Chapter 24. Genesis chapter 24. We'll be looking at portions
of this text throughout the chapter here. It's a very long chapter.
I will not read the whole thing in its entirety. But here we have a picture. A picture. Have I had a title
for the message? The Calling of Christ's Bride.
The Calling of Christ's Bride. Now here, the Lord in Scripture
often uses earthly pictures to illustrate a spiritual truth. He uses parables. In the New
Testament, He often spoke in parables. which are earthly stories
or earthly histories relating to a spiritual truth. As the
parable of the sower, you remember that. That's an easy one for
us to remember. The sower went forth to sow,
he cast the seed at a venture, the seed landed on four types
of different soil, and only one of those, what did the soil receive? The seed. We know this, the sower
is the Lord Jesus Christ, the seed is the gospel of Jesus Christ,
the soil is the heart of man. And we know by nature man is
incapable of receiving the seed. Man is incapable of living spiritually
except the Holy Spirit prepare the ground of a man's heart.
Then only, then will he receive the seed of the gospel and live. All men by nature are dead in
trespasses and sins. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter
2, that the natural man receiveth not the things of God, for they
are foolishness to him, neither can he know them, because, here
it is, for he is spiritually judged, spiritually condemned,
spiritually dead. But praise God that of these
four, at least there was one that God had pictured which a
man can and will receive seed. By the grace of God, He does
give life to some sinners. The Holy Spirit does come and
quicken, breaks up the ground of our heart, and at the appointed
time the seed is cast, the Spirit of God comes and gives life,
and we bring forth seed. You see, it's a parable. It's
a picture of an earthly thing that has a spiritual meaning.
And this text tonight, our text, is also one of these that has
a spiritual meaning. And I could do this with any
portion of Scripture. If by grace that God would give
me to see it, all of this Scripture testifies of Jesus Christ. All the sacrifices, all the tabernacle,
all of those things did what? They were pictures of a spiritual
truth. And this text is an earthly history. It's an earthly history of a
man named Abraham who had a son named Isaac. And he sends out
his servant to get a bride for his son. And he goes out and he gets the
bride and he brings the bride home to Isaac. They're in love
with one another. And from this comes The seed
Christ from this union. But this is a very spiritual
picture. A spiritual picture of God betrothing
or calling His elect people. That's what this is a picture
of. This story. of Isaac is truly an earthly
parable, just as the parable of the sower. And I tell you,
this picture, like all pictures, do not convey the whole truth
of God's salvation. They just cannot in themselves
contain the wholeness of it. That's why there's so many. That's
why they're so varied. Why the Scriptures speak of so
many earthly things that it likens unto the kingdom of heaven because
not one of them alone can picture it. Can't fully describe the
glory of God's gospel and salvation. Why? Because the people and the
earthly things are tainted with sin. Abraham was a sinner. Isaac was a sinner. Rebecca was
a sinner. This servant of Abraham was a
sinner. They were all flawed. And so
as you look at this picture, you're going to see, and we're
going to see at least one portion, in where this parable breaks
down and it doesn't actually fulfill the type in every way. But this is why the Lord has
so many pictures and types. Because not one individually
can fully express the glory of this true gospel. I ran across
this and I want you to turn there. Go to Proverbs chapter 17. This was wonderful that the Lord
revealed this to my heart and I want you to see it as well. I want you to be able to enjoy
it. Proverbs chapter 17. And look at verse 8. He says, "...a gift is as a precious
stone in the eyes of him that has it. Whithersoever it turneth, it
prospereth." Believer, is not the gospel of Jesus Christ a
gift to us? Is He not as a precious cornerstone,
as a precious jewel, the pearl of great price? Yes, He is. He is the foundation of our souls.
