The time has come for Abraham
to die. It happened some 3,500 years
ago, give or take a couple hundred years. And his remains, the dirt
that his body has turned to, is still with us somewhere over
there in the Middle East. But Abraham lives. I love what the Lord said when
those people were denying the resurrection. He said, don't
you know that God said, I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's not the God of the dead,
but of the living. Abraham lives. While I was thinking
about this message, it was either the end of October or the first
of November. where Doris Daniel died, and
I thought, she lives much more than you and I live. The Lord
said, when thou will enter into life, this is our life. The Lord had appointed this day
for him. Verse seven says, and these are
the days of the years of Abraham's life, which he lived 175 years. Then Abraham gave up the ghost. The Lord had appointed this day
for him to die. And our day is appointed. The day you and I are going to
die has already been determined by God. Let me read Acts chapter
17, 26. He's made of one blood, all nations
of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and half determined
the times before appointed. He determined your birth. He's
already determined your death and the bounds of their habitation.
He's determined where you'd live. He has determined everything.
Isn't that wonderful? I love it being that way. And
I don't wanna know when I'm gonna die. I don't wanna know about
it because I particularly don't wanna know how I'm gonna die
because I would rather die in such a way that is pain-free
and I don't have to suffer. I would much prefer that. Um,
but the day of my death and the day of your death has been appointed. You know, there's something about
that that just makes you not worry. Doesn't it? I mean, everything's in the
Lord's hand. Other than the Lord himself,
Abraham is the most significant man in the scripture. He is the man God appeared to. And it appears that when the
Lord appeared to him, we don't read of any other believers that
were on the earth at this time. I don't understand this, but
God did say, I called him alone. I called him alone. And at that time, when God called
him, he appears to be the only believer. And he was, as we've
seen very clearly, a man just like me and you. He was a weak
man. He was a sinful man. He was an
unbelieving man. And the scripture gives us many
examples of that in his life. I think of that time when he
told Sarah to lie to Abimelech. He'd already done this years
before with Pharaoh, but this time he says, to Sarah, tell
him, you're my sister. He'll kill me if you don't. And
you remember what the Lord did. He appeared to Abimelech in that
dream. And Abimelech afterwards said, why did you do this to
me? He said, I thought, there's a problem. I thought,
surely, The fear of God is not in this place. That's Abraham. How wrong he was at that time. And God, the Holy Spirit points
out these flaws and inconsistencies and contradictions in Abraham's
life. And it's a reminder to us why
we are the way we are. We see Abraham, but Abraham was
a very special man. Like no other man. He is called the friend of God, the friend of God. He is called the father of the
faithful. Believers are called children
of Abraham. God said to Abraham in thee shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed. And we're testimony
of that right now, as we sit here, God said. I called him alone. What a special man by grace. Abraham is a great type of Christ
in many ways. He's the covenant head of a people. All believers are called his
spiritual seed, the seed of Abraham. In thee shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed. All of God's blessings in Christ,
according as he has chosen us in him. Blessed be the God and
father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. I think one of my favorite illustrations
in the Bible of salvation is in Hebrews chapter seven, verse
nine. I'd like to read it to you. You
can turn there if you want. Hebrews chapter seven, verse
nine. The writer to the Hebrew says,
and as I may so say, Levi, who also received tithes, paid tithes. in Abraham, for he was yet in
the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him." Now, Levi
paid tithes when he wasn't born. He was the great grandson of
Abraham. Abraham never met him. But the scripture says, Levi
paid tithes. It does not say that the tithe
paying of Abraham to Melchizedek was imputed to Levi. It says, Levi paid those tithes. Now, whatever Christ did, I did. When he obeyed the law, I obeyed
the law. What a glorious type of Christ
he is. What Abraham did, Levi did. What
Christ has done, every believer has done. the Lord himself called
heaven, Abraham's bosom. He is the great example of faith. Genesis 15, six, first time we
read of believing, Abraham believed God. Now, I love the way the
Lord appeared to him and said, Abraham, Abraham didn't have
any children. He didn't have any posterity. And I've often
thought that Abraham's name means a father of multitudes. And he
didn't have any children. And I imagine he probably felt
kind of weird sometimes when people said, hey, Abraham, if
he knew what his name meant, which I'm assuming he did, he
thought that sounds kind of hollow. Father of multitudes, father
of nations. And yet God appears to him and
says, if you can count the stars in the sky or the sand which
is by the seashore enumerable, that's your seed. Abraham didn't
have any evidence that this was so by looking at himself. All
he had was God's word. Is that enough? It's everything. Abraham believed God. And it was counted to him for
righteousness. Now he's 175 years old and he's
been walking with God for some hundred years, longer than any
of us have. I think it's interesting. I'm
63. Abraham wasn't called by God until he was either 70 or
75 years old. That is when God called him.
