Turn to Genesis chapter 24. Genesis chapter 24. Let us ask the Lord to bless
His Word this morning. Our Father, we come before Thee
this morning, begging for Thy presence here, praying for Thy in this hour of worship, as thy
family comes together here and throughout this world. Father,
help us to worship you in spirit and in truth, and to give unto
you the honor that's due unto your name. Enable me to rightly
divide the word of truth this morning. Send it forth in power. Feed thy children this morning.
And for those who believe not, Lord, may this be the day that
they find the Lord, that they do believe. Thank you for all
your mercies. Lord, you have taken such good
care of us, and we thank you for it. We look forward to that
day when we will be in your eternal presence in heaven. In Christ's
name we pray, and amen. Genesis 24. Isaac receives his bride. That's what we're going to look
at this morning. It's a picture of Christ and his church, his
bride. Let me read you something before
I get into this. I just came across this just
a minute ago here in the Revelation 19. In verse 6 it says, And I
heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as
the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thundering,
saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Let
us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage
of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready. And
to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.
And he saith unto me, Write, blessed are they which are called
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These
are the true sayings of God. there will be a marriage in heaven
someday when his bride is complete. When the Lord's bride is complete
and she's presented in glory in her completeness to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's what's going on right
now. It's the gathering together, the putting together the Lord's
bride. And we have a picture of this
in Genesis 24. Now in chapter 23, Sarah has
passed away and Abraham, it says, is of a great age. He's very old, very old now.
And before he dies, he wants to find a bride for his son,
Isaac, his only son, his beloved son. He wants to have a bride
for him. Not realizing, as I said before,
not realizing that he's writing the scriptures and doesn't even
realize it. All these types and pictures are written for us.
THAT WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO LOOK BACK AND SEE A PICTURE OF THE
LORD JESUS CHRIST AND HIS BRIDE, HIS CHURCH, AND I'M THANKFUL
FOR THAT. IT REALLY OPENS THINGS UP WHEN
YOU GET TO TAKE THE LIGHT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, SHINE IT ON
THE OLD TESTAMENT, AND YOU CAN SEE CHRIST FROM GENESIS ALL THE
WAY TO REVELATION. THAT'S SUCH A BLESSING. NOW IN
THIS CHAPTER WE HAVE A PICTURE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND
HIS BRIDE. And we see the purpose and providence of God in bringing
them together. You know, providentially, that's
what's going on right now. God works providentially in our
lives, but providentially, He's bringing together the Church,
the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in this narrative, we have
Abraham as a picture of God the Father. We have Isaac as a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We have Rebecca,
she's a picture of the church as well as every believer who
comes to Christ. And then we have the servant,
a picture of the ministers of the gospel, what I do here every
week. And the angel of the Lord, a
picture of the Holy Spirit going before the servant and preparing
the bride. You know, if without him, this
wouldn't work. It wouldn't work. Someone told
me, someone told me this once. They said the work of the Holy
Spirit is not as important as the work of Christ. I said, really? Without regeneration are you
saved? Without believing on Christ are you saved? Is not faith the
operation of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God? You cannot
take any one of the Trinity out of the picture and have salvation.
You can't do it. Now it is true that the Father
has purposed to have a bride for His Son, to have a new heaven,
new earth, and that new earth is going to be populated with
a people just like His Son. He's going to honor His Son,
and the Holy Spirit is going to honor the Son. But we dare
pit one against another. We dare not do that. We don't
do that. Now Abraham, it says here, is
he's old, he's well stricken in years. And this shows us a
representative of the Father. You know, he's called the Ancient
of Days. God is called, God the Father
is called the Ancient of Days. He's from everlasting to everlasting
is who he is. and here Abraham is purpose to
get a bride for his beloved son even the Heavenly Father has
purpose to get a bride for his beloved son the Lord Jesus Christ
I read that to you in Revelation that's going to happen and that's
what's happening right now and you'll notice that Abraham gives
all the details to his servant concerning this bride The servant
doesn't come up with his own message. He doesn't come up with
the details. He gets all of his instructions
from Abraham. And here in verses 1 through
4, and I can't go verse by verse. There are 67 verses here, so
go home and read this. It's a blessing when you read
it. Read it more than once. But Abraham calls his servant
You'll notice here, it's his well-trusted servant. He's trusted
this servant with everything. You know, Paul says that God
entrusted him with the gospel. Counted me faithful, putting
me in the ministry. Abraham chose the servant. God
chooses his servants, his ministers, to send out and preach the gospel.
