Morning, everybody. It's good
to see you this morning, as always. If you'd like to turn your Bibles
to Genesis chapter 23. Genesis 23. When you get there, let's just
read the first two verses. So we'll start off this morning. Genesis 23 in verse one. And Sarah was 107 and 20 years
old. That's 127. These were the years
of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died. In Kerjeth 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 read through this
story recently, I found it incredibly relatable. And really it was
for two reasons. Number one is because all of
us, without exception, are going to keep this same appointment
that Sarah kept. She died. You and I, in very
soon fashion, are going to die. It says in Chronicles 18, twice,
it says, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. You see the connection
there. Death because of what? Sin. Both being inescapable to
the natural man, both the sin and the death. That soul that
sinneth, it shall die. No ifs, ands, or buts. No question
here. That's what's going to happen. And then the judgment.
And it cometh quickly. James said this in James 4.14.
He said, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth
for a little time and then vanisheth away. I'd say 95% of us had coffee
this morning. That steam that rolls off that
cup, a vapor. It's there, it's gone. That's
how much impact we have while we're here. In the broad scheme
of eternity, that's how long we're here. Just a vapor, just
a little time. And Paul says this in Ephesians
5, 16 and 17, 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? Because
I'm evil. That's why. And it's a real short
amount of time. In a very short amount of time,
we will all stand before a holy and a just and a sovereign God
who demands absolute perfection. Let's get that nailed down early.
Absolute righteousness, absolute perfection. And Paul says, in
this short period of time you're given, redeem the time. Well,
how do you redeem it? You do this, you seek Christ.
Seek the Lord while he might be found. Seek his righteousness. Seek his sin atonement. Seek
to be in him. Seek Christ. That's what he's
saying there. That's the first reason I find this story relatable.
And here's the second reason. The first one I've thought a
whole lot about. The second one, not so much. The Lord blesses
you or me with a happy, long enduring marriage. One of us
is going to bury the other one. And some of you have lived that.
I haven't, but some of you have. That day comes and you're blessed
with that long enduring marriage. One of you is going to bury the
other individual. And the reaction we will have
will be the exact same one Abraham had here. He went in and he mourned
and he wept for his dead bride. And I wouldn't have thought to
ask this question, but I did hear someone ask it recently.
So I'm going to answer it. Is it okay to mourn? Is it okay to be sad? Was not
this the sovereign will of God? Did he not take Sarah at her
appointed time according to his sovereign purpose and will? Does
he not promise, and we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the cold according
to his purpose. Does he not say in all things
give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you? Absolutely. That is absolutely
true. In fact, it was absolutely true
for Abraham. You're in 23, chapter 23, look over at chapter 24,
verse one. This is right after he buries his wife. This is the
very next thing the scripture has to say. Chapter 24, verse
one, and Abraham was old and well stricken in age and the
Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. Even in this thing. Even in this
very difficult, this very sad thing of him having to bury his
bride, in all things, was he blessed? Yes. Because the Lord
put everything in his life. Everything that happened to him
was according to the Lord's purpose to do this, to bring him to Christ
and to keep him there. That was it. Is it okay to mourn despite all
that being true? Absolutely. Absolutely. It's appropriate and it's right.
And it's for this reason. That mourning, it doesn't come
out of a place of warring against the will of God or unbelief,
distrust in Him. It comes out of a place of love.
You love that person. That's why you mourn and you
weep over them. And I never considered this before. I never thought
about it. Stares us in the face every single day, but I'd never thought
about it. Even in human love, death doesn't dissolve it. It's
not as if you build this life with a person, you go through,
and they die, and that earthly relationship dissolves, and you
just stop loving them. Well, they were here yesterday,
we had a human relationship yesterday, and I loved them yesterday, but
they're died, so the love just dissipates. No. Yes, that earthly
relationship dissolves, but that love, even though they're dead,
it endures, and that's even in human love, not to mention the
love of God. Now, what's this story about? On the
surface, this is the story of Abraham. He loves his dead bride
and now he will go to procure a sure resting place for her. It'll say that twice in the scripture,
a sure resting place, but it will come to him at a great cost. But as you all well know, this
has absolutely nothing to do with Abraham. This has everything
to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. how he came to this earth out
of love for his dead bride to procure a sure final resting
place for her. And whatever Abraham paid, it
compares nothing to the price that our Savior paid to have
us. Now, as always, I want to read the story. I'll make a few
comments, point a few things out. We'll go back after that.
