Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to Genesis 24. Genesis 24. This precious chapter
has been so on my heart, I'm just taking it and I plan to,
Lord willing, in the second service, continue in this particular chapter. But I want to take it verse by
verse. This chapter is a glorious chapter. of a type and figure,
a shadow, of how God Almighty calls out His people in regenerating
grace. And it is absolutely a blessed
chapter, revealing to us, His people, what God has done and
is doing for us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham's
servant has come to a well in a place that the angel of the
Lord, according to verse 7, the angel would direct and lead,
and he's come to this well. And he's there to try to find
a wife for Isaac, Abraham's son. He's gotten to the well, and
he sought the Lord's leadership. He's prayed and asked God's purpose
to be known, and he's asked specifically. And he said, let the woman be
willing to give water not only to myself, but also to the camels. Now let's consider something
of this blessed verse of Scripture. I'm going to look at one verse,
verse 15 this morning, and then Lord willing next time, 16, 21,
22, something like that. But he had
prayed in verse 14 and he asked this, let it come to pass. And
obviously, the Lord who had put upon the servant's heart to pray
that. Scripture says in verse 15, and
it came to pass. It came to pass before he had
done speaking. Now, what a blessing to realize
that Almighty God hears the prayer of His people. You know, we pray,
we try to pray, we desire to pray, and there's not a believer
in this congregation this morning that's not going to agree with
what I'm about to say. You want to pray. And the scriptures
reveal that God's people do pray. But are you not grieved when
you try to pray, and your mind is wandering, and all of a sudden
you're thinking, where have I gone? I don't know what to pray for.
I don't know the right spirit in which to pray. And I read
what the Spirit of God says about what that servant asked, and
I think, I want to ask like that. I want to ask believing. But
the Scripture says it came to pass before he had done speaking. Here's what I know. That Almighty
God takes pleasure, in hearing His people. Listen to this, Isaiah
65, 19. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem. What, in that city over there?
Those buildings, those houses, that over there across the ocean,
is that what he's talking about? No, he qualified. I will rejoice
in Jerusalem and joy in my people in the heavenly Jerusalem. The
Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven. The city of peace.
The city. The city. The city herself. The bride. The city that comes
down out of heaven, heavenly Jerusalem. A joy in my people,
and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor
the voice of crying. Oh, there's coming a time, there's
not going to be any more tears. This is a grievous place to be
in, this world, isn't it? God who never changes. Now let
me tell you how long God has been rejoicing in His people. I'm talking about those that
He's everlastingly loved and chosen in Christ. You know that. In electing grace, God Almighty
chose a people from before the foundation of the world. that
she should be holy and without blame before Him in love. And
you know how long He's loved her? Jeremiah 31.3 says, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love. So He rejoices in her eternally. And I'll tell you another thing,
He rejoiced in her before, obviously if He's always rejoiced in her,
before she was converted. Now before, You that are converted, wherever
converted, Almighty God rejoiced in you. You're talking about
in a state of being an unregenerate, a rebel against God? Yeah, let
me tell you how long. Proverbs, I'll read this to you.
Proverbs chapter 8, verse 30-31. Now here's the Lord Jesus Christ
before He was. Here's the Messiah. Here's the
Anointed One. He who according to that everlasting
covenant of grace has covenanted, I will stand for her. I will
answer for her, his bride. And here's what he has to say.
Then I was by him. Who? The Father. as one brought
up with him. And I was daily his delight,
rejoicing always before him. Rejoicing in what? Rejoicing
in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with
the sons of men. How long has Christ rejoiced
in his bride? Always. Before she was converted? Yes. Listen to this. How about at
the time of her conversion? Now listen to this here. Ezekiel
chapter 16 and verse 8 and it's talking about that passage. You
know it. It's talking about that passage when the Lord has given
this parable of one looking and he sees this child lying out
in the field. His bride, that's who he's talking
about. Ezekiel chapter 16 and verse
8. He's walking and he sees and
he says this. And when I pass by thee, I looked
upon thee, and behold, thy time was the time of love. And I spread
my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto
thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord, and
thou becamest mine." He refers to that appointed time of the
conversion of God's elect in that open manifestation of when
Almighty God calls them out of darkness. When it's their time,
their time. Those that Almighty God has everlastingly
loved, He's going to call them out. I can tell you right now,
you know that. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. When are they going to come out?