He is as a diamond or a jewel. And what happens when you hold
a diamond up to the light? It reveals the brilliance in
the diamond. It reveals the sparkle. It reveals
the glory. And that's what happens when
we hold Christ up to the light of the Scripture. And it doesn't
matter whithersoever you turn it, it prospers. Isn't that so? If you go over to the sacrifices
of Moses, you see Christ, it prospers. You come over to this
and you see the betrothing of Abraham, betrothing of Rebekah
to Isaac as a picture of Christ and His bride, you turn that
light and it just sparkles, it glories. It's glorious in our
eyes. So tonight, what we're going
to do is we're going to take the precious gift of Christ and
we're going to look at it under the gospel light of this betrothal. Here in Genesis 24. The Lord,
by this story, Abraham sending his servant to seek out a bride
for Isaac, we are given a picture of God's gospel and how God saves
sinners. Abraham, in this picture, is
a type of the Father. God the Father. Isaac in this
picture is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The servant in the picture is
a type of preacher, of a minister of the gospel, an instrument
of the Holy Spirit in calling His people. And Rebekah is a
picture of the bride of Christ. Every true believer is a picture
of Rebekah in this parable. And verses 1 through 4. Let's
start off with these. Look at verse 1. And Abraham
was old and well-stricken in age, and the Lord had blessed
Abraham in all things. He was a very wealthy man. Abraham
was given all the benefits and promises of God in the covenant
of grace. Abraham was wealthy, but how
much more then is God wealthy? God who created all things by
the word of His power, and by His power and will all things
consist. God, for in God we live and move
and have our being. Behold the glory of our God who
has made all things and is ruling all things. Our God is rich in mercy, rich
in glory, rich in majesty, rich in holiness. Our God is in the
heavens, and He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. Our God is above
all other gods. There is no other God except
the living God, Jehovah. There is none. He said, I am
God and there is none else. I kill and I make alive. I wound
and I heal. This is our God. Our God is altogether
rich. And yet the Lord, yet God would
reveal to us Himself by the relationship between Abraham and Isaac. Here God reveals the relationship
between Him and His Son. Do you know that there was not a
person on the face of God's earth that Abraham loved more than
Isaac? Isaac was loved of Abraham. Remember what God said when He
asked him to sacrifice his son. He said, Take thy son, thine
only son, whom thou lovest. He was loved of Abraham. How much more then is Christ
loved of God, the Father? I tell you, Christ is loved above
all the creation of God. He is loved above all else. There
is none of God's creation that is loved above Christ, and listen
to this, none of God's creation is loved apart from Christ. If God ever loves any of His
creatures, it is in Christ. It's in Christ. If He will ever
love us, it is because we are in union with His glorious Son. That's the only way God could
ever love us. Jesus said this in Proverbs 8 as the manifestation
of wisdom. He said, I was with the Father
before the world was, and I was daily His delight. You want to know how much the
Father loves the Son? You should realize that all history
revolves around the Son. Time and eternity revolve around
Jesus Christ. Is there anything higher than
Jesus Christ? No, because God has set Him above
all things. And as Abraham gave to Isaac
all things, listen, the Father has put all things into the hands
of His only darling Son. Consider the glorious love of
the Father for Jesus the Son. God has given Him all things
in time and eternity, in heaven and in earth. The sky and the
sea are given to Him. All power over all flesh is given
into the hands of the Son. Why? Because the Father loves
the Son. The Father loves the Son. John
said this, The Father loveth the Son and has given all things
into His hands. All things. Do you realize in order to honor
God, you must honor Christ? You cannot honor the Father except
by honoring the Son. Jesus said that in John 5, 23,
that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which is in him. For God purposed that all men
should honor Him by honoring the Son. Well, what is it to
honor the Son? How does one honor the Son? By faith. By faith. We bow down by faith, trusting
in the Son of God. This is what it is to honor the
Father. It is to bow to the Son. It is
to believe on the Son. That's what it is to honor the
Father. Behold, the Father so loved the Son that His decree
to men is to honor, believe on Jesus Christ. To believe that He is the only
propitiation for sinners. There's no other way to honor
the Father but to believe. Therefore, Jesus came into the
world for this purpose, to die in the stead of His people. The Father gave to the Son, Heir
of all things, has given Him a people, that He should come
and die for them, that they should be holy and without blame, that
He should redeem them as precious adopted sons by His one offering. As Abraham purposed that Isaac,
to whom he loved, should be given all things, here we find that
Abraham also purposed that Isaac be given a bride. The whole purpose
of this chapter is that to show the will of Abraham was that
his son should have a bride. Why? Because that was the will
of God. Remember, in thy seed in Isaac shall all the children
of the world be blessed, all the nations of the world be blessed.
