[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Take your Bibles if you would and open them to the book of Genesis, chapter 23.
[0:12] And we will read, we will skim this chapter and look at it. How a culture handles dying and burying their dead or what they do with their dead says an awful lot about them.
[0:25] And in Genesis, chapter 3, we're going to find Abraham burying his wife, Sarah. And we're going to talk also, we're going to go through the, going to New Testament. You're going to learn a little bit tonight, Lord willing.
[0:38] I hope you already know it. You probably already know it. But we're going to talk about what the Bible says about our death and our dying. That day is coming. It's always something we don't ever want to talk about. So many of the things that we talk about, when we talk in the Bible, or when we talk about dying or death or any of that, it's usually a funeral.
[0:53] And it's the only time we ever mention it. It's like those, it's a taboo word. We've got to come up with a way to handle that, the dying. And so we don't have to really face it. But let's look at some Bible tonight.
[1:05] Watch Abraham as he loses his wife of like 60 years. The Bible says in Genesis 23, 1, and Sarah was 107 and 20 years old.
[1:15] These were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in the land of Canaan. And Abraham, that's just a skip in words I don't say well.
[1:27] In the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, to weep for her. And Abraham stood up from before his dead and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I'm a stranger and a sojourner with you.
[1:41] Give me a possession of a burying place with you that I may bury my dead. And then he goes on to work out a deal with a man to buy a piece of land, to buy the fields around it so that he can bury his dead.
[1:55] And he works out a business deal. And you can study that. Skip down if you would to verse 19. Verse 19. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah, his wife, in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre, the same as Hebron in the land of Canaan.
[2:12] And the field and the cave that is therein were made sure unto Abraham, that's part of his business deal, for a possession of a burying place by the sons of Heth.
[2:22] Father in heaven, I pray that you would now help us as we learn a little bit about Abraham and Sarah and how he handled that. And also, Lord, how we look through the New Testament and we'll look and find about our dying and how we handle death.
[2:36] And I pray, dear God, that you would work in our lives and draw us close to you and strengthen us and prepare us for the day that you will come and we will go home. And that death for us is very different than what most everybody on the planet could ever think about.
[2:51] I praise you and thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, burying is mentioned 11 times in 20 verses. It's interesting to know how he buried their loved ones, Abraham did, how he buried them.
[3:04] There's dignity, there's care, there's money, there's mourning, and he buries her out of his sight. But before that, let's consider this, if you would. Look in verse 23, verse 1. A great lady of God died.
[3:17] Genesis chapter 23, verse 1. And Sarah was 107 years old. That's the life of Sarah. And she died. There are two places in your Bible.
[3:27] Do you know that the Bible, I don't know of anybody else like this. There's two places in the Bible that says you ought to study the life of Sarah, or you ought to look at the life of Sarah, or you ought to think about the life of Sarah, or you ought to consider Sarah.
[3:38] You don't find out about Mary. Everybody does. But look if you would. In Isaiah chapter 51, and verse 1. Old Testament. The Bible says, Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord.
[3:50] Look unto the rock which you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit which you are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah. Look unto Sarah that bear you. For I am called him alone, and blessed him, and for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
[4:05] Sarah gets mentioned. Look unto Abraham. Look unto Sarah. New Testament. We'll look at this passage in the next couple of services. Actually, 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 6.
[4:16] And Sarah, even as Sarah, obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are as long as you do well, and are not afraid with amazement. I'm not told to look at Mary like that.
[4:27] But I am told, look at Sarah. I am told, check out Sarah. Look at what goes on. And Sarah was several things you might consider before we get to her dying. She's a good wife and a good mother.
[4:38] She was a good wife and a good mother. She followed her husband even when she didn't know, or I'll take that back, when he didn't know where he was going. Now, I'll tell you that when God did with my heart about going to Peru, I had all sorts of things, and I was explaining to Betty all about it.
[4:54] Hey, we're going to do this. We're going to go here. Everything's going to be taken care of. You don't have to worry about anything. And Abraham, he left and said, honey, I don't know where we're going. I don't know where we're going to spend the night. I don't know what it's going to be like.
