Faith, Death, Heirs & Faithfulness

Take your Bibles this morning and let's turn to Genesis chapter 25. Genesis chapter 25, we'll be reading the first 18 verses. While you're turning there, I might say something. Last night, the LaRue Community Association had kind of a party down here and it was good. and they're selling another in their series of historical tapes on the town. And in this one, they emphasize the churches.

Of course, I was gone on vacation when they interviewed, they were supposed to interview me, but they interviewed Greg Field. And I think just looking at that is worth the price of the whole DVD. And then the extra bonus is Caroline Jones is also in there, and you can hear her tell her story as well. Well, with that, we're all at Genesis chapter 25. Will you follow along as I read the first 18 verses?

Abraham took another wife whose name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Yoqshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shua. Joqshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. sons of Dedan were Ashurim, Latushim and Lamumim sons of Midian were Ephah, Ephor, Hanak, Abedah and Adah all these were the children of Keturah Abraham gave all he had to Isaac but to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac eastward to the east country these are the days of the years of Abraham's life 175 years.

Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron, the son of Zophar, the Hittite east of Mamre, the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with Sarah, his wife. After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son, and Isaac settled at Bir Lahairoi.

These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar, the Egyptian Sarah's servant, bore to Abraham. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth. Nebaiot, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Kedar, Adbil, Mibsam, Mishma, Duma, Masa, Hadad, Tamah, Yitur, Nafish and Kedema these are the sons of Ishmael these are their names by their villages and by their encampments twelve princes according to their tribes these are the years of the life of Ishmael, 137 years, he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people they settled from Havilah to Shur which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria he settled over against all his kinsmen.

Let's pray. Father, now again, open your word to us that we might see the riches here that you have for us. Especially help us to see Jesus who shines in all of the word of God. We come now to you asking you to open our eyes so that we might live for you, that we might die for you in a way that is pleasing in Jesus name Amen One night I was heading home after spending the day in the office the back way what I call the back way is out this way and going out to LaRue Canton and then turning up Riley Road and then running my road across that's the back way and as I was going down LaRue Canton and I can still remember this day just as I was reaching Riley Road a thought occurred to me I have lived well over half of my life.

That is to say, there's a lot fewer years ahead of me than I have lived up to this point. Of course, that got me thinking. And another thought occurred to me, and that is this. I want to die well. I want to die well. What does it mean to die well? well our text this morning tells us how to die well now already some of you are thinking hang on pastor tim wait a minute this text records the genealogies of keturah and of ishmael and with the death of abraham sandwiched between them you must really been have and work hard to get that sermon out of this text this week.

Well, I honestly believe that the writer, as much as he did want to tell us history, wanted to tell us more than just history. But the way he wrote that history makes me think that he was after more than that in this text. For one thing, he did not have to include the genealogy of Keturah. It doesn't add anything to the story of Abraham other than telling us he had another wife and six other boys.

That's all it tells us. It doesn't really add that much to the story of Abraham except for the fact that it makes us, it makes you focus on Isaac. He wrote it so that our focus would be on Isaac. And then for another reason, this is not chronological. That is to say, these events do not follow immediately after Rebecca marries Isaac. It doesn't immediately follow after that.

For one thing Abraham was 140 years old when Rebecca married Isaac And if you think that he took Keturah as his wife after Sarah died and then had a whole bunch of more children they'd be more supernatural than even Isaac. Right? He'd have six supernatural children. Or seven, if you include Isaac among them. All of these sons would have been born after he was 140 years old, which means then that he must have been married to Keturah long before he died.

But she gets a mention here. I mean, she could have disappeared into obscurity. It wouldn't have made any difference. The concubines mentioned in verse 6, where it says that, but to the sons of his concubines, he's referring to his two other wives, Hagar and Keturah. another reason why I don't think this is chronological another reason why I don't think it's just history is because if you do the math Abraham lived to see the twins Jacob and Esau he lived to see their 15th birthday so he doesn't die immediately after Rebecca and Isaac get married he's around for quite a few more years after that.

