Good morning. Turn to Genesis
chapter 23. Genesis chapter 23. Usually when I first start the lesson, start looking
at it, I'll read the chapter and see what's there. Sometimes I'll read it a few
times Try to get what's there. I didn't get past the first two
verses. And I realized I know what this chapter's about. I
know what this chapter's about. And I titled the lesson, The
Death of a Loved One. The Death of a Loved One. Or
Sarah's Funeral. I thought this morning, this
is more like a funeral service for Sarah. Because here she dies. We're gonna say goodbye this
morning to Sarah. And we know that death is a part
of this life. Everything in this world says
we must die. Everything. You know, we have
the fall of the year, and the flowers are starting to die,
and the leaves are starting to turn, and it's beautiful, beautiful. Oh, that I could age so well
as the fall of the year, the way the leaves turn and it's
so colorful and beautiful. That's the way we ought to come
into our old age, is more colorful and beautiful. But it says we're
dying, then you have winter, and the flowers are gone, the
leaves have fallen off the tree. It just speaks. Everything in
this life just speaks that we're dying. For a believer, it's good news.
It's not bad news. This is not morbid and sad. It's good news. Sarah went home
to be with her Lord, her real Lord. You know, she called Abraham
Lord, but she went home to be with her real Lord, her true
Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the word of God says
in Hebrews 9, it is appointed unto men once to die. I've listened
to a message twice, I think this week, by Henry. Let's talk about dying. You get
a chance. Listen to it. Outstanding message. Let's talk about dying. And in
that message, he talks about the believer. And he's talking
to believers. That's why this message this
morning is directed at believers. It's a day of crowning. It's
a day of being rid of sin, rid of these aching bodies. We don't
have these aching bodies anymore. Our bodies, our aging bodies
say we're dying. Looking in the mirror every morning
saying, you're dying, son. You're dying. Now chapter 23, verse 1, Sarah
lived 127 years. 127 years. And Sarah is the only woman in
scripture that I know of where the number of her years are mentioned. You know, it always mentions
it. If you go back in Genesis there, it mentions the number
of their years that they died. Sarah's the only woman where
it's mentioned the number of her years that she died. And here's some thoughts that
I had as I was just sitting back looking looking at this and thinking
about it for a couple, three days. Sarah and Abraham built
a life together. They built a life together. They
spent their youth together. We can only do that one time.
There's a lot of things we can do again and again, but we can't
spend our youth again. We can only do that one time.
And if the Lord blesses us, to where we have a partner, a spouse,
that believes the gospel, and you believe the gospel. My, that's
special. I'm telling you, that's special. They left the place of Ur of
the Chaldeas together. You know, she packed up the bags,
too. When he packed up the bags, she
packed them up, and let's go. Let's go. We never hear of war. A word of Sarah looking back
to it. Remember Lot's wife? She looked
back. God turned her into a pillar
of salt. Sarah never looked back. She went right with Abraham to
that land of promise. They left together for Christ's
sake. They set out together looking for a city whose builder and
maker is God. They did this together. They
had a special relationship in Christ. And she is among that
number in Hebrews 11. There's two women mentioned in
that hall of fame of faith. In Hebrews 11, Sarah and Rahab
the harp. Those are the only two women
mentioned in all that. Their names have been mentioned. Sarah and Abraham had a son together.
And not just a son, but a son of promise. Isaac was special
to them, to both of them. He was special to them. And he
was the son of their old age. When they were well past buried
children, Sarah had a son. And oh, how special that was
to them. They built a life together. They had a son together. They
were looking for a city together. They were doing all this together
in faith, in faith. They had their good times. They
had their hard times. But through all of them, they
remained faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. They remained faithful
to Christ, faithful to one another. They did so. And she was a godly
wife. She was a godly wife. It says
she called Abraham Lord. Now, calling him Lord didn't
make her godly. But what he's saying here is after he, listen,
after Abraham gave her up to two kings, she still retained
her love and respect for him. She never lost him. She never
lost him. She still retained her love and
respect for Abraham. She still called him Lord. In
other words, in that day, that's what they did. I mean, that's
how they recognized their husband. But it was a show of respect.