[5:05] I just know he told us to leave, so pack up, baby, and let's go. Now, that's a pretty good woman. Amen. Mystery wives. Number two, she understood his dream, and she did all in her power to help him realize that even at great sacrifice and risk to herself.
[5:23] Sarah is a very unusual lady. There are two things in her life story that really, to me, scream, man, I love this guy, and I'll do whatever he tells me to do, which I believe he was abusive about it.
[5:34] But you recall they step up to a place, and he says, hey, tell him you're my sister. Don't tell him you're my wife. I mean, if somebody's got to die here, I hope it'll be you. Let them do something bad to you so I can get out of it.
[5:47] And Sarah said, baby, whatever you need me to do. Now, if I said that to Betty, I think Betty would have said something. I'm his wife. Kill him. But anyway, and then think of the night she says to her husband, take Hagar.
[6:01] I think she was wrong. I think he was wrong. But I think in her heart she was thinking, man, my husband so desperately wants a child from the Lord. I'm willing to do what no woman would be willing to do to help my husband reach his goal.
[6:14] And she took a major stand. Now, I think she was wrong, and I think he was wrong. But I think it does show an attitude you could consider. How about this one? She's a heroine of the faith.
[6:25] Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 11. The Bible says, through faith also Sarah received strength to conceive seed. It was the delivery of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful.
[6:39] She judged him faithful who had promised. Now, I read the story in the Old Testament. I'm not too sure about Sarah's faith. But, you know, when God writes it down, he wants it put down for us. In Hebrews chapter 11, he says, she judged.
[6:51] You ought to underline it if you've got your Bible open. It was through faith that God gave her the strength to conceive. And she judged God faithful to bring about what he had promised.
[7:04] She's a good example for wives. 1 Peter chapter 3. The apostle Peter, when he wants to talk about marriage and family, in chapter 3 and verse 7, he's going to talk to husbands.
[7:16] He's going to say, if you don't treat your wife right, your prayers will be hindered. If you don't treat your wife right, if you don't learn to live with her according to knowledge, if you don't use your head and treat her right, treat her with dignity, treat her with respect, you're not going to get your prayers through as easily.
[7:32] I won't answer your prayers as easily. In 1 Peter chapter 3, verses 1 through 6, he says to the ladies, check out Sarah. He said, let me tell you how you win a husband who doesn't do right.
[7:43] You win him without the word, by the way you live, by the clean conduct and the chaste or pure behavior that you have. You be a lady of God.
[7:53] You don't have to nag and preach and push and do everything that's typical. You do it without the word. And then he says, if you've got your Bible open, in verse 3, he said, hey, I want you to be worried about the inside person more than you are about the outside person.
[8:12] He said, everybody's all worried about how they look on the outside. He said, well, the real characters on the inside work on the inside. Verse 4, he says, let it be the hidden man of the heart.
[8:22] Let it be what nobody can see. That's the most important beauty any lady's ever going to have. And then he gets down to verse 5 and he says, and let me tell you the biggest one you ladies can do. He said, I'm going to tell you the biggest.
[8:34] Here's the best makeup you can put on. Here's the best thing you can do. He says in verse 5, he says, adorn themselves in subject, being in subjection. Adorn themselves being submissive to their husbands.
[8:46] And he calls on Sarah's name. And he says in verse 6, Sarah obeyed Abraham. That's a big, nasty word. You might want to put a circle around it and go try to study the Greek and the Hebrew to get out of it meaning obeyed.
[9:01] Because that's a pretty strong word, isn't it? Sarah doesn't leave a lot of doubt to what it means. Thank you, Brother Hugh. Brother Hugh was scared. Brother Hugh said like this.
[9:13] But I heard you. I had my microphone on. Philip, your amens don't mean a thing, but you can't even catch a wife. All right. Sarah obeyed Abraham.
