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Voddie Baucham - First Fruits of the Promise Land · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: Do you sometimes just read the words that we sing?
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Speaker 1: Do you sometimes just think about the statements that we make?
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Speaker 1: One with himself, I cannot die. My soul is purchased
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Speaker 1: with his blood. My life is hidden with Christ on high.
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Speaker 1: With Christ my Savior and my God. Don't just sing
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Speaker 1: the words. Think about the confessions that we make. Think
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Speaker 1: about what we say and what that means beyond the
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Speaker 1: moment of the music and the sweet reality of the
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Speaker 1: life that we live and the death that we someday
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Speaker 1: will die. Would you pray with me? Father, we are
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Speaker 1: so grateful that when Satan tempts us with despair and
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Speaker 1: tells us of the great guilt that is within, upward
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Speaker 1: we can look and see the one standing there who
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Speaker 1: made an end to all our sin. We confess that
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Speaker 1: our hope is in Christ and in no other. Our
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Speaker 1: hope is in Christ and not in ourselves. Our hope
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Speaker 1: is in Christ and not our accomplishments. Our hope is
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Speaker 1: in Christ, not our accumulation of wealth and things. Our
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Speaker 1: hope is in Christ, not in man. Our hope is
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Speaker 1: in Christ, not in a nation, not in a government.
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Speaker 1: Our hope is in Christ. only in Christ. Thank you
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Speaker 1: for reminding us of that today. We are indeed grateful.
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Speaker 1: And as we come now to this moment where we
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Speaker 1: search your word to hear and to heed your truth,
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Speaker 1: we ask that you would speak with clarity and with power.
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Speaker 1: This is our prayer. We offer it in Christ's name. Amen. Well,
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Speaker 1: we have come to the conclusion of the Sermon on
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Speaker 1: the Mount, and now we turn the corner and we
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Speaker 1: go back and move forward at the same time. We
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Speaker 1: go back to the book of Genesis, but we move
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Speaker 1: forward in the book of Genesis. If you'll remember, we
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Speaker 1: looked at Genesis chapters 1 through 11, really the foundational
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Speaker 1: portion of Scripture. that helps us to understand a proper
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Speaker 1: cosmology or proper understanding of the world and its creation
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Speaker 1: and its order, a proper understanding of a biblical worldview
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Speaker 1: we find there in Genesis 1-11, a proper understanding of
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Speaker 1: really all of the cardinal and foundational doctrines of the
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Speaker 1: Christian faith found right there in Genesis chapters 1-11. There's
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Speaker 1: just a wealth of truth found in that section of Scripture.
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Speaker 1: After we finished Genesis 1-11, we came back and we
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Speaker 1: walked together through 1 John and came back and looked
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Speaker 1: at Genesis 12 through 22 and examined the life of Abraham,
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Speaker 1: which really wasn't about the life of Abraham at all,
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Speaker 1: but was about the life of faith that all of
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Speaker 1: us are called to live and Abraham as an example
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Speaker 1: of what that life of faith looks like. So we
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Speaker 1: spent as much time in the book of Romans and
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Speaker 1: Galatians as we did in Genesis chapters 11 through 22.
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Speaker 1: Then we took another hiatus and went and examined the
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Speaker 1: Sermon on the Mount and have had all of our
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Speaker 1: lives richly blessed, convicted and confronted. Amen. And everything else.
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Speaker 1: Now we come back. Begin in Genesis chapter 23. And
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Speaker 1: we're going to begin a journey into the life of
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Speaker 1: Isaac and Jacob here in Genesis chapter chapters 23 through,
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Speaker 1: I forget. But we'll look at the life of Isaac
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Speaker 1: and then the life of Jacob. Then another hiatus and
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Speaker 1: probably come back and look at Joseph. but we're examining
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Speaker 1: here the life of the patriarchs. Now we come here
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Speaker 1: to chapter 23. It seemed like an odd place to
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Speaker 1: stop when we stopped at chapter 22. In fact, some
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Speaker 1: folks came when we started the Sermon on the Mount
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Speaker 1: and said, well, wait a minute, because we were trying
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Speaker 1: to follow along and in our family worship, we were
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Speaker 1: looking at Genesis 23, thinking we'd be in Genesis 23,
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Speaker 1: but instead now here we are in Matthew 5. We
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Speaker 1: didn't do Genesis 23. Genesis 23 is really a bridge,
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Speaker 1: a bridge between the life of Abraham and and the
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Speaker 1: life of Isaac. It would have fit in either place,
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Speaker 1: but we chose to put it here. Genesis chapter 23
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Speaker 1: is about the death of Sarah, but it's really not
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Speaker 1: about the death of Sarah. Genesis chapter 23 is about
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Speaker 1: the first fruits of the promise. Now, we've seen the
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Speaker 1: first fruits of the promise in the person of Isaac.
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Speaker 1: But remember, God promised to make Abraham a great nation.
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Speaker 1: That promise included multitudes of descendants and also a specific land.
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Speaker 1: So far, we've got the first fruits of the descendants
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Speaker 1: and Isaac, but we haven't seen the first fruits of
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Speaker 1: the land. Abraham is a wealthy man, but he doesn't
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Speaker 1: have his land yet. None of his land yet. None
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Speaker 1: of the promised land yet. He hasn't experienced the first
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Speaker 1: fruits of that promise. That is until Genesis chapter 23.
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Speaker 1: So let's look at this chapter and this bridge between
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Speaker 1: the life of Abraham and the life of his son Isaac.
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Speaker 1: And I'll make a couple of comments along the way
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Speaker 1: just to get us oriented here back to looking at
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Speaker 1: Genesis and looking at the Old Testament. Just a couple
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Speaker 1: of historical background comments. You remember in chapter 22, we've
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Speaker 1: seen Abraham bring Isaac to Mount Moriah. The knife comes up,
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Speaker 1: but doesn't come down. Isaac's life is spared. Of course,
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Speaker 1: Abraham reasoned that somehow God was going to give him
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Speaker 1: his son back from the dead, but his son did
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Speaker 1: not have to die. We talked about the fact that
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Speaker 1: that was merely a foreshadowing of what would happen in
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Speaker 1: nearly the same place as Another father would offer his son,
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Speaker 1: but this time not stay his hand. As our heavenly
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Speaker 1: father saw his son killed on virtually the same place.
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Speaker 1: This time he was the ram in the thicket. This
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Speaker 1: time the son was given up for the sins of many.
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Speaker 1: After The life of Isaac is spared. The life of
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Speaker 1: Sarah is taken. And so we begin in chapter 23.
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Speaker 1: Sarah lived 127 years. These are the years of the
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Speaker 1: life of Sarah. Now again, here's our first historical, biblical,
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Speaker 1: theological comment along the way before we get to this
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Speaker 1: passage and its interpretation. And that is this. This is
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Speaker 1: the only time in the Bible that this phrase, that
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Speaker 1: this construct is used for a woman. Now we've seen
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Speaker 1: this phrase. So and so lived such and such years
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Speaker 1: and he died. And he died and he died and
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Speaker 1: he died and he died. You remember we saw it
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Speaker 1: in chapter 5 eight times in a row. Eight times
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Speaker 1: in a row. Now, 10 generations, eight times, and he died.
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Speaker 1: One of those was for a guy who was taken
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Speaker 1: up and didn't die. The other one was for a
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Speaker 1: guy who had the phrase merely reserved until chapter 9,
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Speaker 1: and that's Noah. Then we get Noah's years, and he died.
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Speaker 1: This is the only time in God's Word, the only
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Speaker 1: time in Scripture, that this construct is used for a woman.
