Good morning. How are y 'all doing today? Awesome.
What'd you say? Better than we should be. Amen.
Amen. Well, if you are here in our sanctuary
for the very first time, or if you're watching
us online for the first time, we want to say
welcome to all of you. We're so here. So glad
you're here today to worship with us. I am Pastor
Nathan, and I also am doing better than I should
be. But it is an awesome thing to be gathered
together in the Lord's house with you guys to
study his word, to worship him together. And
today we're actually talking about a couple of
very important topics that go together, but...
how they go together is really the crux for some
people. What we're talking about is the intersection
between faith and death, and not the idea of
us dying ourselves, but how do people of faith
deal with death when it's death of loved ones
in our family, people we deeply, deeply care
about, and really learning from the example of
this man, Abraham, that we've been studying.
Death of a loved one is always a time to think
about the eternal. You know, if you've been to
a funeral, whether it's someone you knew, a friend,
or someone deeply close to you, one of the things
that often comes up in our minds and our hearts
during those times are things like eternity and
the brevity of life, the fragility of life. And
it's one of the reasons why pastors were taught
that funerals are for the living and not for
the dead. Because the living are the ones that
are still here, processing grief, processing
sorrow. But also for those who don't have the
hope of the Lord, it's a time to remind them
about the warning that God has for them and the
invitation to salvation. And so Solomon said
this in Ecclesiastes 7, verse 2. He said, It
is better to go to the house of mourning than
to go to the house of feasting, since that is
the end of all mankind, and the living should
take it to heart. You know, years ago, I believe
it was in 2005, my father passed away. And at
that time, I had been saved just for a handful
of years at that point. And I was in the middle
of a very, very deep, deep, deep depression.
When he passed, I was actually in the second
year of this depression. And I was asked as his
eldest son to speak at the funeral. And of course,
I was going to do that, right? I put together
like a bullet point list of things I wanted to
share because it's like I know my dad, I know
his life, I know what I want to say. And so I
just had this very loose bullet point list of
things to remind me of what to talk about as
I shared. But when the time came for me to stand
in front of everybody and to share, I looked
down at the bullet point list and all I could
think about was what a terrible son I had been.
And I was not a great son. I'm looking at these
bullet points, and all I could think about is
despite everything my dad did to give me and
my brother a better life than he had when he
was growing up, despite all of that, I had done
all these just terrible, disrespectful, horrible
son things in my teenage years, and there was
no more time to fix it. He was gone. His life
had come to an end. There was no time to say
sorry anymore. There was no time to make up for
it. And I was just overwhelmed with the reality
of that. He's gone. That's it. It's over. And
so I couldn't remember anything I wanted to say.
So as I desperately stared at my bullet points,
I just started reading the bullet points. And
that didn't make any sense at all. Because they
weren't full sentences. And then I was so overcome
with shame and guilt, I was crying so heavily,
I couldn't even see my notes. And, you know,
that was a really rough moment for me, dealing
with close personal death, really, for the first
time in my life. Since then, I've learned as
a pastor, having walked with so many people now
through times of loss, that for believers, those
times, although they're hard, they're... difficult,
they're grief -stricken, they're sorrowful, those
times aren't goodbyes for believers. They're
see -you -laters, right? Because of the hopes
and the promises that we have that for every
believer, those who have put their faith in Jesus
Christ, one day we're going to stand before him
together in his presence, fully redeemed, experiencing
the full fruit of his grace and his mercy and
his forgiveness to be united together with him.
Forever. And when I realized that, believing
that my dad was saved, I was like, well, one,
I'm going to have forever to say I'm sorry. And
then two, when we get there, neither one of us
are going to care because we're going to be in
the glory of God's presence. And so, you know,
it's this hope. that Christians carry with us
that colors how we live every day here on earth
and how we deal with everything that we experience
in life, including death. Now, like I said, for
those without faith, death is something that
causes the hopelessness to well up because all
they have is nothing. And so we want to take
those opportunities when we face death as people
to share. The hope that we have in eternal life.
To share the hope that we have that this life
is fleeting and temporary and this body is just
a temporary vessel because we know God's promises.
We believe in God's promises. And this was the
case for Abraham. Here in Genesis chapter 23
is the record of him losing his wife Sarah, his
lifelong soulmate, and having to go through the
process of not just mourning her loss, but then
doing all the planning in preparation for her
burial. And yet in this story, although it's
quite short and quite just matter of fact, we
learn a lot from Abraham through this story that
as he was mourning, The time for mourning came
for an end, and the opportunity through all of
that was an opportunity to declare his hope in
the promises that God had made for him, and it's
really the same for us. We're all gonna face
death one day in our own lives, definitely, but
in the lives of those around us, the ones we
care about, our spouses, our friends, our family,
our kids, and in those times, they hurt, and
they're supposed to hurt because loss is loss.
However, for those that have the hope of heaven,
the hope of Jesus Christ, we are able to not
only walk through those times, but to carry through
those times and out the other side the hope and
the promise that we will see God one day, we
will see one another one day. And that is something
that we are able then to share with the world
around us. As people might look into the lives
of believers and go, how are you dealing? How
are you processing? How do you even have peace
and joy in this moment? And we're able to share
with them that we have a future that is secure.
We have a hope that is sure. And even with the
reality of death in this world, our peace is
found in the truth that this is not all there
is. This life is but a vapor and an eternity
in perfect harmony and perfect peace awaits us.
And that's what we look forward to. So we're
going to be talking about that today in Abraham's
life, but first we're going to spend some time
worshiping God because he is holy. He is almighty.
