baghdad merchant once asked his servant to go run an errand for him in the market.
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So he goes and runs his errand in the market. And while he's in the market, the story goes that the servant rounded a corner and when the servant rounded the corner, saw
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Lady Death. In the Iraqi culture, Lady Death is like the Grim Reaper, someone you do not want to bump into.
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The servant, it said, was so terrified by the presence of Lady Death that he ran back to his master, didn't even complete the errand, and said,
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I'm terrified. I'm really scared. Can I take your fastest horse? And I need to leave
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Baghdad now. The master, surprisingly, grants the request.
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And so the servant runs, as it were, from Baghdad to another town called
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Samarra. Later that afternoon, the merchant is going about his business and he meets
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Lady Death. But Lady Death is a lot more assuring and says, no, not coming for you.
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It's not your time. And so the master feels a little bit emboldened and says to Lady Death, apparently in the story, why did you scare my servant?
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He's terrified and basically he's taken off. And the story goes that Lady Death is somewhat surprised and says to this master, he's surprised.
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I'm the one who's surprised. You see, I had an appointment with your servant, but the appointment wasn't here in Baghdad.
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The appointment was in Samarra, the town the servant had just run to.
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If you didn't get the point of the story, it's supposed to be pretty straightforward. Everyone has an appointment with death and you can't outrun it when your time comes.
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I told you that story kind of stuck with me. When I became a believer about a year and a half later, it really stuck with me because it reminded me of one of the first Bible verses
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I had learned as a new Christian, as a teenager. Hebrews chapter nine and verse 27. And just as it is appointed for people to die once.
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And after this judgment, I'm not sure if you came to just expecting to hear this today, but the reality is at some point, everyone will die.
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I apologize for if that makes me sound like a Debbie Downer, but actually I'm not being a Debbie Downer. I promise you that that's just the fact.
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If you live long enough on this earth, you will die at some point. But while that's a reality for everybody, what's really interesting when you read the
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Bible is that while everybody dies, the Bible is very clear, not everybody dies the same way.
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Now you may think, okay, Kofi, that's really obvious. Of course, not everyone dies the same way. No, I don't mean the physical manner in which you die.
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I'm talking about the approach with which we view death, the approach with which we face the end of life.
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The Bible makes it clear that there is a good way to die and there is a not so good way to die.
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So numbers 23, you may be familiar with the story that Balaam, the prophet, as he's prophesying, he looks over the nation of Israel and he says, numbers 2310, who has counted the dust of Jacob or numbered even one fourth of Israel?
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Let me die the death of the upright. Let the end of my life be like theirs.
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Coming from the UK, there's a verse that's often read at funerals, Psalm 116 and verse 15, precious in the sight of the
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Lord is the death of his saints. The New Testament picks up similar language,
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Revelation 14, 13. John is told to write in the vision, blessed are the dead who die in the
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Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit. So they will rest from their labors since their works follow them.
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The reality is while all men will die, that's a reality that is common to everyone.
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There's a big difference between the way the righteous die and the way the unrighteous die.
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At least there should be. The question becomes, does faith in the
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Lord impact how we die every bit as much as how we live?
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I mean, all of us would agree that being a Christian should have an impact on the way you live. But the question is, does it affect the way you die as well?
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Well, if you haven't gathered already, I do think that there is a difference between the way the believing person dies and the unbelieving person dies.
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I do think that actually viewing death from the perspective of faith in the Lord is very different.
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And as we come to Genesis chapter 23 this afternoon, really we're walking into the story of Sarah's death.
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We've been marching our way piece by piece through the narrative of Abraham's life, excuse me, and we've come to the death of Sarah.
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But as we come to the death of Sarah, embedded in this narrative are some truths and some realities that I believe this afternoon will help you and help me and help any believer in the
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Lord Jesus prepare for the reality of death.
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If death is inevitable for the believer and inevitable for the unbeliever as well, well, what is it that makes death different for the
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Christian? If there is indeed a difference between how the righteous approach death and the unrighteous approach death, what is that difference?
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Allow me to boil it down into one sentence, if I may. You see, Christian, for the believer, death is never disconnected from the presence, the power, and the promise of God.
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For the believer, death is never disconnected from the presence, the power, and the promise of God.
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For the rest of our time this afternoon, I want to briefly consider three lessons about death that we need to grapple with if we're going to face death as believing people.
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I would be failing in my role as a preacher of God's Word and as someone who is called to equip you with the
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Word of God. I would be failing if I didn't, on some occasion at least, prepare you for the reality of death and prepare you to view death as a believing person.