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Speaker 1: We don't know another woman's age in the We don't
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Speaker 1: know another woman's lifespan in the Bible. Only Sarah has
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Speaker 1: this distinct honor. Only Sarah. Verse 2. Sarah died at
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Speaker 1: Kiriath Arba, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan.
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Speaker 1: And Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and wept
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Speaker 1: for her. And Abraham rose up from before his dead
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Speaker 1: and said to the Hittites, I am a sojourner and
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Speaker 1: a foreigner among you. Give me property among you for
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Speaker 1: a burying place that I may bury my dead out
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Speaker 1: of my sight. The Hittites answered Abraham, hear us, my Lord.
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Speaker 1: You are a prince of God among us. Bury your
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Speaker 1: dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us
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Speaker 1: will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from
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Speaker 1: burying your dead. Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites,
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Speaker 1: the people of the land. And he said to them,
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Speaker 1: If you are willing that I should bury my dead
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Speaker 1: out of my sight, hear me and entreat from me,
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Speaker 1: and entreat from me, Ephron, the son of Zohar, that
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Speaker 1: he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns.
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Speaker 1: It is at the end of his field. For the
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Speaker 1: full price, let him give it to me in your
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Speaker 1: presence as property for a burying place. Now there's a
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Speaker 1: couple of things you need to know about what's going
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Speaker 1: on here. Number one, you need to know that it
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Speaker 1: is highly unusual for an outsider to be allowed to
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Speaker 1: buy land. Highly unusual. Listen to this comment by Craig Keener.
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Speaker 1: Arable land was so precious a possession that it was
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Speaker 1: not supposed to be sold to anyone outside the kinship group.
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Speaker 1: The lack of a buyer within the family and or
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Speaker 1: the practicalities of business sometimes required a sale to an
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Speaker 1: unrelated person. This could be legally sidestepped through the adoption
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Speaker 1: of the buyer or the intercession of of village elders
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Speaker 1: on behalf with the owner. The designation of Abraham as
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Speaker 1: a prince suggests he would be a desirable neighbor. In
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Speaker 1: other words, nobody outside the kinship group is supposed to
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Speaker 1: be able to buy this land. There have to be
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Speaker 1: special extenuating circumstances for someone outside the kinship group to
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Speaker 1: be able to buy this land. So know that that's
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Speaker 1: what's happening here in this passage. Here's the second thing
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Speaker 1: that you need to know that's going on in this passage.
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Speaker 1: Know that the land is being offered to Abraham to
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Speaker 1: bury his dead as a gift. As a gift. Small problem.
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Speaker 1: If this is given to him as a gift to
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Speaker 1: bury his dead, then as soon as his benefactor dies,
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Speaker 1: the children of his benefactor can say, Yeah, this was
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Speaker 1: a gift that my father gave you to your father,
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Speaker 1: but this is my land now and you can no
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Speaker 1: longer continue to bury your dead here. And Sarah could
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Speaker 1: have been the only one buried in this land. Third
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Speaker 1: thing you need to recognize is the bartering that is
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Speaker 1: happening here. Now, some have been to places, maybe in
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Speaker 1: third world countries, maybe you've been in the Middle East
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Speaker 1: where you've experienced bartering, where you go to a fruit
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Speaker 1: stand and you're going to buy a piece of fruit
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Speaker 1: and Over here, there's, you know, some fruit being offered
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Speaker 1: and you see the price and I, you know, come on,
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Speaker 1: I'll give you a real good price. And they tell
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Speaker 1: you the price. You just kind of go, no, I
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Speaker 1: don't think so. Okay, okay, okay. I'll give you a
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Speaker 1: better price, you know. And while you're over there trying
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Speaker 1: to get a better price, somebody comes from across the
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Speaker 1: street saying, oh, no, no, no, you don't want to
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Speaker 1: buy this. Uh-uh. This is not good. No, you need
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Speaker 1: to come over to my stand and I'll give you
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Speaker 1: much better fruit and much better price. Come over here.
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Speaker 1: If you've been in third world country, if you've been
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Speaker 1: in the Middle East, you've experienced this process before, this
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Speaker 1: sort of bartering process. If you bought a car in
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Speaker 1: the United States in recent history, you've experienced this same process.
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Speaker 1: It's amazing what happens when you don't have to have
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Speaker 1: it right now. Amazing the price that you can get
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Speaker 1: if you really don't mind going down the street. It's amazing.
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Speaker 1: It's just unbelievable. All of a sudden, the best rock
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Speaker 1: bottom price that I could ever, ever offer you becomes,
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Speaker 1: you know what? I talked to my manager and he said, bartering.
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Speaker 1: That's what's going on here. Abraham's trying to barter. Look
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Speaker 1: at the next paragraph. Now, Ephraim was sitting among the
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Speaker 1: Hittites and Ephraim, the Hittite, answered Abraham in the hearing
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Speaker 1: of the Hittites. of all who went in at the
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Speaker 1: gate of his city. Now notice we've changed locations. That's
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Speaker 1: going to become important hereafter. We've gone to Ephron, but
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Speaker 1: Ephron is at the city gates among the Hittites. So
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Speaker 1: he's at the city gates, the place where legal transactions
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Speaker 1: take place, and he's among the Hittites. He's among the
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Speaker 1: leaders of the people. This is going to be very important.
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Speaker 1: Now my lord... Hear me. I give you the field
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Speaker 1: and I give you the cave that is in it.
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Speaker 1: Notice what just happened. Abraham says, I want to buy
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Speaker 1: the cave to bury my dead. He also doesn't say,
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Speaker 1: I want to bury my wife. Please note that. Because
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Speaker 1: traditionally what happens is when you find a burial place,
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Speaker 1: it becomes a burial place for your family. We see this,
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Speaker 1: for example, in other places in Genesis. Jacob says, when
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Speaker 1: I die, you take my bones back and bury me
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Speaker 1: among my fathers, okay? This is extremely important. Sometimes the
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Speaker 1: dead would be preserved for long periods of time until
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Speaker 1: they could be taken back to the place where that
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Speaker 1: clan is buried. So what Abraham says is, I want
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Speaker 1: to buy this cave to bury my dead, not just
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Speaker 1: my wife. I want to buy this cave to bury
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Speaker 1: my wife. I want to buy this cave to bury me.
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Speaker 1: I want to buy this cave to bury my son.
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Speaker 1: Now he comes and speaks to the owner, and the owner,
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Speaker 1: just all of a sudden, in mid-flow of the negotiation,
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Speaker 1: first it was, no, no, no, no, we'll give you
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Speaker 1: the cave. Just go ahead, bury your dead. You're a prince, Abraham.
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Speaker 1: By the way, this statement, you're a prince, was part
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Speaker 1: of the bartering process. You're a prince. We'll give you
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Speaker 1: the cave. Now, tongue in cheek, what was just said was,
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Speaker 1: you know this has to be sold only to someone
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Speaker 1: within the kinship group. We can't sell it to you
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Speaker 1: because you're not within the kinship group. We couldn't sell
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Speaker 1: it to you unless you were a person important enough
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Speaker 1: to buy it from outside of the kinship group, you
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Speaker 1: prince of God. So they've already said to him, no,
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Speaker 1: you can't buy it, but but you can't. Now he
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Speaker 1: comes to the owner and the owner says, not only
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Speaker 1: will I give you the cave, but the whole field
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Speaker 1: as a gift. Remember that momentarily here. No, my Lord,
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Speaker 1: hear me. I give you the field and I give
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Speaker 1: you the cave that is in it. In the sight
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Speaker 1: of the sons of my people, I give it to you.
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Speaker 1: Bury your dead. Then Abraham bowed before the people of
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Speaker 1: the land And he said to Ephron, in the hearing
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Speaker 1: of the people of the land, but if you will
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Speaker 1: hear me, I give the price of the field, accept
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Speaker 1: it from me, that I may bury my dead there.
