Good evening. Let's all stand
together and sing hymn number 216. 216. If you from sin are longing to
be free, Look to the Lamb of God. He to redeem you died on
Calvary, Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save
you, Look to the Lamb of God. When Satan tempts and doubts
and fears assail, Look to the Lamb of God. You in His strength shall over
all prevail, Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save
you. Look to the Lamb of God. Are you a weary? Does the way seem long? Look to the Lamb of God. His love will cheer and fill
your heart with song. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save
you. Look to the Lamb of God. Fear not when shadows on your
pathway fall, Look to the Lamb of God. Enjoy your sorrow, Christ
is all in all, Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save
you. Look to the Lamb of God. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
224. 224. I know not why God's wondrous
grace to me he hath made known. nor why unworthy I still love. Redeem me for His own. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able. to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not how this saving faith
to me He did import, nor how believing in his word brought
peace within my heart. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not how the Spirit moves,
convincing men of sin. revealing Jesus through the Word,
creating faith in Him. But I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not what of good or ill
may be preserved for me, Of weary ways or golden days
Before his face I see But I know whom I have believed And am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him
against that day. I know not when my Lord may come
at night or noonday fair. nor if I walk the hill with him
or meet him in the air. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. You have your Bibles with you
this evening. If you would open with me. The Gospel of John, John chapter 19. John chapter 19, we won't read
the whole chapter, but we will read a good portion of it. I believe we're all familiar with
this. passage. Then Pilate, therefore, took
Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers plaited a crown
of thorns and put it on his head. And they put on him a purple
robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews. And they smote him
with their hands. Pilate, therefore, went forth
again and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you that
you may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate saith
unto them, Behold the man. When the chief priests, therefore,
and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify
him. Pilate saith unto them, Take
ye him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered
him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die. because
he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he was the more afraid and went again into the judgment
hall and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him
no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest
thou not unto me? Knowest thou not have I power
to crucify thee and have power to release thee? Jesus answered,
Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were
given thee from above. Therefore, he that delivered
me unto thee hath the greater sin. And from thenceforth Pilate
sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying,
If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever
maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore
heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the
judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement, but in
the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of
the Passover. And about the sixth hour, and he saith unto the Jews,
behold your king. But they cried out away with
him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, shall
I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, we
have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore
unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him
away. And he, bearing his cross, went forth into a place called
the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha, where
they crucified him and two others with him, on either side one
and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title and
put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then read many of
the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh
to the city. And it was written in Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin. Then said the chief priests of
the Jews to Pilate, write not the King of the Jews, but that
he said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate said, what I have written,
I have written. Stop there. Lord God Almighty, our Heavenly
Father, we come to you once more crying,
Abba, Father. Lord, thank you for coming to be made in the likeness of man,
live a perfect, upright, and holy life, Lord. and die a dreadful death on the
cross, bearing our iniquity and sin. Lord, it breaks my heart when
we read these passages of what you went through for
us, but we're thankful, Lord, for if you had not come and had
not lived and had not suffered and bled and died, we would have
no hope of eternity, no hope of eternity with you. Lord, with thankful hearts, we
bow our heads before you to thank you for giving yourself for a multitude that no man can
number. Thank you for revealing yourself
unto us. Lord, we ask that you would teach
us thy way, teach us of thyself. Meet with us tonight that we
may worship you. Lord, let us forget the things
of this world and see Christ and Christ alone through your
blessed word. Be with Brother Aaron as he stands
once more. Lord, we ask that you'd see him
safely home in his travels back. Ask for traveling mercies for
our pastor and Sister Shirley as they return home. Lord, we ask that you keep us
all. Lord, we ask especially that you be with those who are
going through great trials and tribulations. of the flesh, of the heart, of
the mind. Some suffer in great losses. Some near to the end. Lord, we trust your grace is
sufficient. Please continue to keep us and
preserve us. Keep us clean unto you. Lord, we ask that thy will
be done in all things for Christ's sake. Amen. Hymn number 127. 127. Man of
sorrows, what a name for the Son of God who came. ? Ruined sinners to reclaim ? ?
Hallelujah, what a Savior ? ? Bearing shame and scoffing rude ? ? In
my place condemned He stood ? ? Sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Guilty, vile, and helpless we,
spotless Lamb of God was he. Full atonement Can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior! Lifted up was He to die, It is
finished was his cry, Now in exalted high. Hallelujah! What a Savior! When He comes, our glorious King,
I should probably introduce you again. I think everybody here
was here this morning. Brother Aaron Greenleaf, here
to preach for us once more. Brother, you come on. Evening, everybody. If you'd
like to turn to Genesis chapter 23. Genesis 23. We looked at the birth of Moses
this morning, and tonight we're gonna look at the death of Sarah.
