Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Genesis chapter 25. Genesis 25. I'd like to deal with verses
seven to 10. The scripture declares And these are the days of the
years of Abraham's life, which he lived, and 103 score and 15
years. Then Abraham gave up the ghost
and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and
was gathered to his people, and his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried
him, in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son
of Zohar, the Hittite, which is before Mamre, the field which
Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth. There was Abraham buried,
and Sarah his wife." You know, it's amazing how quickly
a man woman's life can be summed up. James 4.14 says, whereas ye know
not what shall be on the morrow. Here the spirit of God declares
our very ignorance of even the next moment. We don't know. For what is your life? Now, there's
a question. What is your life? Actually,
a believer realizes it to be a continual day of trials, heaviness,
fleeting moments of quiet, fleeting moments of quiet, but realizing
The next trial of tribulation's there. Man is born of trouble,
trouble. It is even a vapor that appeareth
for a little while, a little time, and then vanisheth away. That's the truth that we all
witness the older we get. How quickly, I always remember,
You said about somebody telling you that time always seemed faster. You never believed them until
you got older. You said, no, I think they're
right. I think you're right. It's fast. Abraham died. But even in Abraham's death,
as in every man to whom the Lord's been pleased to show mercy, we
behold the omniscience and the power, sovereignty of our God. The Lord had told Abraham in
Genesis 15, 15, and thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace. Thou shalt be buried in a good
old age. You know, a believer notices
those words like that. You shall, you will, I will,
you shall. God is certain. The Lord was gonna keep him.
You shall go to thy fathers in peace. Now, You know what we
say? If the Lord wills. The Lord says
you will. He orders all things. And Abraham
died just exactly the way the Lord told him he'd die. Died
in peace. Died and went to his people.
Why? Because the Lord kept him. The
Lord kept him. Abraham died, and he died in
the faith, child of God. The times of the Lord for his
people are in his hands. Abraham, it was revealed, these
are the days. Isn't it amazing how the scripture
writes just exactly? These are the days of the years
of Abraham's life. He lived 175 years and he died. Then Abraham gave up the ghost
and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years and
was gathered to his people. Now, an amazing truth set forth
in this verse of scripture about how he died. The scripture says
Abraham gave up the ghost. He breathed his last breath and
died in a good old age. He breathed his last breath.
I can't help, I'll share this with you. It's personal for all
of us, anyone listening, I'll just share it with you too. Gary
and I was there with Granny, I told you this, and as she was
preparing for the Lord to take her home, I just watched her,
and her breathing got more shallow and more shallow, and she'd stop,
and she'd take another breath. And I just waited, knew, I just
waited, that's all I could do. He gave up to go, he breathed,
that's it, he breathed his last breath. and died in a good old
age. He died and his death was a good
thing. It's a good thing. Dying is part of living. That's
just part of life. We're going to die. He died in
a good old age. And as I was looking up these
words, He died in a good old age. He died gray-headed with
hoary hair. An old man, an elder man who
was preserved and was ready by the grace of God to die. He was
ready to die. Makes me think of Paul the Apostle.
I fought a good fight. I finished my course. Laid up
for me in glory. the crown's righteousness, which
God will give not only to him, but to everyone that believes.
He died in a good old age, but in Abraham's death, I mean, the
scriptures, I looked at these few verses right here, seven
to 10, four verses of scripture, and the significance of dying. We need to realize we're gonna
die. We're gonna leave this world.
And in Abraham's death, we're reminded of the value that the
Lord places upon such a time. This is a verse of Scripture
that's read many times at funerals, Psalm 116, 15, precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Valuable is what that word means.
It's precious, it's valuable, valuable. in the sight of the
Lord. Valuable because the one that
has left this world in faith was one that has been everlastingly
loved of God. The Lord's always loved him.
If he died in Christ, died in the faith, believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ, it's because God loved him. He loved us before
we loved him. We love him because he loved
us. Precious in the sight of the
Lord because the Lord loves them. Precious because of the inestimable
price. No value can be put upon it. The price that was paid for their
redemption. The blood, Acts 20, 28, the blood
of God. The blood of God. The Lord Jesus Christ laid down
His life. It's precious when the Lord receives
one of His own. It's precious because they're
trophies of His grace, His sustaining compassion and power that they've
been kept. I mean, dug out of the same pit,
delivered from the bondage of sin and death, Satan, God, the
strong man, comes in and binds the strong, and one stronger
than him, stronger than the devil, and binds him and takes him.