Just got four points for you. Very simple. And pray the Lord
along the way, pray that he would preach the gospel to us out of
this story. We don't mean in vain. So we're
there. Go back to the beginning and
look at verse one, Genesis 23, one. It says, and
Sarah was 107 and 20 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. You see how intentional he is
in this. There was a time for mourning.
There was a time to weep over her. He goes in the tent. He
carved out this particular amount of time. I'm going to mourn and
weep for this person I love. But then when the time of mourning
was over, he had a responsibility. I have to bury her. I have to
find a sure resting place for her. And he goes to seek that
sure resting place. Verse three, and Abraham stood
up from before 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. Now the language here is so important.
Everything's about Abraham. He says, that's my dead. He looks at Sarah. Yes, she's
dead. That earthly relationship has
dissolved, but he says, she's still mine. There's ownership
here. This is my dead. And he says, here's what has
to happen. She has to be married out of my sight. See that body
would soon decay. That body would soon corrupt
and Abraham can't see it. It's all about Abraham. Abraham
can't see it. He says, I have to take that
corruption and it has to be put out of my sight so I could never
see it again. Now look at verse five. And the children of Heth answered
Abraham saying unto him, hear us, my Lord, there are 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
to the children of Heth. Now notice for a second, the
respect that Abraham shows these children of Heth, these sons
of Heth. Abraham's holding all the cords right now. Where are
they? city called Kirjath Arba. Where's
that? It's in Canaan, the promised land. Years before this, years
before this, you go all the way back to Genesis chapter 12 when
the Lord called Abraham out of his land. He says, I make a covenant
with you. I promise you I'm giving you
the land of Canaan. It's going to go to you and your
seed after you forever. It will always be your possession.
The Lord had already promised him this land added to which
the Lord's for Abraham. He's not for the sons of Heth.
Abraham walks in there and he could have very well said, I'm
taking that field and that cave. And if anybody has anything to
say about it, you can start paying me rent because you're on my
property. The Lord had promised him that land, even though he
hadn't taken it yet, but that's not how he approaches them. He
comes to them with a simple request. He bows himself to them in respect,
in meekness and in gentleness. And I couldn't help but think
about when Paul addressed the Corinthians, here's what he said.
He said, now I pull myself beseech you by the meekness and the gentleness
of Christ. He would say in another place,
now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech
you by us. We pray you, we beg this of you.
In Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God. Now in this relationship
between God and man, let me make the biggest understatement that
has ever been made. He holds the upper hand. That is the greatest
understatement anyone has ever made. It's not that he just holds
the upper hand, that he holds all the courts. He's absolutely
sovereign. You know what that means? It means he is in absolute
sovereign control of everyone and everything at all times. Where does man fit in this relationship?
He has no rights whatsoever and he has no power. Any power that
any person or any creature is simply on loan from the Lord
to do his will and he takes it back as soon as he's done with
them. All power rests in the Lord and we sit in his hand,
all of us. in his hand to be saved or damned
at his good pleasure. And whatever he does, it is right,
just, and fair. To say that he has the upper
hand is the ultimate understatement. Yet, in this great relationship
here between God and man, he approaches the sinner, somebody
who doesn't have anything, who has no righteousness, who has
no capability of being good. All he's done is broken God's
holy law, and he approaches him on the grounds of meekness and
gentleness. in a gracious wooing, sinner.
Christ died for sinners. It is finished. Be reconciled
to God. You know what that means? What
that truly means? It means I'm not angry at you
because the reason for my wrath has been removed. The sin's been
removed through the death of Christ. Sinner, now you put down
your weapons of war. You stop being angry at me. You've
been reconciled to God. Abraham, in meekness and gentleness,
he approaches these people, how much greater the meekness and
gentleness of Jesus Christ in coming to sinners with this gracious
wooing. Sinner, be ye reconciled to God. Now look at verse eight. And he communed with them. This
is Abraham with the children of Heth. That communed, it speaks
of an intimate conversation. He says, come here, come here.