He is mercy. He is grace. He is light. He is
love. He is everything. He is our hope. He is
the one we trust in to get through this life,
through every circumstance of this life. He is
the one we can't wait to be with forever. Amen?
Let's pray. Father, we love you so much. And
God, the reality of death in this world is just
that, it's reality, Lord. Some of us face it
in one way and others face it in a different
way. Some of us, Lord, will face it in a way
that seems natural and others might face it in
ways that are just make no sense, Lord. And yet,
God, in all of it, you are with us, your people.
You are with us as believers, Lord. And God,
we know that death exists in the world because
of sin. And yet, Lord, because of sin, you made
a promise that you would deal with sin and death
once and for all. And Lord, you've done that
by dying on the cross. And for us who live today,
Lord, we cling to that hope that death is not
the end. Death is not a forever loss, but simply
physical death in this world is a transition.
And although it hurts when we lose someone and
we're left behind, God, that we could still cling
to you to find hope, to find peace, to even find
joy when we don't think that's possible because
of the reality of who you are, what you've done,
and the promises you've made to us. So, Lord,
we just want to praise you for all of that, God.
We want to lift up our voices to you, lift up
your holy name to give you all the glory that
you are due. because you are due all the glory.
We love you so much. It's in Jesus' name we pray,
amen. So we are in Genesis chapter 23. As I mentioned
in the opening, this is the record of the death
of Abraham's wife, Sarah. And when she died,
she had been married to Abraham for over 62 years.
That is a long time. For those of you here in
our fellowship that have been married for long
amounts of times, God bless you. The example
that you have set, especially in this world that
disdains marriage so much, is such an incredibly
huge blessing to the body. And so they had been
together for a very, very long time through this
journey of faith. And so we pick up the story
here. Genesis chapter 23, verse 1, and it tells
us this. Now Sarah lived 127 years. These were
all the years of her life. Sarah died in Kiriath
Arba, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan.
And Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to
weep for her. Kiriath Arba, it says that is Hebron.
Hebron is the location where the Oaks of Mamre
were. That was the place that Abraham kind of
settled there in the Promised Land earlier in
his life. And his family had been growing there,
his flocks, all his stuff had been kind of focused
in this area, although he had left at different
times for different reasons. And so if you're
looking through, you know, the geographical details
and stuff, Kiriath, Arba, Hebron, and the Oaks
of Mamre, same place. Okay, so it's all. in the
same vicinity here, but the idea is that this
location was pretty much dead center in the promised
land. So as Abraham had been called there, as
he had walked the borders of the land, as he
had been just living his life there in pursuit
of God, receiving the promises, the place he
settled was right there in the heart. It wasn't
on the border like Lot. It wasn't on the edge.
It was right in the heart of the promised land.
And so Sarah, it tells us, died at the age of
127 there in the promised land. That would make
Abraham at this point 137 years old, and his
son Isaac, or their son Isaac, is now 37 years
old. And so some time has passed from the birth
of Isaac that we read about. Now Sarah, as you
can imagine, was Abraham's soulmate. They were
just enmeshed together in love, in commitment,
in service, in faith. They had been together
through this entire journey that started out
back in Ur where Abraham was called of God, where
he was first heard the one true God of the universe
speak to him and call him out of that land. She
was with him as they traveled all the way to
Canaan, which is the promised land originally.
She was with him when they went down to Egypt
and Abraham blew it there. And then when they
came back to Canaan, give. the land to Lot. I
mean, the whole journey here, she had been a
part of. She had been a part of all his travels
throughout the promised land, outside, inside,
and every pinnacle of her husband's life, she
had been there as a part of that as well. She
was in his life during the covenants that God
had made with him, promising him through covenant
after covenant that the promise of a land and
the promise of a people was going to come true,
was absolutely dependable. She was there when
her husband defeated the four kings of the east
and defeated the armies and came back. She was
there when Melchizedek blessed him and honored
him there as a representative of God. She was
there when God renamed them, obviously, when
he said, you're no longer going to be Abram,
but you're going to be Abraham. name is Abraham,
and you're no longer going to be Sarai, you're
going to be Sarah. She was there during his intercession
for Sodom, right? She was a part of his life
in that moment where he was interceding with
God, please, if there's any faithful people there,
save the place. She was, of course, there for
the birth of Isaac, the son of the promise, and
she was there for the offering of Isaac. When
I say there, I mean in Abraham's life. She had
been there for all these great moments of faith
in her husband's life as he led his family, led
her in his belief, in his worship, in his pursuit
of God. But she was also there for all the failures
as well. She had been twice pushed to lie. for
her husband about being his wife once very early
in their walk and once at the tail end of their
story here that we have in Genesis. She was the
one that suggested the whole Hagar situation
where, hey, husband, let's help God along. And
I have this great idea. Sleep with my servant.
She'll have a baby. We'll call that one your
son. And then she hated that idea right after
it happened. And so that was her sin there where
when God finally showed up and said, look, I'm,
telling Abraham, your 90 -year -old wife is going
to have a baby. She laughed in disbelief. She
laughed because it was just an absolutely ridiculous
notion. But then in her old age, miracles happened.