[9:24] And then it says calling him a ridiculous word. Lord. Saying you're the boss. You're the leader. You're the mister. You're the Lord of this house.
[9:36] And that's whose daughters you are. So you ought to do that. Then she died in faith. She died in faith. Hebrews chapter 11. In verse 11.
[9:48] Through faith also Sarah received strength. Verse 12. There sprang for her as the stars in the sky. Verse 13. These all died in faith.
[10:00] Not having received their promises. She died in faith. We're going to talk about her dying. She died in faith. Abraham had a certain security because he knew my wife did believe God.
[10:12] And when dying time comes. And it is coming. And it's coming a lot quicker than any of us want to think. Because we hate to count our days though we've been told to.
[10:24] And we hate to think about how frail we are though we've been told to. Knowing that your partner, knowing that the people you love are in the faith would make a difference. Now before I get around to, I want to talk to you about death and what he does and so on.
[10:38] I'd just like to remind you she wasn't perfect. And you're not perfect. And the story that gets recorded in Hebrews chapter 11 wasn't based on her everyday conduct. It wasn't based on the fact she didn't do wrong.
[10:50] It was based on grace. It is God who took Sarah and said, Sarah you're a mess and you've messed up a whole bunch of junk. But I'll write down in Hebrews chapter 11 that you believed I was able.
[11:00] I'll write down in Hebrews chapter 11 and I'm not even going to mention your laughing. I'll write down in Hebrews chapter 11 and I won't even mention your doubting me. Not even a little bit. Everything I'll say about you in Hebrews chapter 11 will be very positive.
[11:14] Because it's not about you, it's about me. I'm the one that saved you. Now that's a big comfort. You probably aren't paying attention to that. But Sarah didn't get into Hebrews chapter 11 because she was a great woman in and of herself.
[11:26] Sarah didn't get into Hebrews chapter 11 because she was super obedient and subject to her husband. Sarah didn't come on all those things because of what she did. It happened because of the grace of God working in her life.
[11:38] You need to understand that and say amen right there. You need to realize that everything good about you is the grace of God working in you. You need to realize that left to myself, I would not have one redeeming, utterly not one, one redeeming factor about me.
[11:55] She wasn't a perfect lady. She offered Abraham to sleep with her maid. She mistreated Hagar after that. It was her idea and then she got mad at Hagar for doing it.
[12:06] She laughed in unbelief and she lied about her laughing. But none of that's recorded. And when you go to heaven, can I just go ahead and tell you, there won't be a Baptist purgatory.
[12:17] When you get to heaven, there's not going to be a Baptist purgatory. If you're a born again believer, your sins run to the blood. There will be no video screen that everybody told you about. All my life I was taught, man, I didn't want to go to heaven.
[12:28] I scared dead to go to heaven. I'm like, God, I don't want to die. It's not that I don't want to get to heaven, but it's that first few minutes or years or whatever it takes for you to go through all my sins and let all the gazillions of people that lived around the world know all about what I did.
[12:41] There was always going to be that screen flipped up there. Here's Austin when he was four. He's already cussing. Here's Austin when he's five. He's a stinking thief. Here's Austin. I was just thinking, don't let me live too long.
[12:51] Amen. It's going to be embarrassing enough as it is. But when I get to heaven, my sin's already been nailed on the cross. And that's a beautiful picture in Hebrews chapter 11. Sarah gets mentioned in the Bible.
[13:02] Sarah gets mentioned in the New Testament. I know who she is in the Old Testament, who God saw her as in the New Testament. That ought to bless your heart. That ought to get you excited because we're going to talk about you dying now.
[13:13] So think about grace because now we're going to talk about you being dead. Amen. Amen. Go with me if you would to chapter 23 and verse 2. Let's look at how God's man dealt with death.
[13:25] The first thing he did is he mourned his wife's death. He mourned his wife's death. Look at verse 2. It says, and Sarah died and he came. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
[13:41] These are the first tears recorded in your Bible. And it's not wrong to weep when your loved ones died, no matter how many Baptists told you that it was. Death is our great enemy. It obviously separates us from those we love temporarily.
