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The Cave Before The City · Sermon Podcast at Cartersville1st

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You have your Bible, go and make your way to Genesis chapter 23,
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Genesis 23 as we continue in our series in the book of Genesis.
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If you're new to the Bible, Genesis is the very first book,
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so it's the easiest to find. Find your way to chapter 23, the
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big numbers, and we're going to work through the entire chapter
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this morning. We are close to the end of our
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series that we've been in for several months now in the book
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of Genesis. We'll return to the where we
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left off at some point, but for the month of July, for four
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Sundays. Where we're headed is on a short
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series just to examine and celebrate and look through the
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lens of Scripture at such a time as we are like this at the 250th
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anniversary of our nation. And just to see what guidance
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the Word of God would have for us as citizens of our nation, as
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stewards of such blessings from God, and how God's Word would
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guide us to live in these days that we've been given as a gift
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to stewards. I'm really excited about that.
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Before we turn to the New Testament for a few weeks or a
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short series out of the book of Titus, I'd also just like to say
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happy Father's Day to the dads in the room, the grandfathers or
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those watching online. What a privilege it is to be a
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father. And guys, may we remember the
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stewardship from God that we have.
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We had this incredible opportunity.
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All people, every human being is made in the image of God.
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But dads, when you think about it, our Father, our God is a
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good, good father. And it is through earthly
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fathers in so many ways and mothers, but it is through the
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earthly father in so many ways that we get a privilege of
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seeking to steward and to translate in an earthly way the
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goodness of God through an earthly father.
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The reality is in a world of sin we live in, some have
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experienced that, some have not. There are no perfect fathers on
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this earth. But I pray that whatever your
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experience has been is that you would know the love of God the
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Father for you, who has a plan for your life, has given you
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life, longs for you to know Him through his Son Jesus.
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If you don't. But if you are a dad or the
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privilege of being one, I pray you're reminded today of the
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amazing stewardship that you have to image the Heavenly
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Father in the life of your children and grandchildren so
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they get a small taste of heaven on earth through you before they
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get to see and stand before their Heavenly Father.
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Genesis 23 would not make a list of the most popular chapters in
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the Bible. You might call it one of those
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fly over chapters. You know, we have 50 states in
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our United States and many of them are referred to as fly over
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states, those states that airplanes typically fly over
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more often than they land in. Well, Genesis 23 would be
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considered one of those chapters.
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In fact, I'd be honest with you, I'd not be telling the truth if
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I didn't tell you that I was tempted to fly over it myself.
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I honestly thought, God, it's Father's Day.
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I really, this is really the text that lands on Father's Day.
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This is really what we're going to do.
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And I'll tell you that God just gave me some confirmations along
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the way. And already even the first
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service has given confirmations that this, this message is for
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some somebody and more than one. And I, I know that, but quite
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honestly, when it comes to topics that are not easy with
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truth, that is hard. You just don't naturally want to
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embrace or talk about those things.
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But I feel like we've known each other long enough now.
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And I love you and I think you love me.
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And about seven years in now that you trust me enough that we
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would love the word of God, that we're going to just press
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forward, know that God uses his word even on things that deal
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with difficult things that are good for us.
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And I think you're going to discover that as we walk through
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this chapter today. We're going to begin by reading
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the first two chapters. This is the first.
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This is the first death and burial.
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This is the first funeral in the Bible.
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And so we're going to begin by reading the 1st 2 verses and go
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from there. Sarah lived 127 years.
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These were the years of the life of Sarah.
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And Sarah died at Kiriath Arba. That is Hebron in the land of
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Canaan. And Abraham went in to mourn for
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Sarah and to weep for her. I think it would be true to say
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there's no way to possibly describe the impact that Sarah's
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death would have had on Abraham. These two had said yes together
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to the call of God on their lives and have walked faithfully
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in that call for over 60 years together now.
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I just want you to get this. They had probably been married
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for over 100 years. Now you laugh because some of
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you, well, I won't go there anyway.
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We'll keep going. Now Abraham has to figure out
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how to do life without his bride by his side.
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Some of you, some of you know precisely what Abraham is going
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through. Sarah was a woman who had said
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yes to God and His call on her life.