And then he walked with God for 100 years. First thing that is recorded
that he did was build the altar and call on the Lord. He spent
the rest of his life doing that. But then he goes down into Egypt,
Genesis chapter 12, and that's where he told his first lie about
his wife to get out of trouble. And through that event, He became
filthy rich. Pharaoh saw that this was a man
God blessed and all the wounds in Egypt were closed up because
he was there. And so they gave him money. That's
how Abraham got rich going down into Egypt and Pharaoh made him
rich. The Lord brings good out of evil.
What Pharaoh was doing. I mean, what Abraham was doing
was bad, but look how it turned out. Isn't it? Aren't you thankful the Lord's
that way? He brings good out of evil. And then we read of
Abraham separating from Lot, giving Lot deference and let
him taking the well-watered plains. And then we read of Abraham's
encounter with Melchizedek. Melchizedek, who I have no doubt
is the Lord Jesus Christ, saying, blessed be Abraham of the most
high God. And this is during this 100 years
of walking with Christ. We read in Genesis chapter 15
of him believing God and it being counted to him for righteousness.
We're taught the gospel right there. And then at the latter
part of that chapter, the Lord told him, your seed is gonna
go into Egypt in 400 years. They're gonna be stuck and then
I'm gonna bring them out. He learned history before it
took place. In his walk with God, there was
the issue of Hagar, where he didn't believe God. Sarai didn't
believe God. They thought they would help
out. He went into Hagar. Ishmael came, who represents
salvation by works, men doing their part. Then we have the
covenant of circumcision. We have God appearing to him.
to tell him about the destruction of Sodom. We have him going back
and doing the same thing in chapter 20, did in chapter 12 with Abimelech
and telling him that Sarah was his sister to protect himself. This is during this long walk
with the Lord. In chapter 21, when he's a hundred
years old, that's when we read of the birth of Isaac. And then
in chapter 22, that glorious gospel message, take now your
son, your only son. What an experience that was when
he saw the gospel. That's what the Lord was talking
about when he said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. When he saw that
substitute provided for his son. I love when he said, God shall
provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. What a gospel message
we're giving there. Then we read of the death of
his beloved wife when he came to mourn and weep. And then in
chapter 24, we hear of him as an old man sending out Eleazar
to look for a bride for Isaac. He got one too. Now it's time for him to die. 35 years has passed between the
death of Sarah, and now he'd married a woman by the name of
Keturah, had a bunch of children from her, and now the time has
come to die. His last breath. Verse eight, then Abraham gave up the ghost,
Now this wasn't the way the Lord gave up the ghost. When the Lord
gave up the ghost, he gave death permission to come and take him. Abraham didn't give death permission.
Me and you aren't going to give death permission. Death is going
to take us when the Lord determines for it to be. But look what it
said of him. Then did Abraham give up the
ghost and died in a good old age. Now that can't be said of
everybody. Old age can be a very difficult,
wretched, painful time. And you may have a very difficult
old age. As I said, I prefer not to have
a difficult old age. I might die with racked with
pain and going through it many years. I don't know. Or I might
die just like that. I don't know. But not every old
age could be called a good old age. But Abraham died in a good old
age, an old man, and this speaks of him dying with dignity. Dignity, I'd like to die like
that. You know, I wanna die well, don't you? I wanna glorify the
Lord in my death. I wanna die with dignity, with
believing God, with the peace of knowing that whatever God
sends my way is best. I'd like to die with dignity.
Abraham did. Now I know that by his grace
I will, and without his grace I won't. I know it is that simple,
but I would like to die the way Abraham did as an old man, and
dying with dignity and respect. You know, people respected Abraham.