Well, how then could Isaac have a seed if he didn't have a bride? So he knew he must have a bride
for Isaac. Even so, God has purposed to
give Jesus Christ a bride, which is His church. God purposed from
eternity, He's chose out of every kindred, tribe, tongue, and people,
a bride for His Son. This is God's will, that His
Son have a bride. That this bride should love,
adore, believe and obey Christ as her husband. It was for this bride that Christ
came into the world to die. I want you to understand the
purpose of Christ coming into this world was to die for the
bride. He said, I came, I laid down
my life. For who? The sheep. The sheep
For those sheep that the Father gave Him, Christ came to buy
them, to purchase them, to redeem them from their sins. That's
what He came for. He came to die for His sheep
and by His own blood provide salvation for all His elect. Go to Romans chapter 8. Romans
chapter 8, read it with me. Remember, this is not my opinion.
I love that. You should love that. This is
not my opinion. I'm not here to give you an opinion.
This is not a commentary either. This is just the way it is. This
is God's Word. Romans 8 and verse 29, For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate. to be conformed to the image
of His Son. Isn't that something? That the
Father wanted every one of those He purposed, those He foreknew. He wanted them to be in the exact
image of His Son. He loved His Son so much, He
wants to make you in His image. That's it. He's going to conform
you to His image. that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. Them he called, he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Now what shall
we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son,
the Son of His love, the Son of His eternal love, the Son
of His omnipotent love, if He spared Him not, but delivered
Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us
all things? Who are the us? The us are the
ones foreknown of God, predestinated of God. Those that God called,
justified, and glorified before the foundation of the world,
He purposed these things. How then shall He not give His
bride all things? What then shall hinder God from
giving His bride everything Christ has earned or inherited? He won't. He won't. Nothing will
stop this. Behold the glory of God's eternal
gospel that God has given all things to Christ, and purpose
that He should be, have His chosen bride, that He should sacrifice
Himself for her, and make her perfect. Over in Hebrews chapter 10, chapter
10 in verse 7, Then said I, Christ speaking,
lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me to do thy will, O God. And in verse 10, by the
which will? By God's will. We are sanctified
by the will that Christ honored, the will that Christ obeyed.
We are sanctified, made holy through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. Verse 14, for by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Jesus by
his one offering has forever put away the sin of all his bride. He's sanctified by God in election. Christ has adorned with the robe
of His righteousness, washed away the sins of His bride by
His precious blood, and is now seated in heaven. And you know
what Christ is doing? He is now calling His bride. That's what He's doing. Now notice
in your text. Go back over to your text. So
we see Abraham is a picture of the Father. He has all things
given to the Son, Isaac, which is a picture of Christ. and he
has purposed that his son should have a bride? And what does he
do? He sends out his servant, now
Abraham does, to get the bride. In verse 2, he calls his servant
and he says, put your hand under my thigh. He said, I'll make
you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, the God of earth,
that thou shalt not take a wife from my son of the daughters
of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, But thou shalt go to
my country, to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. Now here's where the parable
sort of breaks down. You know Isaac, Abraham knew
his son should have a bride, but he didn't know who it was. He knew God would get one. He
knew if he sent his servant that surely his servant would bring
back a bride according to the will of God. You see, Abraham
didn't know who it was, neither did Isaac. But listen to this,
God knows, Christ knows who's his bride and who's not. The Scriptures that we just read
testify of that, that He predestinated His bride. This is not by random
choice, not by random chance, but this, my friend, is on purpose. According to divine purpose,
the Son says, I know My sheep and am known of Mine. And that
same chapter in John 6, He says this, Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that should believe. and who should betray him. So
this matter of a bride is a done deal. I want you to understand
that. It's on purpose. God knows who his bride is. But
the question is, how has God chosen to call his bride? By
what means has God chosen? And this text in here in the
Scripture reveals to us that He has chosen through the means
of preaching to call His bride. The means of preaching. Now this
again, as I've told you, is not my opinion. This is a matter
of Holy Scripture. Go to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians. Chapter 1, Paul says, I came not to baptize,
but to preach. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel. Now with the wisdom of words,
verse 17, this is, lest the cross of Christ be made of none effect,
for the preaching of the cross is them that perish foolishness.