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She was a woman of great and mighty faith.
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And oh she she definitely had her moments, did she not?
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She definitely had her times when she made mistakes.
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She definitely had things she did that she regretted.
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But haven't we all? But the essence of her life was
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a life of faith following God's call.
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Listen to how the book of Hebrews commentary on Genesis 23
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and other chapters describes Sarah.
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Chapter 11 verse 11 and 12 says by faith Sarah received herself
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power to conceive even when she was past the age since she was
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considered, since she considered him faithful, who had promised
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therefore from one man. This is how her husband's
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described and him as good as dead.
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He was that old we're born descendants, as many as the
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stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand
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by the seashore. Genesis 23 Y all is really a
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real life living illustration of the truths of of Hebrews 11,
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specifically verses 11 through 16 which I want to read that say
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this. These, including Sarah, all died
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in keyword faith, not having received the things promised,
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but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having
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acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the
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earth. For people who speak thus, make
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it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
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For if they had been thinking of that land from which they had
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gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.
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But as it is, they desire a better country.
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That is a heavenly 1. Therefore God is not ashamed to
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be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city.
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Hence the title of the sermon, The Cave before the city.
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When Sarah dies, the son that she was allowed to miraculously
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conceive was approximately 36 to 37 years of age.
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By God's grace, God had allowed her.
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Y'all remember that sermon I mentioned the fourth quarter of
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life? You've never let me live that
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one down. She's in like fifth or sixth
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quarter. All right.
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The one that she was able to live to 5th or sixth quarter by
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God's grace. By the way, this is the only
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woman in the Bible who dies that says her age.
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I think all the rest of them are like, don't say that about me.
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So anyway, she was miraculously allowed by God to concede and
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live to see her child to adulthood.
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And yet, when she died, she'd only seen to consider this.
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She had only seen the tiniest tip of the iceberg of God's
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promises that she had heard God say to her and Abraham say,
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Kyle, what do you mean? Consider the fact that she heard
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God promise them land. How much land do Abraham and
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Sarah own to their name right now?
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Not one inch. She had heard God promised them
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offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky.
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How many offspring does Sarah have right now?
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Uno. She had heard God promised them
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that they would become a nation. They're still living as
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sojourners and as foreigners in a foreign nation.
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She heard God say to them that through their family, He's going
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to bring blessing to all the nations of the earth.
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To be honest, there's days Sarah struggles to be a blessing to
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her own family. Remember those some of those
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days we've read about? We've all had those days,
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haven't we? Not by perfection, but by faith.
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Sarah has said yes to God and lived her part in God's plan,
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knowing the best was yet to come.
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Sarah died in faith and friends, here it is.
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These are hard but true truths that do us good, just like you.
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You eat some things, probably not because you love the way
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they taste, but because they do your body good.
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God is going to call, Danny says.
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I don't do that. Well, I'm trying here.
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I'm trying. That's all I can say.
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Just like God calls Sarah to die in faith, friends, the deal is
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should Jesus Terry. God is going to call you and I
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to do the same thing. Point #1 is this God calls us to
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die by faith. I had that point shortened to
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die by faith, but I thought that came across a little strong, so
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I just extended it to God calls us to die by faith should Jesus.
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Terry, what kind of faith do you mean, Pastor Kyle?
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Should we die in faith that death is not the end?
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Faith that we are only strangers and sojourners in this life?
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Faith that in this life we only see a tiny fraction of all that
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God has promised us. That God has prepared for us a
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place forever with him. A faith that the best is yet to
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come. This is the kind of fate that at
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the time of our death, whenever it comes in God's plan for our
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lives, it should be the time, one of the times of the greatest
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demonstrations of faith in our lives, knowing the best of God's
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promises are beyond the grave, not before it.
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I'm going to say that again, the best of God's promises are
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beyond the grave, not before it. And there's going to come a day,
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should Jesus, Terry, when we are going to be asked to put that
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kind of faith into practice. So this begs the question, how
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should we as Christians think about death?
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We don't want to really talk about this, but they'd be be
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quite honest. Everyone thinks about it.