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Speaker 1: Ephron answered Abraham, verse 15. I love this phrase. My Lord,
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Speaker 1: listen to me. A piece of land worth 400 shekels
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Speaker 1: of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury
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Speaker 1: your dead. You see what's going on here? I'd like
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Speaker 1: the cave. I'd like to buy the cave to bury
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Speaker 1: my dead. Oh, no, you can't buy the cave. We'll
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Speaker 1: give you the cave. You prince of God, you who
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Speaker 1: could buy the cave because you have the stature of
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Speaker 1: one who could buy the cave, but we're just going
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Speaker 1: to give it to you. Knowing, of course, that you
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Speaker 1: want to bury your dead, which means your wife and
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Speaker 1: yourself and eventually your son who will also die. And
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Speaker 1: that once my father's land has been given to you
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Speaker 1: and my father's dead, I don't have to let you
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Speaker 1: bury anybody else here. No, let me go talk to
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Speaker 1: your father. Okay, fine. Father says, no, I can't let
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Speaker 1: you buy that cave and that whole field. I'll just
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Speaker 1: give it to you to go ahead and bury your dead.
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Speaker 1: Of course, my kids could take it back from you
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Speaker 1: after this is all over, but whatever. I'm going to
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Speaker 1: give you the cave and the field. No, sir, please
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Speaker 1: tell me how much. Oh, come on. What is a
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Speaker 1: cave and a field worth say, 400 shekels of silver
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Speaker 1: between you and me. Go ahead, man. Take this cave
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Speaker 1: worth 400 shekels of silver. I'm giving you this gift
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Speaker 1: worth 400 shekels of silver. Bury your dead in this
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Speaker 1: cave and the field, which are worth 400 shekels of
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Speaker 1: silver that I want to give to you, you prince
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Speaker 1: who could really buy outside of the kinship group. Verse 16,
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Speaker 1: Abraham listened to Ephraim, and Abraham weighed out for Ephraim
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Speaker 1: the silver that he had named in the hearing of
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Speaker 1: the Hittites, 400 shekels of silver according to the weights
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Speaker 1: current among the merchants. They just happened to be at
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Speaker 1: the city gates where you would have the proper weights
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Speaker 1: to determine the weight of the silver. It just happened
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Speaker 1: to be in the hearing of the people who could
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Speaker 1: make this a legal transaction. Notice Abraham's no longer negotiating.
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Speaker 1: He says, fine. I've been waiting for a number. You
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Speaker 1: gave me the number. Abraham takes out the silver, 400
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Speaker 1: shekels of it. Has it weighed by the official weirs?
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Speaker 1: Has it witnessed by the elders of the city? And
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Speaker 1: gives it to Ephraim for the field. So the field
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Speaker 1: of Ephraim in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre,
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Speaker 1: the field with the cave that was in it, All
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Speaker 1: the truth. that were in the field throughout it, throughout
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Speaker 1: its whole area, was made over to Abram or Abraham
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Speaker 1: as a possession in the presence of the Hittites. That
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Speaker 1: word as a possession, in the Hebrew, it's the same
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Speaker 1: word that was used when God made the promise of
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Speaker 1: to give Abraham the promised land as an eternal inheritance.
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Speaker 1: That word's used three times in chapter 23. Three times.
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Speaker 1: Abraham is buying an eternal possession. In other words, Abraham
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Speaker 1: is buying what's been promised to him. After this, Abraham
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Speaker 1: buried Sarah, his wife, in the cave of the field
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Speaker 1: of Machpelah, east of Mamre, that is Hebron, in the
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Speaker 1: land of Canaan. The field and the cave that is
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Speaker 1: in it were made over to Abraham as property for
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Speaker 1: a that just don't seem to make any sense at all. And,
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Speaker 1: you know, upon a cursory reading of this, this would
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Speaker 1: be one of those chapters. You read this and you
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Speaker 1: just kind of go, I'm not really sure what just
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Speaker 1: happened there. Sounds kind of convoluted. I'm not really sure
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Speaker 1: why there's a whole chapter devoted to, you know, this
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Speaker 1: when she died. And most people, you know, you read
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Speaker 1: they lived this many years and they died. We don't
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Speaker 1: even have a discussion about where they're buried. I mean,
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Speaker 1: isn't the important point that they lived and then they
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Speaker 1: died and now they're gone? And so now we're talking
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Speaker 1: about the next generation. So what is all of this?
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Speaker 1: As I've said before, this is about the first fruits
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Speaker 1: of the promised land. And there are three theological ideas,
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Speaker 1: three theological truths that we need to grasp if we're
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Speaker 1: going to understand this passage properly. If you remember before,
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Speaker 1: we talked about even the way we interpret the Old Testament.
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Speaker 1: We did this before, but I'll do this again as
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Speaker 1: we begin to walk through Genesis chapter 23. There's one
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Speaker 1: way to interpret the Old Testament that is really most
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Speaker 1: common in our culture. And that way of interpreting the
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Speaker 1: Old Testament is really, you know, what I like to
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Speaker 1: call moralizing the Old Testament. We go to the Old
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Speaker 1: Testament and basically the Old Testament is just about character studies.
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Speaker 1: So you go to the Old Testament and you read
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Speaker 1: about a character in the Old Testament. You find out
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Speaker 1: the good qualities of this character in the Old Testament
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Speaker 1: and And then you try really hard to be like
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Speaker 1: the good qualities of this character in the Old Testament.
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Speaker 1: Or if it was a bad character in the Old Testament,
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Speaker 1: you go to the bad character. You do a character
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Speaker 1: study on the bad character in the Old Testament. You
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Speaker 1: find the bad qualities of this bad character in the
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Speaker 1: Old Testament. And then you don't emulate the bad qualities
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Speaker 1: of this bad character in the Old Testament. And that's
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Speaker 1: pretty much the end of it. That's it. And so
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Speaker 1: we go to the Old Testament and we mine it
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Speaker 1: for principles that we can use to have a healthier, happier, wealthier,
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Speaker 1: more prosperous life by being like the good people and
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Speaker 1: not like the bad people in the Old Testament. That's
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Speaker 1: one way we could read it, and that's the way
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Speaker 1: that the Old Testament is most commonly read in modern
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Speaker 1: American Christianity. The Old Testament is preached rarely in modern
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Speaker 1: American churches, and when it is preached in modern American churches,
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Speaker 1: It is used as a springboard for principles that we
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Speaker 1: can apply and it's 10 ways to have a happy
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Speaker 1: life and Abraham becomes our model for that happy life
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Speaker 1: and so on and so forth. That's one way that
23:42
Speaker 1: we use the Old Testament. It's the most common way
23:44
Speaker 1: that we view the Old Testament. The other, of course,
23:47
Speaker 1: as we spoke about before, is what Graham Goldsworthy refers
23:51
Speaker 1: to as Christ-centered hermeneutics. That the Bible is ultimately the
23:57
Speaker 1: story of God's redemptive purpose. And more specifically, it is
24:02
Speaker 1: about his work accomplished in Jesus Christ. So when we
24:07
Speaker 1: come to the Old Testament, we are reading redemptive history.
24:11
Speaker 1: So this is not just about moralisms, do this and
24:14
Speaker 1: you'll be a better person, do this and you'll be
24:16
Speaker 1: a worse person. This is about redemptive history. This is
24:19
Speaker 1: about what God has ultimately accomplished in the person and
24:22
Speaker 1: work of Jesus Christ. Now, when we do this, we
24:26
Speaker 1: realize that there are characteristics that are preferable, characteristics that
24:31
Speaker 1: are to be shunned to be sure. We find that
24:34
Speaker 1: in the Old Testament. But that's not what it's about.