She became the mother of Isaac, the mother of
promise, the mother of laughter. And so this
was all as much her journey as it was her husband's
journey. And like her husband, through all the
ups and downs, despite the failures and the lies
and the sins and everything else, despite all
of that, the Bible tells us, records her legacy
as one, as a woman of faith. In Hebrews 11, 11,
it tells us, by faith, even Sarah herself, when
she was unable to have children, received power
to conceive offspring, even though she was past
the age, since she considered that the one who
had promised was faithful. So right there at
the moment, even though she had been faithless,
she got to the place finally where she said,
look, if God said I'm gonna have a baby, I'm
gonna have a baby. It doesn't matter if it's
a biological impossibility, and she was there
for that, and she had the son of the promise.
And so for over 60 years, these two soulmates
had traveled on this journey of faith together.
Just a beautiful, beautiful picture, but now
she was gone. She had passed away from this life.
Her physical shell was done and Abraham was mourning
his wife. Mourning is natural. Mourning is a
normal, good thing. Especially those people that
are closest to us that we've spent so much of
our life with. When they leave this world, there's
a deep, deep, deep sense of emptiness, a deep
sense of unfairness, a deep sense of why, God?
There's all these emotions and things that go
through when death hits, when death comes into
our lives. And so Abraham is rightly and appropriately
mourning the loss of his wife. It tells us he
is weeping. That's the word for tears, great
tears. It's not just a, oh, shucky darn, she's
gone. He's sobbing in grief. But what we're going
to see here in chapter 23 is that her passing
presented Abraham with a number of truths and
a number of opportunities. The truth, one, is
that he was faced again with the reality that
life is temporary. That he had been walking for
so many years with the Lord at this point with
this. promise of a future hope, the promise of
a land, the promise of all these things, and
the woman who had walked with him through all
of that, all hoping and looking forward to, well,
the promises weren't yet here and now she was
gone. She had missed out on those promises, if
you will. Abraham was still faced with the reality
that, okay, now I'm here by myself, still a foreigner
in this land, still a temporary resident in the
land that God had promised to me and my family.
She died in the very heart of that promised land
without receiving the promised land. She was
the first among generations who would die without
receiving the promise of the land. Now, if God
has promised something in your life that is kind
of a broad -ranging generational family promise,
are you able to reconcile the fact that you may
never see the promise come to pass? And yet,
you are still called of God to lay the foundation.
To speak into the lives of those who would be
a part of that promise as it comes into full
fruition later. To be the person that says, hey,
I need to teach you such faith in what is to
come that I believe in it even if I'm never gonna
see it here on this earth. And this is what Abraham
had been. This was the opportunity he had had
in his life. And here at the death of his wife,
he still believed. He still believed in God's
promise. His faith was still strong and still
intact that this land would indeed go to his
offspring. And so in verse three, we find him
that after he's been kneeling next to his dead
wife, mourning the loss, crying over here, knowing
God's promise, verse three says, when he got
up from beside his dead wife, he then spoke to
the Hethites. I am an alien residing among you.
This is in the middle of the promised land. Give
me burial property among you so that I can bury
my dead. Now, as I've already said, mourning
is a healthy and a proper thing to do. Some of
us mourn for a short period of time. Some of
us mourn longer. Some of us are going to carry
things that we're going to mourn in one way or
another for the rest of our life. But it is healthy.
However, mourning does need to come to an end
at some point, at least in the dominating aspect
of it, dominating our lives. See, the Hebrews,
when someone would die in the Hebrew culture,
they would mourn for 30 days. And after 30 days,
it was like, okay, that's done. It's time to
continue living. It's time to continue moving
on. The Egyptians mourned for 70 days. And so,
although it is good to mourn, we have to be people
that are ready to come to the end of that time
to move on with the life that God has given us
here on this earth. Because we believe in his
promises. Because although the loss hurts and
the loss is painful, the loss isn't forever.
That we're going to see our loved ones with the
Lord in heaven one day again, should they be
in the Lord. And that is one of the things that
helps us process and get through these things.
Abraham, he took the time to mourn his wife.
He took the time to feel all the feels and go
through all this stuff, but then he got up. To
move forward with the business of life, and specifically
the business of life for him was to now move
forward with the business of burying his wife.
Now, as we move forward into chapter 24 and move
forward into chapter 25, we're going to see that
Abraham did indeed move forward with life. I
believe the idea and the picture was, is, well,
I'm still here. And I still trust God and I still
believe God and I still have a call to example
God and preach God. And so I'm gonna move forward
with my life here, continuing to do what God
wants me to do, even though I've lost someone
very dear and close to me. And so he gets up
to keep living. In chapter 24, we're gonna read
that he goes on continuing to lead his family
as he seeks out and finds a wife for Isaac, his
son. that the family line would continue. We're
going to read in chapter 25 that he even goes
on to get remarried in his life later on after
his wife has died. He goes on to have more kids
as his family continues to grow because although
his wife's time was done, his time was not yet
complete here on earth. Hope is what allows us
to do that. Hope is what allows us to move forward
in the face of death. When we have the hope of
heaven, we have the hope of a future, we have
the hope of what's next. We are able, through
the strength and the power of the Holy Spirit,
to grieve and then to conclude our grieving and
say, okay, it's time to keep living. It's time
to keep living. That's the hope that also maintains
our witness to those that don't know the Lord.