Darkness. Paul says, when it pleased the
Lord. Pleased the Lord. Listen to this, Luke 19. This
is about Zacchaeus. Little short fella. Scripture
says he was small of stature. So what does he do? He gets up
in the sycamore tree because he wants to see this Jesus of
Nazareth. He's going to pass by. The road
goes right under that sycamore tree. So he's going to get up
in the tree so he can see. And Scripture says, and when
Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him and said unto
him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down for today I must abide
at thy house. Why? Verse 9 says, And Jesus
said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch
as he also is a son of Abraham. What? There was a lot of sons
of Abraham standing around, humanly speaking. They could trace their
lineage, their blood lineage. But sons of Abraham right here
are sons of promise. When God told Abraham, He said,
Abraham, He said, I am your great reward. Made a covenant with
Abraham. All that are found as sons of
Abraham spiritually, And Zacchaeus was one of them. And the Lord
stopped and He said, Zacchaeus, come on down. Come on. I'm going
to your house. Today was the time of love for
Zacchaeus. So he rejoices in their conversion
as their conversion is a direct result of the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the angels Whenever the angels
in heaven behold the grace of God, they rejoice over one sheep. The Spirit of God calls out of
darkness. So he's everlastingly rejoiced
in his people. Then the scripture says in Isaiah
65, 24, talking about Jehovah's good pleasure to hear his people,
this servant, he prayed and God heard him. He says, concerning
God's people praying, and it shall come to pass before they
call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will
hear." So the Lord who obviously moved upon that servant of Abraham
to pray and desire and ask specifically what the Lord would do. Let the woman, let the damsel,
let her give me something to drink and my camels too. And before he got through speaking,
the scripture says, behold, Rebecca came out. So first of all, we
know this, that God hears the prayers of his people. But next, we behold that the
Lord works all things after the counsel of his own will. Now,
you remember the blessing that we're beholding of this calling
out, not just for a bride for Isaac, which it was. The servant
was there. But this is how God calls out
His bride. I've told you so many times before,
if this is nothing more than just history, so what? If this is just the account of
something that happened, you know, thousands of years ago,
and this guy went and the Lord did something for Isaac years
ago, for Abraham years ago, for that I'm thankful. But what about
me? What about you? Is there anything
in here for me or you? This is what this is all about.
I'm talking about right now, I'm going to tell you right now,
this is relevant right now, today. So, this woman, Rebecca, she
had to have left her house before this servant started praying.
I don't know how far she lived away. I couldn't be that far.
I mean, she walked. But while he was praying, she
walked up. So she had to have left her house
before that servant started praying in order that God's will would
be brought to pass according to God's timing. While he was
yet speaking, she walked up. And when the Lord is pleased,
He powerfully, omnipotently, in predestinating grace, directs
everything and everybody to accomplish His will. You know, He ordained
the steps of that woman, but He ordains all the steps of His
people. Somebody could say, well, I just
decided to do this, that or the other today. I just decided I
was coming to church today. No, you didn't. No, you didn't. Almighty God directed everything. You just think that you decided
to show up. Well, you say, well, I come here
every Sunday. I know. But I'm telling you that Almighty
God directed your steps to be exactly where you are. We don't
call the shots. He does. So Rebecca came out. But who was this woman? The scripture
says, it came to pass, verse 15, Genesis 24, it came to pass
before he had done speaking that, behold, Rebecca came out. But
here's who this woman was, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah,
the wife of Nahar, Abraham's brother." Well, here was this
woman that came out, and this servant doesn't know who she
is. It's a woman. She comes walking up. But Abraham
had instructed in verse 4, look in Genesis 24, 4. But thou shalt
go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto
my son Isaac." Go to my kindred. You go to my family. He doesn't know who she is. But
let me tell you who this lineage is all about. She was born to Bethuel, that
was her daddy. son of Milka, you know, that
was Bethuel's mama, the wife of Nahar. Who was Nahar? He was Abraham's brother. So
you try to figure this out. I did to the best of my ability
and I'll tell you who we find out who Rebecca was. She was
Abraham's great niece. That's who she was. Well, who was the servant sent
to? Abraham said, you go back to my country, you go to my kindred,
you go to my family, you find her out of my family. Well, here's
Rebecca and she's Abraham's great niece. Isn't that something?
How did she end up there? God put her there. And thus fulfilling
the demand of Abraham that the wife for Isaac come out of Abraham's
kindred. But again, we're talking about
today. What a blessedness of being found
in the family of God. Have we not been predestinated?
That's what the Lord says concerning those that He chose in Christ.
Ephesians 1.4, chose us in Christ. Verse 5 of Ephesians 1 says,
predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself. Those who by grace are called
peacemakers The ones who be called the children of God. They're
the children of election. The children of God's mercy.
And let me tell you who they are. They're heirs. Heirs of
God. And joint heirs with Christ. How many of your children, you
parents, how many of your children are your heirs? All of them. Whoever you got,
they're heirs of yours. We're heirs of God, by God's
choice, by God's purpose, by God's election. Yes, the servant,
he didn't know who this woman was, he didn't know her lineage,
and I don't either. I don't know who God's people
are. I don't, I don't. But I tell you what, the Spirit
of God does. And he powerfully and providentially
moves according to the everlasting covenant of God's grace. And
because of that, when it pleases God, the sheep will come out. Just like Rebekah did. Rebekah,
verse 15, came out. Came out. And the scripture says
she came out with her pitcher upon her shoulder. Now, I don't,
under any circumstances, want to strain the Scriptures, try
to make the Scriptures say something that they don't, but I can tell
you this. If we behold the glory of God
in the salvation of God's elect, you cannot, you cannot see too
many pictures or types of Christ. Our problem is that we don't
see them. We don't see enough of them. I thank the Lord that
we do have a desire to see Him. But I read that and I thought,
here comes a woman at the right time, from the right family,
and she comes and the scripture says she has her picture upon
her shoulder. Now wouldn't that appear to be
just reading, almost insignificant? She had her picture. on her shoulder. But that picture right there
would providentially be the means by which she would be distinguished
as God's choice for Isaac. Remember the servant had asked,
let the woman I pray thee of your choosing, let her come and
give me something to drink and my camels too. Well here comes
the woman and she's got a picture. on her shoulder. But again, do
we not see another glorious type of that state of every chosen
vessel of God's mercy? Now you know the story. You know
what's going to happen. You know how God's going to reveal
to her who she is. That she's the bride of Isaac. But she don't know it now. She
has no idea. But here's the state of every
chosen vessel of God's mercy. Everyone found in God's electing
grace. Here's the state. That picture
that she's got on her shoulder is a picture of every one of
us. before the Lord calls us. Abraham's servant hadn't said
anything to her, but you remember, she is God's choice for Isaac. Is she not? Yeah, you know she
is. Just as every one of God's elect are members of Christ's
body before. They're called out of darkness,
Absolutely. They've always been in Christ.
