Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to Genesis 24. Genesis 24. I'm always reminded of the passage
where the Lord told the two of them to row to Emmaus concerning
the scriptures. Beginning at Moses, and all the
prophets, He expounded unto them and all the scriptures things
concerning himself. Now, I want us to begin this
24th chapter. I'm going to try to deal with
the first nine verses. This chapter is a chapter that
sets forth the truth of how the Lord gathers his bride. How he does it. You know he does
it. You know it's not left to chance
or man's will, you know that. How does he do it? And this truth is set forth in
a conversation that takes place between Abraham and his eldest
servant. It's a conversation that deals
with Abraham's heart concerning a bride for Isaac. But it's a
picture in this conversation that sets forth the glory of
God in the rescue. In the rescue. of every vessel
of God's mercy. Everything, if we think back,
everything concerning the salvation of God's elect is being declared
in this book of Genesis. This book right here. You take
this book right here. This is a declaration of the
whole scriptures right here. Lord give us eyes to see it. God's people's got to have a
substitute. They gotta have a redeemer. They gotta have somebody that's
gonna die for them that God accept. That somebody is somebody. That's the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They need one to take their place. Where do we see that? God told
Abraham, he said, I want you to take your son, your only son
Isaac, the one whom you love, and I want you to take him to
the place that I'm gonna show you. and you sacrifice him there
to me." Abraham got the stuff ready.
He got Isaac, wood, fire, two servants, and they left that
next morning early. They got to the place. Abraham said to the servants,
you stay here. The lad and I are going to go
up yonder and we're going to worship God. He put that boy on that
altar. He bound him, put him on that
altar, raised his hand up with that knife in it, and God stopped
him. That's where we was taught, right there. God said, don't
lay your hand to that boy. Look at this ram right here.
He took a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. He put that ram
on there. There we saw where God Almighty
bore the guilt in the person of his blessed son in himself
and laid down his life for his sheep. They got to have a place
of eternal rest. Before we see that, Abraham was
going to buy a cave, the cave of Machpelah. He was going to
pay the full price for the purchase of that cave. That cave was a
picture of Christ the rock in whom we're hidden. You notice
how many people of those like Abraham, vessels of God's mercy,
that God had buried in that same place, in the cave of Machpelah,
were all God's sheep buried in Christ, in our haven of rest,
the city of refuge. That's where we are. We see these
things. God paid their debt, prepared
a place of eternal rest for them, and now we're gonna see in this
chapter how He's gonna call them out. All things have been done,
finished, the scripture says, from before the foundation of
the world, finished. So here's what's happening. this morning.
God's calling out his people. It meant that God's called all
over this world, preaching the gospel. That's how God's gonna
call them. What's gonna happen? Well, we're
going to behold this in this conversation. It says in verse
one, Genesis 24, and Abraham was old and well stricken in
age. And the Lord had blessed Abraham
in all things. He's about 140 years old. And
the scripture declares he'd been blessed everything, everything. Genesis chapter 13 verse two
says how the Lord blessed him materially. Genesis 13 too, and
Abraham was very rich in cattle and silver and gold. He had this
world's good. He had it. God had him. And those things didn't have
Abraham. God kept him from it. Abraham had the Lord. Look at
Genesis 15, verse one. What'd he say to Abraham? Genesis
15, one. After these things, the word
of the Lord came unto Abraham, or Abram, in a vision, saying,
fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. He was blessed in all things.
Verses two to four in Genesis 24, and Abraham said unto his
eldest servant of his house that ruled over all that he had, put,
I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and I will make thee swear
by the Lord, the God of heaven, the God of earth, that thou shalt
not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites
among whom I dwell, but thou shalt go unto my country, to
my brethren, our kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. Now, according to Abraham's word,
Isaac was going to have a bride. And she was going to be found
in a way that magnified the deep and blessed counsel of God. Abraham's a type. He's a type,
he's a picture of the father. The Lord Christ is going to have
his bride according to the will of the Father. And this is in
covenant mercy. Who chose the bride according
to the scriptures? The Father. Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only begotten
Son, eternal generation of the Son. In covenant mercy, the Father
chose a people, and He gave them to the Son, who in covenant mercy
would redeem them. The kingdom of heaven, this is
according to Matthew 22 too, the kingdom of heaven is like
unto a certain king which made a marriage, prepared a marriage. for his son. So these things
are written for our understanding and learning. So here, Abraham,
he says to his eldest servant that ruled over his house, he
said, I want you to put your hand under my thigh, and I want
you to swear to me. You're gonna make him swear to
you. God is going to have a people
of his love and affection. He gave them to the Son, then
He gave, according to John 17, He gave all power to the Son,
that the Son should give eternal life to as many as the Father
has given Him. So, Brother Scott used to say,
who's running this show anyway? God is. God is. So there's going
to be a covenant. Abraham tells his eldest servant,
I want you to put your hand under my thigh and I want you to swear
by the God of heaven and the God of the earth concerning taking
a wife from my son that you're not going to take from the daughters
of the Canaanites. I want you to go find a bride.
