Good morning, everybody. If you'd like to turn over to Genesis chapter 23. Genesis 23. You may be familiar with this story. This is the death of Sarah, Abraham's wife. Now, before we read, let's have a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, Lord, we come to you this morning in Christ's name. Lord, we beg that you would open your word to us here this morning, that you would reveal Christ to us in your word. Lord, if you don't do that, this is just a story. But Lord, reveal your son, his great glory, his love and his sacrifice for his people, for us. Lord, cause us to find all our salvation in him. We ask, Lord, for every place your people meet together this morning to worship in your name. Lord, be amongst them, be amongst us, walk in our midst. And we ask these things in Christ's name, amen. So if you look in verse one, Genesis chapter 23, it says, and Sarah was 107 and 20 years old. She was 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. When you think about that, they've been together a long time, probably close to 100 years, something like that. He had built a life with this woman, and she dies. And so he sets aside this very special time to go weep and mourn for her. This is intentional. And why is he weeping and mourning? That's a really big question. It's something we should answer. It's because he loves her. She's dead. He still loves her. That death did not dissolve Abraham's love for her. He goes in to intentionally weep and mourn for this woman who was his companion for so many years because he loves her. And you think about that in human love, death doesn't dissolve it. You have a loved one that passes. When they die, it's not just poof, I don't love that person anymore. No, even in their death, that love continues on and certainly it did for Abraham. Now look at verse three. And Abraham stood up from before his dead, make note of that, his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you. Give me a possession of a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my sight. What's the issue here? Abraham's the issue. This whole story is about Abraham. Abraham's a very powerful type. of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's saying this. She's going to corrupt. Sarah is dead. Her body will decay. There's going to be corruption. And he says that corruption has to be removed out of my sight. See, the issue is Abraham, what he sees. It has to be moved out of my sight. I have to remove that corruption so that I can never see it again. And notice he says this is his death. Not only did her death not dissolve his love for her, It didn't dissolve his ownership of her. He says, she's my debt. And here's the issue, her corruption, her defilement, it has to be removed out of my sight. And I have to go and I have to secure for her a sure resting place. I got to bury her and ensure that that place that I put her forever, it's sure that she can never be disturbed. Sarah's a very powerful type of boss as well. Now look at verse four. Let's look at how these sons of Heth respond. or rather verse five. And the children of Heth answered Abraham saying unto him, here is 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 this sepulcher, but that thou mayest bury thy dead. And Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth. What I'd have you to notice here is how respectful Abraham is to these people, these children of Heth. And here's what's interesting about that. In this, called a negotiation, maybe, not really, it's more of an incident. In this conversation, Abraham holds all the cards. He's the one who is ultimately in control. And here's the reason, where are they? They're in Kurjath Arba, which is in the land of Canaan, the promised land. You go all the way back to Genesis 12 and all the way back to Genesis 17, what you find is that whole land, Kerjath, Arba, all of Canaan, that was given to Abraham by a promise of God in a covenant. Where he was at, this place where he's saying, I want a burying place, he owns all that land. That's his land by covenant promise of God. He hasn't taken it yet. He hasn't taken ownership yet, but it's his by purpose and covenant of the Lord. And so he easily could have said, I'm taking that cave and that piece of ground over there, and if anybody's got a problem with it, you can get off my property. You can start paying me rent, because I own all this. But he doesn't. Even though he holds all the cards, in respectfulness, he makes a request. In respectfulness, he bows himself to these people. And here's the scriptures I thought of, 2 Corinthians 10.1. Now I pull myself, beseech you, beg you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. He said in another place, now then we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, we beg you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. He who holds all the courts The creator, the sovereign of the universe, the one who says it shall be and it is every single time, the one who controls all things, all men resting in his hand to save or damn at his good pleasure, completely up to him. We've sent away our rights. This is what he says to sinners. He says, I beg you. I pray you. I beseech you. I'm not angry with you. Christ died for sinners. He put away all my wrath. I am completely reconciled to you. Now you put down your weapons of war against me. Be ye reconciled to God. This one who holds all the cards, what is he? He is meek and gentle towards his people, towards sinners. Now look at verse eight. And he, Abraham, communed with them, the children of Heth, 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, 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 it is worth, he shall give it me for possession of a burying place amongst you." Now, Abraham had pre-purposed all this. He had given very special attention to this sure resting place where he would put his rod. He said, it's going to be Machpelah. That means the cave of doubling or a double portion. He says, that's the one I've picked out. He did all this beforehand. But there's an issue. Somebody has a claim on Machpelah. This Ephraim, the son of Zohar, he owns it. He has first claim on it. And Abraham says, here's what you're going to do. Ephraim, you're going to tell me exactly what it's worth. You're going to tell me exactly how much it will cost for me to satisfy your claim on this land, and I'm going to pay every single bit of it. You're gonna come up with a number, you're gonna tell me, and then I'm going to pay it. And here's the reason, if he doesn't pay in full, if he doesn't pay every bit of the cost, that means that Ephraim would have claim to his bride forever, and Abraham will not have any other man having a claim on his bride. She must have a sure resting place forever. Let's see what Ephraim says. 