Returning to Genesis 23. Genesis 23, this chapter describes the purchase that Abraham made in the land of Canaan for a burying place of his wife Sarah. Now Today, as we go through this, we'll look at the promises. We'll be reminded of the promises of God made unto Abraham as he and Sarah pilgrim, made their pilgrimager sojourned in the land of Canaan. And we'll see how they went back and forth, up and down, and eventually they come to Hebron again, where Sarah dies, and a purchase is required here. And in these promises, we see the promises of the gospel, which our Lord made in Christ, were fulfilled unto Abraham in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's begin in verses 1 and 2, Genesis 23, 1 and 2. And Sarah was 107 and 20 years old. She was 127 years old. These were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kirjath Arba. And Kirjath always means the city of. So the city of Arba, or Kirjath Jairam, the city of Jairam, which is the forest, I believe. And the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. When you read Genesis 23, both these verses and as you read the formality that was followed in purchasing the cave of Machpelah in which Sarah was buried, when you look at that, you see that there's a protocol. There's a formal way that things are done here. There's an etiquette that's followed and understood and expected at this time. And so a protocol means it's a form of ceremony, for example. There's a pattern. There's a form that was followed by the people. You said certain things. You did certain things in a certain way. And it's a very formal protocol here. And Abraham knew the protocol. Abraham knew the protocol that was expected here at this time and he followed it. Now keep that in mind when we read what Abraham says next in verses 3 and 4. And Abraham stood up from before his dead and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you. Give me a possession of a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my sight." Now, Abraham had been in Canaan for many decades, for a long time. When he was 75, that's when he was called out of Ur of the Chaldees. That's when he was called out of the city of his fathers, when he was 75. Sarah is 127, Abraham would be about 137. So he's coming up close to having spent as much time in Canaan as he did back in Ur of the Chaldees. But he knows this protocol. He knows what's expected of him here. He knows what to do. And you consider what he says of himself. I'm a stranger. I'm a sojourner among you. And look at what they say back to him in verses 5 and 6. And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, Hear us, my lord. Thou art a mighty prince among us. And the choice of our sepulchre is bury thy dead. None of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead. And you'll maybe recall that the people of Mamre, which was there by Hebron where Abraham was, they were in league with Abraham for many decades now. They knew him very well. They trusted him. They traded with him. They spoke with him. They knew the God he worshipped and served. And he was a valued member of their society so that they considered him a prince among them, a mighty man among them, not a stranger, not a sojourner, but one with them. So what did Abraham mean when he said, I'm a stranger and a sojourner? Why would Abraham say that to these people? Well, I bring this up because you'll recall that Abraham is called the father of all them that believe. You that believe the Lord Jesus Christ, he in that sense is a father. He went before us and he believed God and God counted it to him for righteousness. And we that believe the Lord Jesus Christ, we are like Abraham. Abraham is a pattern for us. Abraham is a type of the believer in many ways. He's a type of us, brethren. And so this is significant to us. When we read of Abraham here, when we look at all the promises of God made to Abraham throughout his journey, throughout his pilgrimage in Canaan, this is speaking of me. This is God speaking to me of my case. This is his word to me. And so from the time that God called Abraham, because it was God who called Abraham out of his idolatry, out of that land of darkness, since that time, Abraham became a stranger and a sojourner in this world. And that's true of every one of you that believe Christ. From the time the Lord calls you in grace, you are a stranger in this world. You are but a sojourner, a pilgrim in this world. And so we have a type of what the Lord does for us in Abraham. And we see it when he's first called out of the land of his fathers in Genesis 12. If you want to look there, verse 1, we're told that the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. And then we know that Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees, and he went to a place that was named Haran, likely after his brother who had died. In the presence of his father, right before his dad's eyes, he died. And he went to a place called Haran, or named Haran. And then eventually his father died, Tira. And Abram went on further into the land of Canaan, just like the Lord had called him to do. And so in that sense, he is a literal stranger and pilgrim. But it's a type. I remember hearing someone say that in Genesis, every doctrine of the Bible, every doctrine of