Many of us have had experiences where in the
time of our grief and our sorrow, where we're
truly grieving rightfully, we still can experience
a sense of peace, a sense of being okay. And
the unsaved world doesn't get that. And they'll
be like, how can you be okay? How can you go
on? How can you have a smile on your face after
that? And it's because of the hope that believers
have in heaven, we're able to move through our
grieving process and even past our grieving process
with that peace that is then a witness to those
who don't know the Lord. This is one of the reasons
why I really appreciate that when there's a funeral
or memorial service for Christians and believers,
they often call it a celebration of life. Because
we're not just here to say, oh my gosh, lost,
but we're here to say, look at the life they
lived for the Lord, and let's celebrate what
God has done, because we believe in the promise
that although they aren't here physically anymore,
they're already with our Father in heaven. We're
going to see them again. And this is what we're
going to see in Abraham's life through this chapter.
Now, it says that after he was done mourning,
he got up and he spoke to the Hethites. Okay,
if you have a traditional translation, King James,
New King James, it might say the Hittites. Now,
there is some scholarly debate on whether the
Hethites and the Hittites are the same exact
people, and I'm not gonna get into all that,
okay? I personally believe that the Hethites
here are the Hittites, and this is why. The people
groups that we read about in Scripture were often
named after their forebearer. So the Hethites
were the sons of Heth, okay? Now, if we go back
through the genealogies here, we'll find out
that Heth was the son of Canaan. And this is
why the land here is called the land of Canaan.
Canaan was the son of Ham, who was the son of
Noah. So we go back to the line of Noah that
we understand that largely the African and Arabic
peoples came from the line of Ham, whereas the
Jewish people came from the line of Seth. And
so following that genealogy back, the Hethites,
are also what we know archaeologically and all
that as the Hittites. And they were in this area
predominantly, the predominant people in the
land of Canaan at this time. So Abraham approaches
the people who are inhabiting the land, the people
who don't really believe in God, the people who
are worshiping pagan idols, the people who are
the dominant presence here in this land that
he will one day have and his descendants will
have, and he's asking for something really important.
Can I have a place to bury my wife? Now, the
first question might be, why don't you take her
back to where you're from and bury her? Because
that was typical of the day, right? But he's
like, no, you don't understand. This land will
be mine one day, my people's one day. So I don't
care that you guys are the dominant presence
here. I don't care that you're the owners of
the land. I want to bury my wife here in the
land that God has said we are going to have one
day. He was so sure that his future people would
be in the land, he wanted to make sure Sarah's
bones were there when they finally got there.
That he wanted it to be a witness from his time
until then that we believe this land is ours,
so much so that we not only plan our lives here,
we not only live our lives here while we're foreigners,
but we bury our dead here as well. And so really,
Abraham asking for this burial plot in the land
from the Hethites is an act of faith on his part.
It's also a prophecy of the future ownership
because his faith is what allowed him to see
past the present circumstances into what was
going to be in the future. That he believed,
in the future, this is my land, so I can act
today as if I possess it. Now, as we go on, we're
going to see that his faith is what is central
to his declaration through all of this that takes
place here. But in Hebrews 11, 9, It tells us
by faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land
of promise, living in tents as did Isaac and
Jacob, co -heirs of the same promise. So again,
this isn't my home, but I'm living here right
now because I know it'll be a home in the future.
More importantly, as Sarah didn't actually get
to experience the promise of the land in her
lifetime, neither did Abraham. But it tells us
later in Hebrews 2 that Abraham wasn't necessarily
looking for this land for him. He was looking
forward to the heavenly land. He was looking
forward to a different city whose builder and
architect is God. So he was like, I'm so sure
that I'm here in this life temporarily that I
can just trust God's promises and keep moving
forward. It's the same with us today in this
world. In Philippians chapter three, verse 20,
it tells us our citizenship is in heaven and
we eagerly wait for a savior from there, the
Lord Jesus Christ. We know this isn't our home.
This is what helps us deal with things like death
in our life. Oh, this is everything. This is
the purpose of existence, the point of existence,
this life. And when someone dies, that's it,
they're gone forever. That was what I was thinking
back when my dad died, that I'm never going to
be able to say anything to him again. But the
hope of believers is, no, this isn't our home.
So even though someone passes away here, it's
just the physical shell that passed away. them,
they, who they are, has moved on. And that is
what allows us to have the hope to live with
faith like Abraham. And so his example, it calls
us to a faith just like his. That as death touches
our lives, especially death of those that are
close to us, it's meant, it's allowed to help
us look by faith beyond the present. beyond the
temporal material world to our future home in
heaven. Now what follows here in Genesis 23,
verse five forward, is basically one long real
estate transaction. Right? Exciting. We're all
excited for the real estate transaction. Ooh.
But it's here in God's word. And we're gonna
walk through this because what we see in this
lengthy well, not so lengthy, but real estate
transaction between Abraham and the Hethites
is really the picture of how Abraham is practically
declaring his faith even in the midst of the
death of his wife. How he is witnessing to the
people there about his God and his faith in that
God and the promises of that God through how
all of this is taking place. And so read with
me in verse five. It says, the Hethites replied
to Abraham, listen to us, my Lord. You are a
prince of God among us. Bury your dead in our
finest burial place. None of us will withhold
from you his burial place for burying your dead.
Well, right there, it sounds pretty nice, right?
How nice of you guys. Abraham doesn't own any
land here. Nothing's here. He just said, hey,
can you please give me a burial plot? And they're
like, yeah, sure. Right? They open up with, you're
a prince of God. The language there in the original
language is that they are acknowledging that
he's royalty. Even though he doesn't have a kingdom
or a castle, they're acknowledging that he's
somehow royal or a man of means of power. And
it's just the idea that his reputation has preceded
him within the land. Even though he's a foreigner
in that land, people are like, hey, that guy
follows God. He's been blessed by Melchizedek.