Seminaries don't do that. We don't just come out and say,
well, you know what? I'm gonna go to a seminary and I'm gonna become
a minister. That's not what happens. That is not how ministers are
made. God chooses them. God equips them. God gives them
the message and God sends them out. He sends them out. You see,
the servant received his commission from Abraham. He didn't go out
on his own. He received his commission from
Abraham. And the commission is to find a bride for Isaac from
among, listen, from among his own kindred, his own kind, put
it that way. You go back to Genesis, right
back to the beginning, it's after their kind. You'll read this
time and time again, after their kind, after this kind, it's always
after their kind. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
gonna have a bride after his kind. What's that? That which
is born of the Spirit is spirit. that's his kind and also here
listen he's commissioned to go find a bride for Isaac from among
his kindred it also speaks of this we are not to be unequally
yoked to unbelievers don't go to the Canaanites or any of those
other surrounding people that surrounds them don't go to them
you go to his kindred don't be unequally yoked we're taught
that in the New Testament aren't we We taught that in the Old
Testament. They were not to marry outside
of the Jewish community. God the Father is giving to His
Son a bride like Him, a people just like Him. And those who
preach the Gospel are His servants, they're chosen of Him, and they
are given a commission to go preach the Gospel. Now we preach
the gospel to everyone because it's not written on the forehead
Isaac's bride, but the Lord knows who they are. The Holy Spirit
knows who they are. He knows exactly who they are.
He knows where they are. He knows that, but he asked a
question. The servant asked a good question
here in verses five through nine. What if she'll not come? What
if she will not come? She has never seen him. She has
never heard of him. And I'm going to ask her to leave
her mother and father, leave her kindred, and come to a place
that she's never been and marry a man she's never seen. And he
said, what if she won't come? And if she doesn't come, do you
want me to bring him to her? no Abraham says no no she is
to be brought to him she's to be brought to him sinners are
brought to Christ by the Holy Spirit through the preaching
of the gospel that's who brings us to Christ the Holy Spirit
of God brings us to Christ he reveals Christ to us He said,
No, don't you take him back there. You bring her here. You see,
you bring her. Listen, you bring her to the
promised land. That's not the promised land.
You know, Earth, this Earth we live on is not the promised land.
I'm glad this is not the promised land. But this is not the promised
land. And someday I read it to you
there in Revelation. We are going to be brought to
him. We are going to leave this world. And we're going to be
brought to the Lord Jesus Christ. our true husband. We're going
to be brought to him by the Spirit of God. And it says in verse
7, Abraham is speaking to his servant.
He shall send his angel before thee. You're not doing this by
yourself. I'm not up here by myself. I'm
not, I'm not here trying to convince you to do something. I'm here
delivering a message. I'm here telling you about our
Isaac, the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's the Spirit of God that
goes before. He's the one who does the preparation.
He's the one who works on the heart. The Holy Spirit, He will
prepare the heart. He will make her willing in the
day of His power. That's how you and I were made
willing, wasn't it? Why is it that you and I one day, we heard
the gospel and we were willing to bow to Christ, willing to
come to Christ, willing to submit to Him, willing to follow Him
in baptism, willing to follow Him the rest of our life. Why?
And why us and not somebody else? Because He made us willing in
the day of His power. It takes the power of God to
make a sinner willing to come to Christ. Other than that, you
and I would never have an interest in Jesus Christ at all. He makes us willing. You just
deliver the message. That's what Abraham said. You
deliver the message and the Spirit of God will go before you. He will prepare her to receive
Isaac. I tell you that salvation is
a work of God. Being able to see Christ whom
we can't see with these eyes is a work of God. By faith you
see Him. By faith Jesus Christ is very
real to you, isn't He? The Lord Jesus Christ is as real
to me as you are sitting there and me standing here. He's that
real to me. There's a man in glory seated
at God's right hand. who's my Lord, my Savior, your
Lord and Savior, you who believe, your Lord, your Savior, your
high priest, your prophet, priest and king, your wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification and redemption, you're all in all. Our husband
is our all in all. Now you get a marriage like that,
it's gonna stay together. If I'm all in all of Vicki. And
I treat her like Christ treated the church. He loved the church
and gave himself for it. If I do that, that's a good marriage.