So birth in the morning and death in the evening. That seems befitting. You get there, Genesis 23, let's
read the first two verses together. And Sarah was 107 and 20 years
old, 127 years old. These were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kerjath Arba,
the same as Hebron in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to
mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. Now, when I looked at this
passage of scripture, studied it, I found it highly relatable,
and really for two reasons, and I think you will as well. The
first reason is this, this appointment that Sarah keeps, death, We're
all going to make the exact same appointment. That's what it says. Chronicles 18 says it twice.
The soul that sinneth, it shall die. You see the connection there. Death, why? Because of sin. That's the reason we die. It's
because we're sinners. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. And then comes the judgment.
And it comes quick. James said this in James 4.14,
he said, For what is your life? It's even a vapor that appeareth
for a little time, and then it vanisheth away. Steam, that's
what it's like, just steam. It just comes up for a little
while, and it's gone, just like that. And Paul says this, he
says, see then that you walk circumspectly, diligently, not
as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are
evil. Why are the days evil? There's
no evil in days, there's evil in me. Days are evil because
I'm evil. At the end of this time, this very brief vapor,
this life, I go to meet a holy and a just God and to stand in
judgment before him. And make no mistake, his demand
is perfect righteousness. That's who he is. That's what
he's all about. Perfect righteousness. Paul says, redeem the time. You
get a short amount of time, just a little bit in the midst of
eternity. This thing we call reality. It's
just it's over just like that. Redeem the time. Do what? Seek
the Lord while he may be found. Look to Christ, do it right now,
is what he's saying to do. Redeem the time and do it right
now. And that's just not good advice.
That's life or death, folks. Here's the second reason I found
it relatable. If you're married or if you're
not, and the Lord gives you a long, enduring marriage, one of you
is going to die first. The same for me in my house.
And the other one is going to bury them. And that's going to
be a very, very sad time in our life. And some of you have lived
that. We're going to do the exact same thing that Abraham does
here. We're going to weep and we're going to mourn. And it
begs the question. The only reason I say this because
somebody asked that question recently and I want to answer
it. Is it OK to mourn for your loved one when they die? Is not
God sovereign? Did he not take Sarah exactly
at his appointed time, according to his good pleasure and his
will? Yes. Does he not say that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the cold according to his purpose. Yes, he does not tell us to give
thanks for all things, for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. Yes, absolutely. All those things
are true for every one of God's Children, and especially Abraham.
You're there in Chapter 23. Turn over one to Chapter 24.
Look at verse one. All of Chapter 23 is dedicated to Sarah's death and Abraham
burying Sarah. And right after that, this is
the very next thing the scripture has to say about Abraham. Look
at verse one of chapter 24. And Abraham was old and well
stricken in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. Even this thing. Even this very
hard and this very troubling, this very sad thing, he's burying
his bride, this woman he had built a life with, this one he
had a union with. He had to bury this woman. You're
telling me he blessed him in all things, even in this thing?
Yeah. Even in this thing, he uses everything,
everything he brings our way, everything he puts in our path
to do this, to bring us to Christ and to keep us there. Yes, in
all things we are blessed, even in this very, very hard thing.
And yet it's absolutely acceptable to mourn. It's good to mourn
for those loved ones. And it's for this reason. That's
not worrying against the will of God. That's not unbelief.
It's a symptom of love. You love that person. They are
no longer here. That's why you mourn for you,
and that's why you weep for them. And I've never considered this
before. Even in human love, death does not dissolve that love.
It's not as if our loved one dies and we just, that human
relationship dissolves and we just stop loving them. They die
and it's over with. No, even in death, that love
continues on for that loved one. That's going to be a very big
part of our message tonight. Now, what's this story about? The story on the surface is about
Abraham. It's all about Abraham actually
has very little to do with Sarah. His bride, This one he shared
a union with, his loved one. She's dead. She dies and he mourns
and he weeps for her. And he goes to secure for her
a sure resting place, a sure burying place. Twice in this
chapter, he'll say that resting place that he picks out for Sarah
and he purchases, it's sure, it's certain, it can't be moved. But it's really not about Abraham
at all. It's about the Lord Jesus Christ. He loved his bride. loved her even when she was dead.
And he went, he came to this earth to secure a sure resting
place for his elect. He paid the purchase price and
bought it. And we are eternally secure in
that sure resting place. Christ Jesus. That's the story
we're going to look at here tonight. Now, here's what I want to do.
