Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God, the readings on the second page of your hymn
sheets. Reading is from Genesis chapter
24 and we're reading from verse 12 through to 28. This is the account of Abraham
who has sent his servant to obtain a wife for his son Isaac and
our reading is where the servant is praying to the Lord at the
well and records his answer as well. So from verse 12, Genesis
chapter 24 and from verse 12 And he said, O Lord God of my
master Abraham, I pray thee send me good speed this day, and show
kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well
of water, and the daughters of the men of the city come out
to draw water. And let it come to pass that
the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray
thee, that I may drink, and she shall say, Drink, and I will
give thy camel's drink also. Let the same be she that thou
hast appointed for thy servant Isaac. And thereby shall I know
that thou hast showed kindness unto my master." And it came
to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out,
who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor
Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And the damsel
was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her.
And she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came
up. And the servant ran to meet her,
and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.'
And she said, Drink, my lord. And she hasted, and let down
her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. And when she
had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy
camels also, until they have done drinking. And she hasted
and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto
the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. and the man
wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the Lord had made
his journey prosperous or not. And it came to pass, as the camels
had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half
a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels'
weight of gold, and said, Whose daughter art thou, tell me, I
pray thee, is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge
in? And she said unto him, I am the
daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milca, which ye bear unto
Nahor. She said moreover unto him, We
have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in. And the man bowed down his head,
and worshipped the Lord, And he said, Blessed be the Lord
God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master
of his mercy and his truth, I being in the way. The Lord led me to
the house of my master's brethren, and the damsel ran and told them
of her mother's house these things." Thus far the reading of God's
holy word. And the word that I desire to
speak to you on is in the end of verse 27. It's on the front
of your sheets as well. The words, I being in the way,
the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren. This is the account, as we said,
of Abraham, who was old, sending his servant to obtain a wife
for his son Isaac. A very important task. The servant would have really
realised that the promises that were given to Abraham, that they
were bound up with Isaac, and whoever Isaac was to marry, then
those descendants would be in the line to the promised seed
of the woman, they would be in the line to Christ. And so this
was a very, very important mission that he had. Some of you may
look back and may remember times similar that you have been given
tasks or things that you had to do and accomplish and the
weight, the responsibility the realization of what was before
you, how you would have tremblingly ventured in this, is to know
how to go about that matter. Well, with Abraham's servant,
he was having to travel some 500 miles mobbing away he had
never been before and to Abraham's kindred going to Haran where
Nahor had lived and there to obtain a wife and so we read
here as he comes into that area and comes into Haran then how
that he sought to make this a real matter of prayer. And he lays
it before the Lord, and often really marvel at the pattern
of prayer. He tells the exact situation,
where he is, what his mission is, and asks for those tokens
that he might know that the Lord has answered his petition. And so he is able to really clearly
identify where the Lord has appeared for him and answered his petition. Well, there's three things that
I just want to briefly bring before you, and really they're
in the words of the text. The first point is being in the
way, being in the way. And then the second point, the
Lord led me. and the third point, the house
of my master's brethren. And even before we speak on these
things, may these three points be a meditation for you each
during this day, being in the way, the Lord led me, the house
of my master's brethren." Those three beautiful headings, beautiful
subjects in this text that no doubt each one of you can go
back over your lives and fill in how that the Lord has answered
your prayers and blessed you as well as Abraham's servant. being in the way. Seldom does
the Lord give all the information at the beginning when he sends
us on a path. With Abraham himself, he was
called to go out of Ur of the Chaldees into a place that the
Lord would tell him of. He had to begin his journey before
he knew where the end of it would be. That's very unusual for us,
isn't it? Usually if we're going to go
somewhere, We plan very carefully the journey so that we know where
we're going to go in the end. But how the Lord bids His dear
people that they venture in the way before they know the end
of it. You know Jacob, when later on
when he left home, he went out again. Yes, he was going to go
to this same place, but he again had to be led and directed When
Abraham later on with Isaac was to offer up Isaac on the altars
before this time, then it was that God said to him to go and
to a mount that I will tell thee of. And again, he goes three