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In fact, if you want to have a little question in your back
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pocket to pull out whenever you're looking to have a gospel
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conversation with somebody and share your faith and to try to
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share your testimony and the good news of Jesus with
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somebody, maybe they're a stranger, maybe they're not.
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But one of the best questions you could ask is, hey, you ever
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think about life after death? No, I realize that's not
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typically what people ask, but quite honestly, that's not that
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of a confrontational conversation.
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You ever think about life after death?
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If anybody has a stitch of honesty, guess what?
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They're going to say yes. Because ever since sin entered
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the garden and death followed it, mankind has thought about
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death and life after. You can go back and study every
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form of civilization you can, and mankind just thought about
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death. Ancient Viking warriors thought
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about death. They thought about it in this
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way, and they desired to die valiantly in battle so they
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would live their eternity. And Valhalla, one of the gods of
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the Norse gods, they followed Odin in Asgard so they can fight
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all day, have their wounds healed by night, feast and drink
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all night, and be served by female Valkyries for the rest of
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their eternity. They thought about life after
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death. Did you know that the ultra rich
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in our day you can read about our thinking about life after
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death. You know why?
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Because they are pouring billions.
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As we speak into longevity startups, biological
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reprogramming and cellular rejuvenation tech, founders and
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investors are backing high stakes research aimed at halting
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the human aging process. Now there's probably some good
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in that that may benefit us all to help our fourth quarter go
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better. All right, Amen.
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But let's just be honest, what's behind most of that is when you
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don't believe there's any life after death, but you're thinking
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about death, guess what you're going to do when you believe
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this is all there is? You're going to try to make all
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there is last as long as you as long as you can with as much
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money as you can. People are thinking about life
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after death. The question I'm asking is, how
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should we as Christians think about life after death?
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I'm struggling with the Lord this week.
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God, do you really want to preach this?
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And I'm just reading a book for fun right now, and the first
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story in it is the story of a man by the name of Dag
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Hammerschold. And when I read his story, it's
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just one of the ways God confirmed this week.
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This is exactly what I was supposed to preach.
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Why? Because his story is exactly how
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Christians ought to think about death.
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This guy was a Swedish diplomat. He served as the Secretary
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General of the United Nations from April the 10th, 1953 until
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his death in September 18th of 1961.
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What we know about DAG, we know most from his private journal
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that he kept. I love the title of his journal.
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He titled it My Negotiations with Myself and with God.
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You ever negotiate with yourself or with God?
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This is how he titled his journal, and we know he was a
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man of faith by what he wrote here.
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And when his nomination came for Secretary General, he admitted
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in his journal that he had strong feelings of personal
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insufficiency. And yet he concluded that he
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could not refuse to accept the task that God had imposed upon
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him. But see, what the world didn't
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know about him and what most of his even personal friends didn't
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know about him, was that Dag had long prayed that God would give
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him some life defining task. He was praying that God would
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call him to something significant that would mark his
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life. Confident confiding privately in
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his journal at the time of his nomination, he wrote and I love
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this statement. When the hour strikes, he takes
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what is his Speaking of himself. What have I to say your prayer?
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He's Speaking of himself. Your prayer Dag has been
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answered. As you know God has a use for
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you. Even though watch this.
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I love this. Even though what he asked
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doesn't happen to suit you at the moment.
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You ever had God ask you to do something that didn't suit you
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at the moment? If you haven't, you hadn't been
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following the leadership of the Holy Spirit because those so
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often he doesn't ask you. He doesn't show up money like
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Kyle what you want to do today. That's never the way it's rolled
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for me. But he's often brought me to the
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brink of things that I really wouldn't think would have been
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my choice that I had to trust. That's what he's saying.
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Two days later he wrote not I but God in me.
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He was 47 years old. On September 26th, 1957, he was
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reelected for a second five year term.
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He writes this. I love this statement.
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He says the best and most wonderful thing that can happen
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to you in this life is that you should be silent and let God
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work and speak. That'll preach right there.
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Dag would never finish his second term.
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Dag indicated in his journal that he for weeks had been
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feeling a sense of impending death, but that it was not an
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end to be avoided, provided it came in accord with God's will.
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He then wrote this line that defines how we as Christians
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should think about death. Listen to it closely, he says.
