All right, brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to Genesis chapter 24. Genesis chapter 24. And we're going to go through
this chapter. So we're going to just read it
as we go. This is a beautiful allegory. It's true. It's history. It's fact. But
it's a history that teaches us some spiritual truths. That's
an allegory. Now, we're going to have a picture
here of how God saves by grace. We've got a picture here of how
his preachers go forth and what he commands them to do and his
witnesses, all his witnesses. Now, in this passage, Abraham
is the father, and he represents God the Father. And Isaac is
his son, the heir, and he represents God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have the servant, who
is a representation of God's messengers, those who are earthen
vessels in the hands of God the Holy Spirit, who goes before
them and makes their way clear. And we have a picture here of
Rebecca. Rebecca represents the believer,
those who are called, those who are the bride of Christ. So let's
begin reading here. In verse 1, Abraham was old and
well stricken in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all
things. 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 and the 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, we see
here first of all that the servant of God is sent with a specific
He has a specific purpose that God has sent him with. Abraham
was a wealthy man. He was blessed of God. And his
son Isaac was the heir of all Abraham's riches. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the only begotten son of God, his well-beloved son. He's the heir of all things. The Father loveth the Son and
hath given all things into his hand. Scripture says that all
men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. And
he that honors not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent
him. Now Abraham sends his servant,
his faithful servant, to find a bride for Isaac, a bride from
among his own people, a bride who would share with Isaac all
the inheritance that went to Isaac. There's a people in this
world, a people out of every nation and kindred and tribe
and tongue under heaven that God has chosen. And they make
up the bride of Christ. And that's his bride. The scripture
says, thy maker is thine husband. Paul said, Husbands, love your
wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. We're
bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh. We're one in Christ. The
believer is one in Christ, his bride, his bride. And Christ's
bride, every believer that's called out by grace, is a joint
heir with Christ of all that he possesses. Romans 8.17 says,
if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Now, just as Abraham sent his
servant out to find this bride, God sends His witnesses out,
His preachers, His servants, His witnesses, believers into
the world to find this bride. That's our purpose, is to find
this bride. Paul said, I'm not sent to baptize. That is, I'm not sent just to
try to get a following and get numbers. I'm sent to preach Christ
and Him crucified. And he said, not with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
But he said, all things are of God. Everything is of God. And he's put, he's reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. And
Paul said, and he's committed to us the word of reconciliation. And so, as Christ ambassadors,
as though Christ did beseech you, we beseech you, be ye reconciled
to God. Be ye reconciled to God. Now,
here's the second thing. There's absolutely no compromise
in this charge. No compromise in it. Look at
verse 5. The servant had a question here. The servant said unto him,
peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto
this land. Must thy needs bring thy son
again unto the land from whence thou camest? And Abraham said
unto him, Beware! Thou, that thou bring not my
son thither again, the Lord God of heaven, which took me from
my father's house and from the land of my kindred, and which
spoke 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, then thou shalt be clear
from this my oath, only bring not my son thither again. Now,
the woman's going to have to leave her home. This bride's
going to have to leave her home. She's going to have to leave
her land. She's going to have to leave her kindred. She's going to have
to leave it all behind. And she's called to love a man. She's called to commit herself
to this husband. She's called to trust this husband,
commit her all to him, and she's never met this man. And all the
messenger has that's going down there, this servant has, is a
word from his father about the son, about the husband. That's
all he's got. And so he says, good question,
what if she's not willing to come? Should I bring your son
down there too? And the Lord said not once, but
twice, no, you don't bring my son down there to her. Look there
at verse six. Beware thou that thou bring not
my son thither again. Look at verse 8 at the end there. He says, only bring not my son
thither again. We're forbidden to bring Christ
down to the sinner's level. We're forbidden to do that. If
Rebecca won't leave everything and go to Isaac, she's not fit
to be his bride. If Isaac has to go to her to
get her to come to him, then Isaac's gone down. He's gone
down in honor. He's gone down in excellency.
She's got to go to him. She's got to go up to him. As
much as we'd like to see sinners saved, brethren, as much as we'd
like to see sinners saved, there's something more important than
that. And that's the honor of God and the glory of God. The
honor of God the Father and the honor and glory of His Son. That's
right. The believer, witnesses that
go forth and set forth this word, that must be our chief concern. That must always be our chief
concern. We must never diminish our God
and our Savior. Compromise doesn't save anybody
anyway. It really doesn't. If you brought
Christ down and taught Him to be somebody He's not, that's
another Jesus. And another Jesus never saved
anybody. There's one name. There's one Christ Jesus by whom
sinners are saved. And He's the one we declare.