I want to read it once, make a few comments, get our bearings
in the story, go back. I got two or three points for
you. Pray the Lord would give us the gospel out of this. This
is all about the Lord Jesus Christ. So Pick up in verse one again,
look at this. And Sarah was 107 and 20 years
old. These were the years of the life
of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kirjath Arba, the same as Hebron in the
land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for
Sarah and to weep for her. He had carved out this particular
amount of time. It came in, it means he came
into the tent. He carved out this particular intentional time
where he's going to mourn and weep for his bride. Once the
time for mourning and weeping was over, It is time to do his
duty. He has a responsibility to her.
He has to bury her. He's going to take very, very
special care to do this. Verse three. And Abraham stood
up from before his dead and spake unto the sons of half, saying,
I'm a stranger and a sojourner with you. Give me of a possession
of a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my
sight. Now, The language here is very,
very important. Justice Sarah's death did not
dissolve Abraham's love for her. It didn't dissolve his ownership
of her either. What does he say? She's my dead. She belongs to
me. And what is the issue that is
at hand here? He says she must be buried out of my sight in
a very short amount of time. Her body will decay. She will
corrupt. And Abraham says, I can't see that. Her corruption can't
be in my sight. I have to take her corruption.
I have to put it out of my sight. This really has nothing to do
with Sarah. This has everything to do with Abraham. It's all
about him. Verse five. And the children of Heth answered
Abraham, saying unto him, Hear us, my lord. Thou art a mighty
prince among us. In the choice of our sepulchers,
bury thy dead. None of us shall withhold from
thee his sepulcher. but that thou mayest bury thy
dead. And Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of
the land, even the children of Heth. Now, notice the respect
that Abraham shows these children of Heth. There's a great transaction
taking place in this transaction. What's interesting about this
is Abraham holds all the cards in this transaction. Where are
they at? They're at a place called Kirjath
Arba. That's a city in Canaan. the promised land. You go all
the way back and we're going to here in a moment. You can
go back to Genesis 12, go to Genesis 17, long before this
purchase takes place, long before Abraham takes this land right
here. Lord had promised it to him. He said, I'm going to be
a God unto you and unto your seed, and I'm going to give you
the land of Canaan. It had already been promised
to him. Everything in Canaan, that was his land. He hadn't
taken it yet, but it was his. He had it by promise, the promise
and covenant of God before he actually took it. And he could
have walked up to the sons of Heth and say, I'm going to take
that patch of ground and that cave right there. That's where
I'm going to bury my bride. And if anybody has anything to say
about it, you can start paying me rent because you're on my
property. This is my land. The Lord gave it to me by promise. And factually, he wouldn't have
been wrong. But notice how he addresses these
people. He holds all the courts. They have absolutely none. He
can do anything he wants. It's his land. And he addresses
them in meekness and in gentleness. He says, I'm a stranger here.
I'm a soldier. I'm just your neighbor. That's
it. I'm just looking for a place to bury my bride. He bows to
them in humility. Just like that. You think about
it in this transaction between God and men between Jesus Christ
and men. This is the greatest understatement
anyone has ever made. He holds all the courts. He doesn't
just hold the cards. He is absolutely and utterly
sovereign over everyone and everything at all times. He is the origin
of all things. By him, all things consist. And
nothing makes a move without his preapproval, without his
purpose and his will. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, What doest thou? In this transaction, we have
no cards to play. We have sent away all our rights.
All of us are just in his hand to be done with as he sees fit
to save or to damn at his good pleasure. And his character designates
that whatever he does is absolutely just, right and fair. And we
have nothing to say about it. And yet, when Paul speaks to
the Corinthians, he says this, now I, Paul, myself, beseech
you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. He says earlier, in
2 Corinthians 5, he says, Now then, we are ambassadors for
Christ. We're spokesmen. As though God did beseech you,
woo you with a gentle wooing by us, we pray you, literally,
we beg you, be ye reconciled to God. That's Christ speaking
to the sinner. Someone who is far off as they
could possibly be. Someone who has no worth, no
merit, no good works. There's nothing in them that
could recommend them to God whatsoever. As far off as they could possibly
be. He condescends in meekness and in gentleness. And he says,
Christ died for your sins. Christ died for sinners. You're
a sinner. Your salvation has been accomplished. The Father
is not mad at you in any way, shape or form, because the reason
for his wrath, his anger, it's gone. It was taken away on that
cross. Now, sinner, now you. Don't be mad at me. Be ye reconciled
to God. I've already reconciled myself
to you. Now you be reconciled to me. You want to talk about
a condescension. The great respect the Lord Jesus Christ has for
his people. Be ye reconciled to God. Now, look at verse 8. This is Abraham speaking with
the sons of Heth. It says, and he communed with them. He had
an intimate conversation. He said, come near, come near
to me. And he communed with them, saying, if it be your mind that
I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat
for me to Ephron, the son of Zohar, that he may give me the
cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field,
for as much money as is worth, He shall give it me for possession
of a bearing place among you." Now, Abraham had given great
care as to whether he's good, where he's going to lay his bride
to rest. This resting place, this sure
place for his bride. He says, it's got to be Machpelah.