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 I give 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 thou wilt 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, 400 shekels of silver, current money, with a merchant. Now I would have you to notice something here. Who is the initiator of this? Who is the driving force in this transaction? It's Abraham. Abraham picked up Machpelah. Abraham goes to Ephraim and he says, you're going to tell me whatever it is your price is. Whatever will satisfy your claim, you're going to tell me and I'm going to pay that cost. I'm going to pay it in full so that you have no claims on Mac Pila or my bride ever again, forever gone. This was all initiated by Abraham. Abraham is making demands of himself and then he is satisfying his own demands. Let's look what happens. Verse 17. And the field of Ephraim, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave that 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. Abraham comes up, he said, Ephraim said 400 shekels of silver, and he takes 400 shekels and he puts it down, count it. I've paid in full. He said the number, here's the money right now. They said, yeah, that's it. That's every cent. And they go out and they do a land survey. He said, Abraham just purchased it. We've got to make sure everything he purchased is here. And they numbered every tree, every blade of grass, every rock, every cave that was out there. And at the end, in the audience of the people, once everything was made sure, everything he had purchased was there and accounted for, in the audience of everyone, they said this, Machpelah belongs to Abraham. It is his purchased possession forever. No one can ever have a claim to Machpelah other than Abraham, and that's forever. Look how it ends, verse 19. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah, his wife, in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre, the same as Hebron in the land of Canaan. And the field and the cave that is therein were made sure unto Abraham for possession of a burying place by the sons of Heth. You know who else was buried there? Sarah, obviously. A little while later, Abraham. A little while later, Jacob and his wife, Rebecca. A little while later, Isaac and Leah. The whole family. The whole family. Where the patriarch laid to rest. The whole family laid in Magpula with him, where the patriarch rested. The whole family rested with him in one. Now, where's the gospel in all this? The story begins where salvation begins, with love that not even death can dissolve. Now, in the first verse, it tells us something very interesting, that Sarah was 127 years old when she died. And that's interesting for two reasons. One, she is the only female in scripture whose age is recorded when she dies. Singular. 127 years. Secondly, only twice in scripture is anything numbered at exactly 127. Sarah, right here, at the time of her death. And the other time was this. King Ohasuerus. It speaks of his reign. He reigned over 120 provinces, 127 provinces, the only other time it's used. So the first time in reference to death, the second time in reference to a reign, and you know what I thought of? This is what Paul said. Romans 5.14, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses. It continued way past that too, didn't it? All the way down to you and me. Death. Physical death? Yes. What's the reason for physical death? Sin. The soul that sinneth, it must die. But it's much more than that. It's spiritual death. From Adam to Moses, all the way down to you and me, down to our children, dead in trespasses and sins. That's how we're born into this world. What does that look like? We don't have to look any further than our illustration. That's it. Think about it. The first couple of verses, Abraham goes in to intentionally mourn for Sarah because he loves her. He pours down his love upon her in this weeping and this mourning. And I ask you this question, can she reciprocate that love to him? She's dead. He has to put her corruption out of his sight. She will decay. She will defile. It has to be put out of his sight. Can she do anything about her own corruption? She's dead. Abraham has to pay a great price that she might have a sure resting place. Can she contribute in any way? Can she come up with one silver shekel? She cannot. She's dead. She can't even put herself in Machpelah. She has to be carried and she has to be laid there. And that's what it's like to be dead in trespasses, in sins, having no spiritual ability. Can't love God. Not as he is. Not as he is. We make idols. Comfortable with the idols, but this sovereign God, this God who will do what he will, with whom he will, and will have all glory to himself. The natural man hates him. That's how we're born in this world. All the Lord's chosen people, we're born that same exact way. Hating God, warring against him. Can't do anything about this sin. Can't stop. Can't do anything to take it away. Can't pay our own costs. Can't even put ourselves in Christ. Impossible. Only the Father can do that. Completely and utterly dead in trespasses, in sins. And I want to stress this. That would be enough to dissolve human love. You show someone who hates me, someone who is constantly warring against me, things like that, I will show you a person I do not love. But that did not dissolve the love of the Lord Jesus Christ for his bride, for his people. Why? Because we are eternally united to him and he has always been our lamb slain. from the foundation of the world. Before we were ever like that, before we were ever fallen, he was the acceptably slain lamb for his chosen people. And I want to stress that. He loves his people. He has always loved his people, his people he shares that eternal union with, those people