But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. Verse
21, for after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. Listen, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. This is the means God has chosen,
preaching. Preaching of the gospel. And
this man, this servant of Abraham, is a picture of every gospel
preacher. Now notice, though Abraham did
not know who the bride was, he was sure that there was a bride.
He was sure of this. In verse 7, when the servant
here, we're going to see he wasn't so sure. He wasn't as sure as
Abraham was. And so Abraham assures him of
this in verse 7, the Lord God of heaven, which took me from
my father's house 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. But
as I said, the servant was not so sure. Look at verse 5. The
servant said, peradventure, The woman will not be willing to
follow me to this land. Must I needs bring thy son again
to the land from whence thou camest? And Abraham said unto
him, Beware that thou bring not my son thither again. What if the woman won't come?
If she's not willing to come, should I bring Isaac and show
Isaac to her? This servant surely is a picture
of every preacher. Every preacher that is called
of God is sent forth into the world to preach the gospel to
every creature. We are to persuade men to love
and believe on Christ, not in our own power, not by our own
logic, and not by our own skill. This evening, tonight, if you
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, it will not be because of my
skill, it will not be because of my abilities. But yet, it is only through clear
and plain preaching of this gospel that the power of the Holy Spirit
in revelation reveals Christ. This is it. This is the means
God has chosen. Paul said, I came not with excellency
of speech. I came not with man's wisdom. I came preaching to you the Gospel
in demonstration, power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit. It's the
Spirit of God that has to reveal the Word of God to man. It cannot
be the preacher. Yet, this is the means God has
chosen to use. The preaching of the Gospel. So we surely are like this servant.
We do not know who the bride of Christ is. I just don't know. I don't know. Yet we are commanded to God to
go forth in faith. knowing the Spirit goes before
us. Abraham said to his servant,
the angel shall go before you. Angel of the Lord, he'll go before
you. And you know what? The Spirit of God, every time
the gospel is preached, we have this confidence. The Spirit has
already gone forward for us. He's gone before us. And this word then is sure of
success. Just as sure as this servant
was to be successful in getting Isaac a bride, I tell you, every
time the gospel is preached, it is successful. It is done
by the power of the Spirit. He reveals Christ to men. And praise God, this ministry
is not by our power or persuasion, nor does it rest on our ability,
but it rests alone upon the Spirit of God to show Christ to men. And when the Spirit comes, what
does He do? He reveals men to see their unrighteousness and
inability to please God. He brings a man to the wilderness
of his own sin, brings a man and sets him apart, sets him
alone, So that there is no comfort around Him. So that He can go
nowhere. So He can do nothing. So He can
see Himself as He is, worthless. And He what? Flees to Christ. He runs to Christ. When He hears
of mercy and forgiveness. And listen, this is the promise.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power. In the
beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning. So here
does the servant, the preacher, rest and find assurance in our
labor that God has already chosen His
bride. That gives me such great comfort to know this. God's already
chosen His bride. In 2 Thessalonians, I was going
to quote it, but my memory just Not working tonight. 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 and verse 13, We are bound to give thanks always to
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has
from beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Well, how then is one
sanctified by the Spirit to believe the truth? Look at verse 14,
where into he called you by our gospel, through the preaching
of our gospel. I'll tell you no man is saved
by the power of the preacher, but I'll tell you no one is ever
saved apart from the preaching of the gospel. Why? That's to mean God chose.
