Til Death do us Part

“Til Death do us Part”

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This is the bible I use in weddings, when it comes time for the couple to exchange vows I say something like this, “Jared, John in taking this woman you hold by the hand to be your lawful wedded wife, do you solemnly promise before God and these witnesses that you will love, honor, and keep her in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others you will keep faithfully unto her, SO LONG AS YOU BOTH SHALL LIVE?....I DO!

Over 2 million people get married every year in America, over two million young men will ask they girlfriend “will you marry me”; but sadly 1 million of those couples will hear the words, I want a divorce.

Those four words are words that God never intends you to have to hear!

What happened to “Til death do us part” today it is “Til debt do us part, or disappointment, or disillusionment do us part”

I agree with Charles Swindoll who said, “There are two processes that should never be entered into prematurely: embalming and divorce."

Abraham and Sarah’s marriage is one of the great marriage stories of the Bible! They stayed together; until death parted them in this chapter.

In this chapter we attend the funeral of Sarah the wife of Abraham the father of the faith, the greatest example of faith in all of the bible.

He loved God, he trusted God, he walked with God; but his great love for God and his great faith in God did not keep heartache and death from coming into his life. And death and heartache will come into our lives as well; it rains on the just and the unjust. The key phrase in this chapter is “bury my dead” it occurs 10 times in this chapter.

-“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

No one is exempt from death and heartache; even Abraham the great man of faith. The love of his life has died, and we are going to stand beside him as he mourns her death and makes funeral arrangements.

How many of you have lost a loved one this year? Many of you; and for those of us who haven’t, our time is coming.

As we attend Sarah’s funeral, I want us to learn 3 facts about death:

1. Death Will Break your Heart!

V:1-2.

Look at Abraham, his heart is broken, Sarah is dead, and Abraham V:2-“Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her”

You are reading about a broken hearted man; it was a time of sadness and tears for him; YES it was a time of gladness for Sarah, she was in heaven.

She has exchanged her Bedouin tent for a home in heaven. She had been released from that old worn out body. It meant gladness for her, but it meant sadness for Abraham.

When you and I lose loved ones, though we know that they are in heaven and it's best for them, it doesn't take away the pain and the grief we experience when we lose loved ones, especially a spouse or a child.

Abraham is old now, I picture him with gray hair and a long bread.

V:2-“ Abraham came to mourn for Sarah…

The word mourn means-to lament, to tear the hair and beat the breasts, to wail loudly. That is the way they did it back then. To them it was a sign of great love and great loss, their grief was expressive.

Then we are told he wept for her, tears begin to flow from his eyes, down his face. The fountain of tears broke open and he weeps, sobs over the lifeless, dead body of his wife. Perhaps he reaches down and touches her face and kisses her, but she is gone.

This is the first mention of tears in the Bible.

But it will not be the last, it is the beginning of a fountain of tears that flow all the way through the Bible.

We live in a world of sickness, sorrow, death and heartache, because we live in a fallen, sinful world.

Don’t blame God for the sickness, sorrow and death, blame sin!!

When death comes, heartache and tears come; never tell someone who is broken hearted not to cry. There are people that think Christians are not to shed tears; that it shows a lack of faith, are it is a sign of weakness. That is not true!

The most courageous men in the Bible shed tears; Jeremiah, the great prophet of God was a man of tears, he said his eyes were a fountain of tears over the people of Israel, he knew what it was to weep. Paul, the most brilliant mind the Christian faith ever produced and yet Paul knew what it was to shed tears.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the mighty Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Strong Son of God shed tears. We are told three times in the New Testament that Jesus shed tears, one of those times was at the tomb of is friend Lazarus.

The bible says that we sorry, BUT not as those who don’t have HOPE. We have hope, but we have tears as well. It is normal, health and right to shed tears when someone you love has gone to heaven.

But tears, be they many, are be they few, are not a gage of your love for that person.

Don't let them be tears of bitter regret. Don't shed tears and say, "oh, I wish I had or I wish I had not." Don't let your tears represent mistakes that you have made in your relationship with that loved one whose had died.

Let them be tears of gratitude and tears of appreciation, like Abraham’s where.

Abraham mourned and wept over his wife, what did his tears speak of?

Tears of a happy marriage, Tears over a great spouse, tears of a sad goodbye.