That's gonna be a good marriage. If she will not follow you, here
in verse eight, if she will not follow you, now listen here in
verse eight, then thou shalt be clear of the oath. He said,
well, what if she doesn't follow me? He said, the Lord will go
before you. Don't bring her back here. Don't
bring Isaac to where she is. Bring her to where he is. And
if she won't follow you, you are clear from the oath. Paul
said this. Paul said that he had not shunned
to declare the whole counsel of God, that he was clear from
the blood of all men, You know, there's one thing I want to do
for sure. I mean, I want to preach Christ
for sure, but I want to be clear of the blood of everyone I preach
to. I want to make sure that when
I stand and preach, they understand the gospel. They understand salvation
is of the Lord and that Jesus Christ is that salvation. He
is that salvation. I want to declare the whole counsel
of God. I don't want to hold back. If
I come across the scripture and it deals with election and God
chose the people, I'm going to say God chose the people. If
it clears the house, if it clears the house, wherever
I'm preaching, if it clears the house, I'm going to preach by
God's grace, by God's grace. I don't want to hold back. I
don't want to be guilty of someone's blood that I held back because
I was impressed with that person. I didn't want to upset him. No. He said, if you go and if she
doesn't come, you're clear. You're clear. You're clear of
the oath. Our duty is to deliver the message, not force people
to make a profession. It's not up to me to force you
to do something. Don't force her to come. Listen,
don't drag her down the aisle. I wouldn't want to be at a wedding
where they had to drag the bride down the aisle to marry the guy. We are not forced to marry Christ. We are willing. The Holy Spirit
makes us willing to marry him, to be joined to him. It makes
us willing. And then verses 10 through 14,
all the goods of the master were put into his hands. We have the
Bible here that declares the unsearchable riches of Christ,
don't we? And I stand here week after week declaring, not fully,
because nobody can do that fully in this life, but I stand here
and declare to you the riches of Christ, what we have in Christ,
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, pardon, forgiveness,
and riches untold we haven't even seen yet. Durable riches,
the scripture calls them, durable riches. What a responsibility,
what a privilege, but yet what a responsibility. Paul put it
this way. He said in 2 Corinthians 4, 7,
we have this treasure in earthen vessels. We have this gospel
treasure, this rich, rich treasure in earthen vessels. God's given
me the gift. to preach the gospel, to declare
the glory and the riches of the Lord Jesus Christ to you, week
after week. Abraham, you see, Isaac is the
heir. Isaac's the heir of all things. You go there and read it, he
gave his other sons by concubine's gifts. It says he gave them gifts,
but Isaac received everything that was his. Abraham put everything
he had onto Isaac. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
heir of all things. All the riches of glory, all
the riches of the Father that you could even beyond comprehension
is given to the Son and you and I are what? Joint heirs with
Christ. We have the true riches of glory. Whatever He has, we have. Whatever
I have, Vicki has. What she has, I have. It's ours.
It's ours. I hate it when I hear I just
find it upsetting when I hear a married couple, one says, me
and this is mine. It's mine. It's me. And I'm like,
where's the other one at? Where's the other one? It's ours. It's ours. And all these riches
that this servant is going to, to tell her about belongs to
Isaac and whatever belongs to Isaac belongs to Rebecca. It's
all hers. It's all her. And then in verse
12, the servant does something that every true servant will
do if he understands the responsibility of it. He prayed. When he got
to that place, he prayed. How important is this? I sit
in the study and I study. I read and I study. But I tell
you what, that's useless if the Lord doesn't bless. If the Lord
doesn't bless you, if he doesn't bless his word this morning,
it's useless. We need him to bless his word. We need him to actually feed.