24:38
Speaker 1: What it's about is redemptive history. So the question we
24:41
Speaker 1: ask when we read all of the Bible is, what
24:44
Speaker 1: is God doing in redemptive history and how does this
24:47
Speaker 1: particular episode point us toward redemptive history? That's the question.
24:55
Speaker 1: Because if we do the former, if all we do
24:58
Speaker 1: is go to the Bible, especially the Old Testament, and
25:01
Speaker 1: mine it for these character studies, then we come up
25:05
Speaker 1: with what Michael Horton has referred to as Christless Christianity.
25:13
Speaker 1: There is no Jesus in it at all. We don't
25:16
Speaker 1: need the gospel. We just need to look at the
25:19
Speaker 1: life of Abraham and do the stuff that he did
25:21
Speaker 1: that was good and don't do the stuff that he
25:23
Speaker 1: did that was bad. Because the problem of man throughout
25:27
Speaker 1: history is not the fall of Adam that has brought
25:31
Speaker 1: sin to all of us that can only be eradicated
25:33
Speaker 1: by the person and work of Jesus Christ. The problem
25:36
Speaker 1: is that there's people who just didn't do the good stuff.
25:40
Speaker 1: So gird up your loins, do character studies, and work
25:45
Speaker 1: really hard to be a better person. You don't need
25:50
Speaker 1: Jesus with that kind of hermeneutic. He becomes superfluous. with
25:55
Speaker 1: that kind of hermeneutic. You're just mining the scriptures to
25:59
Speaker 1: be a better businessman, or a better husband, or a
26:01
Speaker 1: better politician, or a better whatever, just by trying to
26:04
Speaker 1: go and grab these principles. Again, to be sure, there
26:11
Speaker 1: are things that we need to shun. There's sinful behaviors
26:14
Speaker 1: and sinful appetites that we see But the answer to
26:18
Speaker 1: the sinful behaviors and the sinful appetites that we see
26:21
Speaker 1: in the Old Testament and the characters of the Old
26:23
Speaker 1: Testament is not to just work harder than they did.
26:27
Speaker 1: The answer is, see here that Abraham needs Christ. See
26:32
Speaker 1: here that Isaac needs Christ. See here that Daniel needs Christ.
26:37
Speaker 1: See here that Isaiah needs Christ. See here that we
26:42
Speaker 1: all need Christ. There are no perfect men. No, not
26:48
Speaker 1: even one, as we find in Romans chapter 3. So yes,
26:55
Speaker 1: these are the things that exemplify a godly life. But no,
27:00
Speaker 1: you can't get there from here. So it's important that
27:03
Speaker 1: we have our understanding of our underlying hermeneutical perspective as
27:09
Speaker 1: we approach the life of Isaac and Jacob here in
27:13
Speaker 1: the Old Testament. And most of us who've heard the
27:17
Speaker 1: Old Testament taught and most of us who have taught
27:20
Speaker 1: the Bible ourselves have taught it from the former perspective
27:23
Speaker 1: and not the latter. It's the Bible stories. It's Aesop's fables.
27:28
Speaker 1: That's all it is. That's all the Old Testament is.
27:30
Speaker 1: It's Aesop's fables. That's it. So it's sort of that
27:34
Speaker 1: Sunday school approach to the Bible. You read the story,
27:37
Speaker 1: and after you read the story, what did this person
27:41
Speaker 1: do that was good? They did so-and-so-and-so, so we need
27:43
Speaker 1: to do that as well. Yes. What did this person
27:47
Speaker 1: do that wasn't so good? Well, they did so-and-so-and-so-and-so, so
27:50
Speaker 1: we need to not do that. No. Aesop's Fables. It's
27:55
Speaker 1: all it is. No redemptive history, no power, no answer,
28:01
Speaker 1: no nothing. That's the way most of us have heard
28:04
Speaker 1: the Old Testament taught, And that's the way the overwhelming
28:07
Speaker 1: majority of us who've ever taught the Old Testament have
28:10
Speaker 1: approached it. So we're talking about the redemptive historic approach
28:16
Speaker 1: to the scriptures here. And in light of that, there
28:18
Speaker 1: are these three theological principles. Number one, the abiding reality
28:25
Speaker 1: of the curse. The abiding reality of the curse. That's
28:30
Speaker 1: the one thing that we see here. Look back in
28:32
Speaker 1: verse one again and verse two. Sarah lived 127 years.
28:37
Speaker 1: These were the years of the life of Sarah. And
28:40
Speaker 1: Sarah died at Kiriath Arba, that is Hebron, in the
28:44
Speaker 1: land of Canaan. And Abraham went in to mourn for
28:48
Speaker 1: Sarah and to weep for her. Listen, we just looked
28:54
Speaker 1: at the life of Abraham. And what do we see?
28:57
Speaker 1: We see a man of incredible wealth. His wealth is
29:00
Speaker 1: so great that at one point, He can't even abide
29:04
Speaker 1: with his nephew. They have to split up. The land
29:07
Speaker 1: won't take both of us, Lot. You just pick whichever
29:11
Speaker 1: part of the land you want, but we gotta separate
29:13
Speaker 1: because we got so much stuff. Then what do we see?
29:17
Speaker 1: We see a man who has armed forces that he
29:21
Speaker 1: has trained and discipled who go and defeat multiple kings.
29:25
Speaker 1: He is a wealthy man, he is a powerful man.
29:28
Speaker 1: After this, we see a man who has a covenant
29:31
Speaker 1: with Almighty God that says, you're gonna be the father
29:35
Speaker 1: of a nation, a great nation. Your descendants will be
29:39
Speaker 1: more numerous than the sand of the sea and the
29:41
Speaker 1: stars in the sky. I'm going to give you a land,
29:48
Speaker 1: land flowing with milk and honey. The God of the
29:51
Speaker 1: universe makes this covenant promise to him. That's the guy
29:54
Speaker 1: that we see. This guy's got it all. He's got wealth.
29:59
Speaker 1: He's got power. He's got the favor of God in
30:02
Speaker 1: his life. He's going to be the father of a
30:07
Speaker 1: great nation. And yet, the same phrase that we've read
30:14
Speaker 1: over and over and over, ever since the fall of Adam,
30:19
Speaker 1: occurs in his life as well. And she died. And
30:29
Speaker 1: eventually we'll read it about him too. And he died.
30:37
Speaker 1: You see, if all we have is the moralisms of
30:41
Speaker 1: the Old Testament, if all Abraham is is an example
30:47
Speaker 1: of how to dress up your sin and live a
30:51
Speaker 1: better life, then ultimately all any of us has to
30:55
Speaker 1: look forward to is that phrase said over us. And
31:00
Speaker 1: he died. And she died. Doesn't matter what comes before that.
31:09
Speaker 1: Does it matter how many years you get to live? No,
31:12
Speaker 1: not really. Not in the grand scheme of things. And
31:16
Speaker 1: he died. And she died. Does it matter how much
31:22
Speaker 1: wealth you amass between now and then? Ultimately, no, not really.
31:28
Speaker 1: Because whatever wealth you amass between now and then will
31:32
Speaker 1: not stop that phrase from being said over you one day.
31:36
Speaker 1: And he died. And she died. Does it matter how
31:40
Speaker 1: much of the favor of God you experience in your
31:43
Speaker 1: life as compared to other people? Ultimately, no, not really.
31:47
Speaker 1: If all you're worried about is being healthier and wealthier
31:55
Speaker 1: and more successful in the here and the now. All
31:58
Speaker 1: you've got to look forward to is that phrase, and
32:01
Speaker 1: he died. Because regardless of what we experience in the
32:06
Speaker 1: here and the now, death waits for us all. Every
32:13
Speaker 1: last one of us, we can't stave it off. Yeah,
32:19
Speaker 1: but you know what? I'm going to be healthy and
32:21
Speaker 1: I'm going to eat right and I'm going to take
32:23
Speaker 1: care of my body because I'm going to live as
32:24
Speaker 1: long as, you know what? Healthy people drop dead every day.
