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Pastor Brant Seacrist

SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

"THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM
"

TEXT: GENESIS 25: 1-11
READING: ROMANS 5: 1-21

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SUBJ: The death of Abraham and those things concerning both the fullness of life and the hope of eternal life that effect the passing of the faithful.

AIM: That we might look to the living of our lives as in the presence of the Lord and seeking to walk by faith that our lives, regardless of length, might be full of days.

INTR: We do well to show respect unto the sojourn that the Lord has allotted us in this world, and we are shown something of this in the account of the passing of Abraham.
1. The death of first Sarah and then Abraham is well noted in both the Old and New Testaments and thus our attention must be profitably joined to the accounts.
2. We are to be attentive to and instructed by all things of the inspired Word and aware that such has been preserved for our inspiration unto the same example.
3. In Abraham we are not looking to a perfect life (the scripture reveals the failures), but we do see a full life and we have that on the authority of inspiration.

THESIS: It should be our aim to honor God in the full participation of the life given and appointed us and so to come to its end with a sense of fulness and expectation of that which is to come: That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19)

I. The Last Years of Abraham (vv. 1-6)
1. The obtaining of a bride for Isaac marked the end of significant events in the life of Abraham
1) There were no more recorded instances of our Lord appearing to Him (there may have been others).
2) The indications further on in the text suggest that he continued to walk by faith.
2. There are questions as to the fact and the reason of the marriage to Keturah which would lead some to,
1) Question the wisdom of Abraham or even to question his morality
2) Some have suggested that she may have been taken to wife before Sarah’s death.
3) The difficulties that have followed in the offspring of his later sons.
3. But all that he had was given to Isaac in acknowledgment of the fact that he was the promised seed.
4. He gave suitable gifts to the others and sent them away from Isaac.

II. The Departure (vv. 7-10)
1. It is interesting, if not noteworthy, to account for ages and events.
1) Abraham was 175 years old at his death
2) He had lived 100 years after coming to Canaan.
3) He was 100 when Isaac was born and was 137 when Sarah died and 140 when Isaac married
4) He was 160 when the twin sons of Isaac were born.
2. The first thing noted was the submissiveness of Abraham in the matter – His life was not taken. And It was a good old age (we think of others such as Moses).
3. He was full of years – he had had enough:
1) The implication here is of one who is satisfied and complete as opposed to one who ends his days in the same bitterness and worldliness in which he lived.
2) The same thought was attributed to Isaac, to Jacob, to Job, and the High Priest Jehoiada.
3) Our thoughts might turn to the eventful things in his life: his call, the four kings and Melchizedek, the promise (thy shield and thy exceeding great reward), the mandate (I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect) – 100 years of obeying the Lord.
4) See further: These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13)
5) We think of Paul in For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:6-8)
4. And gathered to his people – not merely of dying like all before him; rather that he would be reunited with those of the faith who had gone before.
1) We think of the words “Blessed with faithful Abraham” from Galatians 3:9.
2) We are here referred to the hope that is ever before us of our final presence with the Lord and all those who love His appearing.
3) From Alexander MacLaren: “So when our turn comes, we may rise thankfully from the table in the wilderness, which He has spread for us, having eaten as much as we desired, and quietly follow the dark-robed messenger whom His love sends to bring us to the happy multitudes that throng the streets of the city. There we shall find our true home, our kindred, our King. ‘So shall we ever be with the Lord.’”

III. The Blessing Passed (v. 11)
1. The promise realized by Abraham and confirmed by our Lord in that He blessed Isaac and
2. We see him at the site where he had dwelt before to continue his own life of fulness in the Lord.