I want to talk to you. Come here. 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 burying place amongst you."
Now, Abraham had given a whole lot of thought to where he was
going to bury his bride. He already had picked it out,
Machpelah. You know what that means? means
a doubling or a double portion. That's what it means. It says,
I'm going to bury her there in Machpelah. There's an issue though.
Somebody's got a claim on that. This Ephraim of Zohar. And here's
what Abraham does. Notice everything we're going
to read. Abraham is the driving force. Abraham is the one who's
setting the terms here. Abraham says, I'm going to buy
it from him. He can't just give it to me. It has to be a set
price, whatever the value is, whatever satisfies Ephraim, I
have to pay that cost. I must pay the price because
that has to be his purchase possession forever. If he doesn't pay the
cost, Ephraim can come back at any time and say, nah, deal's
over. That's my land and your bride's buried there. She belongs
to me now. I've still got a claim. Abraham says, no. No one will
ever have a claim on my bride or that patch of ground ever.
I'm going to pay the full cost and he demands it. And that's
what happens after this. Go back, 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 his 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. He did it again.
And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the
land, saying, 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 Ephron 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 Ephron.
And Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named
in the audience of the sons of Heth. 400 shekels of silver listen
this Current money with the merchant now notice again Abraham is the
driving force Abraham says you set the price Whatever you say
makes you hold. That's what I'm gonna pay. I've
got to pay the cost He says no. No, I'm going to pay whatever
it is. You say whatever makes you whole
whatever satisfies you That's what I have to pay. That's it
and notice this This is current money with the merchant. Now,
I don't know how much 400 shekels is in today's money. I have no
idea. But I know this, that word current, you know what that means?
It means you could take that anywhere and it would spend.
You go to any merchant in town and you throw that silver up
on the scale, they'd been like, yep, you can buy whatever you
want. There was nothing you couldn't purchase with that money. It
was current money with the merchant. Everybody took it. That was it.
Now, 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 roundabout 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 and He lays
the silver on the table. He counts out every piece and
says, this is the cost. I just bought it. He did it in
the presence of all these witnesses. You know what they can do after
that? They do a land survey. They go out to that field and
that cave that he just bought. And they account for every tree,
every bush, every rock, everything, every braid of glass. It was
all accounted for. And in the audience of all these
witnesses, it was declared Abraham owns everything here. No one
ever has a claim to any of this ever again. This all belongs
to Abraham. Abraham, everything you bought,
it is all here. It is all present and accounted
for. It's yours forever. No one can ever take it from
you. Let's look at 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 in Hebron in the land of Canaan.
And the field and the cave that is therein were made sure unto
Abraham for a possession of a burying place by the sons of Heth. You know who else would be buried
there? Just a little while later, Abraham. A little while after
that would be their son, Isaac, and his bride, Rebekah. A little
while after that, it was his son, Jacob, and his bride, Leah. The whole family was buried in
that cave of doubling right there in Machpelah. Now, the question, where's the gospel in all this?
I've got four points for you. And here's this one. First one
I see. Got them out of order. Give me
one second. There you go. Here's the point. Our story begins
where salvation begins. It begins with the eternal love
of Christ for his elect, which not even death could dissolve.
Now, the first piece of information we get in this story is that
Sarah was 127 years old when she died. You know, she's the
only female in scripture where her age is recorded at her death.
It's very interesting. This is also interesting. There's
only one other time in scripture where something is numbered at
exactly 127. The first time it's here in reference to Sarah's
death. And the second time is in a curious place. It's in Esther,
the first chapter of the first verse. It speaks of the reign
of the King of Persia. He reigned over 127 provinces. 127, the reign of death. Romans 5.14, Paul says, nevertheless,
death reigned from Adam to Moses. It didn't stop there. It carried
all the way down to this generation right here. We all die. Is he
talking about physical death? Yes. The more so he's talking
about spiritual death, the reign of death. Romans 5, 12, wherefore
as by one man, sin entered into the world and death by sin. So death passed upon all men
for all have sinned. That's exactly what it says.