32:33
Speaker 1: We have a guy right here in the church who
32:35
Speaker 1: does autopsies. Need to ask him sometime about how many
32:38
Speaker 1: people he gets to do autopsies on who are in
32:41
Speaker 1: tip-top shape. 5% body fat. Just built like a, you know, just...
32:49
Speaker 1: like a fortress and dead. You can't stave it off.
33:01
Speaker 1: So if all we're living for is the stuff of
33:05
Speaker 1: this life, then we miss it. And if that's all
33:10
Speaker 1: Christianity becomes for us, then we miss it. And there
33:15
Speaker 1: are those circles and we've talked about them on a
33:17
Speaker 1: number of occasions. There are those circles, especially in our culture,
33:21
Speaker 1: the health and wealth and prosperity gospel, where ultimately Christianity
33:25
Speaker 1: becomes a means to an end. and you measure it
33:29
Speaker 1: by your success and by your wealth and by how
33:32
Speaker 1: much money you have and how healthy you are and
33:34
Speaker 1: you just name it and you claim it and if
33:36
Speaker 1: there's something wrong with you then it's because you've been
33:39
Speaker 1: claiming the wrong things and speaking the wrong things and
33:42
Speaker 1: if you get cancer it's because you've been speaking that
33:44
Speaker 1: or if you get heart disease it's because somehow you
33:47
Speaker 1: were speaking that or you weren't making the right kind
33:49
Speaker 1: of confession and so on and so forth. And people
33:54
Speaker 1: sit there and listen to that stuff and they go, Yeah,
33:56
Speaker 1: that sounds good. That sounds great. Yeah, maybe that's what
34:00
Speaker 1: I need to do. I just need to start making
34:02
Speaker 1: the right confession. Small problem. Faith teachers die too. Amen?
34:13
Speaker 1: They go bankrupt too. They have hardships in life too.
34:21
Speaker 1: We all do. And all of us eventually have that
34:25
Speaker 1: phrase spoken over us. And he died. And she died.
34:32
Speaker 1: So the first thing that we learn here in chapter
34:34
Speaker 1: 23 is about the abiding reality of the curse. Even
34:39
Speaker 1: with the blessing of God, the curse still abides. The
34:43
Speaker 1: curse has not been broken. It has not been taken away.
34:49
Speaker 1: It is an abiding reality. However, there is another side
34:53
Speaker 1: of the abiding reality of the curse. and that abiding
34:56
Speaker 1: reality of the curse is really assuaged in many ways
35:02
Speaker 1: by this truth. The promised land is not about the
35:07
Speaker 1: here and the now. You see, in a very small way,
35:13
Speaker 1: Sarah is a picture for us of what those of
35:16
Speaker 1: us who hope in Christ have to look forward to.
35:19
Speaker 1: Sarah lives her life. She's been promised a land and
35:22
Speaker 1: she dies. She didn't get her land, some will say.
35:27
Speaker 1: You know what? She died and then she got her land.
35:32
Speaker 1: She ends up being buried in the land that she
35:34
Speaker 1: was promised from God. She didn't enjoy the benefits of
35:37
Speaker 1: her promise until after she was dead. Newsflash, the rest
35:40
Speaker 1: of the land, they won't get until after they're dead.
35:43
Speaker 1: Let me give you another newsflash. This land is merely
35:46
Speaker 1: a foreshadowing of God's ultimate kingdom. It is not about
35:50
Speaker 1: the land of Israel. It is about the land that
35:53
Speaker 1: God has promised to his people, a city whose builder
35:56
Speaker 1: and maker is God. It is not of this world.
35:59
Speaker 1: So it's not until I die that I get what's
36:01
Speaker 1: coming to me. And Sarah's an example of that. That's why,
36:08
Speaker 1: as Paul says, 1 Thessalonians 4, 13, but we do
36:12
Speaker 1: not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who
36:15
Speaker 1: are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do
36:19
Speaker 1: who have no hope. Do we grieve when loved ones die? Yes,
36:25
Speaker 1: we do. But not as those who have no hope.
36:29
Speaker 1: Because we realize that just like here with Sarah, In
36:34
Speaker 1: this small microcosm. It's only after they die that they
36:38
Speaker 1: get their promise. It's only after I die that I
36:43
Speaker 1: get what I'm looking for. Unless all that I'm looking
36:46
Speaker 1: for is the here and the now. If that's the case,
36:50
Speaker 1: I have my reward in full. And this is it.
36:57
Speaker 1: This is as good as it gets. And it's only
37:00
Speaker 1: downhill from here. The first theological reality we must understand
37:05
Speaker 1: here is the reality of the abiding reality of the curse.
37:11
Speaker 1: It's here. And just because we come to faith in Christ,
37:15
Speaker 1: my brothers and my sisters, does not mean that we
37:18
Speaker 1: have somehow abated the abiding reality of the curse. You
37:23
Speaker 1: will get sick. You will die. You very well may
37:29
Speaker 1: go broke. You will have hardships. You will have difficulties. Remember,
37:36
Speaker 1: the narrow gate, the hard road with few companions, that's
37:40
Speaker 1: the one we're on. But the good news is, that's
37:43
Speaker 1: the only one that leads to life. There is a
37:48
Speaker 1: second theological truth, and that is the providence of God.
37:54
Speaker 1: The providence of God. We see the providence of God
37:58
Speaker 1: all over this passage of Scripture. Because the question comes,
38:04
Speaker 1: how is Abraham going to get the promised land? How's
38:10
Speaker 1: that going to happen? And oftentimes we do try to
38:14
Speaker 1: figure these things out on our own. And had Abraham
38:16
Speaker 1: tried to figure this thing out on his own, he
38:18
Speaker 1: never would have figured it out on his own. He
38:20
Speaker 1: has no idea how he's going to get this land
38:22
Speaker 1: that God promised him. By the way, that's not new.
38:25
Speaker 1: How's he going to get the kid that God promised him? Abraham,
38:30
Speaker 1: you're going to have a son. Remember what Sarah did?
38:35
Speaker 1: She laughed. She laughed. Abraham, you're going to have a son. See,
38:43
Speaker 1: you know how old I am. She dies at 127
38:51
Speaker 1: with a son that's only 37 years old. I want
38:58
Speaker 1: you to go figure out how you can do that.
39:03
Speaker 1: You can't get there from here. It's God's providence, and
39:09
Speaker 1: it's only God's providence. Listen to this from our confession
39:15
Speaker 1: of faith, the London Baptist Confession. We've read this several
39:18
Speaker 1: weeks ago in chapter 5. God, the good creator of
39:23
Speaker 1: all things, in his infinite power and wisdom, doth uphold, direct, dispose,
39:28
Speaker 1: and govern all creatures and things from the greatest even
39:31
Speaker 1: to the least by his most wise and holy providence
39:35
Speaker 1: to the end for the which they were created according
39:38
Speaker 1: unto his infallible foreknowledge and the free and immutable counsel
39:42
Speaker 1: of his own will to the praise of the glory
39:44
Speaker 1: of his wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness, and mercy. Understand something.
39:51
Speaker 1: God works things out in accordance with his will, by
39:56
Speaker 1: his power. This is his providence. God is not about
40:02
Speaker 1: sharing his glory with another. Abraham is not here an
40:07
Speaker 1: example for us of how to be slick enough to
40:10
Speaker 1: get the promised land. He couldn't do it on his own.