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Do not seek death. Death will find you, but seek
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the road, which makes death a fulfillment of God's call on
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your life. That's exactly how every
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Christian should think about death.
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In some ways not even to really think about it.
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Because we've said yes to God's call, knowing one day we'll
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breathe our last. But whenever we do, we're going
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to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that when we die, we're
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going to be smack dab in the middle of God's will.
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And it will be the day that is the final fulfilment of our yes
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to God when it comes. Shortly after midnight,
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September the 18th, 1961 Dags UND 6 plane with 16 people on
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board crashed in the forest 7 miles north of the runway in
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Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia. An estimated 250,000 people
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gathered to mourn his death. Dag was a man who rightly
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thought about death as the final fulfillment of God's call on our
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lives. You see, the deal is, by faith
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we as Christians should say yes to God in life, and by faith we
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as Christians say yes to God in death.
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And did not Jesus, the Son of God, exemplify this very thing?
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Was his death not the final fulfillment of exactly what God
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had called him to to do? And what did he say?
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Expressing that in three words, It is finished.
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What was finished? The mission that God had given
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him, the call of God on his incarnation and on his living on
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earth in our shoes. It is finished.
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And then how does he die In faith?
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Into your hands I commit my Didn't Jesus exemplify the very
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thing that we learned from Scripture and from his example?
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The way we should think about it, God calls us to die by
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faith. Now pick up in verse 3 through
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9, And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the
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Hittites, I am a sojourner and foreigner among you.
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Give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury
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my dead out of my sight. The Hittites answered Abraham,
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hear us, my Lord, you are a Prince of God among us.
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Bury your dead and the choices of our tombs.
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None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from
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burying your dead. And Abraham rose and bowed to
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the Hittites, the people of the land, And he said to them, If
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you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight,
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hear me. Entreat for me Efron the son of
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Zohar, that he may give me The Cave of Makpala, which he owns.
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It is at the end of his field for the full price.
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Let him give it to me in your presence.
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His property for a burying place.
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As you would expect, Abraham is mourning and grieving the death
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of his wife. And what is most surprising is
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not what Abraham does, but what Abraham does not do.
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Because what you've had expected Abraham to do is hitch up the
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camels to the hearse and make the 500 plus mile journey back
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home. Because that's typically what we
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do, right? We tend to go back to that place
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where we have our lives most anchored, what we consider truly
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home, that place that maybe we even go back to for burial.
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That's not what Abraham does. He continues just the opposite
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from going back. He continues forward in the call
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of God, the same call that Sarah had been with him side by side
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in now for over 60 years. This is huge.
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This is Abraham saying yes to God in the face of the good
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times and the bad times. This is Abraham saying yes to
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God in life and in death. Hebrews 11/15 through 16.
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If you missed it when I read it earlier, it's worth hearing
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again because this describes the mentality Abraham could have
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had. Listen closely to it.
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If they even Speaking of Abraham had been thinking of that land
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from which they had gone out, they would have had an
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opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a
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better country. That is a heavenly 1 Therefore
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God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he is prepared
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for them a city. In other words, had Abraham's
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heart been stuck on the past, on the things he had left behind,
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if Abraham's mind and thinking, if his longings, if his living,
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if his heart's greatest desires would have been what he left
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behind instead of what God called him to, he would have
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turned and done a 180. But that's not what he does.
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He continues forward in the call of God because he was thinking
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and living by the promises of God.
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What? What were those promises?
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God, You called me to this land. You promised to give it to me
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and my descendants. That would be like stars of the
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sky. You promised to make me a
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nation. But God, my wife just died.
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I'm without my bride. I don't even own enough land,
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God, to bury my bride. To put yourself in issues,
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surely you'd have thought it's time to go home.
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That's not what Abraham does. Facing pain and loss, Abraham
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kept trusting the promises of God.
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This is the second thing I think we learned that God not only
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calls us to die by faith, but listen closely #2 God calls us
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to mourn the death of loved ones by faith.
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God calls us to mourn the death of loved ones by faith.