That's to mean God chose. Nobody cannot and will not come
to Christ except that God send a messenger to them. I know that's
offensive to man, but that's not offensive to us. Why? God has sent a man to us. We
are thankful God sent one and we heard and believed. Herein
does the servant, the preacher, rest and find the comfort the
bride's chosen. The message will be successful. And as this messenger was sent,
he had to endure some affliction. He had to go through some trials
and difficulties, especially the trial of his faith, didn't
he? He had just tried his faith. He had to go into a place he
didn't know where the bride was. He was just told to go there.
He was told to deliver the message that he had from Abraham, his
master. And so he gets there and he sits
down by the well and, oh, he says, oh God, help me. God, help
me. He worshipped God and he said,
oh God, I don't know, I don't know what to do. But Lord, if
you'll just show me who the bride is, I'll tell the message to
her. So preachers are sent through
much affliction to bring the message to the bride, to tell
her of her beloved husband. Paul said this, he said, I've
preached my gospel and I've suffered much persecution. He said, but
I endure all things for the elect's sake. You know why preachers
leave their homes, their families, their jobs, so that they might
minister to other believers or go wherever God sends them? We do this for your sake. For
the elect's sake. That's what we're here for. We
have a purpose. We have a mission. And it is
my purpose and mission this evening that the bride of Christ should
hear and believe. That's my purpose. Is to preach
the gospel to the bride. And you know what happens when
this gospel is preached to the bride? Our hearts are thrilled
to hear it. We identify with it. How He has
loved and chose us, how He died for us, how He's raised again
for our justification. We're reminded how sweetly His
voice sounded when He came to us in mercy. We are reminded
again of His love and grace. It thrills our hearts to hear
this message again. And we heard this message even
by messenger. Even so, all of the sheep will
hear his voice by this one's means of preaching the gospel. All the elect of Christ then
will come by faith, hearing our gospel. Now then, in verses 10
through 14, the servant comes to the place of the well. He
comes to the well where the women get water. And he's got this
great burden, this great task upon him. And he does what every preacher
does. He prays and seeks God. First notice where he was. He
was at the well. You know where every preacher
gets his message? From the well. We go to the well. And you know what? We must have
the message given to us. We must have the message. We
study and we pray, God give me a message. God give me a message
for your people. So that they might be encouraged,
they might be strengthened, that their faith might be increased.