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So, three lessons, I will try my best not to be long before you. If we're going to face death as believing people, first of all, we're going to have to recognize that death will come for us all.
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Recognize that death will come for us all. As Bible verses go, verses one and two of our text are some of the most ordinary.
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There's nothing really varnished or embellished about these verses. It's pretty straightforward. So, again,
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I invite you to look at chapter 23, verses one and two. Now Sarah lived 127 years.
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These were all the years of her life. Sarah died in Kiriatharba, that is
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Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
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By the time we come to Genesis chapter 23, 63 years have passed since God initially called out to Abraham.
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All the way back in chapter 12, 63 years. After years and years of waiting for the son of promise, after a life of at times taking matters into our own hands and then learning that God could be trusted to make good on His word.
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Back home we say about, you guys use the same language for baseball, back home it's cricket. We say when someone's had a long life, we say they've had a good innings.
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Well, 127, I think we could all agree is a good innings. And at 127 years old,
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Sarah's life was over. Death had come for Sarah just as death will come for us all.
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Ever since the fall of man, we know from our Bibles that death has become quite inevitable for all of Adam's children.
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So what does God say in Genesis chapter 3, in the aftermath of the fall, that you will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground since you were taken from it for you are dust and to dust you will return.
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The psalmist says in Psalm 89, what courageous person can live and never see death? Who can save himself from the power of the grave?
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Despite what our society tends to think, you can't ignore the reality of death. You can't downplay or minimize it.
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You can't put it in a box and stick it on the top shelf and forget about it. I believe it's the evangelist
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Ray Comfort who says in his evangelism that the ultimate statistic holds true, one out of one people die, men die, women die, young people die, old people die, the rich die, the poor die.
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Everybody will die at some point. And of course, we may do everything we can to stay alive longer and let's be clear, you should do everything reasonable to take care of yourself and live as long as you can.
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Your life is a stewardship given to you by God and yes, you should be responsible with it. So absolutely. But may we never fall into the thinking that says because I do everything
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I can to stay healthy I can somehow beat death and so I don't need to think about it.
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No, beloved, recognize that death will indeed come for us all.
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And if death is going to come for us all at some point, it might be good for us and here's a piece of advice I believe to be rooted in scriptures.
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It might be good for us to prepare to die now, not this actual moment, of course, but while we still have the opportunity to prepare, prepare to die and I would say prepare to die well.
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That's a phrase we don't use often, dying well, but you all know my love of the
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Puritans. I think personally they're the greatest generation of Christians who ever lived. That's just my personal take. One of the many reasons
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I love the Puritans is how often they viewed this world in light of the next one.
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Without being morbid, my opinion anyway, they thought a lot about death and how to be prepared for it.
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And no doubt living in a world like they did where life expectancy was a lot lower, think of one of my heroes,
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John Owen, I forget how many of you, basically all of his children died either at childbirth or in early infancy.
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I think that forces you to think with some clarity about life and the life hereafter when you recognize not everybody makes it long enough in this life.
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This week as I was preparing and I was thinking about this passage, I picked up a little book.
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William Perkins, who is considered by some to be the father of Puritanism, he wrote a little book in typical
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Puritan fashion, has a long title. The long title he gives is A Salve for a Sick Man or A Treatise Containing the
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Nature, Differences and Kinds of Death as Also the
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Right Manner of Dying Well. You can actually get that book, it's available on Kindle, those of you who are the e -book type.
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I encourage you to read it. But since I don't have time to read the whole book to you, can I share with you just some of the insights he gives as he meditates on this reality that death will come for us all?
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He gives a few basic principles as he starts the book on how to prepare to die well.
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He says first of all we ought to meditate on the reality of death while we're still alive. His title foundation scripture, if you will, for the book is
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Ecclesiastes 7 .1, that a good name is better than fine perfume and the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth.
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And his thinking in the book is basically as he starts that while we're alive this is a good time, in fact as good a time as any to start thinking about death and the life hereafter.
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And he counteracts those who say, oh you shouldn't think about death, just think about life while you have the opportunity.
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And he says, no actually thinking about death has some benefits. He says that it humbles us under the hand of God if you recognize that your life is but a vapor, it should promote some humility in you.
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He says that it promotes deeper and further lifelong repentance. If death is one day coming and you don't know when it's coming, you ought to be living a life of repentance, not just a one -time repentance.