the gospel, everything the Lord teaches his people is right here in Types. and pictures it's given to us it's shown to us right here in Genesis and that's true you we saw Christ in in all of Genesis so far and that's true here as Abraham is a stranger in a pilgrim so you that believe are strangers and pilgrims in this world that we see here in type And like Abraham, we confess, it says in Hebrews chapter 11, we confess that we are strangers and pilgrims in the earth. All of God's people confess that. I'm a stranger here. I don't fit in. This is just a transitory, temporary place that I'm passing through till the Lord receives me, till the Lord brings me home. And the Lord makes us to know that we are strangers and pilgrims so that we would hear what the Spirit says to His strangers and pilgrims in the earth as we're going through. The Spirit says, be not conformed to this world. But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind in Christ Jesus. We're not of this world. We're not of this world. We are of Christ. And we also hear what Peter says. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain, put off, don't do those fleshly lusts. Why? Because they war against the soul. They war against the soul. They defile that peace. They trouble us and cause us harm and grief. And so don't do those things he's saying. Not because you're saved by the doing or not doing of them. It's because you're the Lord's. He has saved you. You're his. You're his purchased possession. And those things war against the soul. So we are strangers and pilgrims, brethren. And so Abraham came from that region which was beyond, meaning, as I understand it, that's where the term Hebrew came from. from one of Abram's descendants, which was Eber. And Eber was one of the last long-lifers, I call them, one of the last ones who lived for hundreds and hundreds of years, right around the same time as Nimrod. He was one of the last long-lifers, if I am calculating correctly. But Eber came from beyond, beyond the Euphrates and the Tigris River. That's where Abram's family came from. And so then he came into Canaan as a stranger. And that's supposedly where it's believed that the term Hebrew came from. But he was a stranger and a sojourner among them. And God led him into the land, the promised land of Canaan. And so all believers, when you think of it, every one of us at one time was a stranger and a pilgrim, or a stranger and a sojourner, or not a fellow citizen of the kingdom of God. We were alien to that. We didn't know the true name of God. We were a stranger to the things of God. But now in Christ, we are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. And so when Abraham describes himself here as a stranger and a sojourner, after living there for so long, it's because Abraham has been given an eye of faith to look to the promise of God. He's not looking at carnal things. He's not weighing things in a worldly manner. He's weighing them according to the gift of faith. and according to the eye of faith, which is the gift of God to his children. And God has taught him this. God has made him to know that he is a stranger and a pilgrim. God has fixed a true and living hope in Abraham that is looking to Christ. God gave Abraham this faith in the promise. What Abraham's faith was looking to was the promise of an eternal inheritance obtained for him and given in the promised sea. This is what I want to show you this morning. God taught him this as he was sojourning in the land of Canaan. This is where the Lord made this known to Abraham. This is where he made him to know the promises of God and revealed and grew the knowledge that Abraham had. This is where the Lord grew that knowledge and understanding that God had given him eternal life, that God had made him righteous through the promise. This is the work of God. And so as he sojourned in the land of Canaan, he saw in the promised seed of Isaac that the promised seed of Christ would come, that in him all nations of the earth would be blessed through the seed that would come through Isaac. That is the Lord Jesus Christ who would come from that lineage of Abraham. Now, you just think about that. Abraham had a hope in spiritual things. And then you come to when Christ came, when the promise he came, and he's declaring the kingdom of God. He's declaring the kingdom of salvation, that God had saved his people. As he went preaching the gospel, what did the Jews hear? It was contrary to what the Jews heard because everything to them was literal. It was carnal. They were looking for fleshly promises, physical fleshly promises. Even the apostles, until Christ taught them, they were looking for a carnal kingdom. They were looking for a fleshly kingdom. But when they saw Christ, all they saw was physical things. They heard physical things which were contrary to their carnal expectation, and so by their man-made reason they rejected Christ and missed the promises. So what did God mean by the promise that he gave to Abraham? Let's look in Genesis 15, verses 7 and 8, because this is important. to see here. Genesis 15.7 And God said unto Abraham, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land, to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? How will I know this? And the Lord gave him