40:15
Speaker 1: Abraham here is a picture for us of the providence
40:18
Speaker 1: of God. Everything that we do and everything that we
40:20
Speaker 1: have is a result of the providence of God. That's it.
40:25
Speaker 1: How else does he come into this land? Three things
40:30
Speaker 1: show us the providence of God here. Number one, the
40:31
Speaker 1: occasion of the purchase. The occasion of the purchase. If
40:38
Speaker 1: you're going to figure out how to get the land
40:40
Speaker 1: in and of yourself, you're probably not going to scheme
40:44
Speaker 1: so that you can get it through the death of
40:46
Speaker 1: the one to whom you've been married for decades, coming
40:51
Speaker 1: upon a century. That's not the way you figure this
40:56
Speaker 1: one out. Abraham didn't figure this one out. The last
41:02
Speaker 1: thing he wanted was the death of Sarah. The last
41:07
Speaker 1: thing he would have hoped for would have been the
41:09
Speaker 1: death of Sarah. But it is precisely the death of
41:14
Speaker 1: Sarah that God uses in his providence to get the
41:18
Speaker 1: land to Abraham. Yes, God uses even our most tragic
41:26
Speaker 1: circumstances to bring glory to himself. You ever met somebody
41:33
Speaker 1: who came to faith in Christ after a long battle
41:37
Speaker 1: against Christianity and a war against Christianity, but all of
41:41
Speaker 1: a sudden somebody dies, they lose everything, whatever the case
41:45
Speaker 1: may be, And they find themselves on their faces and
41:49
Speaker 1: for the first time in their life with enough clarity
41:53
Speaker 1: of thought to sense God's presence, to hear the gospel,
41:58
Speaker 1: and to come to faith in Jesus Christ. There are
42:01
Speaker 1: people in this very room whose testimonies sound exactly like that.
42:07
Speaker 1: The most horrible circumstances imaginable, and all of a sudden,
42:11
Speaker 1: here they are, coming to faith in Jesus Christ. How
42:14
Speaker 1: many people have had to be brought to their very
42:16
Speaker 1: deathbed before they come to faith in Jesus Christ? Is
42:19
Speaker 1: it because they worked it out that way? No, because
42:21
Speaker 1: in God's providence, he can use even the most dreadful
42:27
Speaker 1: of circumstances. Yes, we see God's providence because of the circumstances,
42:33
Speaker 1: but also we see God's providence in the exorbitant price
42:36
Speaker 1: 400 shekels of silver. What does that mean? Here's what
42:44
Speaker 1: that means. Just under seven and a half pounds of silver.
42:53
Speaker 1: That's the price. Just under seven and a half pounds
42:58
Speaker 1: of silver. That's a lot of silver. Today that's a
43:07
Speaker 1: lot of silver. That's a lot of silver. Here's what
43:13
Speaker 1: you also need to understand. Sometimes we'll go and we'll
43:15
Speaker 1: look and we'll say, well, you know, seven and a
43:17
Speaker 1: half pounds of silver today, that would be worth this
43:19
Speaker 1: many thousands of dollars. You can't do that. See, the
43:23
Speaker 1: price of silver today is determined by supply and demand.
43:29
Speaker 1: There was less supply of silver here than there is
43:34
Speaker 1: supply of silver now. We've discovered a lot more silver
43:41
Speaker 1: since then. This is nearly a couple of thousand years BC.
43:45
Speaker 1: We've discovered a whole lot more silver. So even when
43:48
Speaker 1: you go and try to work out the price based
43:50
Speaker 1: on how much seven and a half pounds of silver
43:53
Speaker 1: would cost today, you still can't approximate how much money
43:58
Speaker 1: this is, how much wealth this is that has been
44:01
Speaker 1: exchanged because we can't even comprehend the difference between the
44:04
Speaker 1: supply of silver now versus the supply of silver then.
44:11
Speaker 1: You want to understand how much money this is? A
44:15
Speaker 1: laborer or an artisan in Abraham's time would have made
44:21
Speaker 1: 10 shekels of silver per year. Abraham paid 40 years
44:30
Speaker 1: wages for this plot of land and a cave to
44:33
Speaker 1: bury his wife. 40 years wages. An entire lifetime of
44:43
Speaker 1: earnings for the average person in his society. 40 years.
44:54
Speaker 1: That's how much he paid. So forget, you know, seven
44:58
Speaker 1: and a half pounds of silver, that would be worth it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
45:00
Speaker 1: Just back the whole thing up. Pause for a moment
45:04
Speaker 1: and think of it this way. There are very few
45:08
Speaker 1: people on the entire planet At the time of this purchase,
45:13
Speaker 1: who could have made the purchase? And the price was
45:23
Speaker 1: way more than it should have been. It's not how
45:26
Speaker 1: much land costs. But listen to what Ian DeGude says
45:30
Speaker 1: about this. Although Ephraim the Hittite required him to buy
45:34
Speaker 1: the entire field, not just the cave he had initially requested,
45:38
Speaker 1: and named an almost extortionate price of 400 pieces of silver.
45:44
Speaker 1: Abraham paid up without demur, but which of them got
45:48
Speaker 1: the better part of the deal? Ephraim walked away with
45:51
Speaker 1: a pocket full of silver he couldn't take with him
45:53
Speaker 1: when he died, but Abraham obtained in symbolic form an
45:57
Speaker 1: inheritance that he could not lose. Amen. That's the providence
46:02
Speaker 1: of God. It's the providence of God that he's wealthy
46:05
Speaker 1: enough to do this. So again, if all we're doing
46:11
Speaker 1: is moralizing here, how do you moralize this? You need
46:17
Speaker 1: to be as wealthy as Abraham so that when a
46:20
Speaker 1: good piece of land comes, you can pay an exorbitant
46:24
Speaker 1: price and be extorted for 40 years worth of wages
46:29
Speaker 1: so that you could, no, no. This has nothing to
46:33
Speaker 1: do with that. Nothing at all. What this has to
46:39
Speaker 1: do with is the providence of God. In God's providence,
46:43
Speaker 1: Abraham has that much money and then some. In God's providence,
46:47
Speaker 1: he's got seven and a half pounds of silver with
46:50
Speaker 1: him when he goes to the city gates, which is
46:52
Speaker 1: more than this ever should have cost. In God's providence,
47:00
Speaker 1: he's standing before the elders of the city and those
47:04
Speaker 1: who weigh out the money. So that this deal is
47:08
Speaker 1: real and it's legit for all times. And in God's providence,
47:15
Speaker 1: he has a symbolic down payment on the entire promised land.
47:21
Speaker 1: God's providence. Let me say a word here. We talked
47:28
Speaker 1: about it last week. We talked about it this week.
47:32
Speaker 1: This whole idea of God's providence. A lot of people
47:35
Speaker 1: struggle with the idea of God's providence. We struggle with
47:37
Speaker 1: the idea of God being in control. We struggle with
47:40
Speaker 1: the idea of, yeah, you know, we're Christians and God
47:42
Speaker 1: can use these horrible circumstances in our life. And so
47:45
Speaker 1: if God can use these horrible circumstances in my life
47:47
Speaker 1: and if God allows these horrible circumstances in my life
47:50
Speaker 1: for his glory and for his honor, is it wrong
47:53
Speaker 1: for me or am I in sin when I'm praying
47:56
Speaker 1: and I'm seeking that God would maybe do something else? No,
47:59
Speaker 1: you're not. You're praying out of humility and obedience and
48:10
Speaker 1: But what's the difference for a person who believes in
48:11
Speaker 1: the providence of God? My faith is not in my
48:15
Speaker 1: ability to get God to do what I want God
48:17
Speaker 1: to do. My faith is in God and his providence.
