Take your Bibles and turn back
if you're not already there to Genesis 24. Genesis 24. The Holy Scriptures declare that
the Lord Jesus Christ has a bride. The Scripture says in Isaiah
54, 5, "...for thy Maker." Now, the Maker. All things were made
by Him. And what without Him was not
anything made that was made. So the Maker is the Lord Jesus
Christ. "...for thy Maker is thine husband."
The Lord of hosts is His name. And thy Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall He be called." So
the Lord Jesus has a bride. And of this bride, He's promised
He's going to save her. Isaiah 62, 4, thou shalt no more
be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate,
but thou shalt be called Hephzibah. That means my delight is in her. And thy land, Beulah, which means
married. For the Lord delighteth in thee,
and thy land shall be married. So the Lord has a bride, and
the Lord has promised He's going to save her. And then He's promised
that He's not going to leave her to herself, and that all
she needs for instruction concerning Him, He's talking to the church
now, the elect of God, God's chosen, all that she needs for
knowing Him. He's going to supply. Listen
to this. Jeremiah 31, 14, 15. Turn, O backsliding children,
saith the Lord, for I am married unto you, and I will take you,
one of a city, two of a family, and I'll bring you to Zion, and
I'll give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed
you with knowledge and understanding. So to this bride that the Lord
has, He's promised to save and supply that which she needs. He's going to send her pastors.
He's going to give pastors a heart. He's going to teach them. And
He's going to give them a heart for these scriptures. And they're
going to study. The Spirit of God said, I'm going
to bless it. I'm going to teach my people.
And concerning this bride, the Lord has committed Himself. Hosea 2, 19, 20, I will betroth
thee unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
me in righteousness, and in judgment, in loving kindness, and in mercies.
I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou
shalt know the Lord. You gonna know me. I know you. You're going to know me. Now
I would ask this question. I know according to these scriptures,
I know the Lord has a bride and I know he's going to take care
of her. He's betrothed himself to her. He's going to keep her.
Now let me ask you this. How did she come to be the bride
of Christ? How did she get in that position? I know he has one. How did she
get to be the bride? Well, Ephesians chapter 1 tells us how the bride became
the eternal bride. Ephesians 1 verse 4, we've looked
at these Scriptures so many times. The Scripture says, according
as He, that is the Father, has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. So, how did we get to be the
bride? The Father chose us. And then
verse 5 says, God predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.
God determined our destination beforehand. And what did He determine
beforehand? That we were going to be adopted,
the adopted children of Jesus Christ to Himself. And He did this according to
the good pleasure of His will. There was nothing in any one
of the elect of God that merited God's favor. He chose whomsoever
He would. And then verse 6 of Ephesians
1 reveals that He did this, that He did to the praise of the glory
of His grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved."
Not in ourselves. We're not accepted in ourselves.
We're sinners. Sinners by birth, sinners by
choice, sinners by practice. But we're accepted in the Beloved. And then in verses 7 to 9, He
declares this concerning the bride that the Father chose. In whom we have redemption, He
has bought us back. We were sold, we sold ourselves
into bondage of sin and rebellion against God and couldn't do anything
about it. And the Scripture says we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. God's
not going to charge us with them. Are we sinners? Yes. We've sinned against God and
we sin right now. We're sinning right now. We're
not thinking as we ought. We've got sins of commission,
omission. We're sinners. But for the sake
of Christ, God has forgiven us, He having redeemed us by His
blood. according to the riches of His
grace wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
and then graciously told us about it." Look at verse 9, "...having
made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His
good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself." Now this
is what He's going to do for the bride. He chose her, put
her in Christ, accepted her in Him, predestinated her to the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, and then was
pleased to tell us what He had done. In the process of time, the Spirit
of God is going to put God's sheep, I've told you this so
many times, we need to hear it again. under the sound of the
gospel. This is the only message that
God blesses to the salvation of His people. This is it. There's
no other message. According to scriptures, there's
not. That's what Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ. It is the power of God and salvation. So according to
God's revelation, the bride of Christ is actually going to experience
this glorious wedding, union. Listen to Revelation 19, 7 to
9. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his
wife hath made herself ready and to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen. That was granted to her. Clean and white for the fine
linen is the righteousness of the saints that was given to
her, imputed to her by Christ himself. That's why it was granted
unto her to be arrayed. She didn't earn it. He earned
it and gave it to her. And he saith unto me, that is