We were all stored up in this one man, this first father, Adam. Adam disobeyed God. We were all
stored up in him. In that one action, all of humanity
in union said, no God, disobedience. And we died. born in this world
in what the scriptures call dead in trespasses and sins. That's
every man without exception. What does that look like? We
don't have to look any further than our illustration. Think
about it for a second. Abraham walks in to weep and
to mourn for Sarah out of love. Can she reciprocate that love? He has to go and put her corruption
out of his sight. Can she do anything about her
own corruption? He goes to procure a sure resting place for her.
Can she help? Can she come up with some of
the money, make a payment, maybe make a down payment? No. Can
she even put herself in that cave, Machpelah? No, she has
to be brought there. She has to be carried there.
And that's what it means to be spiritually dead. That's how
we're all born in this world, dead and trespasses in sins.
And this is what that means. It means we have no spiritual
faculties. Love to God, impossible for the natural man. By nature,
the natural man, he hates God. I know that's hard to hear. And
it's because of this, because men make idols. You hear of a
Jesus that's not sovereign. He doesn't have any power. He
wants to save you. He loves you. He has this plan
for your salvation, but you know, you got to receive him. You have
to do whatever it is he wants you to do to make his, his will
possible. He's just, he's hoping that you'll step up and do your
part. That's not the God of the Bible. Men are confident in that
God. They're happy with Him. There's
no problem with that. The God of this Bible, He does what He
wants, with whom He wants, when He wants. There's not one He
purposes in salvation that won't be saved because He does it all
by Himself. The natural man hates that God because He takes the
power out of man's hands, puts it in his own. He can't believe
on Him. He can't trust Him. Although
the call to the sinner is, look to Christ. Look to Christ and
be saved. He can't. He can't trust Christ
alone. He won't. He refuses to. All
he wants to do is push him off his throne, destroy him if he
can't. That's all he can do is hate God and war against him.
That's it. That's what spiritual death looks
like. And I'll tell you what, folks, that'd be enough to end
human love. You show me somebody who wants
to kill me, wipe me out, who absolutely hates me. I will show
you somebody I don't love. But thanks be to God, that is
not the love of God for his elect. His love for his elect is eternal. Now, what in the world does that
look like? How does that work? Eternal? We can only say what the scripture
says, and it's this, the elect, the people of God, his chosen
people, we have always been in union with the Lord Jesus Christ
eternally. How is that possible? I have
no idea, but that's what the book says. So much so this, the
father, who does the father love? Father loves his son, he loves
Christ. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased, hear ye him. He loves that one God-man, Jesus
Christ. And that relationship, that eternal
union between the elect and between Christ is so close. When the
father is loving Christ, he's loving the elect. Everybody in
him. Christ loves himself. For a man
to say that would be absolute arrogance for him. It's only
right, it's only good because of who he is. That union is so
close that when he loves himself, he loves everybody in him. He
loves the elect. I want to stress this point.
This is very, very important. His love, the love of God is
only for his elect people. He doesn't love everybody. And
I stress that simply because our scripture does look back
at chapter 23 and look at verse six. I'm sorry, verse three. It says
an Abraham stood up from before His dead. Did he claim all the
dead in Kirjath Arba? Were they all his bride? Did
he go to procure a sure resting place for all those people? No,
that one, she's mine. I have to bury my dead out of
my sight. She is mine. That's the one that
belongs to me. God has a people, a people he
loves eternally. And everybody he loves, be sure
of this, He saves, and he does it all by himself. And folks,
if it's different, if he loves everybody equally, and some men
go to hell anyways, what does the love of God have to do with
salvation? And what good is the love of
God? Thanks be to God, everybody he loves, he saves. Now this
is what he does for his dead. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
two. I'm gonna show you something. Ephesians chapter two and look
at verse one, Abraham stood up from before his dead. What did
Christ do for his dead? Ephesians two verse one, and
you have he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. This is what he does for all
of his dead. He gives them life in two respects
really. And here's the first respect
right here. Everybody he loves. He gives us life before the father,
a new life, his own very life before God and his holy law.