He's wealthy beyond belief. Like, don't mess
with him, right? We've heard about Abimelech.
He almost died. Don't mess with this guy. He
is someone who serves someone very, very powerful.
And so they start out with this, oh, of course.
Of course we will give you a place to bury your
dead. We will withhold nothing from you for this.
But as we're going to read through the story,
they had no intention of giving Abraham anything,
okay? Now the customary Middle Eastern transaction
process is engaged. Verse 7, Then Abraham rose
and bowed down to the Hethites, the people of
the land. He said to them, If you are willing
for me to bury the dead, listen to me and ask
Ephron, son of Zohar, on my behalf to give me
the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him. It's
at the end of his field. Let him give it to me
in your presence for the full price as burial
property. Well, Ephron was sitting among the
Hethites. So in the hearing of all the Hethites
who came to the gate of the city, Ephron the
Hethite answered Abraham, no, my lord, listen
to me. I give you the field and I give you the
cave that's in it. I give it to you in the sight
of all the people. Bury your dead. Abraham had
already identified a burial site. He had done
the research on who owned it and then he made
his ask. Can I have this cave that's at the end
of this guy's field? If you've never been to
Israel, you likely don't quite understand the
customary Middle Eastern transaction process,
okay? To sum it up very simply, it's where each
party tries to out -courtesy the other party
while feigning offense to get what they want,
okay? I've been to Israel a couple times and
this is my least favorite part of Israel, okay?
I hate haggling. Anybody like haggling? Some
people love haggling. Okay, there's a couple,
right? Yeah, Eric's really good at it. I'm terrible
at it. I'm like, just tell me what the price
is and let me decide. And then we'll part ways,
right? But it's just easy, right? I hate the
whole like, okay, I gotta enter into this thinking
you're trying to take advantage of me, but I'm
gonna try and take advantage of you back. Oh
my gosh, it drives me nuts. This is the life
in Israel. If you ever had a chance to go, you
visit Jerusalem and you go through all the stalls
and the marketplaces, and what happens is you
go into the place and they'll start by, you know,
you go, how much is that? And they'll start with
an offer that is usually outrageous, but you
don't know because who knows shekels, right?
And then you're like, huh. The expectation is
that you're gonna be like, oh no, I couldn't
possibly pay that much. How about I offer this?
And then the shop owner goes, oh. That's an affront
to me, but you know what? I want to honor you,
and he lowers his. And then you guys do this
back and forth thing to where you end up on what
the item probably really costs with a small markup.
It's infuriating. It's infuriating, but... This
is how they do it in the Middle East, right?
At least in the culture. And so this whole thing,
as we read through it, it starts out here. Abraham,
like, hey, I don't live here. I'm kind of at
your guys' mercy. Please, my wife has died. Can
someone give me a place to bury my wife? In fact,
you know, I noticed this cave. It's the end of
this guy's, Ephron's field. Can I bury my wife
there? Oh, of course. nothing will be withheld
from you. Gosh, we're honorable people. Of course
we're gonna give you this land. It's like, oh,
okay, well, you're so kind. You know, that spot
that I have my eye on, just to be kind back,
to out -courtesy your generosity is I'm willing
to pay for the cave. Like, I'll pay you for the
cave, and that's how I'm gonna out -courtesy
that. And then they respond with, oh, no, no,
no, no, no. Like, look. I'll give you the cave.
In fact, I'll give you the land around it too.
Oh, now I've out -courtesied your offer to buy
the cave. I'm throwing in the land in the deal.
Right, I already got a headache just reading
those few verses. Let's move on to verse 10.
Abraham bowed down to the people of the land
and said to Ephron in the hearing of the people
of the land, listen to me if you please. Let
me pay the price of the field. Accept it from
me and let me bury my dead there. Now, what's
happening here is something unusual. Instead
of going, oh, no, no, no, no, you know, I don't
want that or anything. He just simply says, okay,
you've countered my offer to buy the cave with
you're going to give me the land in the cave
for free. I'm going to counter with let me pay
for the field and the cave, right? Now, you guys
will notice, like, through this transaction so
far, nobody has mentioned a price. There has
been no price mentioned, right? That is intentional.
Because watch what Ephron does in verse 14. Ephron
answered Abraham and said to him, my Lord, listen
to me. Land worth 400 shekels of silver, what
is that between you and me? Bury your dead. Wait,
what? How much? Now, we're going to deal with
that in a little bit because we're like 400 shekels,
right? Isn't that like 50 cents in American money?
No, it's not a ton today, but back then it was
a huge amount. But here's the idea. Hey, can
I have a burial plot? Yeah, whatever you want.
Okay, I want that cave. I'll pay for it. No,
no, we're not going to charge you for the cave.
You know what? Look, take the land and the cave.
Well, he's already offered to pay, so let's keep
upping the deal here. Fine, I'll pay for the
field to get the cave. Oh, that's so gracious
of you because what's $10 million between you
and me? Hold up. How much, right? This is what's
taking place here. Now, it tells us in verse
16, Abraham agreed with Ephron and Abraham weighed
out to Ephron the silver that he had agreed to
in the hearing of the Hethites, 400 standard
shekels of silver. Here's what's taking place.
In the midst of Abraham's grief, in the midst
of the loss of his wife, in the midst of his
sorrow, the Hethites are extorting him. They're
taking advantage of Abraham in the moment. He
just wanted the cave. He didn't want the land.
But they're just going to throw the land in.
