First Fruits of the Promise Land

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