V:1-“Sarah was 127 years old, these where the years of the life of Sarah”

That puts Abraham at 137 years old; he and Sarah had been in the Land of Canaan for over 60 years.

If they got married at 20 years old, they had been married 100 years when she died.

We know that Sarah was a beautiful woman outwardly, but Peter tells us she was also a beautiful woman inwardly;

-“Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.

Sarah was a beautiful woman outwardly and inwardly, she had a gently and quiet spirit, she was submissive and respected Abraham. She followed his leadership in their marriage. She supported him throughout their life together.

She left Ur and went to Canaan, she followed him all over Canaan land, she followed him down into Egypt, and into Philistine country.

She was commitment to Abraham through the good times and the bad times; he made some big mistakes in their marriage.

He told her to tell the Pharaoh she was his sister; God had to save her from that disaster. Yet she followed him and loved him.

They were not like the couple who were having a conversation, and the husband said to his wife, "Will you love me when I'm old and gray?"

She said, "I will not only love you, I will write to you wherever you are."

Abraham made plenty mistakes, but she forgave him and they stayed together, she was commitment to her man!

She was not perfect either, she had talked Abraham into sleeping with Hagar that was terrible advice from Sarah. But she also gave him good council when she told him to send away Ishmael. If would be good for you to listen to your wife every now and then.

They had conflict in their marriage, they had problems; but they made it to their 100 year anniversary not by chance, but by choice!

They stayed together "till death did them part."

They had lived together, loved together, laughed together, learned together, but they would no longer be together on this earth; Sarah had died.

Abraham sheds tears because he would miss the love of his life, the mother of his son Isaac, his companion on the journey of faith.

Sarah was as much a woman of faith as Abraham was a man of faith; -“Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

Abraham had a wife that loved God and walked by faith just like he did; he wouldn’t have been the man he was without her! He couldn’t have been the father of the Jewish nation without Sarah!!

-“Whoso finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of the LORD.

-“Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that fears the LORD, she shall be praised.

We are praising Sarah today, not because she was beautiful, but because she feared the Lord. The only beauty that really lasts is inward beauty. Outward beauty eventually fades for every woman.

Beauty is skin deep, ugly goes to the bone, beautify fades, ugly holds it’s on”

If you have a wife, or a husband that loves God, that Knows God, that fears God, let them know how much you love and appreciate them!! Give them Roses while they live!

The Death of Sarah broke his heart, he showed his love and grief by his tears. He knew she was with God, absent from the body present with the Lord.

Abraham was not weeping for Sarah, he was weeping for himself.

He had had a happy marriage, Sarah was a great wife and mother to Isaac. It is hard to say goodbye to someone you have spent your whole life with.

When you stand over the body of your spouse, make sure you don’t have any regrets!

You do that by making wise, godly decisions today!

One of these days, Revelation 7:21-"God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."

You may weeping today but one of these days God is going to wipe away your tears.

If you’re going to have a happy, successful, lasting marriage; it is going to take hard work and effort and God in the middle of your relationship to make it happen!

The glue that holds your marriage together is God.

God had kept them together, and what God has joined together, no man should put asunder.

Abraham is a broken hearted man as he stands over Sarah’s dead body. Death will break your heart!

Second fact about death:

2. Death gives us an Opportunity to Testify!

V:3-6.

The valleys of life give us our greatest opportunities to be a witness of the hope we have in Jesus Christ!

V:3-4-“And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke 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.

Abraham is living among pagan, Hittite people; he has been building altars and worship the true and living God. And now he has the opportunity to testify of the difference that Jehovah God makes in your life when death comes into your life.

He already has a good testimony among the people of the land, they call him, V:5- A mighty prince”

Abraham had built tremendous respect on the part of the lost people who were around him. These Hittites did not worship Abraham’s God, but they respected Abraham and his faith

It is so important for us to have a good testimony; that the unsaved and unchurch know that we love Jesus and walk with him. That we walk the talk!!

Abraham has the opportunity to testify of the reality of his faith in the true and living God.

The death of Sarah gave him the opportunity to testify of several truths:

· Sorry is not forever.

V:3-“Abraham stood up from before his dead”

There is a natural sorrow that everyone expects us to have when death comes to those we love, but there is also a supernatural grace that God gives so that we might have joy in the midst of sorrow. The unsaved can tell the difference, and this gives us opportunity for sharing the good news of the Gospel. There is a difference between the sorrow of a believer and the sorrow of someone who is not a Christian. Have you ever been to a funeral where there were no believers in the family? I had conducted the funeral service of people had no testimony of knowing Jesus, and there family was not saved and it is tragic!!