You know what Machpelah means? Double, cave of doubling or a
double portion. He says it has to be Mac Pila.
He says. But somebody's got a claim on
Mac Pila. That's the issue. This effort of Zohar. He's got
a claim on Mac Pila. Abraham says, Here's what's gonna
happen. Everyone's gonna come out here, and he's gonna tell
me exactly how much Mac Pila is worth. He's going to give
me a price, and whatever that price is, whatever it takes to
satisfy Efren, I'm going to pay every single bit of it. I'm going
to do it all by myself, not a dollar less. Whatever Efren says, this
is what it's worth. This is what it takes for me
to be satisfied. I'm going to pay that exact amount. This is
very, very important to Abraham, and it's for this reason. If
he doesn't pay it all, every single bit of it, that means
that Efren will always have a claim on Sarah. He can always come
back to Machpelah at another time and you say, no, he didn't
pay the full price. I got a claim here. She's mine. I can take
her. Abraham says, not on my watch. That's my bride. That's
my beloved. I'm burying her in Machpelah
and I'm going to pay the full cost so that nobody has a claim
on my bride ever. She's mine for the eternities.
And he's very insistent on this. Look at verse 10. And Ephraim
dwelt among the children of Heth. And Ephraim the Hittite answered
Abraham and the audience of the children of Heth, even of all
that went in at the gate of the city, saying, Nay, my lord, hear
me. The field give I thee, and the cave that is therein I give
it thee. In the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee.
Bury thy dead. And Abraham bowed down himself
before the people of the land. And he spake unto Ephraim and
the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if that
will give it, I pray thee, hear me. I will give thee money for
the field. Take it of me, and I will bury
my dead there. And Ephraim answered Abraham, saying unto him, My
lord, hearken unto me, the land is worth four hundred shekels
of silver. What is that betwixt me and thee? Bury therefore thy
dead. And Abraham hearkened unto Ephraim,
and Abraham weighed to Ephraim the silver, which he had named
in the audience of the sons of Heth four hundred shekels of
silver, current money, with the merchant. Now notice there, who
is the driving force in this transaction? It's Abraham. Abraham demands you set the price.
You tell me what is valued at. I pay you. It must be this way.
I will take absolutely no less. You tell me the price. Abraham
is making demands on himself and satisfying his own demands. That's what's going on here.
Abraham is in control of this transaction. He is making demands
of himself and he will satisfy himself. 400 shekels of silver. How much is that worth? I don't
know. Sounds like a whole lot to me.
What I know about it is this, though, what the scripture says,
it's current money with the merchant. You know what that means? It
means you can take that silver and you go to any store out there
in that land and you lay that silver up on the counter and
that merchant would say, you buy anything you want. There's
no way you go to and say, no, we don't accept that here. No,
you don't have enough. No, no value here. Any merchant, you
take that silver, you throw on the counter, says it's all yours.
You buy anything you want. There's nothing that's out of
your reach with that money. Look at verse 17. And the field
of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field,
and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in
the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made
sure unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children
of Heth before all that went in at the gate of the city. In front of all these witnesses,
Abraham took these 400 shekels of silver. He put them on the
counter. He said, count it. Count it again. I want everybody to
see this. I paid the full cost. I went out there and said it's
all there. Everything Efron demanded. It's all right here. 400 shekels
of silver. And they went out in front of
everybody, in front of all these witnesses. They did a land survey.
They counted every blade of grass, every rock, every tree, every
bush, everything about that cave. They surveyed it all up, and
in the presence of everyone out there, they said, all this, everything
Abraham bought, it's present and accounted for. Everything,
not one rock is missing. Everything he bought is present
and accounted for. And in front of all these witnesses, this
is Abraham's purchased possession forever. No one has any claims
on it. This is Abraham's, and it always
will be. Look at how it ends, verse 19.
And after this, Abraham buried, sir, his wife in the cave of
the field of Machpelah, before Mamre, the same as Heber in the
land of Canaan. And the field and the cave that
is therein were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a
bearing place by the sons of Heth. You know who else will
be buried there in just a short amount of time? Abraham. You know who else? Their son,
Isaac, his wife, Rebecca. Know who else? His grandson and
his wife. The patriarch would go into Mac
Pila and the whole family would rest safe and secure forever
with the patriarch where the patriarch lies in safety and
security. The whole family rests there
as well. Now, what is this story about? Where's the gospel in all this?
