The Exercise Of Faith And Hope (Genesis 23:1-20, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
Rev. William L. Barron, September 30, 2018Part of the Morning Worship at North Greenville Church series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
The topic of death is taboo in our culture. Is death normal? No, it came after the fall, but it is common. A Puritan named Perkins wrote a book entitled, "The Right Manner Of Dying Well." The Bible has a lot to say about death, and God's people are not exempt from the pain of death. Do we encounter death in a spirit of mourning or of triumph? Our faith makes a difference; it gives us hope. However, in the loss of a loved one, the deeper your love, the deeper the grief. Abraham mourned for Sarah. Theirs was an early picture of a Godly marriage. They sojourned together from a foreign land. They shared disputes and sins; however, they always came back to God and serve as a good example for us. Abraham wanted Sarah's burial to be done properly. He owned nothing, and he asked for a particular cave from Ephron of the Hittites. Though Ephron was willing to give it to Abraham, Abraham paid market price for the cave and a field. This is an exercise of faith and hope. This was a little piece of God's promised land for the people of His covenant. He and many of his descendents would be buried there. Jesus will return loudly, not secretly, and the new heavens and earth begin. This life is preparatory. We are called now to believe in Jesus as our substitute in judgment. He takes our sins; we take on His righteousness before God the Father. We are born physically, but our second birth is spiritual. Although our physical bodies die, our souls live on. However, this eternal life is not cheap. Jesus was willing to pay a high price for us. We must be willing to give up control of our lives and trust and follow Him. The result is an abundant life that never ends.
| Earlier: | Same day: | Later: |
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| « Only God Can Provide--And He Does! | None | A Bride For Isaac » |
Genesis 23 (Listen)
23:1 Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3 And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites, 4 “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” 5 The Hittites answered Abraham, 6 “Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.” 7 Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. 8 And he said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, 9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.”
10 Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city, 11 “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.” 12 Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. 13 And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.” 14 Ephron answered Abraham, 15 “My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” 16 Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.
17 So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over 18 to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city. 19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.
(ESV)
1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 (Listen)
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
(ESV)