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And he says that thinking about death stirs up contentment in every situation. I believe what's the phrase that we always use, you can't take it with you?
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Well if you genuinely believe that it would make you more content in the here and now. And so he begins by saying that you should meditate on the reality of death while you're still alive.
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But then he also says endeavor daily to take away the power and the strength of death.
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And this whole, that little section he has in his book is fascinating on this. He cites Hebrews chapter 2 where he talks about Jesus being the one who destroys him who has the power of death and that he frees those who are held in slavery by the fear of death.
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And Perkins makes a very simple point, it's his death that, it's his fear, excuse me, that gives death power over anyone.
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So how do you fight the power of death? You fight that fear with the good news of the gospel.
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He goes on, he says that rather than waiting to enter into eternal life, he says enter into the first part of eternal life now.
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In classic Pearson fashion, he breaks down the various what he calls degrees of eternal life. And he says that the first degree of eternal life is what we enjoy in the here and now.
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The saving knowledge of God, the peace of conscience that the gospel gives to us, the leading of the spirit.
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And he says in light of all of that, don't wait for eternal life then, enjoy the benefits of your eternal life now.
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And finally he says that you should exercise and prepare yourself for death, I love the way he puts this, by dying a little bit every day.
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His contention is that if Romans 8, 13, you are putting to death the deeds of the body, well you've been dying for quite some time.
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So when the day of death comes, his contention is it won't be quite a shock to you. I think it's kind of humorous the way he thinks there, but I think there's something to that.
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I believe it was Paul who says in 1 Corinthians 15, if you're taking notes, verse 31, Paul says of himself that he died daily.
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He says a ton more, and again, I'm not here to give you a book report, we're here to preach the word of God, but don't get lost in the point that I think he helps us to understand.
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If you're going to face death like a believing person, you need to recognize that death will come for all of us at some point, just like it did for Sarah.
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Oh, and by the way, for those of us who are left behind, when death comes, grieving is actually okay.
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Do you catch that in verse two? Sarah died in Kirithaba, that is Hebron, the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
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As you all know, I talk all the time about being somewhat stoic as a human being. I don't generally apologize for it because it's how
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God has made me, but even me who is as stoic as can be sometimes, you will never get me to say that it is wrong to mourn or to weep or to grieve death when it comes.
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I say that because at times there are things in our sort of Christianese culture that seem to suggest that if you're a strong Christian, you don't grieve.
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After all, if they're a Christian, you know they're with Jesus, why would you grieve? Well, yes, we
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Bible, I alluded to earlier that we grieve as those who have hope, but please note that Paul, when he says that, doesn't say we don't grieve.
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He just says you don't grieve like those who don't have hope. It does not make you some kind of super Christian to be strong and not cry when times of grief come.
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The reality is that death is painful, that though we live in a world where because of the fall, death happens, there's something in us that inevitably knows that death is unnatural.
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And if grief isn't allowed because we're Christians, can I just be honest and say, frankly, I want no part in such a religion. But thankfully, that's not the case, because you see even our
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Lord Jesus mourn when people—shortest verse in the Bible—Jesus wept.
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Remember the context of that? It's the death of his friend Lazarus. If the most perfect human, the man of men, if you will, who had perfect control of his emotions, could mourn the death of his friend,
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I think it's okay for Christians to mourn when they lose people close to them. And so Abraham grieves the loss of his dear wife.
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But as he grieves, we learn a second lesson about learning to die well. So yes, you have to recognize that death will come for us all, but you also need to remember your identity as a pilgrim.
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Remember your identity as a pilgrim. Abraham grieves, but the time for grieving eventually gives way to action, because his wife needs to be buried.
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So pick up the story with me in verse three, okay, in your own Bible. When Abraham got up from beside his dead wife, he spoke to the
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Hethites, I am an alien residing among you. Give me burial property among you so that I can bury my dead.
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Abraham has lived in what will later become Hebron, Kiriath Arba for quite some time, and it seems that in his time there, he's developed something of a relationship with the local people.
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They know him, he knows them, they know him. He's able to, in fact, go and speak to them and they hear him.
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But that's not where I want to focus. I want to focus on how Abraham identifies himself when he goes to speak to them.
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Look at verse four. He says, I am an alien residing among you.
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I have to confess that when I read these verses this week, I kind of smiled to myself, because legally, the man who is speaking to you is what's referred to as a resident alien, which is kind of fun.
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I'm an alien. As you all know, I'm not a
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U .S. citizen yet. I have technically what's called legal permanent resident status.