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You know, the truth is, and as many of you know first hand,
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I've already spoken to a number after the first service that are
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going through this very thing. You know, and I know and some of
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you even experienced right now, the fact that times of sadness
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and loss and grief come our way. This is part of life in a sin
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cursed world. The question is, what keeps a
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Christian from despair? What keeps a Christian from
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plummeting into depression? What keeps us from spiraling
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into emotional dysfunction? What is it?
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It's one and only thing. It's called hope.
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This is why the Bible says we must have a living hope in the
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promises of God, because when facing death, only a living
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hope, a living faith in the eternal promises of God, will
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keep us from despair. You see, a living hope is
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expressed like this in Paul, from Paul in First Thessalonians
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4 or 13 through 18. You know this, but I read it
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again to remind you. But we do not want you to be
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uninformed. Brothers and sisters, church
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family, about those who have died, those who are asleep, that
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you may not grieve. He doesn't say don't grieve.
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He says don't grieve as others who have no what no hope for.
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Since we believe Jesus died and rose again, Even so through
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Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
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How can Jesus bring with him those who have fallen to sleep
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asleep? Because to be absent from the
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body is to be present with the the Lord, because they're with
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him as we speak, those who've gone on before us.
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For this we declare to you by word from the Lord, that we who
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are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord will not
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proceed. Those who have died.
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For the Lord himself would descend from heaven with a cry
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of command, with the voice of an Archangel and the sound of the
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trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise
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first. Then we who are alive who are
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left, we call up together with them in the clouds to meet the
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Lord in the air. And so we will always be with
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the Lord. Therefore encourage one another
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with these words. That's how we don't spiral into
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the lies of the enemy, that this world and this life is all there
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is because of the promises of God and His plan for those who
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love Him. I thought this week about
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examples that I was aware of that have gone before us and
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have mourned the loss of loved ones and mourned and grieved,
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and yet not without hope and done so under some extreme
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circumstances. I've mentioned to you one of my
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favorite missionary biographies is A1 by about Adnaram Judson.
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And in his story, one of the things I love about all the
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stories of those who have faced incredible things and walked
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before us is it. Again, it just puts steel in our
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spiritual spine. It reminds us we're not alone
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and that there are faithful shoulders of those we stand upon
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as we seek to do life and living for Jesus Christ.
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In fact, there was a time in America when almost every
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Christian home had two books in it.
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Number one was the Bible. Number 2 was John Fox's book of
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how people died for their testimony following Jesus.
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You know why that book was in the home?
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Because that's like spiritual Wheaties every morning right
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there. Because it it it, it puts a
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little fearlessness in you when you realize people have gone
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before me and given their all for Jesus.
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And parents would raise their kids hearing the stories of
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those who had died for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ.
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Why? Because it was worth it.
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Adnaram's story is pretty similar.
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Let me just tell you a little bit about how they grieve, but
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not without hope. His ministry was marked by
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unimaginable sacrifice. If you remember, Adnaram was the
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first America's first foreign missionary and he's poured
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nearly 40 years of his life sharing the gospel, translating
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the Bible into Burmese and planting churches in Burma,
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modern day Myanmar. And as he did so, he mourned the
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loss of six of his thirteen children died on the mission
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field. Six and two out of the three
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women that he married all at one time, not at one time in in that
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came out wrong, one at a time, two died on the mischief.
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And I just want to tell you about these ladies for a second.
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Number one, Ann Nancy Haseltine Judson, married in 1812.
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She died in 1826. She was the first American woman
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to serve as a foreign missionary.
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She was a brilliant linguist, A fearless advocate for her
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husband. When Adnaram watched this was
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falsely accused by being a British spy and thrown into an
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infamous Burmese death prison for 17 months, where he was
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often hung by his ankles from the ceiling and lived in a tiny
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shack outside the prison walls to bribe the guards, beg for his
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life and tend to him. Shortly after Adeniram was
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freed, she contracted severe tropical fever and smallpox and
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died at the age of 36. He then married eight years
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later, Sarah Hall Boardman Judson.
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He was immersed in Bible translation.
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The widow of a fellow missionary named George.
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Her name was Sarah. She was a gifted writer and
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translator who quickly learned the Burmese and Penguin
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languages. She bore 8 children in 11 years.