a seed in it. Now, what the Lord teaches us here in the gospel is to understand the promise that God makes to all his children, like Abraham, who are of faith. It must be answered according to the blessings he gives us in Christ. If we're going to understand what God is saying to Abraham, we're going to understand them in Christ. And what he shows us is that the promise of the land, don't look at it carnally as the Jews looked at it, look at it in Christ. Because it speaks of, that land speaks of the promise of eternal life and inheritance of eternal life given to us in the promised seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he's teaching us here. And so then, in chapter 15, after he gave him the promise of the land, which pictures our eternal inheritance, what did he do? He instructed Abraham to sacrifice three animals that were three years old. One was a heifer. I think a ram or a lamb, but it was picturing Christ. The sacrifice pictured Christ, and Abraham understood the promise of God in Christ. That was the picture there, that he understood and was taught Christ, that we see and are taught by the Lord, it's in Christ. Every spiritual blessing is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1.3, God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It's all, all the blessings we have are in Christ. And so Abraham was taught of God as he's sojourning around in Cain and he's being taught of God, don't look to the flesh Abraham. Don't look to the flesh, look to the promise fulfilled to you in Christ. And Romans 4.3 says, In what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. That's actually in Genesis 15, I think, verse 6. Abraham believed God, and God counted it to him for righteousness. And God gave him the promise in Christ. And so focusing on the physical land. And this is a word to us. Don't look to this world. Don't set your heart and affection and love on this world because it's passing away. It's passing away. And the love of this world is not the love of the Father. And if you're taken up with this world and this is your possession and your inheritance and your life, You have no life in Christ except God be gracious and deliver you from them. Take you out of it just like he does for all of his people. And so focusing on that physical land of Canaan given to Abram's descendants is exalting the physical above the spiritual, the blessings in Christ which He speaks of. This is what our Lord teaches us and it leads only to a fleshly, carnal understanding of the promises. It takes the eyes off of Christ and puts them on fleshly things that are passing away. that have no lasting effect or anything for us. And that was that same physical focus that caused the Jews to reject Christ and crucify the Lord of glory. Because everything to them was physical and carnal. And so our blessings are in Christ. Now, Abram was told Well, let me just even add this. This is why Christ said to the Jews, to show you that this is all speaking of Christ, he said in John 5, 39, ye search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. And when the heart is set on carnal things, he said, and ye will not come to me that ye might have life. And so we don't want to have the focus on the carnal things. Our focus is to be on Christ. and by his grace it is. That's why he teaches us this same truth as he taught Abram in our pilgrimage. And he keeps repeating it and showing it to us and bringing us out of that carnal and to see by faith all the promises of God in Christ. Now Abraham was told back in Genesis 13, verse 17 and 18, he said, arise, this is about the pilgrimage here, arise, walk through the land, in the length of it, and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord." So this is long before where we are in Genesis 23. Abraham did that very thing. He began going up and down and all around in Canaan at that time. Just to give you a quick, brief outline, when he left Haran, came out of Ur to Haran. Well, it's over this way for you. And then he came into Canaan there. He arrived around Bethel. And if you are ever looking in your maps of the Bible, and you go to like the 12 tribes of Israel, you could see that Bethel is in Benjamin, right, and it's the house of God there, and it's in Benjamin where he first set up a, I'm sorry, an altar there and worshiped the Lord. Then the famine came, he briefly goes down into Egypt, they go back up, they arrive around the plains of the cities around Sodom and Gomorrah, which seems to be around the Dead Sea which is probably covering all those cities right now over the Dead Sea and Lot goes towards Sodom and he pulls back towards Hebron. There it is where Abraham came to Hebron the first time and then eventually when God destroyed Sodom he withdraws even further away from there to Gerar, which is going to be west, a little west, southwest. Yeah, I think southwest of that area, or southeast. No, southwest of that area. And then, or north, I don't know, one of those. It's west. And then he comes back. He starts going to Beersheba. And Beersheba was a little southeast of Gerar. That's down in Simeon. And so really, all the places that are detailed for us are really around Judea. He gets Benjamin, Judah, and Simeon. Those are all the southern tribes known as Judea