Well, they're his. They fell in sin, but they never
fell from Christ, never fell from being in him. They've always
been in him. And now the Lord receives them
to himself. And they leave this world believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's precious. That's precious
because they're kept by the power of God. To a child of God, the
certainty of death is always with us. We expect it, don't
we? We do. There is a man, there's
an old man with us that, you know, the thought of death is
just, he doesn't want to think about that. But we know this,
we know that we're going to die. Also, Paul said in Acts 21, 13,
then Paul answered, what mean ye to weep and to break mine
heart? Paul was going to Jerusalem, and as he would go, there would
be those that would tell him, say, the Spirit of God laid upon
my heart to tell you, you're going to Jerusalem, you're gonna
be bound, if you go to Jerusalem, and this is where he was coming
from. Then Paul answered, what mean ye to weep and break mine
heart? Telling me this. For I am ready
not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name
of the Lord Jesus. He knew that the time of his
departure was totally in the hands of the Lord. There's a time to be born, a
time to die, and Paul knew that daily he may suffer and die. being a martyr, he knew that.
And so, knowing that the Lord had chosen him in Christ, had
called him by grace and commissioned him, gave him a heart to obey,
and Paul said, I'm ready, I'm ready. This is what the Lord
called me to do, and I'm going, I'm ready. He said, I die daily,
meaning this is, an expected thing. So we know that we're
going to die physically. And we know that we expect it.
It's going to happen. It's going to happen. So the
actual calling of the saints unto the Lord is precious because
of that. Because the Lord has chosen them
and called them to himself. But they've also been delivered
and are dead in another way. They're dead also indeed to sin. That's what scripture says. Dead
to sin. Dead to sin because they've been
pardoned by the merit of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Death has no more dominion over them. Sin has no more dominion
over them. They're dead to it, so we don't
fear the condemnation of it. A believer doesn't fear. Here's
what a believer believes. There's therefore now no condemnation to them which be in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. They don't
fear condemnation. They believe God. I mean, when
we talk about the Lord Jesus Christ being made sin, a believer
believes it. Believe that. I believe that
when he went to the cross, he bore my guilt, he bore all the
guilt, all the guilt, past, present, future, all of it. You think he knows what I'm gonna
do tomorrow? Do you think he knows what I'm gonna think in
a unkind, unhonoring way? You think he knows? He knows
it. Has he paid for it? Yes, he paid for it. He bore
it in his own body. He put it away, put away the
debt of it. Paul says, I'm dead indeed to
sin. It doesn't have dominion over
me. We're dead to sin because there's
a new man that has no fellowship with it. Paul said in Romans
7, I see in me, that is in my flesh, that dwelleth no good
thing. I see it, I see it. to will is present with him,
but how to accomplish that, which he's got two men there talking
about two different men. And he said, this sin, I'm dead
to it. I have no desire to be catering
to it. That's the new man talking. But
that old man, oh, there's a battle. So Abraham gave up the ghost
and he died in a good old age. an old man and full of years,
and was gathered to his people. Now, in a sense, I know that
men in general, we're all gonna die. You can say that there is
a common lot of all mankind who must die. We're all going to
die. But our verse of scripture, you
know this, would certainly refer more. to the state of Abraham
dying in the faith, dying in Christ. He would now go to be
with the Lord and be in the company of all the saints of God, as
Abraham certainly was. I want you to hold your place
here and turn over. Abraham was a believer. You know
that. But you know how we know it.
God told us that he was. Look at Hebrews 11. Somebody
asked Brother Henry one time, you think so-and-so was a believer? Henry said, I don't know. He
said, give me 20 years. He said, I'll maybe have a little
bit better idea. But he said, I don't know, I
don't know. But the Lord knows. Listen to
what the Lord said concerning Abraham. Hebrews 11, eight to
10. By faith, Abraham. Now you know what, if that's
all we knew, Bear, if that was it, we know this, by faith. It's given unto you to believe.
By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place
which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. And
he went out not knowing whether he went. By faith, He sojourned
in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in
tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same
promise. For he looked for a city which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Abraham knew God. God had given
him faith to believe. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. So Abraham, the scripture declares,
departed this world and was gathered to his people. To people of like
faith with him, yes, but to the Lord's people, too. Here's what
scripture says concerning his people. Exodus 19, I'll read
these to you. Exodus 19, five and six. They're a peculiar treasure unto
the Lord above all people. A kingdom of priest and holy
nation gathered together, gathered to his people. Those of God's
choosing, that's who he was called to be gathered with. Deuteronomy
14, two, for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God,
and the Lord has chosen thee to be a peculiar, a shut up people
unto himself above all the nations that are upon the earth. People
that are weak in themselves, but strong in the Lord. They
trust the Lord. Paul said, when I'm weak, when
I realize my weakness, that's when I'm strong. That's when
a man casts himself upon the mercy of God. God blesses him,
allows him to realize something of his weakness. Those who've
been reconciled to God by the Lord Jesus Christ, here's the
description of them. The Lord will give strength unto
his people. The Lord will bless his people
with peace, what I just read. He's gonna bless his people.
And that's, what a blessing. To be able to just settle down. You ever have something that
just, inside just turmoil, turmoil, turmoil, worry about this, worry
about that. And then all the while I'll be telling myself,
and this is me, I know you don't do it like this, This is how
I do it, I'm worried about something. I tell myself, now look, it's
not gonna do a bit of good for you to keep worrying about it.
You know, that usually don't even help me. Just keep doing it. Peace. The Lord will bless His people
with peace. When God's judgment spewed out
upon Egypt, the Lord protected and He led His people. Here's
the people, here's the type of people that Abraham was gathered
to, Psalm 78, 50 to 52. He made a way to his anger. Talking
about when they were coming out from the Egyptians. He made a
way to his anger. He spared not their soul from
death, but gave their life over to the pestilence and smote all
the firstborn in Egypt. of their strength in the tabernacles
of Ham, but made his own people to go forth like sheep and guided
them in the wilderness like a flock. Boy, I'm telling you, these people,
the people of God, they're watched over. They're watched over by
the Lord. These are people that's forever
going to be with the Lord. Father, this is the high priestly
prayer of the Lord Jesus. I will that they also whom thou
has given me be with me where I am that they may behold my
glory which thou has given me for thou lovest me before the
foundation of the world. So Abraham gave up the ghost
and died in a good old age, an old man, full of years. was gathered to his people, the
last two verses, and his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him
in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar
the Hittite, which is before Mamre, the field which Abraham
purchased of the sons of Heth. There was Abraham buried and
his wife, and Sarah, his wife. last two verses for tonight deal
with the mercy that is shown a man that God has loved. God was merciful to Abraham and
he blessed Abraham and he kept Abraham until the day of his
departure I think about, I'm looking out at this congregation
of people, and I'm thinking, what mercy. What mercy. Some of you, I'm still the, and
I really, I feel like this. I'm still the new kid on the
block. I've been up here almost 20 years, but I still see myself
as that way, but I see many of you that have been here, grew
up here. from your youth, and you're still here. You're still
here. That's a miracle of God's grace. That was the way that this man
died. And his two sons, it says Abraham
had these two boys, Ishmael and Isaac, and what they did was
they exercised, exhibited a spirit of respect to their dad, a spirit
of affection for him and for one another. This is all that
there's, I know, I know, you know, Ishmael and Isaac and the
animosity that was all there and Sarah and one of them expelled,
but the spirit of God didn't bring any of that up. And I looked
at that and that impressed me. That impressed my heart and I
thought about, you know, that we might note Concerning these
two men, Isaac and Ishmael, their dad's funeral, there's always
hope and reason for reconciliation. Without a doubt, I'm sure Ishmael
surely considered the inheritance that Isaac received over him. Isaac was God's choice but concerning
the honor and the type and the shadow, picture of what was happening
right there. Here was Abraham who had died
and being buried in the cave of Machpelah. When we studied
that, that was that cave that you remember Abraham, they wanted
to give it to him. I'll give it to him. What the
owner said, we'll give that to you. Look, no, no, no, no, no,
no. We don't have to worry about money. We'll give it. And Abraham
said, no, I want to know what the fair market value is of that
piece of property. What is it? Well, it's 400 shekels
of silver. Counted the amount of money. In picture time, what did it
cost for that final rest, that place of rest? What did it cost? for a believer to be buried and
found in Christ. What'd it cost? It cost the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll pay the fair market value.
I'll pay it. And that's where it, and that
being buried in that cave, in the cave of Machpelah, that was
a picture of the purchase price being paid for that eternal place
of rest He was buried in that, yes, but the picture of it, the
type of it, there in that place which we behold as being found
eternally at peace and in rest with Christ. That was the issue.
That was the issue. And that's where the Spirit of
God left it. Those two boys, they showed respect. And we do
too. for the resting found in our
precious Savior, for His glory and our good. Amen, amen. Okay, Gary.