Now, the offense of the cross, it's offensive, but it's the
only message that's going to save sinners. It's the only... God the Father choosing His bride
for His Son. That's a message that humbles
a sinner. It makes salvation God's choice
and not our choice. That abases the sinner. Christ
coming in sinless flesh, that declares that there's none righteous,
there's none good. That declares that it was a must
that God sent forth His own Son, righteous and holy, to come forth
and redeem a people for Himself. The direct declaration that Christ
fully satisfied the law of God and made satisfaction to God
for every particular individual elect child of God declares a
victorious Redeemer. It declares a victorious Savior
who cannot fail. And that's our message. That's
not just some doctrine we can take or leave. That's the heart
of who Christ is. The all-victorious Redeemer.
And it makes salvation to be by the obedience of one when
you declare that to sinners. The declaration of the necessity
of the new birth declares that it exalts God's will. It exalts
His will, His power, His wisdom and abases the sinner, abases
us. That's why Abraham said here,
don't bring my son there again. You beware that you don't bring
my son down to her. Where's our sufficiency for this
work? Where's our sufficiency for this
work? Look here in verse 7. This is
what Abraham said. Abraham knew what God was able
to do because God had done it to Abraham. And this is what
he said. The Lord God of heaven, she's going to have to leave
her father's house. Abraham says, the Lord God of
heaven which took me from my father's house, She's going to
have to leave her kindred. He said, And took me from the
land of my kindred, and would spake unto me, and swear unto
me, made a covenant unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I
give this land. He said, He shall send his angel
before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son. He'll send
forth the Holy Spirit. He'll send forth before you,
before his witnesses. He'll send forth the Holy Spirit.
And he'll make sinners willing. It's not our calling. It's not our charge to use any
power of persuasion or logic or any such thing to call out
God's sheep. That's not it. He'll do this. He said, I'll send my angel before
thee. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels that the excellency of the power might be of God, not
of us. This message is for all of us
that believe the Lord. The Spirit of God goes before
the messenger. He prepares the way. He quickens. He makes alive. He creates life. He draws through the preaching
of the Word. Our God doesn't speak in maybes
either. Look there in verse 7. He says, He will go before you
and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. It's not
a matter of if it's going to happen. He said it's going to
happen. It's going to happen. The bride's been chosen already.
She's already been chosen. The Scripture says, we're bound
to give thanks always to God, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because He has, from the beginning, chosen you unto salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit, belief of the truth, whereunto
He called you by our Gospel, unto the obtaining of the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The bride will hear the voice
of the husband. She's going to hear the voice
of her beloved and she's going to go. She's going to go with
him. The Lord said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me, and I give to them eternal life. And no
man's going to pluck them out of my hand. My Father that gave
them to me is greater than all, and no man's able to pluck them
out of his hand. I and my Father are one, he said. And the bride's
going to come to her husband. She's going to come to her husband.
The Lord said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And
him that comes to me, I'll let no wise cast out. Now, if you
can get hold of this declaration of God, Abraham knew it. He said,
this is how I left my home and my family and my kindred and
went out into a land that I didn't even know. If we get a hold of
this and we've experienced this by grace, this is what will give
us the boldness to just realize, you know, I can just tell the
truth. Just tell the truth. And God will work the work. Just
tell the truth. Our success is not in how many
people are called out. That's not what success is. It's
doing what God sent you to do. Whether he calls anybody out
or not. Our business is not saving sinners. Our business is simply
setting forth the light. Setting forth Christ the light.
If the woman won't go, he said, you're free. You're free. But
our God gives every provision we need for this work. Look at
verse 10. The servant took ten camels of
the camels of his master and departed, for all the goods of
his master were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia
unto the city of Nahor. There was nothing attractive
about those camels. That's a good picture of his
witnesses too. There's nothing attractive. We're
not wanting to attract folks to us. They're not attractive
about these camels, but they're packing the precious jewels.
That's what they loaded down with precious jewels. Now that's
attractive. What they're carrying is attractive.
That's what's attractive. Alright, here's the third thing.