And Mac Pila that cave of doubling. It tells the story a double a
double portion. Every member of the elect. We
have always been in Christ so much so that his life His perfect
law keeping, His perfect obedience to His Father, His perfect faith,
His life truly is our life before God. That life so real and so
true, when the law looks us over, it sees nothing but Jesus Christ.
It says, He's never broken me. He's always done that which is
right. He gives us life, a new life before God, the very life
of Jesus Christ through union with Him. And He also gives us
spiritual life, and that's in the here and now. That's in this
world. He gives us a new nature, a new
man. And that new nature, what does
it do? It does what it could not before, what that old man,
that dead man, he looks to Christ alone. He has no confidence in
his flesh. He has no hope in something he's
done or will do or anything like that. He's got confidence in
this one thing, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's all
he has. And everybody who's been given
this spiritual life, they completely agree with this next statement
here in Ephesians chapter two. Look at verse two. Wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, that's Satan, the spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. Just like everybody else,
this elect, those loved of God, they're born in this world. Is
there anything special about them? Someone looks at someone
who has life and they say, why do you have it? Did you do something
different? What did you do to attract the love of God? What
did you do to deserve this life? What do they say? Nothing. I
was a child of wrath, just like everybody else. Absolutely nothing. But here's the reason if you
want to know why. Verse four. But God. There's the reason. But God,
who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved
us. You ask anybody who has life,
why do you have this? Why were you given such a gift?
It has everything to do with this, but God. He loved me. Because he would, because I was
in Christ. He was merciful to me. He forgave me for one reason,
for Christ's sake and his surety ship's sake. That's it. But God,
that's the reason I've been given life. Nothing more and certainly
nothing for me. But notice when, read it again,
verse four. But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. Folks,
that's what eternal love looks like. Before the world began,
the God had loved us in Christ. We come to this world and we
are born dead in trespasses and sins, and yet that love endures. All our kicking and screaming
and fighting against him and hating him, that love endures.
It never goes away. He saves us in our experience.
He gives us life. We look to Christ. The new man is given.
And yet we still got to drag this old man around with us this
entire life. And he never believes God and
he fights against his will all the time. And yet his love endures. And then in the ages to come,
when faith becomes experience, hope becomes sight, that love
will endure. It will never, ever fail. It
will always continue on. For what reason? Because Christ
is our eternal surety ship. That's why. The whole of salvation,
the whole of gospel is only found in this statement, the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. How could he love them? They
were dead. They were unlovable. How could God's love, the love
of this holy, just God, how could he love them? It's very simple.
Before they were ever unlovable, they were always in Christ, that
lamb slain from the foundation of the world who had made full
atonement for everything they would do and think and say, that's
the reason. And the only reason right there.
And here's the second point. Because of eternal love, an eternal
promise and covenant was made. Now remember, where's Sarah buried?
Where's Machpelah? It's in the land of Canaan. In
time, Abraham would go, he would make a purchase, and he would
purchase that sure resting place for his bride. But that resting
place, that was promised to Abraham long before the purchase ever
took place. folks that's talking about the covenant of grace between
the Father and the Son before the world ever began. But we
can look at the covenant the Lord made with Abraham and you'll
see that covenant of grace. It's a beautiful type. Turn over
there, go to Genesis 17. Genesis 17 and pick up in verse
seven. This is the Lord speaking to Abraham. He's going to enter
into a covenant with Abraham. Genesis 17 verse seven says,
and I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed
after thee, all the posterity in their generations for an everlasting
and eternal covenant. 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 speaks to Abraham, and he says,
here's what I am going to do. I want to be a God unto you,
and I'm going to be a God unto your seed, all your posterity
after you, everybody who's in you. A God for you, and I'm going
to give you the land of Canaan. It's all yours by promise. Now,
Abraham's got to hold up his end of the bargain. What does
Abraham have to do? Look at verse 10. This is my
covenant, which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed
after thee. Every man child among you shall
be circumcised. Now folks, I don't know much
about circumcision, but I know this, Abraham circumcised himself
at 99 years of age. It's incredibly painful. It involves
a whole lot of suffering and it takes something away. You see the type before the world
ever began because the God had loved the elect in Christ said,
we will save them. We must strike a covenant. Now
a covenant of promise that they must be saved. And the father
looked at the son and says, those are my people and I will be a
God unto them. And I will be merciful to them, and I will
be gracious to them, and I will receive them as sons. And here's
what you're going to do. For me to be able to receive
them, they have to be spotless, and righteous, and sinful. You
will go, and you will live for them, and you will die for them.