there. And that's pretty much where he walked, or at least we're told that's where he walked. And then eventually, he goes back up to Hebron here in chapter 23, and this is where Sarah dies. And so he traveled through much of that land, and yet all that time, none of it was given to him for a possession. All right, and this is important. None of this land was given to him for a possession. But what did God give Abraham? He gave him the promised seed. In his pilgrimage all around that he went, God gave him the promised seed, which was Isaac, who was a picture of Christ, the promised seed. This is what the Lord did for Abraham and for Sarah. And so the whole time, he had the promise of the land, i.e. a picture of the eternal inheritance, and God fulfilled it unto him in giving him the seed. So he had the hope of eternal life, the picture of the land, and what God gave him in his pilgrimage was the seed. And the picture there is what the Lord does for us, brethren. We have the promise and the hope of eternal life. And we don't receive that eternal life here, so to speak. We receive it by faith. And what does the Lord give you? He gives you the seed of Christ. He gives you Christ. He reveals Christ to you. That's what we're given in this life. And that's our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the Lord is showing us here. So Abraham's taken out of Ur, the Chaldees, out of that kingdom of darkness. Nimrod was probably alive still at that time. Ur was a fortified city made of baked bricks, just like the Tower of Babel. It was all that idolatry was going on over there. And the Lord took him out of that darkness and brought him into a type of the kingdom of light. And while Abraham's going up and down and all around in Canaan there, God keeps repeating to him, every chapter we see, he's repeating to him the promise over and over and over and over again. God keeps repeating to him the promise, and Abraham is being taught. He's taking my eyes off of physical things and putting them on the promise. fulfilled unto me in Christ." And so what Abraham was given, that's the promise we are given, brethren. That's the promise and the hope that we receive ourselves in Jesus Christ. Like Abraham, we've been brought out of the kingdom of darkness. Turn over to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians 1 and we've been brought into the kingdom of Christ. So Colossians 1 verses 12 through 14 and then just stay here for a few moments with me in the New Testament. Colossians 1 verse 12 giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." We have an inheritance with the saints of God. Verse 13, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. And so that picture of Abram being taken out of Ur, that dark place, into Canaan. That's what the Lord has done for us. He took us out of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of light of Christ. And then Abram never received the promise of land because it pictured eternal life. Turn over to Hebrews chapter 11 and just stay there for a moment. Hebrews 11 verse 8. Hebrews 11.8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac, or like tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. He was looking for that promise of eternal life that God had promised him. And so what Abraham was looking for, that's what we are looking for this day. This isn't our kingdom. This world is wrecked. And the Lord keeps showing us just how wrecked and awful and ruined this place is in sin. But we have a better hope. We have an eternal inheritance in Christ, in Him. And so we understand, we have the promises of God, but not in this life, not in that sense, not that physical presence of them. But as we go through this land, having that promise, the Lord is graciously teaching us. He keeps teaching us and showing us Christ more and more by His grace, because that's what He tells us. It's written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of the Lord. The Lord teaches His children, and He teaches us Christ. He teaches us all the promises fulfilled to us in Christ. Now what did Abraham receive here? The promise of the Son. The promised seed was fulfilled unto him in Christ. He had the promise of eternal life and he was given the seed and he was given that down payment of an inheritance there. Look at Hebrews 11.11 now. And so we've been redeemed by the blood of Christ. And because we are His purchased possession, He finds us. We're lost sinners in darkness, knowing nothing of God, strangers to the things of God. But He finds us. He gives His Spirit. He gives the Word. the spirit takes the things of Christ and blesses them to our heart making them effectual to us and gives us that same promise that Abraham received and he makes it effectual to the hearts of his people and as we go through this world as strangers and pilgrims he keeps repeating it to us over and over and over and over through the preaching of the gospel and he keeps reminding us and showing us the things of Christ that they're all given in him. And he delivers us from the trouble just like we saw Abraham fell. A couple of his falls were recorded for us. And we know the many falls we have and the many lessons we need and all the humblings and strippings that the Lord keeps showing us Christ and keeps confirming him to our hearts that we are his. And by grace, by grace and mercy, And then, like Sarah, we see in that picture there, we who were dead in trespasses and sins, like the deadness of her womb, through faith, which is given to us, received. the grace of God, strength to conceive the seed, not that we bring it forth of this flesh, but the Holy Spirit comes upon us and forms Christ and is the seed of Christ in us, just like we see in Mary, right? But she brought him forth physically, but it's a picture of what the Lord does for every one of us spiritually, forms Christ in our hearts by faith. And so we see this, what the Lord did. Now, let me just show you here, What really drew me to this passage was this dying of Sarah, this burying place that Abraham had to purchase for, that he wanted to purchase for, that he purchased for her, I should say. All of us who are strangers and pilgrims in this world, like Abraham, we desire a better country. Hebrews 11 16 a better country that is in heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called our God for he hath prepared for us who believe a city a city made by him now Abraham required one thing he had no possession he never received any possession physically in the land of Canaan but in that land he purchased possession to bury Sarah right he said give me a possession in verse 4 a possession of a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my sight and this speaks of what Christ did for his bride this is a picture of what our Lord did for his bride here Abram followed the protocol perfectly he said well if you're gonna you know let me have a place I'd like the cave of Machpelah And Ephron, the son of Zohar's field, at the bottom of his field there, I'd like that. Ephron said, sure, I'll give it to you. And he said, well, if you give it to me, I'll pay you for it. I'll buy it from you. And they kind of go back and forth there. There's an etiquette. There's a form that's followed. And in the process of it, Ephron tells him, well, it's 400 pieces of silver. And Abraham says, OK. And he weighed it out. in full, 400 pieces, before all the sons of Heth. So that they all saw he paid the demanded price. The whole price that was required, that's what he paid for that burying place. And we're told in verse 20, back in Genesis 23, 20, 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. And what the Lord is showing us here is that Everything required, everything that was necessary was followed perfectly. In perfect righteousness, Abraham bought that field. He paid the price demanded in full before them all. And that's a picture of what Christ did for his people. The price demanded for our salvation was paid in full. The price demanded Christ our Savior paid it in full. And if we're going to receive that inheritance, we need the redemption of Christ. And Christ did that. He did exactly what was necessary for us to receive that heavenly, that promised heavenly possession. And so And what He did in that purchase, when He shed His own blood, when He laid down His life, He purchased for us a burying place in Him. In Him. He secured for us that possession in His death and in His resurrection. And all that believe Christ have died in Christ, were buried in Christ with Him. in a burying place purchased in full by the Lord Jesus Christ. And as he was raised from the dead, brethren, so we too shall be raised from the dead unto newness of life in our Lord." Now, our physical places here in the earth, where we are buried in the ground or what have you, they vary. They vary, and they'll be different. Meaningless that has no bearing on our hope in Christ. This place is just a temporary thing but our life and our hope and everything we have is Fixed in Christ and it's given in Christ. It's received in the Lord Jesus Christ and he's made this known to us in this this pilgrimage and so by He's purchased this bearing place now, let me just read Romans 6 verses 4 and 5 and Therefore, it says, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. And so we died with Christ, we were crucified with him, and we were buried with him. All through that purchased burying place by our Lord, who paid it in full, who did everything in perfect righteousness. It was all fulfilled in Him. And so let me just close with this, something that I was thinking of as I was finishing up this message, and just reminding me of something that our Lord said concerning this purchase that our Lord made. He said, and it's from Matthew 13, verse 44, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field. The witch, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." And brethren, we can't explain it, but we are the treasure that the Lord has chosen for himself. And he hid us in that field. Christ went and paid the price he gave everything he gave his life and shed his blood for that field which he's Put you in placed you in as his treasure and we are his secured in him. And so what a blessing What a blessing that we are Secured in Christ because we're so blind and ignorant so often to these precious truths, but they're all fulfilled gloriously and wonderfully in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, our Husband, our Husband who did everything for us, everything for us. Amen.