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Bob Davis: It's the promised land. God has given it to Abraham and all of his descendants, but he doesn't own any of it. It's God's promise to Abraham, but he has no place yet to bury his wife. Take note of that kind of faith. I'll bury my wife here in this land because this is ours. This is where God says this is our home. This is where we belong, so I'm burying her here. Even though I don't own it yet, that's what faith does.

Heaven is yours. Eternal life is yours by grace through faith. Walk in it by the power of God's Holy Spirit. Walk in it.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the Word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply his Word within our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible.

As our study of Genesis continues in chapter 23, we take a look at how Abraham deals with the death of his wife, Sarah. Here is Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: So we take up in chapter 23 of the book of Genesis. Sarah was 127 years old. These were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba, the place we call Hebron in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

Have you heard Christians when they're going through troubles? Have you heard others say, "Don't cry. God's in control." Christian, cry. Of course, cry all you need to cry.

They have been in the promised land now 62 years. When they left Ur of the Chaldees, Sarah was 65, a baby. Abraham was 75. Since Sarah was 90 years old when she had Isaac, that means Isaac is right now 37 years old when his mother dies.

But she was buried at the place that you and I call Hebron. You can see it in your Bible maps. It's in the land of Canaan. Hebron, if you look at it, is almost dead center, the very middle of the land of all of Israel. And you know how much property they own? None. Except how much of it is theirs? All of it.

That's faith. You're walking with Jesus Christ. You know you're going to heaven, but you're not quite there yet. But you're as good as there and you know that you will be there. It's yours. You've got it in your heart. You have eternity in your hearts. The chocolate fountain's coming, but we're not there yet. But will we be there? Absolutely. And we know it. How? Because God promised it.

And God promised Abraham and Sarah that the country would belong to Abraham and his family and descendants for all time, forever and ever, all eternity. And they believe him. Yet they don't own any of it. You're going to see he has to buy a little piece to bury his wife. They don't own any, but it's still theirs. You may not have it in your hands or in your pockets, but eternity is yours. How's that possible? By grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Are you claiming the promises that are for you?

Sarah was buried in the heart of the promised land. She died there. Abraham mourned the death of his wife, Sarah, and he wept. Sometimes I hear people tell others, "Don't cry. Where's your faith?" That's got nothing to do with your faith. Your faith is still there. Your heart is breaking. You've lost a loved one. People say, "Well, don't cry." But the truth is, that's how God has built us. We have these emotions. God has emotions. We're created in his image.

The Lord weeps. Jesus said, "What you see me do, the Father does. What you hear me say, that's what the Father says." And John 11:35, Jesus wept, remember? And he wasn't ashamed of it or embarrassed. Nobody said, "Lord, don't cry. She's okay." Or he was okay, Lazarus. He wasn't crying because Lazarus was dead. He's going to raise him up in a couple of minutes here. He's crying because in his heart, it breaks his heart to see what sin does to all of us. How it destroys, how it crushes, how that's why we even have death because of sin.

So go ahead and cry. You see, if your heart's breaking and you cry, that does not mean you've lost your faith in the Lord. Get it? It doesn't mean you've given up on everything you believe in. It just means that you're hurt. And that's one of the main ways that humans can let it go, let it out: weep and cry. So you haven't done anything wrong.

Ecclesiastes chapter 3. I know you're familiar with the words, but let me read them just the same. Verses 1 through 4: "To everything there is a season and there is a time to every purpose under heaven. There's a time to be born and there's a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pluck up what's been planted. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to break down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance." Everything in its season.

Second Corinthians chapter 5, verses 6 through 8. He says to the Corinthian church, "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord." I have the Lord in my heart. If you're born again, you have the Lord in your heart. You have God's Holy Spirit. So we have the Lord, yet we're not looking in his face. We can't walk up and give him a hug and hang on. So to be in this body, really, is to be absent from the Lord.

And he says in verse 7, "For we walk by faith, not by sight." So verse 8 of Second Corinthians 5, "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."

First Thessalonians, don't overlook this one. Chapter 4, verses 13 through 18. Paul says, "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren." Brethren means family, brothers and sisters. "I don't want you to be ignorant about this concerning those which have died, that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which have died in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent, shall not go before them which have died. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first." Those that have died belonging to Jesus Christ. "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore," or because of that, "comfort one another with these words."

Sarah is with the Lord. Abraham is sad that she was so sick and she died, and it breaks his heart. But he knows where she is, doesn't he? And you know where your loved ones are if they belong to the Lord, don't you? It still hurts, but you know that there is that faith. You want to make sure that we sorrow not like the non-believers who have no hope. Now, don't notice something. He doesn't say we don't cry when a loved one goes on. He's saying we don't lose all hope. It hurts us, but we know that they are with the Lord. The non-believers have no hope. They don't have that hope. And I hear non-believers who just make fun of Jesus. I hear people say, "Yeah, well my mother, she went on and now she's on her own planet." They have to make something up that sounds cool to them so they can get through it. So he doesn't say we shouldn't weep or cry. He's saying we should never lose all hope like the non-believers do.