You will bear their sins in your body, and you will put it away
through your suffering death, a circumcision, pain, suffering
that takes something away, something that's natural. That's the covenant
of grace that was made before the foundations of the world
were ever built. And as soon as that covenant
was ratified and it was ratified in the eternities, everybody
God loved and loves every member of his elect, they're saved. Salvation is by grace. It's not
by the works of the law in any way. If you're one of these people,
you cannot not be saved. That which purposed an eternity,
the promise of salvation. It happened in time. It happened
in time on the cross. Abraham made a purchase. 400
shekels, he got a patch of land. This is what it says concerning
Christ. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock
over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed
the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Abraham paid 400 shekels. Christ
paid with his own suffering, death and blood. Now the question,
why did he have to die? Why was that necessary? This
is God's purpose and plan for salvation. And folks don't think
for a second, the fall was something he didn't foresee. He purposed
it. Why? Why did he have to die? Number
one, because it was the purpose and will of God. And by Jesus
Christ coming and burying the sins of his people in his body
and putting them away, he achieves the greatest glory the Godhead
could possibly achieve. That's why. Number one, that's
why. Number two, here's the reason. Because of who God actually is. He is a just God. He cannot do
anything with sin, but punish it. He cannot simply be merciful
to a person who has sin on them. It's not possible. This sin has
to be taken away. He is a just God. And when he
sees sin, all he can do is punish that one that he sees the sin
upon. That is it. That's all he can do. He can
do no injustice to his own just character. That's who he is.
Holy and just is his name. And the only way the elect could
be saved injustice, that sin was actually taken away. Somebody
had to die. The perfect justice of God demanded
that somebody had to die. The sin was placed on him, he
bought in his body and he took it away. Now, I find it interesting,
our story illustrates that really, really well. God has a righteous,
holy, and just character. Cannot accept sin. The manifestation
of that is the law. The law is a manifestation of
His holy and just character. It says, I demand perfect righteousness. In our story, who had that first
claim on the patch of ground there at Machpelah? Ephraim of
Zohar. You know what his name means,
Ephraim? Calf, bull really, strong, unbending,
unwavering. Zohar, white, pure, God's holy
law, unbending. unwavering, demanding perfect
righteousness. Righteousness none of us have
ever kept the law, not once, certainly not in our hearts.
It demands perfect righteousness. But who is the driving force
in the transaction? It's Abraham. Abraham says, I'm
taking that land, but I got to make Ephraim right. I'm going
to make sure he's paid up in full because I want him to ever
have a claim against my ground or my bride ever again. Just
the same, Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth bearing the sins
of his people, honoring God's holy law. Make it to where the
law was paid up in full. Law, what do they owe you? They
owe me death. Law, what do you say about them?
They're all guilty, deserving of hell and damnation. Law, what
is it you need? This is what it takes to make
me right. I'll pay it. Put the sin on me."
And he bore that sin and put it away. And now, when the Father
and his holy law looks upon the people of God, all he sees is
perfect righteousness. The law has no claims. The law
have any claim for you? You're free from the law, if
you're a believer. Free from the law, it has no claims. It's
been paid off forever by the shed blood of Christ. We've kept
it in him. We are sinless. All that sin
put away in him. The law is completely and utterly
satisfied. And I love this. This is Abraham
being the driving force for God to save his people. He had to
do something for himself. The cross is God doing something
for himself by himself, satisfying his own just demand before he
could do something for me and you. That's it. The very justice
of God being honored. That's why Christ had to die.