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I have a green card. I get to live here. I get to participate in life here.
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I get to participate in most things anyway. They even take money from me when
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I earn it. But am I an American in the legal sense?
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No. Not yet. Abraham identifies himself as a resident alien.
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But the question is, when he says this, is he just talking about his relationship to the people of this land?
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Is Abraham just saying, guys, you know I'm not from around these here parts, so to speak? Is that what he's getting at when he says that?
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I mean, if he does, it's kind of weird, because I'm pretty certain they knew that. Is this
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Abraham saying he's just not one of the locals? I'm not so sure. Actually, I tell you what, I know he's not saying that.
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And the reason I know that is, when I read the New Testament, the New Testament gives me some insight in how to understand this passage.
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Keep something here in Genesis 23, turn over to Hebrews chapter 11 for a moment. Hebrews chapter 11, again, this passage that we've actually been to a few times in our study of Genesis, the so -called
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Hall of Faith chapter. Hebrews chapter 11, I want you to pick up with me in verse 8 for a moment.
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Hebrews chapter 11, and this is the entry about Abraham in this section. Hebrews chapter 11, beginning in verse 8.
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God's word says, by faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed, and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance, he went out, even though he did not know where he was going.
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By faith, he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents, as did
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Isaac and Jacob, co -heirs of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is
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God. By faith, even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the one who promised was faithful.
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Therefore, from one man, in fact, from one as good as dead, came offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore.
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Verse 13, I want to draw your attention, dear friends. Verse 13, these all died in faith.
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He's referring to the patriarchs. They all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised.
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God told Abraham he was going to receive a land, and yet Abraham hadn't received it. And he kind of gives us something of a spoiler alert by saying he doesn't receive it fully.
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But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and this is where I want you, if you're the marking type in your
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Bible, you might want to underline this, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth.
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You see, when Abraham says, I'm an alien residing among you, I don't think he's just talking about the fact that he is not one of the people of the land.
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I believe the authors of the Hebrews helps us to understand that Abraham viewed himself as a foreigner, not just in relation to the
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Hethites, but to this world in general. Abraham understood his relationship to this world, to one of being in it, while not being from it.
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Well, doesn't that sound familiar? Just in case you think, okay, good for Abraham.
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Well, good for you too. First Peter chapter two, verses 11 and 12. Remember what Peter says then, we studied this last summer, dear friends,
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I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul.
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That's your identity. And I put it to you that if you're going to prepare for death, well, part of preparing is going to have to be recognizing that though you are here now, this is not your final destination.
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It saddens me that there is unfortunately types of Christian teaching that are ascending in popularity nowadays that basically tell us that talking like this is pessimistic or it's pietism.
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You have no idea what those phrases mean, bless you, I'm glad you don't know what those phrases mean.
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Unfortunately, in some circles, they are thrown around all too easily. The idea that any
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Christian views this world as not our final destination, as not our home, it's kind of looked at with a bit of suspicion, but I'm sorry, the
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Bible is painfully clear that your presence in this world, as important as it is, is temporary.
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That's why Jesus could say, Matthew chapter six, don't store up treasure for yourselves on earth where moths and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
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That's why Paul could say in Romans 13, besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep because our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
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The night is nearly over and the day is near. Paul could say in first Corinthians seven, as he's speaking to issues relating to marriage and singleness and all of those complexities, he could say in first Corinthians seven that the time is limited.
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So from now on, those who have wives should be as though they had none. He's not saying leave your wives and become single.
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That's not his point. What he's saying is you should have the mindset as though they had none.
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Those who weep as though they did not weep. Those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice. Those who buy as though they did not own anything and those who make use of the world as though they did not make full use of it for the world in its current form is passing away.
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I don't claim to know a lot about investments, but I do know a bad investment when I see one. And I put it to you that Christian, if your only thought is for this world and you never think about eternity and you never think about the fact that you are journeying through this life, seeking to do good as the
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Lord will give you the opportunity as you pass through this life. But if you forget the fact that this life is not all there is and you invest in this life, can
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I put it to you that I don't like your odds. I don't think the investment is going to pay out quite as well as you think it will.
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And of course, let me be clear, remembering that you are a pilgrim and making that your identity doesn't mean withdrawing into a bunker.
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It doesn't mean becoming a prepper and basically disconnecting and getting off the grid.
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I'm sorry, the Bible is pretty clear about that. Work a job, get married. If you aren't married, if you are married, stay married.