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But her health broke under the harsh climate and while
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attempting to sail back to the United States, she trying to
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recover. She passed away aboard ship and
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was buried in a remote island in the South Atlantic.
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His third wife would live to see Adiniram pass away at sea.
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After his death, she her own health deteriorated and returned
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to America, where she died of tuberculosis at age 36.
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How do people do that? How do people do that?
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Unless you believe that the best of God's promises don't come
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before the grave, they come after you.
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Don't do that. Unless you believe that we only
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get to taste and see the tiniest fraction of the promises of God
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in this life, that the best is yet to come, that no eye is seen
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and no ear is heard, nor the heart of man.
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Imagine what God has in store for those who love him.
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Unless you really believe that God works all things together
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for our good, for those who love Him and are called according to
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His. Unless you truly believe that
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the gospel is worth giving everything you got for people to
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hear it. Unless you really believe
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there's a heaven and there's a hell, you don't live like that.
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Unless you believe the promises of God.
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And they, because they did their collective legacy watch this
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became a foundational pillar for American Protestant missions,
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establishing thousands of believers in Myanmar.
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The first overseas mission trip I ever went on.
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I wanted to go to Burma, and God gave me a chance to go to those
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golden shores. And I watched and saw churches
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and met Christians. Why?
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Because some people were willing to give their all so those
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people could know Jesus. Unbelievable, right?
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God calls us y'all to die by faith, and God calls us to mourn
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the death of loved ones by faith.
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God calls us to mourn the death of loved ones by faith.
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I want to pick up in our next set of verses, 10 through 20.
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Now Efron was sitting among the Hittites, and Efron the Hittite
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answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went
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to the gate of the city. No, my Lord, hear me.
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I give you the feel, and I give you The Cave that is in it, in
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the sight of the sons of my people.
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I give it to you. Bury your dead.
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Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land, and he
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said to Efron in the hearing of the people of the land.
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But if you will hear me, I give the price of the feel.
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Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.
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Efron answered. Abraham, my Lord listened to me,
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a piece of land worth 400 shekels of silver.
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What is that between you and me? Bury your dead.
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Abraham listened to Efron. And Abraham weighed out for
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Efron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the
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Hittites, 400 shekels of silver according to the weights current
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among the merchants. So the field of Efron in
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Makpala, which was to the east of Monterey, the field with The
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Cave that was in it, and all the trees that were in the field
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throughout its whole area, was made over to Abraham as a
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possession in the presence of the Hittites before all who went
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in at the gate of the city. After this, Abraham buried
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Sarah's wife in The Cave of the field of Makpala, east of Mamre,
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that is, Hebron in the land of Canaan.
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The field in The Cave that is in it were made over to Abraham's
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property for a bearing place by the Hittites.
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On the surface. What we have here is an ancient
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real estate transaction. Abraham has voiced his desire
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for a piece of property in which to bury his wife.
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When he asked for a plot, Everyone who hears him basically
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responds to him is like, man, you're such an honorable
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resident among us, pick out which one you want.
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Feel free to borrow it. But Abraham's not looking to
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borrow a burial plot. The locals, of course, don't see
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Abraham as a permanent resident. He doesn't own any land.
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But Abraham knows something these locals don't know.
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That is that God has promised him this whole land.
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He's not going anywhere. And so Abraham goes about this
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real estate deal for the long haul.
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Abraham already has the burial spot he desires picked out.
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He just needs to purchase it, which he offers to do.
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But when Efron hears the offer, Efron responds in what you might
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think was this Oh man, Efron must be a wonderful, generous
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guy. He just says, hey, just just
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take it. Well, that's kind of a little
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bit of some surface level hospitality that is veiling
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something that's a little different.
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What's a little different is this, number one, had Abraham
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just borrowed the plot legally, he would have never owned it and
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it would have always remained in Efron's possession for his
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descendants and not Abraham's descendants.
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And Abraham's looking for the long haul here, not the short
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haul. OK.
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But it would have sounded really generous for Efron to just say,
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hey, use it. You're not long term among us.
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If you're going to be moving on, which he probably thought he
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would be, use it. That's not the plan.
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But then when he realizes Abraham really wants to buy it,
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it's kind of like he sees here an opportunity to kind of make
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more bang for his buck, right? Maybe he thinks, well, if I sell
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The Cave, I can't really sell the field.