It was a show of love from Sarah. You know, the scripture tells
us in Proverbs 18, 22, whoso findeth a wife, findeth a good
thing and obtaineth favor of the Lord. A good wife is priceless,
absolutely priceless. If you go take some time and
go over Proverbs, I think it's Proverbs, the last chapter of
Proverbs, you know what it ends with? A virtuous woman. And it describes this virtuous
woman. She's just, a virtuous woman's
a work of God. A work of God. And to have one
as a wife is a gift of God. It's a favor of God. But through
all their ups and downs in the life they built together, I imagine they were married at
a young age, especially in that part of the country at that time
they married young. So I was calculating and I figured
they were probably married somewhere between 100 and 107 years. That's
a long time to spend together, isn't it? It's a long time to build a life
together. It's a long time to walk with God together. That
to me was the, this stood out to me more than anything is they
together walk with God and believe. But there comes a time, there
comes a time when we must lay aside all this stuff. all our earthly relationships,
there comes a time we have to do that and go to be with the
Lord. Henry said one time, he said,
the only thing that makes dying hard, and he's speaking to believers,
is the relationships we have with our families and the relationships
we have here. That's the only thing that makes
it tough. Sarah's death was Abraham's final link to his past. It was his final link to his
past. Everything he left with is now buried. They traveled
together in tents, you know, just like nomads. They just,
they had no dwelling place. I'm sure when he lived in the
land of Ur of the Chaldees, they had a home, they had a place.
He probably had land and all that, but it's gone. And when
he set out, when he and Sarah set out, He never owned a piece
of ground. You know that the only thing
that Abraham actually owned, the only piece of land he actually
owned was the grave he bought for Sarah and for himself. Later when he died, he was buried
where she was. But they left together and they
traveled together. I calculated it up, 62 years
that they traveled. Look at, listen, looking for
a city together whose builder-maker is God. They did that together. But it's come time now, it's
come time for their party. They've done all these things
together for at least, I'm gonna say, a hundred years. But now
it comes time to say goodbye. Time to say goodbye. And when
she left, when the Lord took her, she took none of this earth
with her. None of it with her. Death dissolves all earthly relationships. It dissolves all of them. What
it does not dissolve is our relationship in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing
dissolves that relationship. But all these other relationships
we have are dissolved. They're dissolved. But if you'll
notice, now listen, If you'll notice, when you read, you're
gonna read this. I'm not gonna sit here and read
the whole chapter. But Sarah died in the land of promise. She died in the land of promise
and she was buried in the land of promise. Now Abraham, now we're gonna
come to Abraham. We see here in verse one here, Sarah was
107 to 20 years old, 127 years old. These were the years of
the life of Sarah Sarah died in Kerjet Arba, the
same as Hebron in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn
for Sarah and to weep for her. Now Abraham's the one left behind.
Sarah has a good day. That was a crowning day for Sarah. All the turmoil, all the pain
and all the suffering, all those things that sin causes. It's
gone. But now Abraham, Abraham's still
around. He lives for another, I didn't
do the math, but I think he lived to be 175, so 37, 40 years longer, something like
that, I don't know. But anyway, it's evident Abraham loved Sarah,
and he mourned, it says he mourned her passing. And this stood out
to me, jumped out at me. There's nothing wrong. There's
nothing wrong with mourning the passing of our loved ones. There's
absolutely nothing wrong with it. It's not a show of weakness. It's not a show of lack of faith.
It's actually a demonstration of love. It's really a demonstration
of love. Mourning to a point can be healthy. I believe it's how we let go
over time. I believe it's a process that
we have put in us that enables us to let go over time. And there's
nothing wrong with it. Even though it hurts, it hurts. There was a group years ago called
Nazareth. I don't know the song, but this
song, this lyric hit me, love hurts. I don't know if you've
ever heard that song or not by them, I mean, you have to live
in the 70s, and from the looks of it, most of you did. But anyway,
there was a title there, a lyric sentence that said, love hurts.