[13:56] And it's a painful thing. And it's a scary thing. And it's a thing we haven't done before. Verse 15, it's 15, 26 says the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
[14:06] It is our enemy. It is a scary thing. But if you know the truths that I'm about to show you from the Word of God, it ought to help us be able to deal with what's going to happen. By the way, Jesus wept.
[14:18] John 11, 35. So if it was wrong to weep, and probably nobody, because this is a big city and everybody knows it. But man, I grew up, man, you're just not supposed to weep. You know, somebody died, you're supposed to love them. You're supposed to trust Jesus.
[14:29] Truth is, you can just go ahead and weep. Abraham mourns the death. But that we don't sorrow as others who have no hope. Turn with me in your Bible to 1 Thessalonians.
[14:40] You need to look this one up. If you don't have it marked and memorized, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And we'll start reading, if you would, in verse 13. But we don't sorrow as others that have no hope.
[14:52] We're going to die. We're going to lose our loved ones. My death is coming and your death is coming. And we'll be sorry. If you die, I'll be sorry. And I hope if I die, you'll be a little bit sorry.
[15:04] But we don't sorrow like people that have no hope. There's something very different about us. Because we understand what made Sarah go from being a lady that I don't think was all that great in the Old Testament to a great lady in the New Testament and could get written up in the hero's chapter.
[15:20] It was grace. Look if you would at 1 Thessalonians 4.13. I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren. That means I don't want you to not know. I don't want you to not know. I don't want you to be shocked.
[15:30] I don't want you to not understand. In Peru, the word ignorant is almost a cuss word. If you look at somebody and say, you're ignorant, you might as well as get ready to box fight or get cussed.
[15:42] You don't call them that. So I used to tell them when we read this passage, I'd say, how many of you are ignorant about how many fingers I have held up behind this Bible? How many of you are ignorant about how many fingers I have? Say, not that you're dumb.
[15:53] You just don't know. But if I show you, you'll know exactly how many. And here's what the Apostle Paul said. Let me tell you. I just don't want you to not know. God's already told us we can know a lot of things if we study his book.
[16:05] I would not have you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning them which are asleep, those that have already died. I don't want you to sorrow like they do. They have no hope. We have hope. In verse 14, you should underline this.
[16:19] Those that have already died. You see those guys in Thessalonica, they were thinking Jesus was coming back any minute and people were dying. They were like, well, wait a minute. Jesus was going to come get us when we were alive and now he didn't come back to get us.
[16:31] And our people are dying and this is really sad. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Understand. Something happened here. Watch, look at verse 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again.
[16:42] How many of you believe that? Say amen. Even so, them which sleep in Jesus. Those who died being believers. You remember Romans 8, 1? There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in?
[16:56] Them that are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. He said those that died in Christ Jesus. Those that died in Jesus. Look what God will do. You should underline it. God will bring with him.
[17:07] That's a whole... We could stay there for a month. Guess where they are? They're with him. Guess what you're going to do? Going to bring them with him. Huh? You're going to bring them with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord.
[17:19] That those of us that are alive and we're still here on this planet. We will not beat anybody else to heaven. We won't be in the way. We won't be the first ones to get there. It ain't like they lost out on anything.
[17:31] It's not like they're missing anything because they died. Believe me, God's going to take care of them. Just like he's taking care of us. And you think, well, if he comes out alive, I've got an extra little blessing. He said, no, no, no, no.
[17:42] You're not getting anything extra. 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 will rise first.
[17:53] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord. So y'all comfort each other. Y'all comfort each other with these words.
[18:05] They're supposed to talk about that. He said, y'all get together and have a little discussion. And when somebody starts thinking, well, my Aunt Susie died before Jesus got back. And I just really hate that. She won't get to see Jesus come back.
[18:15] He said, that is not true. That is not true. Y'all comfort each other. He's going to get her out of the ground before he gets you up. So she ain't missing out on anything. I'm not missing out. Amen. You're not missing out.