God's witnesses, His messengers and His witnesses are dependent
entirely upon our God. Look at verse 11. He made His
camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at
the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to
draw water. And He said, O Lord God of my
master Abraham. He's praying. He's asking God. Oh Lord God of my master Abraham,
I pray thee, send me good speed this day. Show kindness unto
my master Abraham. Do this for the sake of my master.
Isn't that what we pray? Lord, we pray this in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ for your honor, for your glory. Make
this pilgrimage prosperous. Prosperous in our way. Make this
word effectual to your people. He said, And let it come to pass,
verse 13, Behold, I stand here by the well of water, and the
daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water. This
is where they came to, to get the water. He said, 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. Now he's not saying just
the first one that comes along. He's just saying, Whichever one
it is, send her here. Bring her here. And let that
be. When I say this and she does
what I say, show me that's the one. That's her. It's appointed. The one that thou hast appointed
for thy servant Isaac. She's appointed. She's designated
to be this servant. He's saying, show me who your
bride is. Show me. She said, call her out. Call her out. Show me who she
is. And thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness
unto my master. He don't know who she is. I don't
know who his elect are. We don't know who they are. But
he knows, and we have to ask him, Lord, make this prosperous.
Call the one you've appointed, call her out. Call her out. Now look here, the servant has
to wait on the Lord too as we do this. Look at verse 15. And
it came to pass It came to pass. How did it come to pass? How
did it come to pass? Look over at verse 27. This is what the servant 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. Who did it? He said the Lord
did it. The Lord led me right to the
bride. Now, look here, he says, And
it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold,
Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel 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. Now this looks like this is her,
doesn't it? She's doing everything that the
serpent asked the Lord for her to do. This looks like it's her. But now watch this next verse.
And the man wondering at her held his peace. to wit, to wait,
to wit whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.
He wasn't hasty to grab hold of her and say, well, this is
her, now come on, let's go. He waited. She bore all the marks
of one that the Lord was calling, but he waited, he waited. He
waited on her. Now, it came to pass as the camels
had done drinking that the man took a golden earring of a half
shekel weight and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels'
weight of gold. And he 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 she bare unto
Nahor. And 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 he worshipped the Lord. Thank
the Lord. He's praising God for what he's
done here. He's bringing this, he brought
him to this place. He brought him to this bride.
He brought her out to him and he worshiped the Lord. We ask
him to bless us and we thank him when he does. We thank him
for all the blessings that we've got in the past from him. And he thanked the Lord there. Now, we wait on Him. We don't
speak peace where there's no peace. We wait on Him. We wait
on the Lord to make it clear. Now, here's the fourth thing.
The servant of God must be about the Father's business. It must
be about our Father's business. Now, look down here at verse... I'll read on through. Verse 29.
Rebecca had a brother. And his name was Laban. And Laban
ran out unto the man and to the whale. And it came to pass, when
he saw the earring and bracelet upon his sister's hands, and
when he heard the words of Rebekah, his sister, saying, Thus spake
the man unto me. She told him everything that
the man had said to her. And he came unto the man, and
behold, he stood by the camels at the whale. And he said, Come
in, thou blessed of the Lord. Wherefore standest thou without?
For I have prepared the house and room for the camels. And
the man came into the house, and he ungirded his camels, and
he gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash
his feet. And the men's feet, they were with him. And there
was set meat before him. But, but, they're ready to, they're
ready to eat. They're ready to have a party
here. This is, Ken folks, it's come. Abraham's, this is, this
is one of the servants of Abraham. And they're excited he's there,
and they're ready to put out meat and have something to eat
and feast and socialize. But he said, I will not eat.
till I've told my Aaron. He said, I came for some business.
I came here to do something for my master. I'm not going to get
sidetracked from this. I've got to tell you why I'm
here. There's one reason I'm here. We can't let anything hinder
us. And there's so many weights and
so much sin that so easily besets us. It would take us out of the
way. Can't be, not money, not honor, not the business of the
world, not the cares of this world, nothing can interfere
with this business. This is the business. Now he's gonna speak to him.
He said, I'm Abraham's servant. Now you watch here, he's not
speaking of himself. He's speaking of the one that
sent him. He said, I'm Abraham's servant.
And the Lord hath blessed my master greatly, and he's become
great. And he hath given him flocks,
and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants,
and camels, and asses. And Sarah, my master's wife,
bare a son to my master when she was old, and unto him hath
he given all that he had. It's a picture of Christ. It's
a picture of God the Father, God the Son and Lord Jesus Christ.