So why is this here? If it's not merely chronology of Abraham's life, it means the writer wanted to make a point again. And I think he wanted to make a point about Abraham. And it has to do again with faith and faithfulness. Now, I ask this question. Do you want to die well?

Maybe you've never asked that question. I think it's a question we all need to ask. Do you want to die well? If you do, then aim for a death like Abraham's. If you want to die well, die believing the promises of God. If you want to die well, die believing the promises of God.

If you want to die well, die believing in a faithful God. I think those are the two lessons that we can take from this story, this record of the end of Abraham's life. We've been with him now for a long time as we've gone through the book of Genesis. And now he leaves the scene. He dies. So you have this obituary of his death right in the middle of these two genealogies.

Okay? Now, obviously, Abraham had three wives. we call that polygamy. Let's talk about that for a minute because I know those are the questions that are in your mind. Polygamy, that is, having more than one wife, was practiced by godly men in the Old Testament like Abraham and David and others. Now this was not God's original intention for marriage. We know that because Jesus himself says God's intention is one man, one woman through their entire life.

And through Jesus, God brings us back to that original intent. So how do we explain this polygamy? Well, you remember already in the book of Genesis that this perverted practice was introduced by Lamech, that violent and perverted man, and since his time, it became widely practiced. That's in Genesis chapter 4. But God in his dealings with men did not choose to confront this sin at that time.

He did not choose to confront it until the redemption that appeared in Jesus. In his wisdom, he did not confront all the sins of mankind all at once. Think about that for a moment. He didn't confront man about all his sins all at once, and he didn't tell everything there was to tell all at once. It took centuries and centuries and centuries of developing the story before we get the full impact of the redemption that Jesus brings.

In the same fashion, He doesn't confront all their sins at once. He doesn't say, here's the problem with mankind. The Bible would be thicker than it is now and we'd only have the first few eras of human history, right? So God, and you don't do this with your children, do you? Oftentimes when I'm counseling folks and we're sitting down and talking, they have these children that just seem to be out of control.

I say, I want you to write down all the things where you think your child is failing. Okay? And they come back with a list this long. So what do I tell them? Do I say, okay, now go back to your children and start going after them about that. Right?

No. I say, I want you to take the top four. What are the top four that you can start working on, that you can start helping them on? Let's just take the top four. All right? Same as with God.

He doesn't do it all at once. So he doesn't confront all of mankind's sin. he doesn't deal with it yet but when the law of Moses comes because of the hardness of men's heart all right the law was going to change their heart but the law regulated that polygamy and it regulated so that women who are in polygamous relationships whose lives depended on being married to someone he his law was written in such a way that no man could take advantage of any woman that he was married to. It was to protect the women in those relationships.

So God did regulate it. But with the coming of Jesus then, God restores the original plan for marriage. And so we have to deal with polygamy. He had three wives. All right? He had three wives.

You know what's interesting to me? Do you realize that men like Abraham and David, as godly as they were, could not be elders in this church? okay as godly as they were it wouldn be fit would not be properly equipped for ministry in a local church but again this is back when the children of God are in their youth This is when the people of God are in their infancy He's starting to work with mankind, with his own people, and so he doesn't deal with all the sins all at once. Having said that then, let's look at this.

So Abraham has several sons by Keturah. He has, in fact, six sons. Now, seven grandsons and three great-grandsons are also listed in order to help the Israelites who are on their way to the Promised Land, who are reading this or hearing this around their campfires, who see this can understand a little bit more about the people that are around them, such as the Midianites, whom they will come across in their journey.

So it gives them something. But it's not all about that. It's about this. it's that Abraham gave those six sons something, some gifts. He was a very wealthy man. The question, did he love those sons? And the answer is absolutely he loved those sons.

He made sure he gave them gifts. He made sure he did that. He was a wealthy man. But then he sent them away to the east country. Why? Why? because he believed the promise that God had made him that through Isaac shall your offspring be reckoned.