Now, in the idea of this haggling and back and
forth, there's an honor built into it too. So
once you've reached a certain level in the haggle,
it's incredibly dishonorable to say, no, no,
let's go back to step one. You're kind of locked
in, right? At least culturally. He knew what
was going on, and since he had offered to pay
the price for the cave, well, they knew they
could extort the price of the field out of him
as well. They didn't say that up front. They
just countered with, let us give it to you as
a gift. And so, you know, the next honorable
thing for him to do was, well, if he was willing
to pay for the cave, and they were willing to
give him the field and the cave, well, then it
would be honorable for him to pay for the field
too. Maybe Abraham rolled his eyes. You know,
he's like, come on, guys, I'm just trying to
bury my wife, you know? But he says, fine, I'll
buy the whole field from you. And then Ephron's
reaction is just so awesome. Oh, that's so nice
of you. 400 shekels, you got a deal. Now here's
frame of reference. How much is 400 shekels?
Today, that's about 10 pounds of silver, okay?
At the current price of silver, it's not a whole
lot, but it's quite a bit of money. But is that
a lot or a little in their time? Well, here's
the frame of reference. Later on... David purchases
the entire top of Mount Moriah. Mount Moriah
is where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac. It's
where the temple mount is today, you know, that
big rectangular temple mount area. David went
to buy it in 2 Samuel chapter 24, that whole
area, and he paid 50 shekels of silver for it.
So that whole area, 50 shekels. What he's getting
over here is a plot of land much smaller than
that, and he's paying 400, or he's being charged
400. Now, to be fair, based upon the Middle Eastern
haggling and transaction processes, Ephron may
have started insanely high because the expectations
that Abraham would counteroffer, right, as I
said earlier. You know, oh, how much is this
land that's worth $100? 10 million, oh, that's
such an offense that you would do that to me.
I'm gonna give you five bucks, oh. That's so
offensive to me, but you know what? Because you're
my friend, I'll knock it down to five million.
This is the whole deal. But Abraham didn't haggle.
He didn't haggle. He was quoted this insanely
high price, and he just accepted it. Okay, I'll
pay the price for the field. Why? Why didn't
he haggle? There's a number of details here that
kind of... picture to me that he's not only trying
to just get a site to bury his wife, but there's
a witness in his activity here to the very people
that he's purchasing this land from. It's already
told us that the transaction's taking place in
the gate of the city. The gate of the city is
where all the city rulership would hang out,
all the important people, all the rich people.
You guys remember back in Sodom, Lot was hanging
out in the city gates because he was an official
at that time, right? So this is where all the
people that mattered hung out. The people who
had reputations to consider, the people who had
honor to protect. And so this transaction was
there. And then it's also told us a couple times
that it was done in the hearing of the Hethites.
So not only was this process done publicly, but
it was done in such a way so everybody gathered
heard every detail of this agreement. They heard
every detail of the haggle. They couldn't pass
judgment on Ephron or Abraham. There was nobody
here in this area that could possibly say, you
know what, Ephron cheated Abraham or Abraham
cheated Ephron or this Hebrew guy didn't follow
through with his commitment. Nobody could say
that. It was all public and in the hearing of
everybody. And then it tells us very specifically
that they even watched him count out the silver,
the 400 shekels of silver. Why are we given those
details? Why didn't Abraham haggle? Well, I think
he accepted this price that was so high because
everything was talked about and offered and negotiated
in front of all of these witnesses. That from
this time forward, there would be no... possible
way for anybody to doubt that the land, this
field, and this cave belonged to Abraham. Nobody
could doubt that. Nobody would be able to go
back and say, no, that's not really what Ephron
said. We all heard it. That's not really what
Abraham said. We all heard it. We all watched
them. We saw the money counted out. He paid an
outrageously ridiculous high price for it. There's
no doubt that this land belongs to him. And I
think that was a part of the detail here that
as Abraham has been, who knows, definitely with
his family, but saying this land is the promised
land, this land is gonna go to my descendants,
although he's been living peaceably with people,
he's saying, look, God has made promises to me
that you don't believe in, but to show you how
absolutely sure I am in this promise that I'm
gonna sacrifice this great amount of money to
show you that I believe what God said. That's
what I believe is taking place here. And it's
interesting that Ephron goes, what's 400 shekels
between me and you? And I personally think what
Abraham is thinking in his mind is, God, what's
400 shekels for you? Like money's irrelevant.
Your promises are more valuable than any possession
I could ever have. And so I'm not going to sit
here and haggle over the price of this in a land
that you've already said is going to go to my
people. So, so what? 400 shekels is ridiculously
overpriced. Sure, I'll pay it. It's a picture
of what we do today when we say, God, I believe
in your promises, I believe in the future, I
believe in heaven, I believe in hope, that all
the material stuff in this world today, it's
not all that valuable to me. That I'll invest
in the kingdom of the things I have in this world
because it's all yours anyways, right? Now you
might say, God didn't give Abraham this land,
it was Abraham's money. Who gave Abraham the
money? God did. You go all the way back to the
beginning in Egypt. Abraham lied. Pharaoh gave
him so much riches, he left. Abraham just continued
to get richer and richer. And so he just simply
purchased the land that God had already promised
him with money that God had already given him.
And Abraham didn't balk at the price at all.