Got three or four points for you. Here's the first one. Our
story begins where the story of salvation begins, with love
that not even death can dissolve. The first piece of information
we get in verse one here is that Sarah was 127 years old when
she died. Now, what's interesting about
that is this. Number one, she is the only female in scripture
where her age is recorded at her death. The only one singular,
right? Only two times in scripture is
anything actually numbered at exactly 127. First here was Sarah
at the time for death. And second is a very obscure
places. Esther 11 speaks of King El has
aware us that Persian king and it speaks of his reign. He reigned
over 127 provinces. And I remember Paul saying something
about this. He said this, I'll get to it. They'll forgive
me. My nose got on. Mhm. Romans 5 14 says Nevertheless,
death reigned from Adam to Moses. We talked about that before death
because of what? because of sin. Is he talking
about just physical death? No, he's talking about spiritual
death. Let me give you this. Romans
5 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and
death by sin, so death passed upon all men for that all have
sinned. All of humanity was stored up
in Adam. In Adam, humanity collectively
sinned against God. We all fell and we died He died
spiritually and we're born in this world dead in trespasses
and sins. And if you want to know what
that looks like, we don't have to look any further than to Sarah
in her illustration. Abraham goes in to mourn for
her and to weep for her. I ask this question. He does
it because he loves her. Can she love him in return? No,
she can. Now, we talked about it this
morning. Can the natural man love God as he is? The sovereign
God, the one who does what he will, with whom he will, when
we will. No, he cannot. All he can do is war against
him. My pastor said something recently. He said it several
times throughout the years, but he said it recently and stuck
with me again. I want to know how bad this heart is. This natural
man actually is. I don't look inside. I don't
see the full story. Read John 19. But we just read. The one
time holiness walked on this world, this one time God revealed
himself to men in human flesh. What did we do? We took him to
the cross. We scourged him. We spit on it. We crucified him
right there. That's this natural heart. It
can't love God, not as he is. It's dead. The issue, Sarah's
corruption has to be pushed out of Abraham's sight. He says,
I can't see it. I have to put it out of my sight.
Can she do anything about her corruption? Can the natural man
do anything about his sin? He can't stop. Sin is what I
am. It's what I do. It's what I think.
I just can't stop. A payment has to be made. Mac
Pila has to be purchased. A great payment can be made.
Can Sarah do anything to aid in that purchase? So here's a
here's a couple of shekels. Let me help out with that. She's
dead. She cannot conceive and put herself
in Mac Pila. She has to be carried there.
So much so the natural man, he can't do anything about his corruption.
He can't atone for it. He can't put himself in that
one sure resting place, Jesus Christ. He can't do all these
things because he is in fact dead. And I'll tell you what,
folks, dealing with human love, that would be enough to end human
love. You show me someone who hates me, who wants to wipe me
out, who wants to crucify me, put me on a cross, do that to
my children. I will show you a person that I do not love. Thanks be to God. That's not
how the love of God works for his people. For his people, his
love is eternal. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. Now. This love, this love that not
even death could dissolve, he loved us with an everlasting
love. How does that love work? It's linked with this thing called
union. The love of God for his people. We've always had every
member of the elect. We've always been in perfect
union with the Lord Jesus Christ, and that union is so real and
so true that when the father loves his son and he has always
loved his son and he will always love his son. This is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him when he loves him. That union between Christ and
his church is so real and so true that he loves everybody
in Christ. When Christ loves the church,
his bride, those he has that union with. That union is so
real and so true. He is actually loving himself. That's how the love of God for
his people actually works. It's all in Christ. All of God's
love is found in one place. It is in Christ Jesus, the Lord. Now I make an issue of this because
our text makes an issue of this. Does he love all men? Does God
love everyone? Well, look here. Look at verse
three of your text. And Abraham stood up from before
his dead. Kirgiath Arba was a real big
place. Whole lot of people died in Kirgiath Arba. Were they all
his dead? Did Abraham go to secure a sure
resting place for everybody in Kirgiath Arba who had died? Did
he mourn and weep for everyone? No, his bride. He went to weep
for his bride. He loved his bride. He went to
secure a sure resting place for his bride. Folks, you tell me
that God can love a man and he still go to hell? What I would
tell you is this, then what good is the love of God? No, he loves
his elect, those he chose before the foundations of the world,
that one he has that perfect union with. He loved them to
the uttermost. And you keep this in mind, everybody
he loves, he saves, he gives them life. And that's exactly
what it says in Ephesians 2. Put a bookmark there and turn
over to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2, this is what Christ
did for his dead. Ephesians 2, 1, and you, his
people, his elect, and you hath he quickened, he hath given life
to, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Everybody he loves,
this is exactly what he does for them. He gives them life,
and really in two ways. And here's the first way. He
gives us real life before God. What do I mean by that? Machpelah,
what did it mean? The cave of doubling, or the
double portion. In Christ, that union in Christ,
it is so real and it's so true that our life before the Father,
it really is the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ. In him
we get a complete new history. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her
that her warfare is accomplished, her iniquity is pardoned, she
hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Truly in Christ, he was doubled.