Through Isaac, no one else, just this one supernatural child that came to you through Sarah, he is the one through whom I will reckon all your offspring. He believed the promise that Isaac was the son of promise whose descendants would inherit that land. He believed that through Isaac, all the nations would be blessed and only through Isaac. And so He sent these other sons away.

Now look, He didn't send them away and say, get out of here. He provided for them before He sent them away. But He sent them away so that they would not pose a threat to Isaac. He sent them away so that there would be no question through whom God was working. And it was through Isaac, the son of promise. So in verse 6, what does it say?

It says, so Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. Abraham considered Isaac as the sole heir of the promised land and of God's promises, God's covenant. so you see this is not a mere genealogy but a record that God's promise dictated Abraham's actions to the very end of his life do you see that he has six other sons he provides for them but he sends them away why because he knew that God had told him It's through Isaac that I'll reckon your offspring. No one else.

This is the son of promise. He believed it. To the very end of his life he believed that promise. That promise dictated everything to the very end of his life. Abraham loved and provided for all his children, but there was no confusion in his mind about God's promise. And he didn't hedge his bets.

You notice that? That's the first thing that struck me. He did not hedge his bets giving his inheritance to some of the other sons just in case Isaac died before he had children or before maybe Isaac might abandon his faith. No, no. He believed that God would bring descendants through Isaac and it was through him that the blessings would come. He believed it to the end.

He didn't hedge his bets. Do you ever hedge your bets? I've heard people say to me, well, I'll try God's way. And if that doesn't work, then I'll do this. It's like, what? What are you talking about?

No, there's only one way. He didn't hedge his bets. He put it all in Isaac. All his hopes were pinned on Isaac. Why? Because God said, that's the one.

That's the one. And so the writer here is trying to get us to see that even though he had these other sons, he believed the promise of God to the very end of his life. If you want to die well, die believing the promises of God. Faith should be what characterizes you to the very end of your life. Do you believe His promises? Die believing those promises.

You know, God still operates the same way today. I want you to think about this. Abraham pins all his hopes on what God has promised with Isaac. God hasn't changed. You remember Peter and John in Acts chapter 3, they've healed a crippled man, and now they're hauled before the Jewish Supreme Council, the Sanhedrin, in order to give an account, in order to answer charges.

And do you remember what Peter said to the very ones who crucified Jesus? Do you remember what he said? Acts chapter 4 verse 12. Here's what he told them. And there is no salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. What is Peter saying?

You pin all your hopes on one person, and that's Jesus. Of course, he was only saying what his master Jesus had once said before, maybe a couple of years earlier, when Jesus himself said, I, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me You see a greater son of promise descended from Isaac that son of promise And God says to the end of your life your only hope is Him.

Pin all your hopes on Him. Don't hedge your bets. Right? You can't hedge your bets on this one, folks. It's all in Him, or it's nothing. Just like Abraham, so you.

Isaac's descendant is the son of promise. And he's the one that you have to cast everything on him. There's only one way. There's no hedge and bets. There's no... Yeah, I believe Jesus, but there's also...

No, it's all or nothing. Just like Abraham. Where are you placing your hope? Where are you placing your hope? where will your hope be on the day of your death? Some of you don't like what I'm saying right now. You don't like to think about the day of your death.

Some of you are only in your 20s. Some of you are in your 30s. You're not, if you will, at the halfway point. And there's some of us. We know we're past the halfway point. Right? but you don't even know if you're at the halfway point.

You could die tomorrow. If you would die well, then die believing the promise of God in Christ. He is the only hope. There's no hedging bets here. Where do you stand with him? Well, as we go on, you notice that in verses 12 through 18 that the writer takes up the genealogy of Ishmael.

In fact, he devotes an entire book to it. You say, what? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you remember the Toledotes? It's been a long time since we came across that. You remember the Toledotes?