[18:26] We do not mourn as others because we understand the difference in our death and theirs. So I'll go back to the, I'll go back to the, to Genesis 23 here in a second.
[18:38] But let's look at some verses. You know, there's a big difference in the way we die and the way lost people die. There's a big difference in the way Christians die, what the Bible says. And by the way, I've stood by the Genghis River and watched them throw the, you know, they got the ashes.
[18:52] They got the people burning over there. We've seen that. And then, you know, the Muslims lay facing Mecca. And there's all sorts of things about the way that we have. God's Word about a bunch of things about our own death that's coming.
[19:05] So let's look at some verses if you want to write them down and check them out later. Number one, our death is gain. Philippians chapter 1 and verse 21. Philippians chapter 1 and verse 21.
[19:16] Our death is gain. We don't want to accept that. We don't want to believe that. But it's the Word of God. You say, oh, brother, we do want to accept it. No, we don't. You let any of us get sick.
[19:27] You let a car wreck up. You let anything. And we immediately are like, oh, no. But our death is gain. Can you see that right there? For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
[19:39] But if I live in this flesh, the fruit of my labor, yet what shall I choose? For I'm in a straight. I'm having a hard time deciding. In verse 23. He said, just to be honest with you, if I told you the truth, I wish Jesus would come get me and take me to heaven right now.
[19:56] I really wish He did. But that's not the way we talk. I don't know how many times I heard the joke. You know, soul winner goes in the bar. Walks up. Somebody says, would you like to go to heaven if you died? Would you like to go to heaven tonight?
[20:08] And the guy says, nope, not me. And he said, you don't want to get saved? He said, I don't know. He said, if y'all taking a load up tonight, I'm not ready to go. Nobody wants to die tonight. But Paul said, I really do.
[20:19] Look at verse 23. I'm in a straight between two. I have a desire to depart and be with Christ. And he said, and that's far better. So underline that. That's far better. That is far better.
[20:32] In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 1. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 1. 1 and down to 8. We won't take the time to read it because I'm way behind already.
[20:43] But guess what? To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Now, I don't know if what you think or what you know or what you believe. You can go do your own study. But when a born-again Christian dies, he goes straight to the presence of the Lord immediately.
[20:58] You know, we don't put his body in the grave. You know, we treat it with respect. You know, we treat our bodies with respect. And Abraham treated our body with respect. He went and he bought her a place so he could put her out of sight.
[21:09] So he could bury her. He cried when he did that. And we know that we rest in peace because we rest knowing we're in Christ. That's where that phrase came from. But we know this.
[21:21] That we lose this body and he has another body for us. We know we lose this body. We have another body. We know in verse 4 that our mortality, our dying, in other words, will be swallowed up in life.
[21:35] I was talking to a friend. And some of you were trying to, I guess you thought, well, what are you doing? I was on the phone talking to a friend. And we were talking. And he said, man, you just got back on that trip overseas. He said, I'm making those trips too.
[21:46] He said, but it's getting harder for me. He said, I think you must have more energy than I got. And I said, I don't know if I got it or I think it's pushed me harder. But you know what he said? He said, well, I just can't do what I used to do. We're dying.
[21:56] Hey, when I was 25, I was able to do a whole lot more than I could do at 58. And we're dying. He said, and mortality is swallowed up. And mortality is swallowed up in life.
[22:07] Verse 6. We've preached this, but I'd call your attention to it again. We should underline it if you've got your Bible. We're always confident. The Holy Spirit said, write this down so that people will memorize these verses.
[22:20] They'll say, I am confident. We're always confident in what we're confident of that when we're at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. In verse 8, we're confident again that to be absent from our body is to be present with the Lord.
[22:35] We are blessed in our death. How about that one? In Revelation chapter 14 and verse 13, the Bible said, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. In Psalm chapter 116 and verse 15, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
[22:52] Because for him, it's a home going. For him, we're coming to him. He's anxious for us to come. He loves us and our death is sweet and precious and important and valuable to him.