He was a kind man. He was a humble man. Look at
the way the children of Heth, they bowed before him and said,
thou art a mighty prince before us. And he was just, Abraham
was a fine man, well-loved, well-respected. He had treated people in a way
that they were sad to see him go. He died as an old man, but
look at this scripture, and this is so important. He died an old
man and full, full, satisfied. He died a satisfied man. Now does that mean that Abraham
looked upon his past life and said, I've got no regrets. Everything's
been great. You know it doesn't mean that,
I guarantee you Abraham. How many things in your past
do you regret horribly? I dare say a whole lot of things. This is not talking about Abraham
looking over his life and saying, I've got no regrets, I've done
so well. I can just use one example. I know he regretted the way he
did Sarah. I guarantee he did. And I admire Sarah the way she
forgave him. I mean, here he did this to her,
let her go into a harem twice, and she forgave him. I admire
her. But I guarantee he regrets. what he did and a thousand other
regrets. Well, what is this thing of him
dying satisfied, satiated, full, full? Like you've had a good
meal and you're satisfied, you're full. What is this thing of him
dying full? Because this is the way I want
to die. This is the way I want you to die. What is this thing of
dying satisfied? Well, he hinted at this In Genesis
chapter 22, verse eight, God will provide himself a sacrifice. You satisfied with that? Are
you satisfied with that? God provides the sacrifice, nothing
for you to provide. He doesn't provide it. He provided
for himself. There's nothing you could provide
for him that he would accept. He provided himself as the sacrifice. Let me tell you what that means.
It is finished. Are you satisfied with that? Of him, are you in Christ Jesus? Somebody says, how are you getting
Christ? God's got to put you there. of Him. Are you in Christ Jesus who of
God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption? Are you satisfied with that? In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and you complete, absolutely lacking
nothing in Him. Are you satisfied with that?
Are you looking for anything else? By one offering, He hath perfected. Listen to that. He hath perfected
them that are sanctified. Are you satisfied with that?
Now, this is Abraham's satisfaction. He was satisfied with God's salvation. Now, God is completely satisfied
with what Christ did. Amen? Christ is completely satisfied
with what he did. God the Holy Spirit is infinitely
satisfied with what Christ did. That's what he teaches us. That's
what the Spirit bears witness of. Every believer is completely
satisfied with what Christ did. Are you? Are you? Now that's Abraham's satisfaction. He was satisfied. Turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter
4. Now, let me tell you, when you're satisfied with what Christ
has done, you're not looking for anything else. If you're
looking for something else, if you're thinking, I'm afraid I'm
missing something, you're not being satisfied with Christ.
You're being satisfied with Christ, like Abraham was, dying full,
satisfied, when you look nowhere else. Now, these are Paul's words
in 2 Timothy chapter 4. Verse six, for I am now ready
to be offered, poured out like a drink offering, I'm ready to
die. I'm now ready to die. And the time of my departure
is at hand. Don't you love the way the death
of the believer is called a departure? It's a departure to an infinitely
better place. The time of my departure is at
hand. Now look what he says next. I have fought a good fight. Now somebody's thinking, I couldn't
honestly say I fought a good fight. I could see all kinds
of things that would keep me from being honestly able to say,
I fought a good fight. And Paul did. How is that? How could someone ever look at
their life and say, I have fought a good fight? Well, here's how
he did it. I've kept the faith. That's the fight of the good
fight. faith. I've finished my course.
I persevered looking to Christ only. Now this is what he's talking
about when he's talking about fighting this good fight. I've
finished my course. I've continued in this. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that
when God first saved me, and you know what? I've never let
that. By the grace of God, this is all I have. God forbid that
I should glory. And remember, this is Paul speaking.
He said, I wouldn't glory in anything but the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here's how I've fought a
good fight. I've persevered in looking to
Christ all the way to the end. Now that's what perseverance
is. Perseverance isn't remaining religious. Perseverance is continuing
to look to Christ only. May God give me the grace to
die just like that. That's why I'm ready to be offered.
Now look what he says next. Henceforth, there's laid up for
me a crown of righteousness." You know, I've heard sermons
before on believers and their crowns. You know, you've got
the soul winner's crown, you've got the righteous living crown,
you've got all the different crowns. I guess I must have big
heads up in heaven where they wear all those crowns, you know.