Now this practice, I read as much as I could read on that,
and I don't think anybody completely agreed, but obviously it was
a practice, according to them, that was of the making of a binding
oath. I want you to swear by God Almighty,
put your hand under my thigh and swear that you're gonna do
my bidding, swear by Him who rules over all. Don't you take,
don't you go get a wife, my son, out of the daughters of Canaanites.
Now let me ask you this, where did that come from? Where did
all that, when he said don't take it, hold your place right
there and turn back to Genesis 9, where'd that come from? Well, in Genesis 9, it came back
from whenever the flood was, water had gone back and the ark
is settled and Noah comes out. Look at verse 18. Now they've
come out of the ark, Noah and his wife and his three sons and
their wife. Verse 18, chapter 9, and the sons of Noah that
went forth of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Ham
is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah,
and of them was the whole earth overspread. And Noah began to
be a husbandman. He planted a vineyard. He drank
of the wine and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his
tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the iniquitousness
of his father and told his two brethren without." Look at verse 25. came to awaken. He said, cursed
be Canaan, a servant of servants, shall he be unto his brethren.
I'm not gonna go back and re-preach that message. If you wanna see
it, it's Genesis chapter nine. Go back, it's on record. But
these are setting forth those that are left to themselves,
reprobates, left to themselves, cursed, cursed of God. He said, I want you to go get
a wife for my son. And don't go among the cursed. Now let me ask you this. God
has people. And she's not among the cursed. She's not among those that are
cursed, that are left of God to themselves. That's what the
word reprobate means. Left to themselves. Left to themselves. Abraham said, you go to the place,
don't go to the Canaanites back in Genesis 24. Verse four said,
but thou shalt go unto my country, into my kindred, and take a wife
unto my son. You go back to the place where
God was pleased to show mercy to me. Let me ask you this now,
spiritually speaking, where is the country of the Lord today. Abraham said, this is where I
want you to go look. You go under my country. Where is the bride
found today? What did the Lord say to his
disciples? Mark 16, 15 says this. You go
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. This world is the Lord's. The earth is the Lord's. That's
his country. Earth is the Lord's in the fullness
thereof. And who are the kindred? I want
you to go and I want you to find one or find a wife. You go to
my country, you go to my kindred. Who are the kindred of the people?
Hold your place, turn to Matthew 12. Matthew chapter 12. I'll
tell you who the kindred are. Here's the kindred of the Lord.
Matthew chapter 12. Matthew 12, verses 46 to 50. While he yet talked to the people,
behold, his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak
with him. Then one said unto him, behold, thy mother and thy
brethren stand without desiring to speak unto thee. And he answered
and said unto him that told him, who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And
he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, Behold,
my mother and my brethren, for whosoever shall do the will of
my Father which is in heaven. Now, what is the will of the
Father that you believe? That's the will of the Father
that you believe. For whosoever shall do the will
of my Father which is in heaven, the same as my brother, my sister,
my mother. So where is the country of the
Lord? This whole world. And who are
we looking for? We're looking for his kindred.
We're looking for his brethren. We're looking for them. That's
what we're doing. So the servant, he's back in Genesis 24, this
servant says, now I want you to, you go and you take a wife
unto my son. How's he gonna do it? He's gonna
go looking for, and he's gonna, he's gonna, he's gonna, He's
going to have to tell her something he's looking for. He's going
to have to say something. Lord willing, we'll look at this
as this chapter progresses. We'll see what he said. But I
can tell you this, as we're looking for the bride of Christ, I know
who I'm looking for. I'm looking for God's elect.
I know who I'm looking for. Where is she? She's somewhere.
She's somewhere in this world. What I'm doing is I'm going to
tell her something. I'm going to tell her about the
Lord Jesus. This servant was going to have
to tell somebody about Isaac. That's what he's going to have
to do. He's going to have to tell her something about Isaac. And here he's going
and he's going to have to find this bride. And Abraham's thought
is continually on Isaac for his good, and the Heavenly Father's
will and purpose in the calling out of the bride is for the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That in the ages, Ephesians 2,
7, to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace
and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. So here's where
we are. Abraham calls his eldest servant.
He said, put your hand under my thigh and swear by God Almighty
that you're going to go and find a wife for my son and don't you
go, don't you go to the cursed. That you go back to my land and
you go back to my kindred and you find a wife for my son. Now here's his servant. Verse 24, listen to this question
he's going to ask. Now he hadn't sworn yet. He's
telling him you're going to swear, but he hadn't sworn yet. Verse
5 says, And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman
will not be willing to follow me into this land. Must I need
bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?