So when he says in First Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13, "That you sorrow not even as the non-believers who have no hope," he's saying we weep like they do, but we know where those who belong to Jesus are. They're with Jesus.

Abraham wept. These are actually the first recorded tears in the Bible. You say, "What?" I know, now you're going to have to go back and start at the beginning, Genesis 1:1 and read through and see, check my work. The last recorded about tears in the Bible is Revelation 21, and Revelation 21 verse 4, "And God shall wipe all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away."

All we're learning is life breaks your heart. There are times when you'll go through things. I mean, there are just things that come at us at the speed of life. We're all going to be fine, but it breaks your heart. It scares you. It confuses you. And the emotions go on and on. But you have the rock of Jesus Christ. He is our rock. He is our fortress. He is a mighty strong tower. We run to Jesus always.

John 11:35, the shortest verse in the Bible. Jesus did not weep because he lost Lazarus. He's going to raise Lazarus in the next five minutes. When he weeps, he's watching Mary and Martha and all the people that were friends had come out and are so brokenhearted and Lazarus has been dead in the grave, in the tomb four days. Jesus not crying because he lost Lazarus. Jesus loses nobody. He knows right where Lazarus is and in a moment he's going to say, "Lazarus, get up, come on out here. Let's get something to eat." And Lazarus is going to come hopping out because he's wrapped in graveclothes. And Jesus is going to have to say, "Let him loose, dude. He's going to fall down. Let him loose." He wasn't weeping because he lost Lazarus. He's weeping because he loves mankind. All. Even the ones that reject him, he still loves you. And he hates to see what sin does in the lives of all human beings. It destroys. He's watching how they're brokenhearted over the loss of a loved one, right? But he wasn't lost at all. So that's why Jesus cried. He wept because of the pain and the suffering and the heartache that sin causes to every one of you, every one of us, everyone.

Hebrews 11, I'll just read verses 11 through 13, just three verses. "Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged God faithful who promised it. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude and as the sand which is by the sea seashore innumerable. These all," everyone that's listed in Hebrews, "all died in faith." That includes Sarah, he says. Sarah died, trusting in God's promises in faith. He says, "These all died in faith, not having received the promise, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed them that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."

Sarah knew heaven was coming for her, even though she didn't know what it meant. She doesn't know how it works. She didn't have the New Testament like we do, but she still trusted. Where are you? Where's your heart? Do you believe in what God says? And I say do you know what God says? We go through the Bible verse by verse so that we can actually see what it says. And some of you are seeing it, I know, for the first time. No one's ever told you these things. They never just took the time to read it to you, and maybe you've never read it yourself. So you'd never know if someone doesn't bring it up.

Sarah died in faith. God said so. All of them did. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. They didn't- Abraham died and owned- the only little piece he owned, you're going to see him in a couple of minutes, he bought it right there. That's the only piece that really was his. Yet it was all his by promise and he believed the Lord.

We've got eternity by promise. It's in our hearts. Yes, we're saved by grace through faith. The Holy Spirit has taken up residence in every true believer, yet we've never been there. We can't run around and see the colors yet. We can't run around and feel what it feels like, right? But we will. Everybody that truly belongs to Jesus Christ, when the roll is called up yonder, you're going to be standing right there. And it is all by God's grace. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.

We can go to verse 3. "And Abraham stood up from before his dead," in other words, where his wife was. "And he spoke unto the sons of Heth saying, 'I am a stranger and a sojourner with you, a pilgrim, one who continues to move. Give me a possession of a burying place with you that I might bury my dead out of my sight.' I need a place to bury my wife. And the children of Heth answered Abraham saying unto him, 'Hear us, my lord. You art a mighty prince among us. In the choice of our sepulchres bury your dead. None of us shall withhold from you his sepulchre, but that you may bury your dead.'"

Abraham owns nothing. He's been traveling around checking out the whole land, remember? Went way down south, went kind of up north, went over to the coast toward the Mediterranean. Now by faith he's still there, but he owns none of it. Here we are in this world. This world is not our home. We don't own any of it. Even if you think you own it, try to take it away and see what the government says. I'll leave that right there.