And he's speaking of it and he says, And my master made me swear,
saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of
the Canaanites in whose land I dwell, but thou shalt go unto
my father's house and to my kindred and take a wife unto my son.
That's where you're going to find, this is a picture of those
that God has brought into his household by divine election.
He said, these are the ones I'm calling out, I'm calling out
my kindred. And so he goes through and he
tells her everything, rehearses everything that Abraham told
him and how he came and how he went to the well and everything
that took place. He rehearses that whole matter
to them. And when he gets through, he
says this. He gives her a charge. He gives
them in the house a charge. Look down at verse 49. He says, now, if you will deal
kindly and truly with my master, tell me. And if not, tell me. That I may turn to the right
hand or to the left. I like that. That's the fifth
thing. The servant of God preaches for
a verdict. He preaches for a verdict. If you're going to deal kindly,
tell me. If you're not, tell me. Let's don't beat around the
bush about this thing. If you're going to serve God,
tell me. If not, tell me. There's no halting here. Then
Laban and Bethuel answered. Not Rebekah, this is her brother
and Bethuel, they answered her father. The thing proceedeth
from the Lord, they said. We can't speak unto thee bad
or good. Behold, Rebekah's before thee. Take her and go and let
her be thy master's son's wife as the Lord hath spoken. And
it came to pass that when Abraham's servant heard their words, he
worshipped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth. The witness has
got to be partaker of the bread. He got to be partaker of this
glorious master, this glorious glory of his savior. This is
the third time now that he's bowed his head and worshiped
the Lord and prayed to God and thanked him and asked him for
his mercy in this journey. And the servant brought forth
jewels of silver and jewels of gold and Raymond gave them to
Rebecca. And He gave also to her brother
and to her mother precious things. And then they ate and they drank.
He and the men that were with Him, and they tarried all night.
That's what happens when you meet Christ. You have on a garment
right now. You that don't know Him, don't
believe Him, you have on a garment right now of rags. You have on
a garment right now that won't profit you. It doesn't make you
comely whatsoever. But when Christ comes, He puts
on the jewels. He decks you. He decks His bride. He puts a garment of righteousness
that He wrought Himself by His obedience unto death on the cross.
Putting away the sin of this bride, making her comely, white,
a chaste virgin. And He covers her in these jewels
and He decks her for Himself. And He might present her to Himself,
not having a spot or wrinkle or any such thing. This is what
He does. And then you eat, you feast,
you delight yourself in His fatness, in the plenty, in the provision
that He's made. And they tarried all night there.
And they rose up in the morning and He said, send me away unto
my master. That's what the servant said.
It's time to go now. And then her brother and her
mother said, now wait a minute, let the damsel abide with us
a few days, at least 10, and then she'd go. The marginal reference
says a year. Let her stay with us at least
10 months. They didn't want her to go. They didn't want her to
leave. They've been doing all the talking
right now. Rebekah hasn't said anything
yet. They've been talking for her. And they're in the way.
They're just in the way. It's not between Isaac and them. It's not between Abraham and
them. It's between Abraham and Rebekah. Between Isaac and Rebekah. And he said unto them, Hinder
me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way. Send me away,
that I may go to my master. And then they said, We'll call
the damsel and quiet her mouth. We'll see what she says about
this thing, what she wants to do. Now Rebecca finally gets
to speak. She's going to say something now. And they called
Rebecca and said under her, I'll go with this man. And look what
she said. I will go. I'll go with him. She's never met. You never met
Isaac. She's heard about him. You never
met him. You never met the Lord Jesus
Christ, but you see him with the eye of faith, don't you?
That's the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen. You believe him. You trust him.
When he says, will you go? You say, I'll go. I'll go. I've heard about him. I've heard
about him. I'll go. Have you ever heard
anything that's not lovely about the Lord Jesus Christ? You ever
heard anything that's not comely about God our Father? Anything? And they sent away Rebekah, their
sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men. And they
blessed Rebekah and said unto her, Thou art our sister. Be thou the mother of thousands
of millions, and let thy seed possess the gait of those which
hate them. Now, I want you to get this point here. Saving faith,
salvation, is a matter of your own heart. It's not a matter
of another. It's not something somebody else
can do for you. This is between you and God. Between you and God. Between
the sinner and his Lord. Between the sinner and the Savior.