[23:04] How about two more, two or three more things, I guess. Two more. We never really die. It's a hard one to believe. You won't believe this one.
[23:15] But according to the Bible, we never really die. So I've seen a lot of dead people. No, you've seen a lot of houses where dead people used to live. You've seen a lot of houses where people moved out and left. But you know, when you move out of one house and you move into another house, the house is not me.
[23:30] That's just where I live. I'm a lot better looking than this. You just can't see it. My house, a lot of things are sagging that used to didn't sag. And a lot of things are different than no used to be.
[23:40] It's not me. This is a tent I live in. That's what the Bible even called it in 2 Corinthians chapter 8. And look, if you would, what the Bible says. Look, if you would, what the Bible says is John 11, 25. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.
[23:54] He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Oh, so we are going to die. Verse 26. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
[24:06] Shall never die. I will never forget the day that Betty and I and the kids were standing in the Atlanta airport long before the days that you couldn't have everybody back there. There was about 50 people back there to tell us goodbye.
[24:18] The coalfields were back there to tell us goodbye. We were back in the back at the ready to get on the airplane. Betty was weeping and crying and some family members were weeping and crying. And I was standing there thinking, man, get this junk over with.
[24:29] And they finally came out and said, y'all get on the plane. I'm like, yes, get out of there. I hate this whining and crying. And I go out. To be honest, you get on that plane. You know, there wasn't any dying taking place. I was on my way where I wanted to go.
[24:40] I was anxious to get there. Betty wasn't too anxious. I was anxious to get there. Look what it says. You never die. When somebody, one of us dies, we just leave this body and go home to be with Jesus.
[24:57] Second Timothy 1.10. And the Bible says that Jesus Christ, our Savior, has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
[25:10] Genesis 23 is about the death of Sarah. And it's about him finding a place to bury her body. And it's a time for us to think about, man, it won't be long. I saw a friend the other day on Facebook.
[25:23] He put out pictures of his grave. And he said, look, here are our tombstones. Here we'll be buried. He said it kind of gives you that feeling when you look down and see your name already written on it. But we're going to die.
[25:35] And we're going to go to heaven. And what we call dying is really moving. But in the death of the wicked, it's totally different. In Proverbs 11.7, when a wicked man dies, his expectation shall perish.
[25:49] And the hope of unjust men perishes. After death, no hope. Job 18.5-6, the light of the wicked shall be put out and it shall not shine.
[26:02] In Luke chapter 16, a rich man dies. And in hell, he lifts up his eyes, being in torment. He has his memory. He's told to remember what had happened.
[26:14] And there's a great gull fix and he can't get out. It's a place of torment. It's a place of torment. Now, let me give you some lessons I think should be learned or could be learned from this passage.
[26:27] Genesis chapter 23, verses 3 and 4. It's good and expected that we would mourn for our loved ones. It's good that we would make funeral preparations.
[26:38] In verse 4, he said, I'm a stranger and a sojourner with you. I don't belong here. I don't have any place to bury my wife. But I need a place to bury my wife.
[26:52] And I'll show you a couple of verses. But you know what? This is not my home. This world's not where we live. This world's not where we live. I travel a lot. The last trip I was on, the last trip I was on, I was in Madrid.
[27:06] I left Madrid and went to Morocco. I was in Madrid like three days or four days. I went to Morocco and I was there like three or four days. And then I went to London and I was there like three or four days. I never unpacked a suitcase. I just kept pulling stuff out of there anywhere I could find it and stuffing it back in wherever I could find another place to stuff it when I got through wearing it.
[27:24] Sometimes when I get to a place, I pull it out and stick it in a drawer. But when you're only going to be there like two nights or three nights, no need even doing that. Just get out of here. I don't live here. I didn't hang any pictures. I didn't buy any land.
[27:35] I knew that wasn't where I was. And Abraham says, guys, my wife's died and I need a place to bury her. I need a place to bury her. You need to understand. You need to understand.
[27:46] This isn't our home. You already knew that the day you got saved, your destiny is heaven. But I want you to look, if you would, at verse four and notice this. He wanted a place to bury her out of his sight.