Give me a message. And so we plead and we worship
God in prayer and study over the Word of God. We go to the
well and we wait. If you want to know the hardest
part about preaching, it's waiting for the message. It's waiting. You study and you
study and you study, but I tell you that if God's not in it,
it won't accomplish anything. It's only when God gives the
message. The burden of preaching the gospel
is an honor only given by God, and yet we who know and preach
the gospel understand that salvation is of the Lord. Every time we
preach, we understand that. We know that to be true. Preaching
is exactly like the prophet Ezekiel who was commanded to preach to
those dead bones. Now, I'll tell you what, in the
eyes of men, that's foolishness, isn't it? You take a man and
you tell him, go preach to dead bodies, dead bones, and the world
would say, that's just, that's ridiculous. Yet, this is exactly
what it is to preach to lost sinners. It is to preach to dead
men. And you know what? That prophet
didn't balk at it either. He said, when God said, can these
bones live? He said, Lord, you know. You
know. I'm just here to obey you. I'm
just here to do what you tell me to do. You tell me to preach
dead bones, I'm going to preach to them, because you can give
life. I can't. See, the power is not in the
preacher. I know the impossibility of my
task, and it may appear to the world to be foolish. Nevertheless,
we preach. We preach, but the Spirit of
God gives life to whomsoever He will. I can teach you doctrine. I can teach you doctrine to fill
your head. But only the Spirit of God can fill your heart with
understanding. That's it. And He does this that all the
glory may be to God. Jesus said, No man can come to
Me except the Father which has sent Me. Draw him. For it is
written, They shall all be taught of God. And every man that hath
heard and have learned of the Father cometh to me. Tonight I call the bride. Tonight
I say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing this, only the
Spirit can give that to you. So that He might receive all
the glory. I will display to you tonight
the tokens of His grace by His Word. to all who are interested. Now, the servant put forth this
challenge. He said, well, Lord, if the woman
that you've chosen, if she would just, I would ask her to give
me to drink, and she not only gives me to drink, but she gives
my camels water. That's the one, Lord. And before
he even finished speaking in his own heart, Rebecca comes
out and says, hey, He said, give me to drink. And she says, well,
yes, here's some water. And by the way, let me go water
your kids. Who do you suppose put that interest in her heart? It was the Spirit of God. And
I tell you, if there's any interest in the things of God, it's because
the Spirit put it there. The Spirit put it there. And notice what this servant
did when he found her to be interested, when he found her to meet the
criteria. Look at verse 21. And the man
wondering at her held his peace. We as preachers would be very
wise when we see someone interested in the gospel just to keep our
mouths closed. Preach the gospel and leave people
alone. He left her alone to see. Isn't
that what they did with the leper? When there was one that had a
spot of leprosy, the priest put him aside to see if it was true
leprosy. Because only true lepers need
healing. Only true sinners need healing. Only true sinners have
come to Christ. And so what do we do when we
see if someone has interest? I know men try to meddle. They
try to get involved. They try to send you over here
to counsel with this person or talk to this person. No, we should
leave you alone. Leave you alone with God. Matter
of fact, that's what God does to sinners. He calls, He allures
them to the wilderness. Isn't that what it says in Hosea
chapter 2? He said He'll lure you to the wilderness. What is
a wilderness? It's an isolated place. And that's
what God does. When He quickens a sinner, when
He saves a sinner, that's what He does. His bride, always comes
in faith and true repentance, which are only gifts of God.
And verses 32 through 51, the servant is welcomed into Rebekah's
house. But in verse 33, before he sits
down to eat, he says this. Look what the servant said. And
the man came in verse 33, and there was set meat before him
to eat, but he said, I will not eat until I have told my Aaron
This messenger, this servant would not satisfy his own needs
until he had accomplished his mission. Even so it is with God's
preachers. We are on a mission. We are sent
with a purpose to call out the elect by the preaching of the
gospel. We are not to be taken up with the world and its comforts
or its praises. Our purpose is to make known
Christ and declare His gospel. That's it. That's our whole purpose. And as this servant declared
the glories of his master, even so we declare the glories of
Jesus Christ, his gospel, his riches of mercy and grace, and
how he sent his son to die in the stead of his people. And look what he did when Rebecca
had interest. I like this. He gave her two
bracelets. a shekel's weight, ten shekel's
weight of gold. He gave her tokens to prove the
riches of his master. Isn't that what preaching is?
To give you tokens of your master's affection? The gospel is a token of your
master's love and affection. a token of His wealth and power
to forgive sins, to give eternal life and joy to everyone that
believes on Him. Notice the servant was not allowed
to bring Isaac to show Rebekah. I told you that at the beginning.