He led that perfect, beautiful, righteous life, and we walk the
paths of righteousness in him. We're doubled, conformed to his
image in every single way, so much so that the law says he's
kept me perfectly and just as real. We became his. Our sin transferred to him. him
burying us in his body and putting our sins away so that we are
perfect before the law. And now we have life before God,
a true, perfect life that God himself, who is absolutely just
and righteous, that he actually accepts the very life and work
of Jesus Christ. And here's the second way he
gives us life. He gives us spiritual life. That's in this life. He
comes to us with the gospel, and he gives us a new man, a
new creature in Christ Jesus. And that new man It says the
same thing. It agrees with everything that
said after this says what's about to be said here. That's me. Look
at verse two. Ephesians chapter two. Where in time past we walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
Children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature the children
of wrath, even as others, just like everybody else. You ask
anybody who has life, God given life from the dead, ask them
this. How'd you get life? What did
you do to deserve it? How did you earn it? What do
I have to do? I didn't do anything. I was a child of wrath at war
with God. deserving the wrath of God, just
like everybody else. Nothing special about me. I didn't
do one thing. They say, What then? Why? Why
do you have life? Tell me. And here's our answer.
Everybody who has life. Verse four. But God, who is rich
in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, we have life. Why? Because he loved us. God loved us in Christ before
the foundations of the world were ever built in that eternal
union. He's always loved us because he loved us. He was merciful
to us for Christ's sake. What's the reason? What's the
one single reason you have life? But God, that's the reason. But
here's what eternal life looks like. Read that again. Verse
four. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith
he loved us. Listen to the timing. Even when
we were dead in sins. That's what eternal love looks
like. For Christ's sake, and in Christ, he loved us before
the foundations of the world were ever built. We sinned in
Adam, all of humanity. We all fell in Adam. He loved
us still. We're born in this world dead,
just like Sarah was dead. Abraham loved her. She couldn't
love him. Abraham would buy Mac Peebles.
She couldn't contribute. Dead in trespasses and sins.
That love didn't fail. He still loved us. He saves us
in our experience. He gives us life from the dead.
What do we have to do for the rest of these human days? We
got to carry around this old man with us everywhere we go.
This old, wicked, sinful nature. Paul called him this body of
death. And he never gets any better.
He's always warring against God. He's always rearing his ugly
head. And yet he still loves us. And in the ages to come,
when faith is turned to sight and hope is turned to experience,
we are perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. He will
always love us. Why? Because Christ is our eternal
security for the Father. Because he has always been our
lamb slain from the foundation of the world, we have always
been eternally secure in him. and always lovable in him. I
love the eternality of salvation before there was ever a center
before there was ever a sin for any of us were brought in this
world. We ever committed one sin. There's a savior for those
sins. There's already blood spilled.
So the father that eternal love just continues on and on. Even
when we were dead in trespasses and sins, that's eternal love,
all eternal love for Christ's sake. Now we talked about his
eternal surety ship because of eternal love, this love he had
for the elect. a covenant was made. Now, we talked about it. Kerjith Arbor,
where is it? The land of Canaan. That's the
land of promise. This land before Abraham ever
made that purchase, it already belonged to Abraham. He had it
by promise because the father loved the elect, because the
Godhead loved the elect. a promise was made, a promise
of salvation, a covenant of salvation was made between the Father and
the Son, and that was before the world ever began. We call
that the covenant of grace. And we see that in this promise
the Lord made to Abraham. Turn over to Genesis 17 for a
second. Keep your bookmark there. In this covenant, the Lord speaks
to Abraham, and Abraham was a type of Christ, so this is a type
of the covenant of grace. Look at this. This is what God
says to Abraham in verse seven. He says, and I will establish
my covenant between me and thee. Look at this, and thy seed after
thee. In their generations, for an everlasting covenant, an eternal
one, one that'll never end. To be a God unto thee, and to
thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and
to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger,
all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I
will be their God. And the Lord says in this covenant,
here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to be a God unto you
and that everybody who is in you, your seed after you, be
a God for you, a God merciful and gracious, a God providing,
a God giving. I'm going to be a God for you and everybody in
you. Now, Abraham, here's what you
have to do. He's a type of Christ here. Look down at verse 10.