[28:00] Can't mourn them forever. Good to mourn. Good to mourn. But he buries her out of his sight and says, you know what? I know where she is. That's the old Southern Baptist preacher.
[28:12] They said to him after his wife died, a guy walked up to him and said, I'm so sorry that you lost your wife. And he said, what are you talking about? I haven't lost my wife. And he said, if you know where she is, she ain't lost.
[28:25] And he said, so I didn't lose her. And the truth is that the day will come that we will bury one another. One of us will bury the other. The day will come. And you and I should have hope in Jesus Christ that we will go to heaven and we're saved.
[28:41] In 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 21, the Bible says that we are strangers and pilgrims. Strangers and pilgrims. This is not where I live.
[28:53] This is not where I live. That's why I don't want to dig so deep of roots. I don't want to plan so much for here. I want to go forward for him. By the way, you're not taking anything out of here you get.
[29:04] You can collect all you want, but when you get to customs, you'll leave it all. You know, when I get on the airplane, I'm headed back here. They give you this little sheet of paper and say, how much money did you spend?
[29:15] We'd like to know how much money you spent, what you're bringing into the country. Well, I generally say zero because I don't spend any money. I don't spend the money to get there. I don't spend the money while I'm there because I don't care to spend the money. Don't want to have to lug the junk back.
[29:27] So, but you know what he said here? When you leave, in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 7, he said, it's certain you'll carry nothing out. The only land that Abraham owns is a place to bury his wife and his family.
[29:41] How do we live then? We're to live knowing we're putting our investments in heaven now. That's not preacher talk. That's Bible talk. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 19, don't you guys be laying up treasure here on the earth.
[29:57] Don't be trying to stack up a bunch of stuff that moth and rust can just rot or eat or ruin. Don't stack up stuff that thieves can break through and steal, but lay up treasures in heaven where none of that can happen.
[30:09] Where none of that can happen. Get a hold of the real value. I think it's probably pretty hard for us. I think it's probably pretty hard for us. It's probably pretty hard for us compared to almost every generation in the past.
[30:20] At least common people like us. Man, we got so much junk. You ever move? Move one time and you'll find out you got way too much junk. Somebody dies in your family.
[30:31] You know what the first thing people do when they die? You ever been there? They sell everything they can and then they back a dumpster in. And they start going in houses and start chunking stuff. And you're like, my grandmama liked that.
[30:42] Yeah, but it's junk. Boom. Gone. Just be honest. You say, how do you know that? I drive by and see them. They're doing it all the time, don't you? A state sale. What's a dumpster doing there?
[30:54] Like to know. You're not taking it with you. Lay up your treasures where they count and be ready to leave. 2 Timothy 4.6. Paul said, I am now ready to be offered.
[31:05] The time of my departure is at hand. It's a very common word for me, departure. I look up around and see arriving flights and departing flights. And Paul said, the time of my departure is at hand.
[31:16] And you and I are going to have in heaven a new, we're going to have in heaven a new and a changed body. Philippians chapter 3 and verse 21.
[31:27] The Bible says, well, I'll read verse 20 so you know who's doing it. For our conversation is in heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven. We, from hence also, we look for our Savior.
[31:39] I really belong to heaven. And my Lord and my Savior Jesus is coming back to get me. And guess what he's going to do when he gets here? Verse 21, he's going to change our vile body. Not vile because it's like dirty wicked.
[31:52] But vile because, man, this thing's messing up. You know, when you get a new vehicle and everything runs well, you just love that vehicle. And then after a few years, all of a sudden, you start hearing noises.
[32:03] And you say, well, what is going on here? This thing's a piece of junk. That's basically where we end up being as humans. He says, he's going to change this wearing out old body. This body that's been involved in sin.
[32:15] This body that hasn't always honored God. And he's going to fashion it like to his glorious body. So when I die and they stick me there, by the way, I'm not coming back. He's not going to put all my molecules back and Austin's coming back like Austin looks.