And it does. It does. It does. It doesn't hurt to let someone
go that you hate. You know, you can, people do
that all the time, it doesn't bother them at all. But love, you have
a real attachment. Love has a, love is a relationship.
It's a relationship. And it's tough. For believers, listen, for believers,
mourning is tempered with hope. I said that mourning to a point
is healthy. It's healthy, but to a point.
But for believers, mourning is tempered with hope. Now, I have
an article in the bulletin written by Charles Spurgeon. Let me,
I'm gonna read it, I got it copied here. It says, heaven, it says
here, is not far away. We measure distance by time.
We are apt to say that a certain place is so many hours from us. If it is 100 miles off, if there
is no railroad, we think it a long way. If there is a railroad,
railway, if there's a railway, we think we can be there in no
time. But how near must we say heaven
is? There is just one side, and we get there. While our departed
friends are only in the upper room, as it were, of the same
house, they have not gone far off. They are upstairs, and we
are down below. I thought that was good. I hadn't
come across that as I was studying this. Henry told a lady who had lost her husband, both believers,
both gave good evidence that the wife was still alive. And
Henry told her, he said, he's just around the corner. And she
said, that's been the greatest help to me through all of this,
going through all of this. She said, that's been the greatest
help to me. He's just around the corner. Now, Abraham buys a grave. That's important. Abraham did
not build a shrine to Sarah. He didn't build a shrine. He
mourned her passing. He loved her because, I mean,
when he died, he went back and buried the side of her. He loved her. But Abraham didn't build a shrine
to her, he bought a grave. He knew he'd see her again. Abraham knew she wasn't really
dead, just the body. And he gave her a proper burial,
showing his love for her, taking care of her to the end. True
faith in Christ takes the sting out of death. Now listen, I thought
about this I never really thought about it until I was doing this
lesson. It takes the sting out of death for the one who dies
and for the one left behind. It takes the sting out of it.
It doesn't take all the mourning out of it, but it does take the
sting out of it. Because in a little while, you know that you'll be
just right behind. Now, closing this up, turn over
to 1 Thessalonians. First Thessalonians chapter 4, Abraham knew this and we know
it, though we mourn, we don't mourn as those who have no hope. But in verse 13, 1 Thessalonians
4, 13, but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning
them which are asleep. Asleep. Can you think of a better place
to sleep than in the arms of God? Can you think of a better
place to sleep? Can you think of a safer place
to sleep than in the arms of God? I would not have you be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you
sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." Not that you don't
sorrow, but that you don't sorrow excessively as if there were
no hope. As if there were no hope. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, we do believe that. We do believe that the
Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. He's the Redeemer. And he rose
again, and he's seated at God's right hand. Even so, them also
which sleep in Jesus. Oh, what a comfortable, comfortable
place to sleep. It doesn't say, so them also
which sleep in the grave. It doesn't say that, does it? Them which sleep in Jesus will
God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the
word of God, on the authority of God's word." I have this on
the authority of God's word. When it comes to the resurrection,
when it comes to those who have gone on to be with the Lord,
I have the authority of God Almighty's word that we which are alive
and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not prevent or
go ahead of them which are asleep. For the Lord himself. shall descend
from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God, and the deity in Christ shall rise
first." They shall rise first. That new body will be given.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds. To be with them. To be with the
Lord forever, but we'll also be with them forever. You know, I look forward now,
I look forward to seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. First and
foremost, I do look forward to seeing the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is heaven. He is heaven. Without him, there
wouldn't be one. He is heaven. But I also look
forward, I look forward to seeing those that I've known here and
departed. You know, there's several people
I've known for years that have gone on to be with the Lord.