What we see here is this very clear picture,
at least I see this very clear picture, that
God's promise that the land would belong to him
and his people is slowly coming into focus. through
God's providence. Sometimes the way God brings
his promises to be are in ways we didn't consider,
ways we didn't expect, ways that were kind of
like, nope, that wasn't on my radar. But when
we're people walking in faith and we believe
God has told me this and I don't know how it's
going to come to pass, which that has characterized
Abraham's life so long, that when the opportunity
finally comes and the world's trying to take
advantage of us and we're like, You're accountable
to God. I don't care. I know God said this is
going to happen. God's provided the means, sure.
And this is what we see Abraham doing. Now, and
then of course, you know, I can't walk past that,
you know, no price was too high for his bride.
No price was too high for his princess, you know.
Guy could have probably said, you know, a million
shekels and he'd be like, fine. But, verse 17.
So Hebron's field at Machpelah near Mamre, the
field with its cave and all the trees anywhere
within the boundaries of the field, became Abraham's
possession in the sight of all the Hethites who
came to the gate of the city. After this, Abraham
buried his wife Sarah in the cave at the field
of Machpelah near Mamre, that is Hebron, in the
land of Canaan. The field with its cave passed
from the Hethites to Abraham as burial property.
So as it turns out, the way this is worded, it's
like Abraham got way more land than he was expecting,
but now it was all his. It was all his. God's
promise that the land is gonna belong to you
and your people is slowly coming into the focus
here. This location, incidentally, exists today.
This town of Hebron, you could visit it in Israel
today. It's currently under, or most of it's
under Muslim control, but especially this site.
that is known as the Cave of Machpelah, today
is known as the Cave of the Patriarchs. It's
under heavy Muslim control, and so you can't
really just readily visit it anymore. But over
the centuries and over the years, it has been
recognized that this is this cave. One of the
reasons people believe that is because there
is a wall surrounding it that was built during
the time of Herod. It's called a Herodian wall.
And it was built around this cave system to protect
it, like a holy site, right? Now, the fact that
it's a Herodian wall means that that wall was
built during the time of Herod. What that means
is during the time of Herod, they believed that
this was the location of the cave of the patriarchs.
It's just like in the writings of Josephus, who
was a historian during the time of Christ. He,
in his writings, says that people of that day
still visited the site of the ark up in the mountains.
And we go, what? Apparently in the days of Josephus,
there was still enough of the ark there to go
visit. Well, you know, these things, when they
take place during these times, we say in that
time at least, they believed that these things
were true. And so if you go there today, or if
you're allowed to go there today, there's this
little hole on the ground that was like the access
into the cave system. And of course, they've
built this gaudy shrine over it, right? Just
the other thing that frustrates me about the
Holy Land, Jesus stepped there. Let's build a
gaudy church on top of it. But it's happened
over the centuries. But people have gone down
into these cave systems and found bones there,
and the belief is that these are bones of people
buried there, possibly the patriarchs, but at
least this is the cave system. And so the idea
here is Abraham buying this cave, paying whatever
price you wanted, I don't care. That's nothing
to God. Burying his wife there means that from
her time all the way through time until now,
this cave where her bones were buried, where
the bones of the patriarchs were buried, all
the beginning of the Jewish people, in the land
insists that this land belongs to those people.
That God had promised Abraham through Isaac,
not Ishmael. through Isaac and the people down
from that line that this land belongs to them.
It is a witness that has screamed out down through
the centuries. This is our land. Now, chapter
23, it just shows us this picture of how sure
Abraham's faith was that as he took these steps
to buy this land and to bury his wife there,
the witness to all the people around here, like,
look, you live here right now, but God has made
a promise. And I'm so sure of that promise that
I'm going to bury my wife here in what is a foreign
land to us now. But really, it's ours. We just
don't have it yet. Instead of taking Sarah back
to the homeland in Ur, he buried her there. No
doubt in his mind that their family would indeed
one day possess the land. By faith, Abraham lived
in this land for over 100 years. By faith, in
God's promise, he purchased the land for whatever
price they asked. By faith, He buried his wife
there. By faith, Abraham was buried there by
Isaac. By faith, Isaac was buried there by his
son, Jacob. And then there was the big famine.
They had to go down to Egypt. While they were
in Egypt, Jacob was like, look, my dad and my
grandfather, we believe that God was going to
give us this land. So even though we're in Egypt,
he told his sons, asking you, commanding you,
that when I die, take my bones back there and
bury them in that cave because that is a witness
to the belief in the promise of God. By faith,
Joseph, as he was one of the main powerful people
in Egypt, when he died, he was embalmed, put
into a coffin in Egypt and waiting for the future
that one day take me back to the promised land.
430 years later, Moses leads the children of
Israel out of Egypt, takes Joseph's remains while
they wandered through the desert, carried them
with them the whole time they were wandering
through the desert, and eventually, by faith,
when Joshua entered into the land and started
conquering the promised land, Joseph was buried
in the promised land in Shechem. These are generations
of people that believed in the promise of God.
All the different people around them that lived
in that land knew that these people believed
in this promise. It was preached. It was lived.
That cave was there. You could go visit it. You
could see it. And so when we face death in this
world and we go, this hurts. This is terrible.
This is loss. I'm grieving. But then we get up
and we keep living for the Lord. And we keep
moving forward to the Lord. We declare to the
whole world around us. That all this future promise
of glory in heaven isn't here right now. We're
going there one day. And so while I grieve the
loss of my loved one, I'm not stricken with the
hopelessness that I will never ever see them
again because I have a promise I believe in.
And when we exercise our lives that way to the
people that are around us that don't know the
Lord, it's a witness to them. When Israel first
arrived in the promised land, incidentally, they
sent 12 spies in there. You guys remember that
story? And it says they went as far as Hebron.