the Lord Jesus said to John on the Isle of Patmos, right, blessed
are they which are called. under the marriage supper of
the Lamb. And He saith unto me, These are the true sayings of
God. So I'm telling you something
right now. The Lord Jesus Christ has a bride. The Father gave
Him the bride. And He's going to take care of
her. He betrothed Himself to her. And there's going to be
a wedding. And it's going to be an open manifestation of that
which Almighty God has everlastingly purposed. to perform concerning
his son. Now, according to the Scriptures,
Christ is going to have his bride. But I got another question. The
first question was this. How did she get there? Well,
God put her there. The Lord put her there. But here's
my second question. How is she going to be called
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. How is she going to get from
where she is in sin and rebellion against God and get to Him in
absolute holiness? Well, that glorious truth is
set forth back in Genesis chapter 24. And I want to go back there
just for a few minutes. I want you to look with me at
these first nine verses on the glorious calling of the bride,
the calling out of the bride. Now, Genesis 24, now I want you
to remember something. As we look at these scriptures
right here, these first nine verses, the Lord revealed the
true subject of all scriptures, and here's the true subject of
all scriptures, Himself, Christ. If we don't see the Lord Jesus
Christ and His honor and His glory in a passage, we've missed
it. You can say, well, Christ is
not in all the scriptures. Yes, He is. He's there. He's
there. We seek to see Him in all this
Word. And when we see Him, I'm telling
you, our heart rejoices. Now, I know that that's so. Luke 24-27, when the Lord was
talking to those two on the road to Emmaus, He says, Beginning
at Moses, and you know who penned this book? This book of Genesis? Moses. beginning at Moses and
all the prophets he expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself." Now this passage that we just
read a few minutes ago deals with a conversation that took
place, that actually took place, between Abraham, who is a picture
now of the father, and his eldest servant, who is a picture, I
think, primarily of the Holy Spirit. But I can also see it
being a picture of God's preachers, messengers, ambassadors for Christ. And this story is concerning
the picture of the calling out of the bride of the Lord Jesus
Christ that the Father has given to the Son. And so Abraham is
going to give his eldest servant some instructions on how the
bride is to be found. And in those instructions, we
are taught by the Holy Spirit how He, the Spirit of God, gloriously
and powerfully calls out God's sheep. This is how God calls
the sheep. So, Genesis chapter 24. And the scripture begins with
this conversation from Abraham. Abraham was old and well-stricken
in age, Lord had blessed Abraham in all things, and Abraham said
unto his eldest servant of his house." Now here's the first
thing that I want to set forth concerning the bride of the Lord
Jesus Christ being pictured in this calling out of a bride for
Isaac. The bride is according to the
Father's choice. Abraham began the conversation. Abraham spoke to that elder servant. He desired a bride for his son. Abraham was very wealthy. And
Abraham desired of his son who was heir of all that which was
possessed of his father. Abraham had an only son. That's what God told him. He
said he had a son Ishmael. That was the son of Abraham's
doing. Not a son of promise. God told Abraham, you take your
son Isaac, your only son. You take him to a place of sacrifice.
Remember that? Isaac was the recognized son of Abraham. And it was Abraham's pleasure
for his son to have a bride. A bride that would share with
him concerning all things that would be provided by his father. And likewise, now you listen,
the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ is an heir of God. And he is
a joint heir. They are joint heirs with Christ. Whatever that includes, all that
Almighty God has, in His good pleasure, purpose to provide. I have no earthly idea what it
is, but I can tell you this, whatever it is, it's glorious.
Abraham had purposed that his son was going to have a bride.
And so the scriptures bears out that whenever Abraham told his
eldest servant to go and get the bride. The Father, Abraham,
initiated that conversation. Likewise, we just read a few
minutes ago, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. We're heirs with Him, joint heirs. According as He chose us in Him
before the foundation of the world, The father, Abraham, initiated
the choosing of a bride for Isaac. So who did the choosing concerning
the father's bride to his son? Who did the choosing? Was it
God that did the choosing? Or was it man that did the choosing?
God chose. Secondly, the finding of a bride
for Isaac was going to be according to a covenant. Back in Genesis
24 verses 2 to 4, 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. This was a symbol of a covenant. We're going to make a covenant.
And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven,
God of the 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, and to my kindred, and take a wife
unto my son Isaac." Now, Abraham, according to a covenant, you
and I are going to enter into an agreement right here. We're
going to make a pact." And Abraham caused his servant to swear by
the God of heaven and earth that he would search out the bride
for Isaac. But Abraham told him, he said,
I don't want you to take a wife unto my son of the daughters
of the Canaanites. among whom I dwell." Now listen,
Abraham is in Canaan. He's in the land of promise.