48:23
Speaker 1: So when I'm praying, here's the reason we have a
48:25
Speaker 1: problem with this. When I'm praying, if my perspective is
48:29
Speaker 1: a perspective that doesn't take into account the providence of God,
48:32
Speaker 1: I think prayer is all about twisting God up a
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Speaker 1: notch so that he has to do what I'm asking
48:38
Speaker 1: him to do because I either said the words right
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Speaker 1: or got enough people to agree with me. But if
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Speaker 1: I understand the providence of God, and we've used this
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Speaker 1: illustration before a number of times, but I'm going to
48:48
Speaker 1: use it again until I find a better one. When
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Speaker 1: I understand the providence of God, here's how I understand prayer.
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Speaker 1: I'm casting... a rope, and I'm tying a rope to
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Speaker 1: a boat, and I'm pulling. If you don't understand the
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Speaker 1: providence of God, you believe that you're standing on the
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Speaker 1: dock pulling the boat to you. But when you understand
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Speaker 1: the providence of God, here's how you view prayer. I'm
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Speaker 1: in the boat. God's the dock. I'm pulling the rope
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Speaker 1: so that the boat gets closer to the dock. In
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Speaker 1: other words, I'm not praying to twist God in knots
49:23
Speaker 1: and make God do what I want God to do.
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Speaker 1: I'm praying in hopes that God will bring me to
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Speaker 1: the place of agreeing with and abiding in his will.
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Speaker 1: You see, under the first perspective, somebody gets sick. Sarah's sick.
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Speaker 1: You think Abraham wouldn't pray for Sarah when Sarah's sick? God,
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Speaker 1: she's sick. Please heal my wife. We've been married almost
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Speaker 1: 100 years. What am I going to do without Sarah?
49:54
Speaker 1: Please heal my wife. Sarah dies. Did God not answer
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Speaker 1: Abraham's prayer? God answers all prayers. It's just that the
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Speaker 1: answer here was no. God, please heal my wife. No.
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Speaker 1: Sarah dies, God, you don't love me. Sure I do.
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Speaker 1: Sarah was gonna die. She wasn't gonna live forever. Sarah's
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Speaker 1: a sinner in need of a savior. But whether or
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Speaker 1: not Sarah died was not about whether or not I
50:27
Speaker 1: love you. Just be quiet for a minute. Go get
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Speaker 1: that cave. Problem wasn't that Abraham didn't pray the right prayer.
50:42
Speaker 1: In fact, there was no problem at all. The only
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Speaker 1: problem comes if somehow you believe that you're sovereign and
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Speaker 1: not God, and that because you didn't get what you
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Speaker 1: asked God for, the way you asked him for it,
50:54
Speaker 1: that somehow God has failed you. When the fact of
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Speaker 1: the matter is, God is working all things according to
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Speaker 1: the counsel of his own will, and it could be
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Speaker 1: that that thing you prayed not to experience was exactly
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Speaker 1: what you needed to experience in order to get where
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Speaker 1: God intended for you to be for his glorious pleasure.
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Speaker 1: Anybody ever experienced that in your life? Oh God, please.
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Speaker 1: We want this house. No. You're not going to get
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Speaker 1: this house. Everything you try to do to get this
51:39
Speaker 1: house is going to fall through. Oh well. We'll take
51:44
Speaker 1: this house. Guess God doesn't love us. Then that neighbor
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Speaker 1: two doors down God gives you the privilege of leading
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Speaker 1: to Christ. And it's not until that day, maybe 10
51:59
Speaker 1: years later, that you realize, wait a minute. Had I
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Speaker 1: gotten the house that I asked for, this wouldn't have
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Speaker 1: taken place. Thank you, God, for that no. And help
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Speaker 1: me to be ready to accept the next one. Because
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Speaker 1: you're God, not me. There's a third principle here. And
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Speaker 1: that's the tension between the already and not yet. Again,
52:27
Speaker 1: we've talked about this on a number of occasions. We
52:30
Speaker 1: talked about this in the Sermon on the Mount. The
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Speaker 1: tension between the already and not yet of the kingdom
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Speaker 1: of God. Is the kingdom of God here? Is the
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Speaker 1: kingdom of God at hand? Yes, already. But is it
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Speaker 1: here in its fullness and completeness? No, not yet. Same
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Speaker 1: thing here. Does Abraham have the promised land? Well, yeah.
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Speaker 1: And No, this is the first fruits of the promise.
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Speaker 1: Do I have eternal life? Yeah, already and not yet.
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Speaker 1: There's this little corridor I have to go through first
53:06
Speaker 1: called death, amen? Then I'm walking in it in its fullness.
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Speaker 1: Right now, not so much. It is a present reality
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Speaker 1: of mine, but I'm not walking in it in its fullness.
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Speaker 1: There's the already and the not yet in chapter 23,
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Speaker 1: verse 19. Look at verse 19. After this, Abraham buried Sarah,
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Speaker 1: his wife, in the cave of the field of Machpelah,
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Speaker 1: east of Mamre in Hebron, in the land of Canaan.
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Speaker 1: The field and the cave that is in it were
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Speaker 1: made over to Abraham as property for a burying place
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Speaker 1: for the Hittites. You have the already. They've got the land.
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Speaker 1: God made a promise, and this is the first fruit.
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Speaker 1: Does Abraham have his descendants? Yes, already. He's got Isaac.
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Speaker 1: And all of his other descendants are present in Isaac.
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Speaker 1: They're all going to eventually come from Isaac. It's there.
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Speaker 1: He's 37 years old, doesn't have a wife yet, but
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Speaker 1: it's there, okay? The land, does he have it? Yes,
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Speaker 1: it's there. In fact, not only is Abraham and his
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Speaker 1: wife buried here, but Isaac and his wife, same place.
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Speaker 1: Jacob and his wife, same place. By the way, Notice
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Speaker 1: I didn't say Jacob and his wives. Only Jacob and
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Speaker 1: his first wife, Leah. Now, why is that? So many
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Speaker 1: people look at the story of Jacob and Rachel and
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Speaker 1: think it's the most wonderful story in the entire Bible
54:44
Speaker 1: because it's this picture of romantic love. He sees her
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Speaker 1: and he wants her. He must have her. May I
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Speaker 1: please have your daughter? Yes, worked for her for seven years. Yes,
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Speaker 1: I love her that much. Seven years I'll give you.
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Speaker 1: I want her. Seven years he works and he gets Rachel.
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Speaker 1: Not so much. Wedding night comes and it's the other girl.
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Speaker 1: We're going to get there. It'll be a couple of
55:08
Speaker 1: months before we get there. But for now, follow me
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Speaker 1: on this. She's not the one he wants. She's not
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Speaker 1: the one he loves. Okay. Okay. I'm not satisfied with
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Speaker 1: this one. I'll give you seven more years. You give
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Speaker 1: me the one I want. Finally, he gets the one
55:24
Speaker 1: he wants. And we look at this through our eyes
55:26
Speaker 1: of romanticism when we say, oh, what a wonderful story
55:28
Speaker 1: in the Bible. He was willing to give 14 years
55:31
Speaker 1: of his life for this woman that he loved so much. Yes,
55:34
Speaker 1: but she's not the one who gave birth to the
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Speaker 1: next promised seed. It's the one that he didn't want. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: he loved Joseph more than the other boys. But Jesus
55:47
Speaker 1: is not the lion of the tribe of Joseph. He's
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Speaker 1: the lion of the tribe of Judah and that came
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Speaker 1: from Leah, not Rachel. Leah is buried in this place,
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Speaker 1: not Rachel. It is not the romance that is important.
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Speaker 1: It's the providence of God. And we see that here.