And then they came back. Now that experience
in Hebron, where the cave of the patriarchs is,
caused two of those 12 spies to be like, oh,
we could take this place. I went to the place.
We saw the place. God's promise. Come on. The
other 10, however, oh, there's giants. And they
didn't go in, and then they wandered for another
40 years there in the desert. But this place,
Hebron, it was such a powerful place of witness.
So much happened there through the history of
Israel. David was anointed king there in that
same area. It was just these bones of the patriarchs
just shouted from this grave for generation after
generation, this is our land. This is our land.
Then that promise, that hope came to pass through
the lives of Joshua and David and Solomon and
so on and so forth. But for Abraham, this purchase
here in this moment of his faith was just a declaration
of his faith that God is going to do what God
said he is going to do. And so when we have a
funeral and we're grieving the loss, we still
have to hang on to the promise that God is going
to do what God said he's going to do. And if
it's a loved one we know that lived a life in
the Lord and we're doing a celebration of life,
yeah, I hurt that they're gone. But God said
they're with him. God said they're in glory.
And that means I'm going to see them again one
day. And so, man, it's not goodbye. It's just
see you later. Now... Abraham was living this
life looking for this city of hope. He wasn't
even looking for this land. He goes, my people
will get this land, but I'm looking for the place
God has taken me to. And so in Hebrews, it says
this about him and the other previous Enoch and
Adam and all these guys. They all died in faith,
although they had not received the things that
were promised. But they saw them from a distance,
greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners
and temporary residents on earth. Now those who
say such things make it clear that they're seeking
a homeland. If they were thinking about where
they came from, then they could have gone back
or had the opportunity to return. But now they
desire a better place, a heavenly one. Therefore
God is not ashamed to be called their God, for
he has prepared a city for them. Now if you look
through the history of Israel, the sad, sad testimony
is although they gained the land at one point,
they lost it again. Why? Because they became
more interested in the land than the one who
promised them the land. And they've been wrestling
with this ever since. Longing for heaven. Knowing,
believing that we're going there when we pass
from this life. It's one of those things that
characterizes the believing soul. It's one of
the things that screams a witness to those that
don't know the Lord. It's one of those things
that allows us to have hope and to find peace
in the midst of loss and in all of that. And
just like Abraham who mourned, but then he got
up to declare his faith. Why? By purchasing that
cave, by moving forward. We do the same thing
when we move forward in our life saying, look,
I'm hurting, but God's promises are still true.
God is not a liar. God is not wrong. God is not
any of that. You see, times of death are exactly
the times for our greatest demonstrations of
faith. And so this is the challenge for us as
believers. It's found in Colossians 3, verse
1 through 4. It says, so if you have been raised
with Christ, seek the things above where Christ
is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your
minds on things above, not on earthly things.
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ
in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears,
then you also will appear with him in glory.
Now, the reality that we believe in that allows
us to have hope regardless of our circumstances
as we move forward is found in Ephesians 2 .6.
Here's the hope. He also raised us up with him
and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ
Jesus. So then how do we live and deal with loss
here on this earth while we're in this world?
How are we able to have faith in the midst of
death? And to find ourselves healing and moving
on, well, that's 2 Corinthians 4 .18. So we do
not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen.
For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen
is eternal. So like Abraham, while we are here
in this life, on this earth, while we are here
faced with everything we deal with, including
the physical death and the loss and the grief
and the sorrow, our hope is in the future. Our
hope is in the promises that God has given us.
And that hope allows us to continue living, to
seek a life where we continue to invest in God's
kingdom and to sow into God's kingdom, taking
our pain with us so that we can share the hope
we have through pain with those who don't have
it. It allows us to lay up our treasures in heaven
declaring to everybody, look, we're heirs of
the promise. We know that time is coming even
when our circumstances say otherwise. Because
faith, conquers death. Death is not the end for
those that are of faith. It's not a goodbye when
we lose our loved ones in the Lord. It's simply
a see you later. Let's pray. Father, we thank
you, God, for your spirit. Lord, your word tells
us that your spirit is a great comforter. And
Lord, we know that death shouldn't exist, but
it exists because of sin. But Lord, because of
that sin that led to death, you made a promise.
There would be one who comes, who would come,
who would conquer death, who would defeat death.
He would defeat the result of sin, which is not
just a physical death, but an eternal separation
from you. And God, in that, we could find hope
and have joy and patience and peace. But God,
you know. You know the hurt of losing someone
close to us, Lord, in this life hurts. God, you
even wept at the grave of your friend Lazarus,
Lord. But God, it was there you did your greatest
miracle as you brought him back from the dead,
proving to all who witnessed that and all who
have read the account ever since that you are
the resurrection and the life. And although we
may have loss in this life, Lord, It's not forever.
It's not permanent. It's only temporary, God.
And so, Lord, help us through our grief to find
peace in the hope that is you. To find peace
in the hope that are your promises. To even find
purpose in why we are still here and they aren't.
That, Lord, we would find a purpose in just living
for you and following your spirit, your will,
and whatever that means, God. But having a peace
Lord knowing one day we will see them again.
But God as we live by your power by the power
of your spirit through these things God may the
world see the hope that we carry with us. May
the world see the possibility of what a relationship
with you can bring even in the face of the worst
times of our lives. And that they too would come
to know you. and to receive that same hope and
that same peace through Jesus Christ. Lord, we
love you. We thank you. It's in Jesus' name we
pray. Amen. Well, let's worship, church.