But God has not expelled all of his enemies out. He's not
in full possession. He said, I want you to swear
by the God of heaven and earth that you're not going to take
a wife from my son, you're not going to go looking for a wife
from my son out of the cursed people of this earth. Canaanites
were cursed. He said, you don't go looking
among the Canaanites. What I want you to do, verse
4, you go into my country, into my kindred, and you take a wife
unto my son Isaac. Now this servant, was put in
authority by Abraham to search out the bride according to Abraham's
instruction. And all that Abraham possessed
was in that servant's hand. Here is this glorious picture
of the covenant, that everlasting covenant of grace. Abraham has
a trusted servant as his eldest servant. And everything that
he has is in the hand, everything that Abraham possesses, including
the destiny of his son's bride, is in the hands of that servant.
And that servant right there, as I said a while ago, is primarily
a glorious picture of the Holy Spirit of God. God had shown
compassion to Abraham, And Abraham, knowing that the Lord does according
to His will, entrusted the seeking out of this bride for Isaac among
the people that had seen the hand of God's mercy. Abraham,
he said, you go back where I came from. God showed mercy to me
there. That's where I want you to look for my son's bride. In
the place where I know God has been pleased to show mercy. You
go back. Now concerning the seeking out
of the Bride of Christ, it's not all things in the hands of
the Holy Spirit. He is Almighty God. God, the Holy Spirit, is sovereign,
powerfully sovereign, and He sovereignly moves. as the wind
and the calling out of God's sheep. You listen, the wind bloweth
where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is every
one that's born of the Spirit. God the Holy Spirit knows where
the sheep are. Now this servant didn't. He's
just a picture. He's just a type. But Abraham
told him, he said, you go, this is where I want you to go look.
You go back where I came from. The Spirit of God knows, according
to God's everlasting covenant of grace, the Holy Spirit knows
the elect. And He blows as the wind, sovereignly
moving as He will, seeking out, searching out, and when it pleases
Him, He's going to call them by power and grace. So God's
people, As Abraham sent this servant to seek out a bride,
the Holy Spirit of God seeks out the bride of Christ. He's
the applier of the gift of life, grace. And His work is according
to God's covenant. Because He's God. He is God. Remember when David was talking
about all of his salvation in 2 Samuel 23? He said concerning
life eternal, although my house be not so with
God, yet he is made with me. An everlasting covenant ordered
in all things ensured. For this is all my salvation
and all my desire. Although he make it not to grow,
he's not made it evident to me. what all he's been pleased to
do. But I know this, he'd been pleased to make a covenant with
me. And he said, that's all of my hope. And this eternal covenant
that that servant entered into, I mean that covenant, not eternal
covenant, that covenant that he entered into with Abraham,
that picture, that glorious covenant of God's grace, it shall eternally
stand. Listen to Isaiah 54.10. For the
mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness
shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace
be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." So Isaac
was going to have a bride, and she was going to be found among
the people of Abraham, like the elect of God, found among the
children of promise. And thirdly, the bride of Isaac
must be a willing bride, must be willing to come. Now hearing
Abraham's pleasure, his servant, back in Genesis 24, Abraham told
him, he said, thou shalt go into my country, to my kindred, and
take a wife unto my son Isaac. And this servant asked a question. It was a logical question. He
said, verse 5, Peradventure, or perhaps the woman will not
be willing to follow me unto this land. Must thy needs bring
thy son again unto the land from which thou camest? You're warning
me to find Isaac a bride, and you're sending me to get a bride
for Isaac. Now, I've got a question for
you. If I can't find a bride willing
to come with me, a bride willing to leave her home, leave her
family, leave her security for this land, to come to this land,
do you want me to bring Isaac to her instead? And Abraham told
him, no, no. God Almighty, Isaac said, brought
me out of the land of bondage, and he spoke to me according
to this promise. Here's what Genesis 17, 19, Sarah
thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his
name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him, for an
everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. He said,
in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Now, physically, from Isaac would
the people of Abraham inherit the land of Canaan. It was going
to come through Isaac. And that's why whenever God told
Abraham, He said, in Isaac. shall your seed be called." This
is what he was saying. Through you, Isaac, through your
son, Isaac, the Messiah is going to come. The Messiah is going
to come. Remember me telling you this
recently, I said, and whenever God told Abraham, he said, now
I want you to take Isaac, your son, your only son, and take
him up on a place that I'll show you, and I want you to sacrifice
him unto me. And Abraham staggered not. at
the promise of God. He believed God. This boy right
here was going to be one of the physical lineage of the Messiah. If I sacrifice him unto God,
God's able to raise him up. But I can tell you this, God's
true and everybody else is a liar. And he said that in Isaac would
his seed be called And so here is this question that this servant
asked. He said, if she isn't willing
to come, she's not willing to leave her original place on your
terms, do you want me to lower the standard? You want me to
change the rules? And instead of her coming to
where Isaac is, instead of her coming to Isaac, You want me
to just come get Isaac and bring him to her and have Isaac stoop
to her will? She wasn't willing to come and
just stoop to her decision. Well, if he wants to marry me,
he'll have to come to where I am. Do you want me to do it according
to her pleasure? And Abraham said in verses 8
and 9, if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then
thou shalt be clear from this my oath, only bring not my son
thither again. And the servant put his hand
under the thigh of Abraham, his master, and swore to him concerning
that master. Abraham told his servant that
the Lord was going to send his angel Look at verse 7, the Lord
God of heaven which took me from my father's house and from the
land of my kindred which spake unto me that swear unto me saying
unto thy seed will I give this land. That's why he's saying
no, no, she's coming right here. Canaan is the land of promise.