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Nobody's going to want the field unless they get The Cave.
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So I better just go all in and ask for as much as I can.
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And he puts it out there as if Abraham's a, you know, wealthy
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man, which he is. And Efron's a wealthy man, which
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he is. And he's like, hey, just what's?
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What's 400 shekels of silver between wealthy men?
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That's kind of what he slyly names his price, but you get the
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idea. If you study the worth of a
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shekel and the price of land at this time, it's pretty obvious
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that Abraham is not getting a steal.
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In a way, Abraham is getting price gouged a little bit, which
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begs the question, why would Abraham be willing to pay such a
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high price? Well, think about it like this.
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Efren says, hey, what's 400 shekels between two wealthy men?
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Who can pay it but Abraham's thinking, What's 400 shekels as
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a down payment on the whole thing?
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God has promised me, I think I'll pay it.
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You don't know it, but this is a good deal for me #3 Y'all, God
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calls us. This is what we learned, I
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think, practically here. God calls us to press on in this
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life by faith. God calls us to die by faith, to
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mourn the death of loved ones by faith.
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And then to press on in life by faith y'all?
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My guess is Abraham. Just just think about this.
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I guarantee you when God called Abraham and Abraham said yes to
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God, Abraham never thought that he would be in a spot after
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hearing the promises of God. He never thought he'd be in a
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spot where he would be a widower and the only piece of land he
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owned was the cemetery where his wife would be buried.
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I guarantee you that scenario never crossed his mind.
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But let's be honest, did God ever say, hey Abe man, this is
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going to be easy? God never said Sarah wouldn't
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die one day. God never said Abraham wouldn't
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die one day. God just told him his promises
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were true and could be trusted. And that's what they did.
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What God's call made clear was that death would not be the end
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of his promises. The question for Abraham when he
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found himself in that scenario, in those circumstances, is did
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he believe God or not? And this is where this gets very
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practical, not very fun, but very practical.
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There's going to come a day when life is going to look you in the
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eye and it's going to ask you point blank, do you believe the
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promises of God, or do you want to go back home or do you want
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to move forward by faith? Are the promises of God truly,
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truly true? Is the best to come beyond the
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grave? Is God really going to work all
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things out for my good, for those who love him?
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Even though it doesn't seem like I never imagined God, I'd be
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here. I never imagined I would go
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through this. I never imagined I would
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experience this. But there you are, there He is.
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And the question is, do you believe that the life is going
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to ask you? Do you believe the promises of
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God? And you will give an answer one
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day, and you won't have the right answer unless you have a
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living hope, which only comes to trusting the Son of God, who is
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alive, who's conquered death, who's defeated sin, who paid for
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your debt, hung on the cross for you, went to the grave for you,
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defeated death. For you.
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Offer salvation and hope and life to you, if you'd receive it
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by faith calling on His name. So no matter what comes your
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way, you know and have the promises of God anchoring your
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soul deeper than any earthly circumstance could ever cause
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you to question the promises of the truth of God.
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The question is, do you believe them?
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Abraham presses on because he believes the promises of God
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even when he only owns a tiny sliver of lamb.
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Here's the deal in this Put it all together.
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You ready? This is what this chapter is all
38:05
about. Success in the Christian life
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looks like faithfulness in life and in death, knowing the best
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is yet to come. That's what faithfulness looks
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like. It looks like fate.
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That's what successful looks like.
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It is faithfulness, y'all in life and in death, in the
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promises of God, knowing the best is yet to come.
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You say, Kyle, what do you mean the best is yet to come?
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You remember how Paul puts it. If we are living only for this
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life, he says as Christians, if we are living only for this
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life, are living for the next, Rather, the way he puts it, we
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are of all people, most to be what?
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Most to be pitied. In other words, if God's
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promises are not bigger and better beyond the grave, we're
39:00
in trouble. We're in trouble but because
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they are. Here's the honest truth.