There sorry is without hope, it is a goodbye forever!! There are no words that can console them. Christians sorrow but it is a sorry with hope, one day we will sorrow no more! Our sorrow is temporary.

He testifies that:

· This world is not our home.

V:4-“ I am a strange and a sojourner with you”

This terminology is picked up in the New Testament where we are told that we are strangers and pilgrims in this world. This is not our home, we are just passing through this world on our way to heaven.

-“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

This body we live in is called a tent in

, and one day we will move out of this tent, we are only camping down here, our permanent home is in heaven. Don’t drive your tent stakes down too deep in this world.

He testifies that:

· The grave is not the end.

Most of this records the details of Abraham buying the cave of Machpelah to bury Sarah in. When you get to the end of Genesis, you find that this tomb is quite full. Sarah was buried there, and then Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah and then Jacob joined them. And then Joseph would say on his death bed take my bones to Canaan.

Abraham stood by that grave, but he KNEW that was not the end of the road for Sarah, or himself.

-“By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles 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.

At that tomb, he was looking beyond that place to a city not make with hands eternal in the heavens!!

When you stand by the grave side of a loved one, remember that that is not the end of the road.

Genesis ends with a full tomb, but the four Gospels end with an empty tomb! Jesus has conquered death and taken away its sting. Because of His victory, we need not fear death or the grave.

When Jesus comes in the rapture, I am going to be “Wanted dead or Alive” I am going to experience a change in the twinkling of the eye; and I am going to say, goodbye world goodbye!!

When loved ones die it's an opportunity for us to give testimony of the power of the gospel, because Jesus rose from the grave so will we!

Third fact about death:

3. Death does not Eliminate God’s Promises!

V:19-“So Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre; the same is Hebron in the Land of Canaan”

When Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah for a tomb, he was making a statement of faith to all who were there. He did not take Sarah back to their former home but buried her in the land God promised to given him and his descendants.

The only piece of the promise Land that Abraham ever own was a grave, but he knew that all the land was going to belong to his family, because that is what God told him!!

When Abraham buries Sarah in the cave of Machpelah, he was doing it by faith in the promises of God.

God promised him the land, so he buried Sarah there, her death, and burial did not eliminate the promise of God, that a nation will come from you, Canaan land will be yours, and through you will all the families of the earth be blessed!

Just as Abraham brought the cave in faith and hope, we too have a hope beyond this life.

Death does not eliminate the promises of God.

We lay hold of the promises of God of all He has in store for those that love him and that gives us strength and comfort in times of sorrow. It was focusing on the eternal that keeps you from despair in the trails of life.

God will keep His promises.

· He has Promised to Rapture His church.

Jesus said, , "I go to prepare a place for you and if I go, I will come again and receive you unto myself.

You can put your trust in that promise that one of the days He'll come.

· He has promised a resurrected the dead.

-“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Paul told the Christians in that church, don’t worry about your loved ones that have died, Jesus has a plan for them, the Resurrection!! And He has a plan for you if you are alive when He comes.

· He has Promised a Reunion in heaven.

We will be caught up together to meet them in the air. We are going to see our loved ones again.

Will we know our loved ones in heaven? Of course, we are. We are going to have more sense in heaven than we have down here.

Heaven is not a subtraction. Heaven is an addition. One of these days that loved one you have lost, you will see them again. That dear old dad, or mom, that spouse, child you buried with a broken; your going to see them again. There will be reunion, the word of God promises us.

When Jesus was talking to the Sadducees about the resurrection He said,

-“And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spoke unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.

Jesus is telling us all the promise of God are not fulfilled in this lifetime, the promise of God extend into the life to come, demanding a resurrection for them to be fulfilled.

There is life beyond the grave, the best is to come for the child of God!! When death comes for a child of God.

We sorry, but not as those who have no hope!

We give testimony to the salvation and eternal life we have in Jesus!

We know that the promises of the future are sure!

The only way to face death, is by Knowing the Lord of Life- Jesus Christ who overcame the grave!

Do you know Him as your savior and lord; if not come today and receive everlasting life, so when death comes to you are you loved one, you are ready to go!

Jim Liffick- I AM READY TO GO TO HEAVEN!!

Are You??