Alright, Toledote. It's the Hebrew word for generation. These are the generations of. And that phrase always signals the beginning of another book. That is to say, this is the seventh book of the ten books that make up the entire book of Genesis. Okay?

We've just ended in verse 11. We've just ended the last book. Which was, these are the generations of Terah. And it tells the story of Terah's son Abraham. Now we have the seventh book. It's a very short one.

It's only verses 12 through 18. It's the seventh of the ten books. So here we have one of the short books. Now also recall the pattern of genealogies. Do you remember what we've seen? Those that play little or no part in the history of salvation are always mentioned first. and then they're ignored while the chief actors in the history of redemption take center stage and we hear their story.

You remember, for example, we saw first the genealogy of Cain and then Seth. Cain's genealogy, he's out of the story and now we follow Seth's line. Seth's line comes down through Noah. Then Noah has, after Noah, there are three more genealogies. You remember them? Ham, Japheth, and Shem.

So we hear about Ham's genealogy, Japheth's theology, and then they're out of the picture, and we follow Shem's line down. Shem then eventually comes to Terah. And under Terah then we have three genealogies. You remember? Abraham, Nahor, and Haran. Nahor and Haran are mentioned and then ignored.

And then we follow Abraham's line. And so that's what happens here. Now comes Ishmael and Isaac. We hear of Ishmael's important genealogy, but then we don't hear anything more. We hear a little bit later about Ishmaelites, but we don't hear any more about the genealogy. Then the genealogy of Isaac takes center stage.

And yet, yet Ishmael has a book. it's a Toledo why does he why unlike Keturah whose genealogy is just mentioned why does he get a book here's why you recall God had made some very special promises to a frightened little handmaiden by the name of Hagar God had made some special promises you remember turn back to chapter 16 you remember Sarah had driven her away and Abraham consented to it and she was there. This poor pregnant woman out in the desert. And the Lord sees her.

And we see in verse 10, the angel of the Lord also said to her, I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude. The angel of the Lord said to her, behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael because the Lord has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him.

And he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen. That is a clue to something. He gets special mention because God had made special promises to Hagar. That clues us into something. You know what it is? God is faithful.

God will keep his promises. This is non-elect line. This is not the line that God's going to bless, but it gets special mention. Why? Because God is going to remain faithful to his promises. So again, the story of Abraham is not It's not his faith, is it?

What else is it about? It's about the faithfulness of God in keeping his promises. And so here we are again with the faithfulness of God. Recount the promises of God to Abraham here. Look at chapter 17. Chapter 17, verses 4 and 5.

Behold, this is God speaking to Abraham. Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, for your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. Alright? So, when you read about the sons of Keturah, you notice, and you will see this later if you read through the rest of the Old Testament, you see that there are a number of nations mentioned there as a descendant of Abraham.

You see Ishmael is going to have descendants. And so he's the father of many nations. Noted here, he's the father. So God kept that promise. Look at chapter 17, verse 20. Another promise God made to Abraham.

As for Ishmael, I have heard you. behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly he shall father 12 princes and I will make him into a great nation what do we see in chapter 25 verse 16 these are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names by their villages and by their encampments 12 princes according to their tribes. So God fulfilled the promise. He gave Ishmael 12 sons, 12 rulers, 12 princes.

Alright? Look at chapter 15, verse 15. As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age. Alright? What do we find in the obituary notice here in chapter 25?

Abraham breathed his last and died what? In a good old age. Okay? These are the days of the years of Abraham's life. 175 years. Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age.

An old man and full of years and was gathered to his people. Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machphila and the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar, the Hittite east of Mamre. He was buried in peace. Note, again, notice. What did God say about Ishmael? He's just not going to get along with anybody.

He's not going to get along with anybody. In fact, in this very chapter, look at the very last verse verse 18 the very last phrase He settled over against all his kinsmen These 12 guys these 12 princes settled over against their kinsmen That is they didn get along with them But what happens here? Isaac and Ishmael at least get along long enough to bury their father in peace.