I can, I can feed your head, your understanding. Only God
can feed the heart. Only God can reach the heart.
He can do that. And he sought the Lord's blessing,
and he knew he was not up to the task of finding Isaac's bride. As Paul said, who's sufficient
for these things? Who's sufficient to handle matters
of eternity, matters of God's glory, matters of life and death? Who's sufficient to handle such
things? I'm not. I'm not, but the Lord
is. He is. He, because Paul said,
who's sufficient for these things, but our God is our sufficiency. That's how he ends that. And he prayed, listen, he prayed,
send me good speed. It is prosper my journey for Christ's sake this morning. I pray the Lord prosper this
message and the message after this for Christ's sake, for the
good of his children and for Christ's sake. And then verse
13, 14, the servant asked for some evidence that she was the
one because he couldn't tell by looking at her. As I said,
you know, it's not written on her forehead. We preach to everyone,
but the Lord knows, but he asked the Lord to prosper the journey
and give him evidence. And what's the evidence that
a sinner is the bride of Christ, one of Christ, a member of the
body of Christ? And we see those evidence in
verses 15 and 14. Before he had done speaking,
behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son 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 pray. I
pray they drink a little water of that picture. She said, drink
my Lord. And you know, previously to this,
this is exact, these exact same thing he prayed for. He prayed
this same thing. Then when he went, he saw Rebecca,
he goes to her and he repeats what he prayed for. And she does
it. She does exactly what he prayed. One of the evidence is this,
she believed the servant. She believed what the servant
was telling her. When he was telling her about Isaac and all,
if you go and read this, she believed him. I'll tell you something
else about her. And here's an evidence of a child
of God. Now this may not be so, it's
not so before they are born of God, but when the Lord works
upon them and they are born of God, here's what'll happen. She was kind to him. She was
kind to God's servant. She was humble. She was very
humble. And she was very generous. She
watered the camels and gave him to drink. She's very, very, very
kind, very humble, very generous. You know, our Lord, when He saves
a sinner, His bride, now listen, His bride, those that make up
His bride, she's not a mean, contentious woman. She's a gentle,
loving, generous, kind, humble woman. That's the church. That's
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's His bride. And
the servant does something here in verse 21. He does something
wise. He holds his peace and he observes
her. He watches. I've seen, I've seen several
people baptized over the years and I've learned this. Let some time go by. Observe
and watch. If they're still around five
years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now, that's
pretty good evidence. That's pretty good evidence that's
a child of God. But he steps back and he observes
her and he watches her. He didn't pressure her. He waited
on the Lord to make it known she's the one. She's the one. He waited to see if the Lord
would prosper him in his journey. And that's good, that's good
wisdom. Let's wait on the Lord to save sinners, not pressure
and push them into doing something. And he finds out who she is,
whose daughter she is before he reveals his mission. You know,
this, uh, she could be a gold digger. She could be a gold digger. He could start, start telling
her all about these riches and all that he's had. And he's like,
yeah, I'm the one. How many people are talked into a profession,
you want to go to heaven? It starts telling you all these
blessings and all these benefits. That's not salvation. Christ is salvation. It's when
you're in love with Christ. What was it Mephibosheth said?
Ziba, he said to David, you just give him all. I've got the key.
I have the king. You can have the riches of this
world. I have the king." So he observed
her. Then the servant gives all the
glory to God when it's evident who she is, that she's the one.
And he said, blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who
has not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth, I
being in the way. I'm doing as the Lord has said. As Abraham told him, he said
he was in the way. This is providence. Here's the
providence of God. I've been in the way. The Lord
led me to the house of my master's breath. The Lord led me. Wait
on the Lord. To all those who preach the gospel,
wait on the Lord. Wait on him. And the servant,
in verse 32 through 51, they told him to sit down and eat.
And he said, I'm not going to eat until I've told you the errand. He was on business. He was on
business. He was on business for his master.