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Speaker 1: The tension between the already and not yet. He's got
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Speaker 1: the land where He and all of the patriarchs are
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Speaker 1: going to be buried, but he doesn't have the fulfillment yet.
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Speaker 1: Here's the other thing. Look at the last part of this.
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Speaker 1: After this, he buried his wife in the cave, and
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Speaker 1: his cave is in Hebron. That's the already. Look at
56:40
Speaker 1: the next phrase. In the land of Canaan. That's the
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Speaker 1: not yet. He's sitting here in this little plot of
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Speaker 1: land that is his, and he's in the promised land,
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Speaker 1: but he's surrounded by Canaanites. It's already, but it's not yet.
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Speaker 1: They've still got to go into slavery in Egypt. They've
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Speaker 1: still got to wander through the wilderness. They've still got
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Speaker 1: to be taken into captivity. All of these things are
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Speaker 1: still yet to come. Promises are not yet completely fulfilled.
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Speaker 1: And yet, and yet, he has it. You and I
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Speaker 1: have got to learn to live in that tension between
57:31
Speaker 1: the already and the not yet. Am I saved? Yes, already.
57:40
Speaker 1: But not yet. What do you mean? I'm justified. I've
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Speaker 1: been adopted. My sanctification? Not so much. Better today than yesterday,
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Speaker 1: better tomorrow than today. Not done. Praise God, not done.
57:57
Speaker 1: My glorification, not yet. And all of that is my salvation.
58:01
Speaker 1: My justification, my adoption, my sanctification, my glorification, that's all
58:05
Speaker 1: my salvation. Am I saved? Already. And not yet. How
58:14
Speaker 1: about this kingdom work that we're about? We've seen people
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Speaker 1: groups come to faith in Christ. Churches planted. Institutions erected.
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Speaker 1: Hospitals built. Nations turned upside down. Has the kingdom of
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Speaker 1: God arrived already? And not yet. This is not the
58:36
Speaker 1: be all to end all. This tears among the wheat.
58:44
Speaker 1: How about you and your life? Already? Already? Yes, but
58:50
Speaker 1: not yet. Not yet. I don't know who you are,
58:58
Speaker 1: what you struggle with. There may be things in your
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Speaker 1: life that you've never told to another soul. And if
59:06
Speaker 1: you've not learned to live with that tension between the
59:08
Speaker 1: already and not yet, here's what you probably do. Sometimes
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Speaker 1: you look at yourself, you look at your life, and
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Speaker 1: you look at the things that happen or the things
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Speaker 1: maybe even that you do or the things that you say,
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Speaker 1: and you ask this question, how can I be a
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Speaker 1: child of God if I still struggle with this? How
59:29
Speaker 1: can I be a child of God if this still
59:31
Speaker 1: happens from time to time? Welcome to the tension between
59:35
Speaker 1: the already and the not yet. It is a battle.
59:46
Speaker 1: It is a fight. It is a war that wages on.
59:50
Speaker 1: But here's the difference between the believer and the non-believer
59:54
Speaker 1: in that. The believer understands that there's this tension between
59:57
Speaker 1: the already and not yet. And when the believer experiences
1:00:02
Speaker 1: these difficulties, these failings, these faults in his or her
1:00:05
Speaker 1: own life, here's how the believer responds. That's just evidence
1:00:11
Speaker 1: that he's not through with me. But praise God that
1:00:15
Speaker 1: I despise that aspect of myself. Praise God that I
1:00:20
Speaker 1: despise that aspect of my nature. And praise God that
1:00:23
Speaker 1: though I still struggle, I can see myself gaining ground. Already.
1:00:35
Speaker 1: But not yet. As we raise children, are our children
1:00:46
Speaker 1: trained and discipled? Already. Not yet. Ways to go. Always
1:00:55
Speaker 1: a ways to go. Hold on to these theological realities.
1:01:02
Speaker 1: Hold on to the fact that we are abiding in
1:01:05
Speaker 1: that tension. That we're living with the reality of the
1:01:11
Speaker 1: curse and yet still we're living in accordance with the
1:01:16
Speaker 1: providence of God and that we abide between that tension
1:01:20
Speaker 1: of the already and not yet. You learn this and
1:01:28
Speaker 1: all of a sudden this is a whole lot more
1:01:30
Speaker 1: than just a picture of what bartering looks like in
1:01:35
Speaker 1: the second century B.C. or the second millennium B.C., I
1:01:38
Speaker 1: should say. This is about a whole lot more than
1:01:42
Speaker 1: if you trust God, you too can be rich like Abraham.
1:01:45
Speaker 1: This is about a whole lot more than burial rites
1:01:51
Speaker 1: and so on and so forth. This is about the gospel.
1:01:58
Speaker 1: This is a picture of the promised seed that has
1:02:00
Speaker 1: arrived the promised land that is possessed in part, none
1:02:05
Speaker 1: of which is the ultimate final answer to man's greatest need.
1:02:11
Speaker 1: Why is Sarah significant? Because she gave birth to a
1:02:14
Speaker 1: young man named Isaac. Why is he significant? Because he's
1:02:18
Speaker 1: going to have a son named Jacob. Why is he significant?
1:02:21
Speaker 1: Because he's going to have a son named Judah. Why
1:02:24
Speaker 1: is he significant? He's going to give a king named David.
1:02:28
Speaker 1: Why is he significant? Well, because from his line is
1:02:32
Speaker 1: going to come a son named Jesus. Why is he significant?
1:02:37
Speaker 1: Because he's the promised seed that this is all about
1:02:40
Speaker 1: in the first place. And he is the only one
1:02:43
Speaker 1: who allows us to see and understand the significance of
1:02:47
Speaker 1: this promise that was made to Abraham and its ultimate fulfillment,
1:02:51
Speaker 1: which if we abide in him, we are. Let's pray. Father,
1:03:07
Speaker 1: as we bow, we say to you that we are grateful,
1:03:15
Speaker 1: grateful for the truth of your word, that even in
1:03:20
Speaker 1: these seemingly obscure passages, there are truths to be learned
1:03:27
Speaker 1: and understood and embraced. As we bow, we say to
1:03:36
Speaker 1: you that we are grateful. Even in the midst of
1:03:40
Speaker 1: this abiding reality of the curse. That as we look
1:03:47
Speaker 1: all around us, we see that man has fallen. As
1:03:52
Speaker 1: we look at ourselves, as we get older, as we
1:03:55
Speaker 1: get sick, as those around us pass on, we realize
1:04:00
Speaker 1: that this is not our final destination. And that not
1:04:08
Speaker 1: all is well. But we also recognize that we live
1:04:15
Speaker 1: in the midst of your providence. That you are working
1:04:18
Speaker 1: all things together according to your will and your good pleasure.
1:04:25
Speaker 1: And because we know and we trust you, we are
1:04:32
Speaker 1: able to abide with hope in the midst of the
1:04:35
Speaker 1: tension between the already and the not yet. We have
1:04:40
Speaker 1: our promise, and our promise is yet to come. Thank
1:04:49
Speaker 1: you that Christ is our ultimate hope of that fulfillment.
1:04:54
Speaker 1: And that he has gone to prepare a place for us.
1:04:59
Speaker 1: That where he is, we may be also. And that
1:05:03
Speaker 1: we too, upon our death, might come to abide in
1:05:08
Speaker 1: our promised land. just as we see our sister Sarah did,
1:05:14
Speaker 1: as a mere foreshadowing of an ultimate and greater reality.
1:05:23
Speaker 1: Thank you for your work in the life of saints
1:05:26
Speaker 1: of old and for the faith that it creates in us.
1:05:40
Speaker 1: Thank you for your word May we hear it and
1:05:44
Speaker 1: heed it and abide in it for your glory and
1:05:50
Speaker 1: your honor and your namesake. Amen.