And what a payment that was. Now, this is the effect of the
cross. Remember our story, after Abraham
pays the cost, what do they do? The land survey. Everything was
made sure, every rock, every blade of grass, every pebble
that was on there. We're going to count it all up,
make sure Abraham paid the cost, make sure he gets everything
he paid for. Abraham, it's all president accounted for. I tell
you right now, everybody who Christ died for, they are with
him in the heavenlies right now. This is what the scripture says,
his purchased possession forever. None of them can be plucked out
of his hand. Nothing they can do or anyone else can do. They
are bought with a price, the very blood of Christ, and they
are sure. They have a sure resting place with Him in the heavenlies,
and that is forever. It's sure. Now, where do I fit
in here? God loves a people. He chose
a people. Christ died and came and died
and redeemed those people, kept the law for those people. And
those people have been saved. It is finished. Where do I fit
in in all this? Am I one of these people? Look
back at your text and look at verse eight, Genesis 23, verse
eight. We looked at Abraham as a type
of Christ. Let's look at him as a type of
the elect here. Genesis 23, verse eight. And he communed with them, this
is David to the, I'm sorry, Abraham to the sons of Heth. 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 from the sake that
Ephraim answers him so quickly. Ephraim's in the audience. He's
standing right there. Abraham doesn't go to him. Abraham
goes to the sons of Heth and he says, entreat for me to Ephraim. Make intercession to me for Ephraim. He's a type of the elect here.
What's your hope of salvation? I got one hope. That's it. That
Christ intercedes for me. I can't approach unto God's holy
law. God's holy law. If there's anything I have to
do, if salvation is dependent on me in any way for me to be
saved, I know this, I'll go to hell, and rightfully so. Rightfully
so. I can't do business with that
law and that justice of God. I can't. I need one to intercede
for me. And this is my only hope, that
Christ intercedes for me. That He always have, and He always
will. That He made intercession. law
and to the Father on my behalf satisfying all of God's demands
and I am complete in Him. That's my only hope. That's it.
Is that your hope? If you have another hope that
hope is in yourself and that means you are on your own. But
I tell you what if that is your only hope I can tell you on the
authority of this book you are one of these people. Look down
here Abraham bows himself twice in this story. Look at verse
6, he bows himself after hearing this statement, "'Hear us my
Lord, There are at a mighty Prince among us in the choice of our
sepulchers, bury thy dead. None of us shall withhold from
thee his sepulcher. See that word withhold. It means
restrict, stop, restrain. I tell you this folks, if you're
a sinner, there are no restrictions, not the sovereignty of God, not
the love of God, not any of those things. Am I a part of all that? There's no restrictions whatsoever.
There's only one restriction. That's it. You have to have nothing.
If you can come with something, I've got some goodness. I've
got some plans. There's some things I did back here. I've
made a good thought. I've had some good motivations. If you've
got something that you're on your own, you are restricted.
But to a sinner and who is in need of mercy, there are no restrictions. I bow there. Don't you? He bows
in gratefulness and thankfulness. These people I bow there to a
sinner. There is no restrictions. Come, come and welcome. Christ
is for you. He did this for you. Come. Don't
think you're too sinful. It says, current money with the
merchant. It spends anywhere. There's not a sinner too bad.
His blood doesn't have the power to save. Current money with the
merchant. He can buy anybody he wants and
put away their sins. Good current money. There are
no restrictions except one. You have to have nothing. This
is the second time he bows. Look at 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. If you're one of these people,
your only hope is Christ intercedes for you, and he did business
with God and his justice on your behalf. And you're just a sinner
in need of mercy. You have it. He bows when Ephraim
says, you have it, it's yours. I give it to you. I tell you,
you've always had it. You may be finding out about
it right now, but you've always had it. If you're a sinner and
your only hope is Christ and His intercession for you. Salvation
has always been for you. God has always been for you.
You've always been loved eternally by Him. He entered in that covenant
for you, for your sake, for His own glory sake. You are seated
in the heavenlies with Christ right now. And that is unchangeable
because all the work has been done. There is nothing you need
to do. Simply trust Christ. Believe
what he said. That was it. All right. Been good meeting with you this
morning.