It's the place of, it pictures heaven. You want him to leave
heaven and come to where she is, or if she was not willing
to come to where he is and reside with him in heaven, you want
him to kill her? Uh-uh. He says, Under 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. Abraham
knew God's going to bless your efforts. God's going to bless
it. God will bless it. And likewise,
The vessels of His mercy, they're going to be conquered by loving
power, grace. They're going to be given a new
heart to come. No one ever comes to Christ against
their will. You know why they come? Because
they want to. They want to. They were made
willing in the day of God's power. They come by faith. believing
the report of him who they've never physically seen. This woman had never laid eyes
on Isaac. I may just stay in this chapter
for a few times and just go through this 24, but this is the one
that talks about when she left her home and went with him, she
had never seen Isaac. All she knew about Isaac is what
the messenger told her. what the servant of Abraham told
her. And you know what we know about
the Lord Jesus Christ? That which Almighty God has told
us through His servants, preachers of the Gospel. That's all we
know. We've never seen Him. And we love Him. And we desire
Him. This woman was to be a willing
servant. He says, if she won't come willingly,
and I can tell you this, she had no part ever in the covenant
that Abraham made with his trusted servant. And likewise, if a sinner
hears the glorious message of Christ, the glorious gospel of
the Lord Jesus, and he has no desire to come to Him, then he
was never the Lord's. He's never been known of God
in mercy. If He dies in that state, I'm not saying that He
would never want to come because I tell you this, until the Lord
made me willing in the day of His power, I didn't want to come
either. But if I die in this state, I never knew Him and He
never knew me. He had no part in God's covenant. How do I know this? Because the
Lord said, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow
Me. But for everyone that's been
eternally known of God, the Holy Spirit is going to effectually
find that vessel of God's mercy. And He's going to put them under
the sound of the gospel of God's grace. And when it pleases Him,
He's going to teach them what they're hearing is so. And they're
going to believe it because He's going to give them new ears to
hear, new eyes to see, a new heart to believe. And He's going
to call them by grace. I tell you what I'm doing tonight.
I'm not trying to make sheep out of goats. I'm not trying
to... I'll tell you what I'm doing.
I'm looking for the Bride of Christ. That's what I'm doing.
I'm telling you that the Lord has a Bride. I'm telling you
that He's everlastingly betrothed Himself to that Bride. I'm telling
you that He laid down His life for that Bride. I'm telling you
that He redeemed her. I'm telling you that all of her
sins are forgiven. How many of them? All of them. How about the ones she committed
yesterday? All of them. How about the ones she committed
today? All of them. How about the ones that she'll
commit tomorrow? All of them. All of them are forgiven. You
mean to tell me even the sins that she's never committed? I'm
saying all of her sins are forgiven. Christ has already paid, Pat,
for all of them, hadn't He? They've all been paid for at
Calvary. And the Lord Jesus Christ going
to have that bride for sure. And now the Father is sending
out the servant. The preachers are preaching the
gospel of God's grace. And the Spirit of God moves and
is going to bless that message to the calling out of the bride.
And whenever the Lord Jesus Christ has that bride, it's going to
be because the Spirit of God made them willing to come to
Him. He's going to have her. He's going to have her. And what
if somebody doesn't want to come? They weren't the Lord's. They
were not his. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
no wise cast out. May the Lord bless this word
to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.