So he's buried in peace. And then, of course, remember that original promise that God was going to make Abraham's name great. And that's exactly what happened. And as we watch his story unfold, he dies under the blessing of God with a great name. So God is faithful to all his promises. But most of all, we can't forget this, most of all, God kept his word about a son coming through Sarah, a son of promise through whom all the blessings would flow.

25 verse 11. What does it say? After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son. God blessed Isaac. To the very end, God kept his promise. How is it that Abraham can be such an example of faith?

How is it? More to the point, how can you live a life of faith like Abraham? You know how? recount how God is faithful. Recount the faithfulness of God throughout the Scriptures. He kept all His promises to Abraham. He did.

We know that. He kept every one of His promises to Abraham. Keep reading the Old Testament. He keeps His promises to Jacob and Isaac and Joseph. He keeps His promises to Moses. How about Samuel and David and Hezekiah and Elijah and Elisha and Isaiah and on and on and on it goes.

God keeps His promises. Can you read in the Bible anywhere where God does not keep His promise? Show it to me. Whatever God says, He does. He never fails. Now, that alone should say, you know what, I think maybe I ought to trust God.

Don't you think? How many of you have a perfect record of faithfulness? Right? If you raise your hand, you're not faithful to the truth. I'll tell you that right now. But none of us has a perfect record of faithfulness.

God does. How can you live a life of faith? Can you recount your entire walk with God and see his faithfulness to you? Can you see his faithfulness? This is what, and a lot of you know me, you know I used to really struggle with worry. We all know the stories I've told about my worry days.

But one of the things that helped me was I facing something I starting to worry and I would stop and say okay Tim look back over all the years Look back over all the years that you walked with God Has God ever been unfaithful to you No Has everything turned out the way you wanted? No. But have they turned out ways that have helped you and helped you to grow?

Yeah. Has God been faithful to you in your walk with God? Has He been faithful to you? You know how you can live a life of faith? Recount the faithfulness of God in your lives. It's amazing when you look back.

But most of all, and this is what Genesis is about, most of all, He kept this promise. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Has he kept that promise? That promise was given to Abraham this way. Same promise.

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Fast forward. Fast forward another 700 years. Now the promise sounds like this. I will make you a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and His Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you, as he speaks to this servant of his that's yet to come.

And then the promise became this. She shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Has God kept that original promise? Yes, he has, hasn't he? You see, God is faithful. When Abraham faced death, he believed that God would remain faithful if you would die well die believing in a faithful God now whenever I drive down Riley Road I think of the day of my death how's that for a great way to go home every night every time I get on Riley Road I get off on the Rue Canton and turn right on Riley Road at that point I always think of the day of my death do you ever think of yours do you ever think of yours If you haven you should Because you cannot separate your death from your hopes And for certain, you can't separate your death from God.

If you would die well, die believing the promises of God, Do you believe of his promise of life in his son? Now, I don't know. I can't. I don't know all of you intimately. And you know what? I don't know what's going to happen to you.

Some of you right now at this very moment, some of you may be facing death. There's some chronic disease that's at work. And you may be facing death. Are you kind of shoving that? pushing it away? Are you thinking about that? Some of you unexpectedly may die before this time next year.

Right? Have you given any thought to that? Have you given any thought to the promise of God in His Son? if you would die well, die believing in a faithful God. He has proven his faithfulness. There's no doubt of God's faithfulness. When death arrives for you, will you trust the faithful one who sent a Redeemer?

Oh, I hope that all of us here today can say we can die well. Father, thank you for your word to us as we leave the life of Abraham. Again, you've reminded us of his faith and your faithfulness. But Father, this is not just some academic exercise. We can talk about Abraham's faith without ever discussing our own. We can treat the faithfulness of God like an academic subject.

But neither is that. Just like Abraham, we will face death. Help us to consider carefully our faith and Your faithfulness. Your Son, in which all the promises are held together. God help us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.