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Your life and mine ought to look different in light of the fact
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that the promises of God are bigger and better beyond the
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grave than they are before it. In this way, we ought to live in
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such a way that our lives don't make sense to those who watch
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us, to those who witness the way we talk, the way we spend our
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money, the way we spend our time, the risk we take on what
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we choose to value, how we choose to respond when
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mistreated, and how we live our week, how we go about our work
39:35
and how we raise our kids. And all the things ought to look
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strange and light to someone who doesn't know Christ, right?
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Because that doesn't make sense because we're living for
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eternity. I've heard eternity described as
39:47
a if it was laid out as a rope. If we could roll out a rope this
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morning, and that rope represented eternity, how long
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would that rope be? Longer than you can imagine.
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Now, if you just imagine marking on the front of that rope what
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this tiny, short earthly life would look like physically
40:05
represented on that rope representing eternity, how much,
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how big a spot on that rope would you mark as an accurate
40:11
representation of how short this life is compared to how long
40:15
eternity is? You'd have to try to mark it in
40:18
a spot where you could barely even see that you've made a
40:21
mark. That's how small a mark you'd
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have to be in light of how long eternity is.
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And This is why no matter what happens in this life, we can
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live it by faith, we can die by faith.
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We can mourn those who go ahead of us by faith, and we can press
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on in faith, knowing the best is yet to come.
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You know, I can just imagine a conversation maybe that Abraham
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had with his family that went like this.
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They buried Sarah and maybe somebody asked Abraham, Abraham,
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did you think you'd be in this spot?
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And maybe he looked over at The Cave and he said, do you see
40:58
that cave over there? Do you see that tomb?
41:03
You see where Sarah's laid? Every day I look at that cave
41:08
and I remember that's the evidence right there that God's
41:11
given me a down payment on all that's to come.
41:14
That's evidence to me. Every day I wake up that the
41:16
best is yet to come, that God has bigger and better promises.
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I may not live to see them all, but he's promised.
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And he started with that right there.
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And Can you imagine God the Father maybe?
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And when life looks at us and ask us, do we believe the
41:29
promises of God? What do you think God the Father
41:31
might point us to? Do you see that tomb?
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Not the one where Sarah was laid, but to see the tomb where
41:40
my son was laid, that tomb that's not occupied, but that
41:44
tomb, that's what that's tomb that's empty.
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Everyday evidence for over 2000 years that the best ladies and
41:50
gentlemen is yet to the guts. Promises are bigger and better
41:53
beyond the grave than they are before it.
41:55
And that's how you can live different.
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Knowing every day is worth it, no matter if it's 36 years, 12
42:00
years, or 127 years. Because eternity is long and
42:04
life is short. The gospel is worth it.
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And every day God gives you. If you say yes to God when you
42:08
die, it'll be the final fulfillment of God's call on
42:11
your life. That's the way I want to live.
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That's the way we want to die. And that's how we can press for
42:15
knowing one day we'll be gathered around the throne
42:17
together forever with Jesus our Savior.
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Do you believe the promises of God?
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These are not truths we want to talk about, but these are truths
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when you're alone, when life asks you the hardest questions,
42:33
you need to have an answer. And God's Word gives us that
42:39
answer. Heavenly Father God, I ask that
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in His our as we have heard your word that you would give us
42:46
faith to receive and believe that it would penetrate our
42:49
hearts, that you would have your weight.
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And I pray for anyone today who doesn't have that living hope in
42:54
Jesus Christ that had ever called on you for salvation,
42:57
that today would be the day that even right now they'd feel
42:59
confident and unashamed to step out from where they are and just
43:02
come tell us, I need to trust Jesus.
43:04
Maybe someone's here and it's been living for the things of
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the world and needs to let them go and live for the things of
43:09
eternity. Maybe somebody's here who needs
43:11
to grieve, but not without hope, or someone here needs to believe
43:14
the promises of God. God help them with all their
43:16
heart to say yes to you, to know your goodness, Father, to have
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you give them the peace that passes understanding that comes
43:24
from a living hope in Jesus Christ.
43:27
Help us say yes. Help us trust you.
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In Jesus name I pray, Amen. Would you stand with me?
43:32
I'm going to stand here if you need to come and talk with me
43:34
about salvation, trusting Jesus. If you need prayer, this altar
43:38
is open. Our encouragers will be close.
43:39
You come as we sing and worship together.