He's mourning and he asks the sons of Heth if he could get a piece of land to bury his wife on. He has nothing. Yet it all belongs to him. And so he says, "I want to bury her." Here's what faith is. I could take her all the way back to Ur of the Chaldees. I've got a place over there to bury her. But God said here. This is our home. This is our land. I want to bury her right here. In faith, he's going to bury his wife there. It's the promised land. God has given it to Abraham and all of his descendants, but he doesn't own any of it. It's God's promise to Abraham, but he has no place yet to bury his wife. Take note of that kind of faith. I'll bury my wife here in this land because this is ours. This is where God says this is our home. This is where we belong, so I'm burying her here. I'm going to have to buy some property to do it though, I don't have anything.

Heaven is yours. Eternal life is yours by grace through faith. Walk in it. By the power of God's Holy Spirit, walk in it. Heaven is our home. You can enjoy this place and you can build things and you can grow stuff, but don't get used to it too much because we're going home.

Abraham says to those people, I love it, "I'm a stranger in a strange land. May I find a piece of land to purchase to bury my wife?" It's basically the simple question. Every one of us that belongs to Jesus, we are strangers and pilgrims in this world. All that means in American is we're passing through. This is not where we're bound. We're not going to stay here for all eternity. Heaven is our home.

First Peter 2:11, "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul." All he's saying is, Christian, do good, bless people, love people, take care, but remember we're passing through. We're strangers and pilgrims in this world just like Abraham was.

The men of the land call Abraham a mighty prince. The literal language in the Hebrew is "a prince with God." They recognize him as a man of God. They have very high respect for Abraham. And what did they do? They offer him some of their own tombs for free. "You can have any one of ours. We respect you. You're a prince of God. Take your pick. We all have burying places. You can have one of ours. Free. No charge."

Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth. And he communed with them saying, "If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, or please hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar. That he may give me the cave of Machpelah." Now he's not saying, "I want it for free." I would like to buy it from him. I saw this cave and that would be perfect for what we're looking for. "That he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he hath, which is in the end of his field. It's right at the edge of his property. For as much money as it is worth he shall give it to me for a possession of a burying place amongst you."

And Ephron, that guy, he dwelt among the children of Heth. And Ephron the Hittite, he was a Hittite, answered Abraham in the hearing or the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in the gate of the city. You remember at the gate of the city is where you do all your transactions. You have your court, you have your title deed stamping station, right? Make all your deals, the gate of the city.

Ephron says, "No, my lord, hear me. I will give you the field. I give thee the field and the cave that is in it. I give it to you. In the presence of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead." And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land. And he spoke to Ephron in the audience of the people of the land saying, "But if thou will give it, I pray thee hear me. Okay, you want to give it to me free, I'm telling you I won't receive it free. I will pay for it. I'll pay full, fair price, right? I will give thee money for the field. Take it of me and I will bury my wife there."

And Ephron answered Abraham saying, "My lord, hearken unto me. The land is worth 400 shekels of silver." Okay, that's a huge amount of money. And if you look back and read through that time frame there, he's charging like three times what it's worth. He says, "The land is worth 400 shekels of silver. Can you imagine? What is that between me and you today? Bury therefore your dead."

And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron. And Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, 400 shekels, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, 400 shekels of silver, current money with the merchant. Current money means silver goes up and down in price, and so current value of that day. Whatever today it was, I'll pay you 400 shekels of silver. If silver is $300 an ounce, okay, he's going to be paying crazy amounts for a cave.

In our world right now, it's the same as in Abraham's day. We have dealings with people of this world, don't we? We do. Christians, we have to be careful. We have to be careful and deal honestly with everybody. With integrity, I think the word is, to put our witness for the Lord ahead of any financial issues. To put our witness for the Lord ahead of financial gain.

Abraham knew that Ephron had charged him way too much. Abraham knew that it would have been a foolish and a bad witness to argue over the price of dirt in a cave. You say, "I'm not going to just give my money away." I didn't say give your money away. I said sometimes you want to pay attention to the witness, not the dollar bill.

Colossians 4, verses 5 and 6: "Walk in wisdom toward those that are without," meaning outside of the faith. "Redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every individual." All Abraham is doing is making sure that he's not creating an enemy or causing any issues. "I just want to bury my wife. I'm not going to fight this man. I could have it for free. I told him I'd pay. What's the big deal?"

God, you know, your Father's a rancher. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. I think he can cover. I think you're going to be okay. I know we're scared to death of that because we're American. And I'm not saying be dopey. I'm saying walk in wisdom to those that are outside the faith. It's important that they know what's important to me and you and Abraham. What's important to him was that he could bury his wife and do it correctly.

"And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field that were in all the borders round about were made sure unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth before all that went in the gate." In other words, the whole city watched the agreement.

And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre. The same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. She's buried in the very heart of the country, the very center. "And the field and the cave that is therein were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying place by the sons of Heth."

So it is an act of faith. Purchase a cave at Machpelah to bury his wife there in faith, knowing that it was the promised land by the Lord God to Abraham and to his children forever.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM.

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