This is my covenant, which he shall keep. This is what you
have to do, Abraham. Between me and you and thy seed after
thee, every man child among you shall be circumcised. I don't
know much about circumcision, but I know this, that Abraham
circumcised himself when he was 99 years old. I know these two
things about circumcision at that age. It would involve a
great amount of suffering. And it takes something away. And folks, that's the covenant
of grace right there. The father says, I'll be gracious
to a people. I want to be merciful to a people.
I'm going to save a people and receive them as sons and daughters.
They're going to be mine. And he looked at his son. He
says, here's what you're going to do. You're going to go and you're going
to bear their sins in your body. You're going to bleed and die
and suffer all my wrath. And you're going to swallow it
up and you're going to take away their sin. And I will be made
whole. and I will receive them as sons and daughters. This is
a beautiful thing about the covenant of grace. As soon as the father
and the son struck hands just like that, it was sealed by promise. Abraham hadn't made the payment
yet on Mac Pila, but everything in that land was his because
the Lord had promised that he's a God who cannot lie and everything
he does, he has always done. Our salvation is eternally secure
in that covenant of grace before the world ever began. Now, everything
that was promised in eternity had to be carried out in time.
And I ask this question. Why did Christ have to die? It's
a good question. Why did he have to die? Here's
the first answer to that question, because it was the purpose and
the will of God. The greatest glory that could
be achieved by the Godhead was achieved through Christ coming
to this world and single-handedly saving his people. This was about
the glory of the Godhead. Through that single-handed salvation,
he made for the Godhead the greatest glory they could possibly achieve.
That's the first reason. Here's the second reason. It's
because of the character of God. It's because he is just that
just. He is a God who demands perfect
and utter righteousness. His law is a manifestation of
how just and how righteous he actually is, and the justice
and the righteousness he actually demands. And we see that with
Efren. Abraham goes and he says, I want Machpelah. I want this
sure resting place for my bride. I'm gonna have Machpelah, but
somebody has a claim on it. Efren has a claim. You know what
Efren means? It means calf, strong, unbending,
unwavering. Zohar, that's where he's from,
white, pure, What does the law demand? Perfect righteousness,
perfect purity. The law has first claim. The
law must first be satisfied. And Abraham says, Ephraim, tell
me the cost. Whatever is owed, I have to pay
every single bit of it. God's holy law had to be satisfied
for us to be saved. And he did exactly what he set
out to do. He paid the cost and honored
the law in every way, shape and form in keeping it in atoning
for the sins of his people. So the law has absolutely no
claim on the Lord's people ever again. Free from the law. Oh,
happy condition. Jesus is blood. And there is
remission. The law has already been kept.
The law is completely and utterly satisfied. What I love about
this is this is Abraham driving the bus. This is the Lord saying,
this is who I am. I'm a just and I'm a holy God.
I demand perfect righteousness. I cannot violate my own character,
nor would I. I'm making demands of myself.
And then for his people, he satisfies every one of his demands in Christ
through his suffering death. Isn't that beautiful? We should
never let that go over our heads. He found a way to be just and
justify the ungodly, to do mercy and grace and justice all in
one man, Jesus Christ, and him having made full payment. Now
the justice of God is satisfied, and no one has a claim on us
ever again. The law never has a claim on
us. The law looks at us and says, beautiful, holy, perfect, righteous,
no claims whatsoever. You are bought with a price.
And since we're bought with that great price, his blood, we can
never be anyone's possession again. He owns us for eternity.
Now, What's the effect of all this? Made sure what they do
after Abraham played the clock cost. I did the land survey. Everything was accounted for.
Everyone, the Lord's people are made sure forever, completely
and utterly accounted for. None can pluck them out of the
father's hand. They're there forever. Now, finally, this. Where do I fit in in all this?
Before the foundation of the world, God loved the people.
He chose a people. Christ is the surety of those
people in the covenant of grace. He came, he made the purchase
price, bought them, ransomed them back to his father. Where
do I fit in in all that? Am I one of those folks? I'd
like to know. Look back at your text and look
at verse eight. Once again, this is Abraham,
but he's speaking to the sons of Heth, and this is very important.
He now goes from being a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's
now a type of his people, the believer. And he communed with
them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out
of my sight, hear me and entreat for me to Ephraim, the son of
Zohar. Now, we know by how fast Ephraim
answers that he's in the audience, he's standing right there, but
Abraham won't approach unto him. Abraham won't do business with
him. He goes to a mediator. He goes to an intercessor. He
says, I can't deal with Ephraim on my own. I need you to entreat
for me, to make intercession for me, to plead my case before
Ephraim. He's a type of the believer here.