Now you think of the implication here. I want you to go find a
wife for my son. And I want you to find her where
I tell you to find her. And I want you to go and find
a wife for my son that, number one, doesn't even know she's
being sought out. She don't know that. One that, you know, probably
never heard of, never seen, never heard anything about Him. All
she's going to know is what this servant tells her about the Son. That's all she's going to know. But is that not the way the Lord
calls out His sheep? How many of God's sheep knew
that they were being sought out? None. None. until they're sought
out and regenerated, they're dead. They don't know that. They don't know that. They don't
know they're being sought out. How many of them had ever heard of
Him and seen Him with new eyes? Knew anything about Him? None
of them. None of them. But I can tell you this, in the
day of God's power, they're going to come. Thy people shall be
willing. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Everything that they're going
to know is going to come from what they hear. Faith cometh
by hearing. Hearing by the word of God. Well,
this servant asked this question. Well, what if she's not willing
to come? What if she's not willing to
come? Do you want me to and if she's not willing to come,
do you want me to get Isaac and bring him back from whence you
came? Is there, I mean, do I have any
leeway right here? Is there anything, I mean, is
there an alternative to this? And, you know, I got to thinking
about this a few minutes ago before I preached this message
earlier this morning. And I, I want to consider a moment
for the implication of that question. For adventure the woman is not
willing to follow me unto this land. Must I need bring thy son
again unto the land from which you came, Abraham? Turn with
me to Joshua 24, while you turn in there, Joshua 24, and I want
you to consider Just where did Abraham come from? Someone says,
well, he came out of Ur of the Chaldees. No, I mean a little
bit more than that. Where did he come from? Joshua
24, one to three, and Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel
to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel and for their
heads and for their judges and for their officers and they presented
themselves before God. And Joshua said unto the people,
thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other
side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham
and the father of Nechor, and they served other gods. And I took your father, Abraham,
from the other side of the flood and led him throughout all the
land of Canaan and multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac. Now let me ask you something.
Where did Abraham come from? Where did we all come from? We
came from that place of worshiping idols. That's where we came from. What was Abraham doing when God
called him? He was worshiping other gods. He was worshipping actually himself. Free will, free will, free will. Some little old gods that were
created by man's imagination. Now, here's the question. If
the woman is not willing to come based on what she hears me say
concerning the son, should I, do I have any leeway to take
Isaac and bring him back to where you came from? You know what
you're saying right now in your heart? No way. No way. If somebody's not willing to
come to Christ, can I change things a little bit? Can I just
tell them, say, look, now, if you just don't want to go to
hell, come down here, walk down here and shake my hand. And I'll
utter a little prayer for you, and you just repeat what I say.
And then after you've repeated that, you're saved. You're sure
for heaven as if you're already there. Is there any way, do I
have any kind of leeway whatsoever? Verse six, and Abraham said unto
him, beware. Beware that thou bring not my
son thither again. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Verse 7 and 8, the Lord God of
heaven, is what Abraham is saying to his servant, which took me
Where'd I come from? He took me from my father's house. He delivered me out of that mess. And from the land of my kindred,
and which spake unto me, and that swear unto me, saying, Unto
thy seed will I give this land. He shall send his angel before
thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. And
if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, And thou shalt
be clear from this my oath, only bring not my son thither again. Did that just do something for
you? You say, Lord, thank you. Thank you for the surety that
your bride is going to come to you. She's going to come willingly.
She's going to come by faith. She's going to come from what
she hears, from the servant's scent of the Father. I'll give
you pastors after my heart and they will teach you. Again, faith
cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. He said, you
beware, you beware that you don't bring my son back to where I
came from. Paul the apostle said, he said, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel. It's the power of God and salvation. Listen to what
he said, 1 Corinthians 9, 16. For though I preach the gospel,
I have nothing to glory of concerning myself. For necessity is laid
upon me. Woe is unto me. Damnation. Woe. If I preach not the gospel, how's
the bride going to come? I'll tell you exactly how she's
going to come. She's going to come through the hearing of the gospel.
2 Thessalonians 2, 13, 14, we're bound to give thanks all
the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, wherein, too, he called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The vessels of God's mercy are
gonna hear the gospel They're going to hear the truth of the
gospel. God doesn't save people under a false gospel. He doesn't
save them by preaching where Abraham and all of us came from.
Free will. Idle worshipers. The Spirit of
God is going to cross their path. He's going to remove that heart
of stone and give them a new heart. In verse 9, I'm going
to stop right here. And the servant, he heard what
Abraham said. And he put his hand onto the
thigh of Abraham, his master, and he swore to him concerning
that matter. God's preachers have a heart
for that. God gives them a new heart. God delivered them out of that,
and the only reason they don't go back to where they came from
is because God keeps them by power. They're kept by the power
of God. That's why I want you to go get
my boy, my wife. Don't you go to Canaanites. Don't
you go to the cursed. You go to my land, you go to
my kindred. What if she won't come? Bring
your boy back to where you came from. Beware, beware. He said the spirit of God's gonna
go before you. He's gonna prepare the way. He's
gonna prepare the way. He'll make, he'll open up. You
preach what I tell you to preach, and I'll take care of that. And
that, sir, I swore to him. I pray God bless this to our
heart, for Christ's sake.