That has nothing to do with what is being said. A crown of righteousness. That is the righteousness of
Jesus Christ. That is the crown of righteousness. And look what it says. I love
the way it says this, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall
give me. Now, I would think what an act
of grace and mercy that is in the Lord that he would give such
an unworthy one this righteous crown. And I agree. Wouldn't
it be an act of grace for you to be given a perfect crown of
righteousness? And there he is, absolutely righteous
without sin. But I love it the way it says,
which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me. You know
what that means? That means when that publican
went home after beating on his breast, crying, God, be merciful
to me, the sinner, Christ said, I tell you, that man went down
to his house justified. Not forgiven, though he was,
not shown mercy, though he was, but this man went down to his
house having never sinned. That's what that means. He went
down to his house justified, and when God, the righteous judge,
gives me and every other believer this crown of righteousness,
it's gonna be because that's exactly what they deserve. That's how real justification
is. And look what Paul says next. He says, Not to me only. Henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give to me at that day, and not to me only, but
unto all them also that love his appearing. I'm one of them. I love his appearing as my surety
before time began. I love his appearing before God's
holy law when he kept it on my behalf during his days upon this
earth. I love his appearing on the cross when he put away my
sins. I love his appearing when he
walked out of that tomb with the complete salvation and justification
of his people. I love his appearing right now
representing me as my intercessor so that all God sees is Christ. and how I'm going to love his
appearing when he returns. Are you one of those people?
His crown of righteousness is not just for me, but it's for
all of those who love his appearing. Abraham dies satisfied with Christ,
not looking for anything else. You know, it'd be a horrible
thing to be looking for something else, wouldn't it? Because you'd never
find it. You'd never find it. There's
gotta be more. Well, you ain't getting it, whatever
it is. The only way to die satisfied
is looking to Christ alone. And really that's the only thing
faith really is. It looks to Christ alone. It
doesn't look to Christ and. It looks to Christ alone. And
that's what true perseverance is. Persevering and looking to
Christ alone. And right now, I can say this
with confidence. I hope I haven't fooled myself,
but all I have is Christ right now. Right now. He's all I have. I got nothing else. I don't want
anything else either. I'm satisfied to be saved by
Christ alone. Now that's what is meant by Abraham
dying. Satisfied fool. I love the hymn we sing. Oh,
that will be glory for me, glory for me, glory for me. When by
his grace, I shall look on his face. That will be glory, be
glory for me. You see the death of the believer
is described in three ways in the scripture. Blessed. Blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord. And the Lord told John, write
it down. Write, blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. Now their blessedness is being
in the Lord. Oh, you see, the only reason
I would fear death is because of sin. That's the only reason
I would fear death. But if the sin question has been
answered, what do I have to fear? I have no sin. Blessed are the
dead that die in the Lord. And then the death of the believer
is called precious. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. Paul said to live as Christ and
to die as what? Best day of your life will be
the day of your death if you die in the Lord. Would you turn with me for a
moment to 1 John chapter three? Verse four. Whosoever committeth sin, transgresseth
also the law. For sin is the transgression
of the law. If you can look at God's law
and see anything in yourself, but sin. You have not seen the
law. You don't even know what it is.
You've got a very low, fleshly view of the law. But if you've
seen what the law is, you know sin is the transgression of the
law. You know, anytime I even quote
the Ten Commandments, every time I quote them, I think, broke
that one, broke that one, breaking that one, breaking that one,
constantly, nonstop. Sin. is the transgression of
the law. Verse five, and you know that
he was manifested to take away our sins. Now you hear that? Why did he come? Why was he manifested? To take away our sins. And in him is no sin. You know what that means? If
you're in him, guess what? You have no sin. In him is no
sin. Now, if you have no sin, there's
no reason for your death, is there? Verse six, whosoever abideth
in him sinneth not. Now it's interesting, I've read
so many different versions of this. Whoever abides in him doesn't
practice sinning. Whoever said that did not get
that from the scripture because it doesn't say he doesn't practice
sin. It says he doesn't sin, period.
He sins not. What's it mean to abide in him?
It means the only place you want to be found is in Him. At all
times, under all circumstances, let me be found in Christ so
that all God sees is Christ. I want to stay right there, and
I don't want to stick my finger outside of that place, abiding
in Him. Whoso abideth in Him sinneth. Not. Now let me tell you something.