Folks, I tell you this, this is my only hope. And if this
is your only hope, this has been done for you. This salvation
is for you. My only hope is the Lord Jesus
Christ, that he intercedes for me. that he already did business
with the perfect justice of God. He already did business with
his perfect holy law, and he satisfied every demand on my
behalf. And now I am complete in him,
having nothing of my own. It is simply and utterly him.
And I tell you what, if you're in that same boat, your only
hope is his intercession for you, him doing something for
you, him satisfying himself on your behalf. This is for you. Let me give you some more encouragement
in this twice in this. Abraham bows himself two times.
He bows down in gratefulness, and I bowed these exact same
spots. Look at verse six again. Abraham bows after hearing this.
Here's my lord. There are a mighty prince among
us in the choice of our sepulchers. Bury thy dead. None of us shall
withhold from the his sepulcher. You know that were withhold means
to inhibit to restrain, to stop. God's sovereign. He loves only
his people. Christ died for only his people.
Does the sovereignty of God, does the character of God, does
that hold me back from coming to Christ? Does that inhibit
me in any way? No, that's what will bring you
in. Nothing holds you off. If you're
a sinner in need of mercy, the command is, come unto me, all
ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That's
a command. Come unto me, look unto me, all
ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved. There's only one thing
that'll hold you off, and that's you. If you've got anything to
bring to the table, well, I've got some good works. You know,
I've done pretty well. I made my decision. I've done all these
things. If there's something you've got, the way's too narrow. You can't get in. No, there's
only one prerequisite for coming. You have to have absolutely nothing.
You have to be nothing but a needy sinner. No one will inhibit you. No one will strain you. No one
will withhold on you. Come on to me. And don't think
for a second you're too bad. What kind of money was it that
Abraham laid up? It was current money. It spent everywhere and
it could buy anything. Don't think you're too sinful.
Blood of Christ is so great. There's not one sinner he can't
buy. There's not any sin he can't pay for. His blood is just that
powerful. There's nothing he can't purchase.
Come on, sinner. Come on and look to Christ. And this is the second time he
bows. Verse 11. Nay, my Lord, hear me. The field
give I thee and the cave that is therein. I give it thee. In
the presence of the sons of my people, give I it thee. Bury
thy dead. He bows first when he hears,
nobody's gonna stop you, there are no restrictions, come on,
take it. And now he bows when he says,
it's already yours. So I tell you right now, if you
are that one, your only hope is that Christ interceded for
you and he did business with the justice of God on your behalf
and did everything necessary There's no inhibitions. There's
no restrictions. Come right now. And you know what you'll find?
You've always had it. You've always been stored up
in Machpelah. You've always been in that sure resting place. Christ
Jesus. Guys, I've really enjoyed my
day with you all. It's great to see you again. I hope to see
you again very, very soon. Have a word of prayer. Father, once more, we bow to
you through your blessed son. Or we thank you for your gospel.
The written word of God preserved through time. Thank you for what? What's written within? Thank you for your blessed covenant,
Lord. Thank you for the message we
just heard. Lord, we ask that you'd keep us as we go through
this week and allow traveling mercies to those traveling. Lord,
that you'd keep us from this world and keep us from ourselves.
Keep us till we can meet again. Lord, we ask that thy will be
done in all things for Christ's sake. Amen. If you have your course books handy,
we'll sing the love of God on page 34. 34 in the course book. The love of God is greater far
than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star
and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair bowed down with
care. God gave his son to win. His erring child he reconciled
and pardoned from his sins. O love of God, how rich and pure,
how measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure the
saints' and angels' song. When hoary times shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall, When men who hear refuse
to pray, On rocks and hills and mountains call, God's love so
sure shall still endure, all measured, less, and strong, redeeming
grace to Adam's race. the saints' and angels' song. O love of God, how rich and pure,
how measureless and strong, it shall forevermore endure, the
saints' and angels' song. Could we with think the ocean's
view, and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth
a quill and every man a tribe I've trained to write the love
of God above would drain the oceans dry nor could the scroll
contain the whole ? Though stretched from sky to sky ? ? The love
of God, how rich and pure ? ? How measureless and strong ? ? It
shall forevermore endure ? ? The saints' and angels' song ? Thank you, brother, for those
wonderful messages. If you would go to the front,
let everybody tell you bye. Lord willing, our pastor will
be back with us for Wednesday service. We'll meet again then.
You're dismissed.