days journey before he knows exactly where is the mount and
where it shall be. And the people of God, they walk
a path where they venture. They walk a path where they are
led, where they are directed in. But we're not to, as it were,
stay at home or not venture. because we have unanswered things
along the way. May that be an encouragement
to us. You might have things today and
you think, well, I don't know where this is going to end. I
don't know the end of the matter. I don't know what the end of
this trial or this sickness or this afflictive path or this
particular thing in providence will be. Well, Abraham's servant
did not know the particulars and the end of the way. Dear
Jacob, later on, if he'd have known how it was to be that they
were to go into Egypt, that it should be that he should lose
his son, think that he died, and Joseph be hidden from him
for twenty years, He did not know how the Lord would bring
that apart. And the Lord did not tell him,
did not show him beforehand. He had to venture. So may we
be held to be venturing people. The most important thing is that
we be obedient. to the Lord, and that we be in
the way, in a gospel sense. The Lord Jesus Christ says, I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by me. May we be in that way. May we be in the way of truth. May we be in the way of the Bible,
the word of God. Order my footsteps, says the
psalmist, in thy word, let not any sin have dominion over me. May we be in the way of prayer,
and that we live a life of faith and prayer, day by day, walking
step by step, or running the race that is set before us, as
Paul says, looking unto Jesus. But bless the Lord if this morning
we can say we are in the way. God has put us in the way. He's put us in the way when He's
called us by grace, when He's given us the new birth, when
He's revealed His dear Son and drawn us from the world and to
seek after Him. Bless the Lord if this morning
finds us to be in the way, though we may have many things we don't
understand, may fear very much, but the blessing of being in
the way, that is a wonderful blessing to be in. Abraham's
servant, he says, being in the way. Well the second thing is
that while being in the way, the Lord led me. While he was actually on that
journey, while he was travelling, then the Lord was leading him
and directing him. We're not told any specific ways
and instructions as to where, and sometimes with us in our
lives we don't know why we've made certain choices, why we've
decided to go one way instead of another way. What has directed
us to be in the place where we are found to be. Sometimes the
many things hang upon what seems to be just a whim or just a sudden
change of plan. Sometimes it might be another
person is sick or unwell and because of that we have to take
their place and that then shapes the course of where we be not
just for that year but the next year and another year those things
that many events in our lives have hung upon and we cannot
but realize that the Lord has led us and of course with the
servant here He was led in a very specific way, we'll come to that
in our last point. But those things in our lives,
and may it be that you can review your lives this morning, how
the Lord has led you, when maybe the Lord provided you years ago
with a husband or a wife, or whether he led you from a field
maybe of spiritual labour perhaps in London and then to a country
chapel or to a different field of labour where you or your husband,
you together have ministered for many, many years. Then to
move from your home to the pilgrim home, or many steps in between
that time, can we look upon these ways and be able to say, the
Lord led me. Joining with this servant is
a beautiful testimony, isn't it? To fill in that in your lives,
what has been done, and to say, the Lord led me. This was not
my choice. This was not my way. but the
Lord's way. And in John 10, we have the Lord
as the good shepherd. When he puts forth his sheep,
he goes before them, and he leads them forth by the right way,
that they might go to a city of habitation. All of the Lord's
dear people are led, and at last it shall be to heaven at last. Father, I will that they whom
thou hast given me Be with me where I am, that they may behold
my glory. Well, the last point is where
he was led. The house of my master's brethren. Now, with Abraham's servant,
it was in a literal sense. Abraham had a brother called
Nahor, and his wife was Milcah. Their son was Bethuel. He would have been the cousin
then, the first cousin to Isaac. And Bethuel then has Rebekah,
and it is Rebekah that is to be Isaac's wife. That was in a literal sense with
him, very important. He had been brought exactly where
the Lord would have him to go and to Abraham's kindred. But
thinking of it in a spiritual sense, beautiful words really
that dear Joseph said when he was seeking his brethren and
found wandering in the field, I seek my brethren. The Lord
Jesus Christ has brethren, his dear brethren. And it is a blessed
thing where the Lord works in our hearts and we desire then
to seek the brethren of the Lord. John in his epistle says we know
that we have passed from death unto life in that we love the
brethren. I wonder how much we can look through
in our lives and see how the Lord has brought us from one
group of brethren to another group of brethren, in my case
it might be, as it was, from one side of the world to another,
in yours, from one place in this land to another place, a place
of worship, a place in your home, you may feel, I hope you do,
at the pilgrim home there. that how the Lord has brought
you there and brought this to be, as it were, your last home
here below, that the Lord has led you to the house of your
master's brethren and that you dwell amongst the brethren. It
is a blessed thing to realise that and to love the people of
God and to have communion and to have fellowship with them.