You know the reason I'm gonna go into heaven? And it's scary
saying this because I've never sinned. That's what that says,
isn't it? The reason I'll be in heaven
is because I have never sinned. I sin not. I sin not. Now, when somebody says, well,
that means we don't practice sin. You're lying, you've lost
all credibility, nobody believes you, you have no understanding
of the scriptures, and you have no understanding of God. When
somebody says, well, I don't practice sin, you're practicing
sin when you made that statement. I mean, that statement right
there was enough to condemn you, you're lying when you say that.
That's not what the scripture teaches. The person that abides
in Christ Well, look in verse nine of the same chapter. Whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin. Now, there he's talking
about the new nature. That's what does not commit sin,
the new nature. It never sins. How can it? It's
born of God. It's holy. Can that which God
births commit sin? Absolutely not. But here it says,
and that's talking about the new nature and you got an old
nature that all it does is sin. You got a new nature that never
sins. But what verse six is talking about is abiding in him. And
that's what faith in Christ is. That means I'm going to go into
heaven having never sinned. Now somebody says, but you have
sinned. He put it away. It's gone. It's not. And I'm amazed by this, but when
God looks at me, I've said this in the last week, I can't remember
which message, but when God looks at me in heaven, he's not gonna
be saying, I remember what you did. I didn't do it. I didn't
do it. I stand without guilt before
God. Now that is the hope of justification. That's the hope of the gospel. And the reason Abraham could
die with such hope is because He didn't sin. One other scripture,
1 John chapter four, verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Now that's,
that is an amazing concept. To stand before the thrice holy
God in judgment with boldness? How in the world can you do that?
read the rest of the verse. Because as he is, so are we in this world right
now, present tense. In this fallen world that we're
living in right now, as he is, so are we. Now that's the only
ground of boldness, isn't it? There is no other ground of boldness.
Now, for a believer, the character of death is different. It's called
sleep. It's called sleep. Our friend,
Lazarus sleepeth. They that sleep in Jesus. The moment we die, we'll be with
Christ. Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. Somebody says, well, how can
you have a disembodied soul being with Christ? I don't know, but
we do. I don't understand that. I know
I won't be united in my body into the resurrection. That's
just what the Bible teaches. And somehow, the moment I die,
I'm in the very presence of Christ. Today, thou shalt be with me
in paradise. And when I'm united with my body
in the resurrection, we'll all have glorified bodies. And what
that means, I don't know that either. But neither did John
when he was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
when he said, it does not yet appear what we shall be. But
we know that when he shall appear, we will be like him. Now, do
we understand that? Can you even imagine what it
would be like to be without sin? I can't even begin to fathom
that. But that is the future of every
believer. As for me, I'll behold thy face
in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I awake
in thy likeness. Now here's something that is
amazing. I'll still be Todd, but you won't
recognize me, but you'll know me. I'll still be Todd. You'll still be who you are,
but it will be without Now, when Abraham died, his faith was turned to sight. What he believed, he now saw.
His hope was turned into experience. His love was turned into sinless
love. When I see thee as thou art,
love thee with unsinning heart. Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
not till then, how much I owe. When I stand before thy throne,
dressed in beauty, not bond. Isaac and Ishmael bury him in
the cave by Sarah. I think this demonstrates what
a great guy Abraham must have been because Ishmael participated
in his burial even after the way Sarah treated him. And Sarah
was hard on Ishmael. Cast out the bond woman and her
son. but yet Ishmael wanted to participate in this burial. And
I love to think of the dirt that used to be Abraham still there
and it will soon be resurrected and me and you too. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the hope
you've given us in your son that when we die, That's when
we will live. Lord, give us such confidence
in our son that we can look at death with joy, with anticipation. Lord, we don't, we can't say
that we look forward to the pain that could be involved in our
dying or the pain to others. Lord, we sorrow in death in that
sense, because we're flesh. but how we thank you for that
time when we will be, without sin, perfectly conformed to the
image of your son. Bless us for his sake. We pray
for your grace in the week ahead, the weeks ahead. Give us grace
to, like Abraham, walk with you by faith. In Christ's name we
pray, amen.