his father gave him. He loves those people. He came to live and to die for those elect people. And that is so important. You say, why is that? Why are you bringing that up? Why are you stressing that? Because the text does. Look at verse three. And Abraham stood up from before all dead. Somebody else is dead. Abraham stood up from before his dead. How many people died in Canaan? How many people died in Kirjath Arbor? Maybe that very day did Abraham go along saying, well, I'll take this dead and I'll take that dead and I'll get a sure resting place for it. This is my dead. This is my bride. This is the one I like. This is the one I love. This is the one I will get a sure resting place for. It's particular. The love of Christ is for his elect. We were born in this world dead in trespasses and sins, at war against God, but what did he do for his dead? Turn over to Ephesians 2. Let me show you this. Ephesians 2, and look at verse 1. It says, And the emphasis there is you that were dead, his chosen people that were dead. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. This is what he does for all his chosen people, all his dead. He gives them life. What does that mean though? What does it mean he gives us life? Well, really two respects we can understand this. Number one, he gives us his life. the perfect, holy, righteous, acceptable life of the Lord Jesus Christ. It really is our life before the Father. This is how real this union is. Remember, they're married. The two have become one flesh. Christ and his bride cannot be separated, so much so that when he lived, we really did live. Machpelah, what's the name? A doubling. Truly, in him were doubled. Whatever he did, whatever he thought, whatever his motivation was, his obedience to his father, that is our life before God. That is the truly only acceptable life, and we have that in Christ. All salvation is found in this one place, in Christ. And he comes in time and he gives us spiritual life. through the preaching of the gospel by the Holy Spirit, breathes life into us, and causes us to look to Christ and to find all our hope and comfort in Him. All of salvation is found in Him. My hope is found in Him. And everybody who's been given life, they will agree with this next statement concerning themselves. Down here, verse two. Where in time past, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh the Children of disobedience. That's Satan, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the loss 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. Everybody who has life knows that's the case. Just like that. I was a child of wrath. I hated God. as a child of the devil, just following his whim and his will, just like that. So someone may say, then why? If that's how you were, why? Why did he give you life? If there's nothing acceptable about you, if you didn't do anything, if you were nothing but a child of wrath, then why do you have life? Why did he give it to you? Verse four, but God. That's our answer. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. Why do I have life? Why do any of these people have life? For something in us? No, but God. That he loved me in Christ because he would. Because he was merciful unto me for Christ's sake. That's the reason. No other reason but God. But look at when this love was. Read that again. Ephesians 2 verse 4, but God who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins. You see the picture there of Abraham going in and mourning and weeping for Sarah? She's dead. He loved us in eternity past because we were always in Christ. All the Father's love is in Christ. Understand that. We've always been in Christ. We had his love. We come to this world, we died an Adam, dead in trespasses and sins, didn't dissolve his love for us because we've always been in Christ, that acceptably slain lamb. He gives us life in this world, spiritual life, but this old wicked nature is still there. That's why we still sin. That's why we're still all filled with unbelief, and yet, his love endures for us. And then, at the end of all this, when we put down this old, wicked nature, and we are perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, having just this new nature he gives us, he will still love us, because that love is eternal. It always has been, and it always will be. Salvation is not something that we are striving for, folks. It was done. It was done from the foundations of the world. Now, second thing I notice here is because of this eternal love, an eternal promise and covenant was made. Now remember, this is Abraham's land. Canaan, this all belongs to to Abraham, this sure resting place that he will give for Sarah. This is all according to God's promise and his covenant. Turn over to Genesis chapter 17 for a moment. I want to read you this covenant that the Lord made with Abraham. And in all this, when the Lord speaks, he's exactly who he is in the story, God the Father. When Abraham speaks, he is a type of Christ. And this is all a type of the covenant of grace. Genesis 17, look at verse 7. This is the Lord speaking. He says, and I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, an eternal one 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. The Lord says, I will be God unto you, and to everybody in you. a God for you, a God merciful and gracious. I'm gonna be for you. And this land, this land of Canaan, I'm gonna give it to you and all the generations after you. Everybody who's in you right now, they're gonna inherit all this land. They're gonna get everything. Now, let's listen to Abraham's part of the covenant. He's a type of Christ. Verse 10. This is my covenant, which he shall keep. I have full confidence. between me and you and thy seed after thee, every man-child among you shall be circumcised. The Lord says, I'm going to be a God unto you, Abraham, and unto everybody in you, a God for you. I'm gonna give you the land, and here's what you're gonna do. This is your part of the covenant. You're gonna circumcise yourself, and you're gonna circumcise everybody who is in you. And don't overthink this. It's very simple. What is circumcision? It involves a whole lot of suffering, and it takes something away. This is the covenant of grace. The father going to the son saying, I have a people. They