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Have kids as the Lord allows. And by the way, don't be weird and ask people when they're going to have kids, not your role. Take a believing interest in the world around you.
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As Paul says, as the Lord gives you opportunity, do good, but remember why you do all of that and how you do all of that.
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Remember that you are the citizen of a differing kingdom and that kingdom demands your allegiance, not this one.
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Does that sound hard to swallow? Does that make you uncomfortable? I'll be honest, it makes me uncomfortable.
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Does it make you want to kind of find a form of Christianity that's easy and simple and doesn't ask so much? I believe in the
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English language you're supposed to say, I hate being the bearer of bad news. Not so much this time.
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Yes, it's not easy and yes, it's not always comfortable, but Christian, this is your identity. And maybe, just maybe, we would struggle a little less with the reality of our death and the reality of the death of those we love who are believers if we stopped fighting the fact that we were pilgrims and just embraced it.
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Ultimately, Abraham's self -identification needs to be your own, Christian. But here's the thing.
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Abraham's self -identification as a pilgrim doesn't negate his responsibility, come back with me to Genesis 23, it doesn't negate his responsibility in the here and now to bury his wife.
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So, yes, he says, I am an alien residing among you, chapter 23, verse 4. But then the story gives way to, and kind of interesting detail, give me burial property among you so that I can bury my dead.
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That's going to form the background for the third lesson I have for you. So, you need to recognize that death will come for us all.
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You need to remember your identity as a pilgrim and you need to realize that death cannot defeat
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God's promise. Death cannot defeat God's promise. This whole section really from the,
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I put 5 to 20 on screen, but really it's the end of verse 4 through to the end in verse 20. This whole section is interesting because the rest of this chapter is taken up essentially with a real estate deal.
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Well, it starts with a response to Abraham's request from the people of land. So, look at verse 5. The Hethites replied to Abraham, listen to us, my
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Lord, you are a prince of God among us. Abraham has a reputation and it's a good one. So, you are a prince of God among us.
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Bury your dead in our finest burial place. None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead.
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Then Abraham rose and bowed down to the Hethites. He shows respect to them as the people of the land. He said to them, if you are willing for me to bury my dead, listen to me and ask
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Ephraim son of Zohar on my behalf to give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him.
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It is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me in your presence for the full price as burial property.
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Seems simple enough. Abraham has respect to the people and so when he asked for property, they're more than happy to oblige.
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Now, Ephraim happens to be there, the one he asks. So verse 10 and 11, Ephraim was sitting among the
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Hethites. So in the hearing of all the Hethites who came to the gate of his city, Ephraim, the Hethite answered
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Abraham, no, my Lord, listen to me. I give you the field and I give you the cave that is in it.
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I give it to you in the sight of my people. Bury your dead. Ephraim isn't about to charge a man as special as Abraham.
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And by the way, some debate, is Ephraim being a kind man here or is he being kind of weak and bowing to pay pressure and not wanting to look bad?
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We don't really know. But either way, it doesn't matter because he makes an offer that, think about it, if someone came to you right now and said, hey, so I've got some land.
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It's actually really good land. It's not a swamp. I've got some good land. Hey, I'll give it to you.
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I'll give it to you for a dollar. I don't know about you, I'm taking it. This is an offer that no sane man would refuse.
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And that's what makes Abraham's response really striking. Verse 12, Abraham bowed down to the people of the land and said to Ephraim in the hearing of the people of the land, listen to me.
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If you please let me pay the price of the field, accept it from me and let me bury my dead there.
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Part of me wants to, if I were there, wants to jump in and say, Abraham, Abraham, Abraham, did you not hear what he just said? He's giving it to you for free.
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In the community I grew up in, we say, he's giving it to you for the low, low. What are you doing? Why does
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Abraham want to pay for this plot of land so badly? Abraham, have you never heard of not looking a gift horse in the mouth?
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You guys use that phrase here? Okay, okay. Just making sure I always forget which ones are English ones and which ones are
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American ones. Why does he make such a big deal of having to buy this land?
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So it's going to sound really simple when I say it. He makes such a big deal of buying this land because if he buys it, he owns it.
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You see, there's a B plot to this story that we're watching unfolding. You might miss it if you don't pay attention.
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It's one of those blink and you'll miss it moments, but it's there. Think about this. Remember what we've said about Abraham.
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Abraham is promised this land. God has told him multiple times, I am going to give to you this land that you're on.