You know why that was? Because I'm not going to bring
Christ down to show you. In other words, this must be
a matter of faith. Rebecca must leave her family
and home and go to Isaac, her husband, on faith, trusting in
his riches, trusting in his love, trusting in the word of the servant. She must come by faith. Even
so, the bride of Christ must come by faith and forsake all. Now in verse 50, I want you to
notice this. Her father and brother could
not resist. Then Laban and Bethel answered
and said, The thing proceeded from the Lord. We cannot speak
unto thee bad or good. In other words, we've got nothing
to say about this. This is a message of God and we've got nothing
to say. We've got nothing to say. When God comes in power, The
flesh always resists. The flesh always resists the
gospel. But when God comes in power,
He has nothing to say about it. See, it's not a matter of decision,
is it? It's a matter of power. God's power. Oh, the wonder and
glory of this truth, that all that the Father giveth Christ
shall come to Christ, and none of them shall be lost, Praise
God that there's nothing in heaven or earth, no power of men or
demons of hell that can stop God from giving life to His people
and faith in their hearts. You know what? When you believed,
you could do nothing but believe. Not a matter of choice. Not a matter of choice. It's
a matter of power and grace. But notice this in verse 55.
Her brother and her mother, said, let the damsel abide with us
a few days, at least ten. After that, she shall go. In
other words, there was some opposition. I know this, when God calls His
people, there will always be opposition. The flesh, the world,
and Satan does always protest against coming to Christ. They
say, oh, no, what's the rush? Won't you just stick around a
little while? Oh, you're too young. You need
to just wait a little while. When you're old, you say, well,
we'll just wait till you're dying. But what does the messenger say?
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 they said, we'll call the
damsel and see what she says. You know what she said? I'll
go. You know what everyone that is touched by the Spirit of God
says? I'll go. I'll go. I'll go. I'll tell you, our message is
urgent. The message of this man was urgent. And he needed an
answer now. And listen to this, the gospel
always demands an answer now. It always does. Will you believe
or will you forbear? Do you believe on Christ or no? If you say no, I'll go on. I'll
find someone else. I'll move on. I'll preach to
others. But God's people always will.
They always say, yes, yes, bring me to my master. Bring me to
my Savior. I will arise and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in His arms.
In the arms of my dear Savior, 10,000 charms. Behold now, believers,
as Rebecca is now on her way to see her beloved husband, even
so, we are on our way, on our journey, to see Christ. And what do we have on this way
but tokens of grace? We have the token of the Spirit
in our hearts that cries Abba Father. We have tokens of His
promises, His mercies, His covenant, His grace, and all these things
support us. Can you imagine the doubts and
fears this woman should have had? Will He embrace me? Will He love me? Is He precious? Is He going to treat me? All
these questions arising. And you know what? The answer
of the servant always was to comfort her. To strengthen her. Oh yes, my master Isaac is a
handsome man. He is rich. He is loving. He is kind. And all that way,
he supports her on the way. And you know what she does? She
follows the servant. That's what the Scripture says.
And Rebekah rose and her damsel and the camel and followed the
man. You know what? I'm going to glory. Will you
follow me? If you will, come on. If you
won't, okay. You're not hindering me. Come
on. Let's go. And she followed him all the
way. And you know what? That's what God's people do. John said this,
they went out from us because they were not of us. If they
were of us, they would have no doubt continued with us. You
follow Me as I follow Christ. Isn't that what it is? That's
what God gave His preachers for. That we should fill you with
joy and comfort of the Scriptures. And this Scripture comes to mind,
Whom having not seen, you loved. Isn't that right? We love Him
that we've not yet seen. I will go to Jesus. I will come
and seek only to be found in His blood and righteousness.
And this faith will endure all the way to the end. You know,
Rebecca's faith endured all the way till she saw Isaac. Then
she didn't need faith anymore, did she? She had the real. And one day, believer, we are
on our way to see our husband, who chose us, who purchased us,
who calls us, who keeps us, one day we will see Him face to face, and He will embrace us with His
very arms. That's the gospel in the parable
of the betrothing of Rebecca. Can you identify with that? God's
people can. They can. And we rejoice in it. May God
give you such comfort and grace. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.