He wasn't there for himself. He didn't just take what Abraham
told him and set it aside. And he didn't put it in the background
and then sit down to fill his belly and say, oh, yes, let me
tell you. No, the message was first. His
errand was first. His responsibility was first
before he sat down and ate. And I'm sure he was hungry. That
was not an easy journey for him to make. But he's not on business for
himself. He's on business for his master. He denied himself
for his master. And then in verse 53, he blesses
her with the things of his master. He blesses her. He tells her of Isaac and all
the riches and all that. He tells her of those, of those
things that are Isaac's. And one thing he doesn't do, I noticed
this, I mean, this popped in my mind when I read this verse
53, he did not cast his pearls before swine. He didn't just
cast it out there, but he waited to see, and when it was evident
she's the one, then he spoke of his master and his riches
and what he was there for. You see, we don't take the promises
of our Lord and apply them to everyone, do we? We don't apply
the promises of Christ to everyone. You've got to fit the character
described in the promise before you can claim a promise. Come unto me, all you that labor
and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. If you're not laboring
and heavy laden, he's not talking to you. You've got to fit the
character described in the promise. And so he wisely here, he doesn't
take the promises of Abraham and all those riches and just
throw them out to everyone. He doesn't do that. We apply
them to those who believe. Now, to those who don't believe,
the scripture says the wrath of God abides on them. Isn't
that what scripture says? And notice something here in
verse 55, and I'll try to wind this down. Her brother and mother
tried to keep her home. They said, let her stay here
a little while. Here's the flesh. He that loves mother, father,
sister, brother more than me is not worthy of me. Well, here
it is. It comes up and sometimes in
the most subtle way and you don't even realize it. You don't even
realize you've been tried. They said, let her stay. They
said a few more days, but in translation, it's another year.
They want her to stay another year at home. Another year. No, it's now. It's now. It's not another year from now.
It's not another day from now. It's now. Today's a day of salvation. Now's the accepted time. You
see, the flesh will try to get you to stay. Just wait. You can wait. You can do this
tomorrow or next month or next year. No, it's now. Who said
you had tomorrow? Who said you had the next hour?
It's now. It's now. And so here's what
they do, they said, well, let's ask her. Let's ask her if she'll go. Will she go or will she stay?
And she said, I will go. Oh, you don't have to beg sinners
to come down an aisle. You don't have to pressure sinners
to come down an aisle or do this or do that. No, when the Lord
says come, we come. When the Lord makes us willing
in the day of His power, we are willing. We don't let mom and dad, sister,
brother, or anybody else stop us from coming. The flesh will
stop you if it can. Your own flesh will stop you
if it were possible. But she says, I'll go. And here's
the only reason she said, I'll go. Here's the only reason. Thy
people shall be made willing in the day of thy power. God's
at work here. This is not just something going
on between her and a servant. God's at work here. This is Isaac's
bride, the beloved son, the only son. This is his bride. And the Lord's at work here.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit. For you to come to Christ
and believe on Him, that's His work. And she followed the servant
to meet Isaac. You know, Paul said this, follow
me as I follow Christ. Someone told me one time, said,
you just follow Mahan. I said, what's your point? What's
your point? I'm following him as he follows
Christ. That's what we're told to do. And then Rebecca sees
Isaac and she says, who is this? He said, it's my master. It's
your husband. She gets down off that camel
and she puts a veil over her face showing her humility. And
he took her and he loved her, took her into his mother's tent
and loved her. And they lived. I want to say
lived happily ever after they did, but in this flesh, in this
place that don't, I don't happen. I know that don't happen, but
I'm going to tell you, but here's the picture. Here's the picture
in heaven. It does happen in heaven. It does happen. You know, Paul
said concerning young people, let them marry, but know this,
they will have trouble in the flesh. They're going to have
some trouble, some differences, some difference. They'll have
some differences. I don't mean to have a fight. There's a difference
between having a fight and just a difference. You know, Vicki
and I have differences on things. She'll think of things, think
of something, and I'll think of it differently, but we don't
fight. We ain't into a fight, that's not normal for believers.
Now I'm telling you the truth, that's not normal for believers.
Some think it is. Some think that it's not. It's not. But in heaven, now listen, in
heaven, they will live happily ever after.
Christ and his bride throughout eternity, timeless, timeless
happiness. All right.