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But up to this point, has Abraham owned any of this land? No. He kind of moves around in it, but he doesn't own anything.
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He owns a lot, but in terms of land, doesn't own so much as a square foot.
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He doesn't own a parcel of land in Canaan until this moment.
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Ian Duguid in his commentary on Genesis puts it like this, the strangeness of the behavior is in fact precisely the point.
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Abraham bought a piece of land on which to bury his dead in faith that one day the entire promised land would be his.
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Abraham himself would be buried on this spot as would Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Leah. When Joseph was about to die, he gave instructions that his body was not to be buried in Egypt, but to put in a coffin so that it could be brought up out of that place and buried in the promised land.
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The field of Machpelah thus was the first fruits of the promised land.
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You see, Sarah might have died before seeing the fulfillment of this promise, but her death doesn't negate the fulfillment of the promise.
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God told Abraham, you will possess this land. And even the death of Sarah can't stop that promise.
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And so verses 14 through 20, I won't read them, but they're basically the completion of this deal as Abraham purchases this burial plot.
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And like we said, Sarah will be buried here, Abraham will be buried here,
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Isaac and Rebekah will be buried here, Leah and Jacob will be buried here. And now this way, you think, okay,
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Kofi, that's great and that's wonderful. What does that have to do with me? Well, I'm glad you asked.
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You see, yes, you are not heir to real estate in the Middle East, but don't miss the point of this passage. Death is not a defeat for the
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Christian. Death doesn't negate the promise of God for the Christian. Actually, if anything, death is the gateway to us fully possessing that.
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It's not the fulfillment of it, but it's a gateway. This is how Paul explains, he don't need to turn there, but Romans chapter eight, we read these verses all the time.
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Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword as it is written, because of you, we are being put to death all day long.
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We are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. Knowing all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
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For I am persuaded, and I love that Paul starts this by saying, I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creative thing, just in case you thought something can slip in there, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our
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Lord. Sarah's death wasn't able to invalidate God's promise to Abraham and his seed, and your death won't invalidate the promise of God's love towards you in Christ Jesus.
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Yes, death is real, and yes, death is inevitable, but if you are in Christ, the good news is that God's promise of life and of love in the
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Lord Jesus Christ is good in this life, and it's good in the life to come. We live in a fallen world, yes, and that fallenness comes to bear the most when death happens, but the beautiful reality for any
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Christian, for anyone who has heard the good news of Christ's sinless life and substitutionary death and has taken hold of Christ, the beautiful reality is that when the moment of death comes, yes, the body may be separated from the soul, but the soul will never be separated from the love of God.
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As I was putting this together this week, the verse of a hymn came to mind. You all know
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I love hymns. I tend to personally think they're better than a lot of the modern stuff that's out there. Again, just my opinion.
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One of my favorite hymns is from the pen of Fanny Crosby. Most of you know her as the one who wrote
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Blessed Assurance. She wrote a hymn called
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All the Way My Savior Leads Me, the last verse of that hymn. All the way my savior leads me, all the fullness of his love, perfect rest to me is promised in my father's house above, when my spirit clothed immortal, wings its flight to realms of day.
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This my song through endless ages, Jesus led me all the way.
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And the reality is for our brothers and our sisters who have gone home before us, they know that reality to be true.
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I mentioned my friend Dr. Reader, he knows that reality, wasn't planning on it, but now he knows it.
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Tim Keller died this week, those of you who follow evangelical news and happenings, been sick for a number of years.
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He knew it was coming. But guess what? Whether you know it's coming or it comes upon you suddenly, the reality of the love of God in Christ is not negated by the fact that you will one day cross that great horizon.
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The promise of Christ's love is good here, it's good in the grave, and it's good for eternity.
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And that's how we deal with death from the perspective of faith, recognizing that though the day of death will come for all of us and though this world is not our home, the reality of death will not negate the promise of God.
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And father, we are so thankful that indeed nothing can separate us from that promise. We are thankful that as in life, so in death, we have the promise of your love, of your power and of your presence.
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And so father, we ask that you would help us that we would be the ones to prepare to die well, that we do not think of death with fear, that we do not run from the reality of death, but we recognize that death is but a gateway to receiving all that you have promised us.
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Ultimately, eternal life with you, peace in your presence forever, and one day the reunion of body and soul in the resurrection, never to die again.
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And so father, help us that we would be those who die well, and that we would be those who live well, not because of anything in us, not because we are moral people, but precisely because of your gospel and the power it gives.