They were put in Christ from before the foundation of the
world. But they don't even know who they are. It's amazing to
me how many times I make statements like this and I go back in my
mind to when I was growing up. Just a punk kid, you know, down
in South Louisiana. Running around here, you know,
didn't have any sense. I grew up, got out of high school,
went to college, still didn't have any sense. Running around,
just, you know, doing what... And I think back on my life,
and every once in a while, some of the stupid things that I did. And Almighty God kept me. And
that Almighty God, with His infinite mercy and grace, called me out
of darkness. But what did she have? She's
got a picture. What's it got in it? Nothing. What's she there for? Well, she's
coming to the well. She hadn't drawn yet. But she's
just like that woman at the well in John 4, when the Lord said,
I must needs go through Samaria. Why? There was a woman that He
was going to meet. A woman in Sychar, this town,
just a town. And the Lord said, I must needs
go. There was one of His elect there. And he was going to cross her
path. And he goes, you know the story, he has a conversation
with her. And he asked her for some water.
And she said, how is it you being a Jew ask of me a Samaritan water?
Jews don't have any dealings. Now he said, oh, if you knew
who was talking to you, you'd ask, I'd give you living water. Here's a woman coming, and what
is that picture? A picture, an empty clay pot
on her shoulder, but a type of herself before God called her
out of darkness, and of all of us, just an empty vessel of clay. That's all. Oh, but until God
calls us out, we don't know. That's all we got. Nothing. But
whenever He calls us out of darkness, God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have this treasure, Paul said,
in earthen vessels. Same vessel. Same vessel. I hadn't changed a bit. in my
old nature. This is just an empty clay pot
right here. Just an empty vessel, an earthen
vessel. But Almighty God has given something
to me. My old nature hadn't changed.
I'm just as stupid and ignorant now as I've ever been. But I
can tell you this, when Almighty God puts something inside, living
water, the presence of the Spirit of God. There's the difference. This woman coming right here,
that picture was a picture of her. In closing, I'll tell you
what God does for His people. Here's what He does for these
empty vessels of clay. John chapter 7, last passage
right here. John 7, 37, in the last day, Boy, every time I read that,
I think the last day, in the last day, listen to me. You're talking to a dying creature. I'm going to die. And you are
too. And we're all going to stand
before God. And I don't have the ability to do anything for
you. I don't have any ability to do, and you don't have any
ability to do anything for yourself. But I can tell you this, this
may be your last day. It may be. It may be mine. I
know some folks whose was their last day. And I've watched some
of them on their last day. And I was there on their last
day. And I can tell you this, it's coming. But if the Spirit of God says
anything to anybody, they'll hear. But you listen to these
words of our Lord. In the last day, that great day
of the feast. We've got a great day right now.
And we're feasting right now. We're feasting on the bread of
life. The bread from heaven. God's people are. They eat of
Him. They taste of Him. And He's good. That great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man thirst, let him come
unto me. Any man thirst for righteousness
that you don't have, not in yourself, that you can't produce, what
are you going to do for God? What are you going to do for
God? All of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We've never done anything to
please God. Don't think you have. You haven't. If any man thirsts
for life, for life, let him come unto me. Don't come to the front. There ain't nothing down here
for you. There ain't no altar down here.
Christ is our altar. Don't come to the baptismal pool,
don't come to tongues, don't come to your good work. If any man thirsts, let him come
unto Me. You come to anything else, and
I'm telling you, you're going to perish. And drink, and drink. He that believeth on Me, not
on himself, As the scripture has said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. The living water that the Lord
told the woman at Sychar. If you knew who was talking to
you, you'd ask of me and I'd give you living water. What is
that? The Lord says, but this spake
he of the Spirit. which they that believe on him
should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because
Jesus was not yet glorified." Here comes a woman, she's from
the right family, at the right time, with a picture on her shoulder. Nobody but God knows who she
is. She don't even know. Oh, but
Almighty God is going to do something for her, and for Abraham, and
for Isaac, and spiritually speaking, for all that He's everlastingly
loved. I pray He does today. I pray
God save His people today for Christ's sake. Amen.