I look forward to seeing them again. I look forward to seeing
them again. We will be with the Lord forever,
and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And being with the
Lord, we'll be with them also. The ones who were our true friends
here on this earth will be our true friends there. Our true friend. Now, me and
Vicki won't be husband and wife there. We'll be brothers and
sisters in Christ. And I tell you what, we'll love each other
like we ought to love each other for the first time. We'll all love each other like
we ought to. And we'll love God like we ought to. We'll worship
together like we ought to. Wherefore, Wherefore, because
of this, of what has just been said, comfort one another with
these words. Comfort one another with these
words. You know, apart from the word of God, I don't have any
comfort for you. We're only comforted by truth. If you know the truth
is going to comfort you, you'll find comfort. That doesn't mean
that in a day or two it'll be over with and you won't mourn
and you won't No, doesn't mean that. But you have a source of
real comfort. And that source is the word of
God. And listen, we cannot separate the written
word from the living word. When we find real comfort in
the word of God, we find real comfort in Jesus Christ. You
can't separate the two. Now, in closing, Turn over to
1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. Let me give you some comforting words.
You know, I know he's talking about in there in Thessalonians,
comfort one another with what he had just said, but I tell
you, it's also comfort one another with the whole word of God. So
here, I'm gonna give you a little more comfort. You and I can find
someday when we'll need it. In verse 45, and so it is written,
the first man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made
a quickening spirit. How be it? That was not first,
which is spiritual, but that which is natural. And afterward,
that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. As is the heavenly, such are
they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthy, you're looking at that now, When you look in
the mirror, that's what you're looking at. You're born to image
flesh. We shall also bear the image
of the heavenly. This I say, brethren, that flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. There's got to
be a change. You and I cannot go to glory
and be with the Lord as we are. There has to be a change. Flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We have to go
through a change. Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trump
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. That
corruption is left in the grave. It's not coming out of it, not
that corruption. Well this, it says, the dead
shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed for this
corruptible must put on incorruption. That's what we want. Is that
not what we want? To get rid of this corruption.
It is if you believe God. This corruptible must put on
incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. I'm
subject to death every second, every second of every day I'm
subject to it. But there will come a time when
that, I will be subject to it no more. No more. I won't ever, ever, ever think
about when's it gonna happen. It'll never cross my mind. Henry said to me one time, and
I've mentioned this before, when we walked away from a funeral,
he had me to do the graveside. He turned and walked away. He
said, I'll be glad when we quit dying. When this mortal puts
on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death
is swallowed up into victory. Oh, death, where's thy sting?
Where's your sting? It's been taken out. It was taken
out at Calvary. It was extracted at Calvary.
Death doesn't have a stinger for us anymore, does it? Death
doesn't have a stinger, not for the believer. I'm not talking
to unbelievers in trouble, in real trouble. But for the believer,
death, there's no sting. Grave, where's your victory?
Where's your victory? The sting of death is sin? Well,
sin's gone. He put them away. They're gone. The believer doesn't have to,
he's not, the believer's not gonna come up and die and all
his sins catch up with him. His or her sins. They're gone.
They're gone. The sting of death is sin and
the strength of sin is the law. Well, the law has nothing against
me because my sins are gone. The thanks be to God which gives
us the victory. through our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's how I have the victory. I don't have the victory because
I straightened up and I'm trying to live right and I'm trying
to do right. I'm doing the best I can. Well, anyway, the victory
is through our Lord Jesus Christ. The captain of our salvation
is our victory. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain
in the Lord, but this mortal must put on immortality. And
this corruption must put on corruption. Now, when that day comes, I don't
know. I don't know. Sarah lived 127
years. And Abraham mourned her passing.
He mourned, he loved her. It hurt, it hurt. But he didn't build a shrine,
he dug a grave and said his goodbyes and mourned and about 40 years
later, it was his turn. It was his turn. But that's, you know, the death
of a loved one in Christ is, It's a blessed day for that loved
one, isn't it? It's a blessed day for that loved
one. It's a mournful day for us, and yet it's got some mixture
of hope and excitement. Knowing, knowing, not hoping,
knowing. They're in a better place, a
much better place.