are a people who are in you. I want to be a God to them, a God merciful and a God gracious, but you know my character. I'm a just God. And so here's what you're going to do. You're going to go to that earth, and you're going to do everything that is necessary for me to be merciful and gracious to them. You're going to bear their sins in your body. You're going to suffer under my wrath with no pity for me whatsoever. You're going to put it away. And then I will be a God merciful and gracious and just under those exact same people. And I love the language here. He says, and this is my covenant, which you shall keep. Father had all confidence in the son because the son is God and God cannot fail and God cannot lie. He can't enter into a covenant and not keep his promise. That's why salvation is eternal. because it's all found in the covenant God. Now, question. Why is it that the Lord Jesus Christ had to die? There's a lot of answers to that question. We get real deep with that. And I recognize it's the eternal purpose of God. I get that. It was for the glory of the Godhead. I understand all that. The salvation of his people. But essentially, more particularly, why did he have to die? It's because God's just. He has a holy law. His law is beautiful. It's perfect. It is a manifestation of how just and holy and righteous God actually is. And he can't just sweep sin under the carpet. It's impossible. Anywhere he sees sin, he must punishment. He's a holy and a just God with his holy law. And the law looked at us and said, guilty. God can't be merciful. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ had to do business with the law, burying our sins in his body, putting them away, so much so that the law is satisfied, that the law says to everybody in Christ, beautiful, perfect, righteous, acceptable. The law has absolutely nothing else to say. Free from the law. And that's exactly what we see in our story. Abraham goes to Ephraim, he says, name your price. Christ went to the law and said, what do they owe? What do they owe? What's the punishment? What's the cost? The law said this, this, this, and this, and eternity in hell for each one of them. Put it on me. I love how it's initiated by Abraham. the father creating his own holy law, and then demanding satisfaction of that law from his people, but then satisfying that demand in his own self, God doing business with God. The cross had everything to do with God doing something for himself so he could do something for you and me. Don't you love that? He went to Ephraim and says, you tell me the cost. Whatever you say, you set the cost. I pay in full, and he did. He paid in full, 100%, so much so that the law has nothing to say to the people of God. If your hope is in Christ, understand this, you are free from the law. And I have no problem saying that. I don't fear people, it's gonna make people run to sin. You are free from the law. The law has nothing to say to you. Innocent, righteous, holy, because you're in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Now, question here, though. What a great story. Christ justified his people. Everybody who's in Christ eternally secure. Am I one of those people? This is personal. Am I one of these people? I wanna give you some comfort, if you are. Let me show you something real quick. Go over here, look at verse eight. Switch the type for a moment. Abraham now becomes us, his people. Ephraim is still the law. And he communed with them, Abraham, 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. Now, you may have missed this when we first read it, but let me point it out now. Ephron answers so quickly, he is absolutely in the audience there. He may be standing right next to Abraham, but Abraham won't speak to him directly. He goes to the sons of Hath and he says, Be my intercessor. Be my mediator. I can't speak to Efren directly. Can you do business with the law on your own? Do you have any confidence in this flesh whatsoever? Is there anything in you that you have personally done in this flesh that God could find acceptable? Not in me. There is nothing there. I have to have one, a mediator, an intercessor, to go do business with Ephraim, with God's holy law, and establish me before that law in righteousness. Everything has to be done for me. Every single bit of it. If anything is left up to me, I will surely be damned. I must have this mediator, this one who would make effective intercession on my behalf. I have to have Christ do it all. Is that your hope? For one of these people? Let me give you a little more. There are two times that Abraham bows in this story. And I bow here, too. Look at verse 6. This is the sons of Heth speaking to him. It says, Hear us, my Lord. Thou art a mighty prince among us, and the choice of our sepulchers bury thy dead. None of us shall withhold from thee his sepulcher. You know what that word withhold means? To restrain or to restrict. There are no restrictions, folks. The sovereignty of God does not hold you off. An election doesn't hold you off. And certainly your sin does not hold you off. You know how this money was described in our text? As current money with the merchant. You know what that means? It means it spends anywhere. It means it is so abundant and so great that you could take it anywhere and buy anything you wanted with it. There's not a sin too great, not a sinner too great. There are no restrictions. The command is come to Christ, believe on Him. No restrictions except one. You have to come with absolutely nothing. And that is very easy to do when you have absolutely nothing. And here's the final one. Look at verse 11. Listen to Ephraim speak to Abraham. He says, 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 the people, give I it thee. Now, this is where I want to end this. If your hope, only hope, is that Christ did business with the law on your behalf, that he satisfied God's holy justice in every way, shape, and form, making you perfectly acceptable. If you have nothing, you come with absolutely nothing. I want you to understand something. Salvation is not something to be strived for. It's not something we're hoping to obtain. You have it. That's why Efren told them right there, it's yours. It's always been yours. Never could not be. I'll leave you there.