[32:28] Austin's coming back more like Jesus. I get a new body and a glorious body and a changed body that he's worked on me in. First John chapter 3 verse 2 says, Beloved, now are we the sons of God.
[32:42] And it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. When he gets back, we're going to be like him.
[32:53] I don't think that means everybody's going to look like Jesus. I know what it's saying. But man, I'm going to have a whole new way of thinking. Man, I still mess up so much. I am still such a wreck.
[33:03] Been saved. I love Jesus. I want to live right. But I mean, I'm always having to say I'm sorry. I'm always having to say I'm an idiot. I'm always having to say I just really messed up.
[33:15] I'm going to be changed. Even my body is going to be changed. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 49. You wear a body like the humans have in verse 49.
[33:25] The image of the earthly. But you're going to get one like the heavenly ones. The image of the heavenly. In verse 51 it says we'll all be changed. He's going to change us.
[33:36] He's going to change us in the twinkling of an eye. In the twinkling of an eye. Verse 53. This rotting body will put on a non-rotting body. This dying body will put on an ever-living body.
[33:48] This dying body that's all messed up. The other day I was sitting in the. Yesterday the day before. I was sitting there working in my recliner. I was sitting there. I got my glasses on. And all of a sudden. I felt something hit my big old belly.
[34:01] And I noticed I couldn't see as well. And my lens just popped out. I was laying there. And everything was out of focus. I was like, what's going on? And I reached out. I went ping. And poked my eye.
[34:12] I didn't used to wear glasses. I can still remember 90 people. And the guys always kidded me. And they said, when are you going to put your glasses on? We know you're wearing them when you're hiding. Because I used to. I'd use my glasses at home.
[34:23] And then I'd get to church. I'd always hide them. I didn't really want anybody. No, I'd get so old. I've got to wear glasses. You know what's happening? He said, I'm going to take that old body. I'm going to give you a new body. I'm going to take that body that gets kidneys that mess up.
[34:34] I'm going to give you a body that doesn't get kidneys that mess up. I'm going to take that body that's got problems. And make one that doesn't have problems. I'll give you it at verse 54. So when this corruptible, this rotting, this wearing out, this giving up, this dying, will have put on the opposite of that.
[34:52] When this dying guy, mortal guy, he will put on immortality. Then the saying comes true. Death is swallowed up in victory.
[35:04] We are victorious. Jesus has won. I think it's pretty neat. Abraham says, I need a place to put my wife.
[35:15] I'm going to take the time. I thought about going in some symbols for you. That's going to be his land. God's already told him it's his land. But he doesn't have it yet. And he buys it for people knowing it's his land.
[35:26] He could have said, hey, God's already given me this land. But he doesn't do that. He pays for the land. He buys the land. But he knew it was his land. He put his wife there. He buried her. Well, let me give you a hint. I've got my treasures where I'm going to live too.
[35:37] I want to put my treasures in heaven. I want to see about winning some people to Christ. I want to see about doing some praying. I want to see about doing some offering giving. I want to see about doing some serving. I want my life to count. I know this world's not my home.
[35:49] And I know Jesus is coming back and going to fix all of us and take us to heaven forever. And Hebrews 11 will be true in our lives.
[35:59] And we will die in faith. And when he writes my story, it won't sound like the guy you know. The fact is, you just might stand there in glory and say, I knew Austin real good.
[36:14] That's not how he was. I remember when he asked Hagar to sleep with her husband. I remember when he laughed when the promise was given. And the Lord will say, hey, hey, hey, hey, my grace took care of all of that.
[36:27] All covered up. All fixed. I saved him. I changed him. We've got a victorious life in Jesus. Father, I love you. Thank you for the chance to serve you.
[36:39] I pray that your name would be honored and glorified and magnified here. And I just pray, God, you'd help us to believe you about death, to believe you about life, to believe you about eternal life, and to magnify you as the one and only Lord God of heaven.
[36:55] And I'll give you praise for it all. In Jesus' name, amen. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com, where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.