That's who this thing is between. It's not of blood. No matter
who your mother and father are, No matter, grace doesn't run
in bloodlines. It's not based on blood. It's not based on kinship. You
gotta be sons of God by God's choosing. You gotta be daughters
of God by God's choosing. Him making you a son or a daughter.
We saw that message about adoption. He adopts, predestinated his
children unto the adoption by Jesus Christ to himself. It's
not of the will of man. Mother and daddy can't sprinkle
you into this everlasting covenant. They can't dedicate you into
this covenant. A preacher can't coerce you into
this thing. No man can do anything. It's
not by the will of the flesh. You can't work your way into
it. You can't educate your way into it. Where was Rebecca? She
was down there. with her family, with her kindred,
going about her day-to-day affairs. And the Lord sent his messenger
right to her and brought her right to that messenger and led
his messenger right to her house. And he preached the gospel to
her. And then the question came, will you go? Will you go? That's the question. Will you
go? Will you go with Christ? When
it pleased God, Paul said, who separated me from my mother's
womb to reveal Christ in me, he said, I didn't confer with
flesh and blood. I didn't go around asking anybody, is this
okay? And you won't either. Rebecca
didn't need, she didn't need a brother Laban's consent on
this thing. She didn't need her mother and
her daddy's consent on this thing. She was asked, will you go? And
she said, I will go. I will go. All right, here's
the sixth thing. God's Word never returns void. It always accomplishes the thing
whereunto He sent it. Look at verse 61. And Rebekah arose in her damsels,
and they rode upon the camels and followed the man. And the
servant took Rebekah and went his way. And Isaac came from
the way of the well-laid Haro, for he dwelt in the south country,
And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide.
And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, the camels were
coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes. And when she saw Isaac,
she jumped off the camel. She took off. She lit off the
camel. For she said unto the servant,
What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? She
saw him. She said, Who is this? And the
servant said, it's my master. And therefore, she took a veil
and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all
things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his
mother Sarah's tent and took Rebekah. And she became his wife. And he loved her. And Isaac was
comforted after his mother's death. She went home. She went
home with the servant. She went home and was married
to Isaac. And he loved her. Look over with me, look over
with me at 2 Corinthians chapter 2. When the Spirit of God goes before
you, you know that, you know that. The Spirit of God goes
before his messenger. God makes every provision. He
loads the camels with all the precious jewels. You ask God
to give you wisdom. You ask Him to make the journey
prosperous. You thank Him for His mercies. Don't be sidetracked
by anything. Don't be turned aside by anything.
The Lord said, I must be about my Father's business and we must
be about our Father's business. Impress upon sinners the urgency
of following Christ. Will you go? Will you go with
Christ? Now watch this. 2 Corinthians
2.14 Now thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph
in Christ. Always. Always. Always. And maketh manifest the savor
of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a
sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved and in them that
perish. For we are unto God a sweet savor
of Christ To the one, we are the saver of death unto death.
To the other, the saver of life unto life. What was he to Rebecca? The saver of life unto life.
She said, I'm going. I'm leaving everything and I'm
going. And who's sufficient for these things? Our sufficiency
is of whom? It's of the one that called us
and sent us. Abraham knew that. Abraham knew
that. You've been called. If you've
been called by this power, you know that. You know that. For
we're not as many, and we're not that way because we've been
called by this mercy. We've been called by this power,
by this wisdom. We've seen Christ as the power and wisdom of God.
And for that reason, we're not as many which deal deceitfully
with the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God,
in the sight of God. speak we in or the word is of
Christ. That's right. Have you beheld
the beauty and glory of Christ the husband? Will you believe
on him or will you not? Will you believe on him or will
you not? Will you be married to him or will you not? You're
going to have to forsake everything. You're going to have to follow
him. Will you or will you not? It's
what Abraham told his servants. That's what God tells His servants.
If she won't come with you, you're free. This is what He's saying. If you don't believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, your blood is on your head. It's on your head.
It's off the hands of me that's preaching this gospel to you.
It's off the hands of these believers that have preached this gospel
to you. Witness, my boy, witness of Christ. Your blood's on your
own hand. You'll be lost lost. But if you believe Him, if you
trust Him, cast your care on Him, you have everlasting life. Everything that belongs to God,
what is that? Everything. Everything that belongs
to the Lord Jesus Christ, what is that? Everything. You join
heirs with Him. It's yours too. It's yours too. Have to be insane not to go,
wouldn't you? Have to be insane not to go. All right. Amen.