Good morning. Will you please
turn your hymnals to hymn number six, Come Thou Almighty King. Let's stand together as we begin
our work this morning. Hymn number six. Come Thou Almighty King help
us thy name to sing help us to praise father of glorious for
all victorious come and reign over us ancient of days come
now incarnate world gird on thy mighty sword, our prayer attend. Come, and thy people bless, and
give thy word success, Spirit of holiness on us descend. Come, holy Comforter, thy sacred in this glad hour. Thou who almighty art, now rule
in every heart, and ne'er from us depart, Spirit of power. To the Great One in Thee, eternal
praises be. hence evermore. His sovereign majesty may we
in glory see and through eternity love and adore. All right, brethren, if you will,
for a scripture reading, please open to Acts chapter 8. Acts
chapter 8. They bestowed Stephen to death. He prayed, Lord, lay not this
sin to their charge. They know not what they do. Acts 8 verse 1, and Saul, Tarsus,
Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time, there
was a great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem.
And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea
and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen
to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for
Saul, He made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and
hailing men and women, committed them to prison. Therefore, they
that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.
Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached
Christ unto them. And the people with one accord
gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing
the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with
loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them.
And many taken with palsy and that were lame were healed. And
there was great joy in that city. Let's pray together. Father, you've encompassed us
about with trials and hedges. Lead us where it pleases you,
Lord, and allow us to preach Christ. When he's preached, allow
us to rejoice with one accord. Take the demons out of us and
their frailties and our ailments and put those aside and give
us a new creation that worships him. What a blessed deity he is. And
we see our Savior. Thank you for this hour, Lord.
Be with us. as you promised you will be. It's in Christ's name
we ask. Amen. We'll turn again to hymn number
257. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to take Him at His word. just to rest upon His promise,
just to know thus saith the Lord. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him,
how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious
Jesus, hope for grace to trust Him more. Oh, how sweet to trust
in Jesus, thus to trust His cleansing blood. Just in simple faith to
plunge me Meet the healing, cleansing flood Jesus, Jesus, how I trust
Him How I've proved Him o'er and o'er Jesus, Jesus, precious
Jesus Oh, for grace to trust Him more Yes, to swing to trust
in Jesus, Just from sin and self to cease, Just from Jesus simply
taking Life and rest and joy and peace. Jesus, Jesus, how
I trust Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus,
oh, for grace to trust Him more. I'm so glad I learned to trust
Thee Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend And I know that Thou art
with me Will be with me to the end Jesus, Jesus, how I trust
Him How I've proved Him o'er and o'er Jesus, Jesus, precious
Jesus. Oh, for brains to trust him more. Amen. Mike sent me those songs and I thought in my head it was close,
one page over, it's well with my soul. And I was thinking,
I'm glad it wasn't that this morning, because I could stall
a long time on that song. I could tell you all about it.
What happened in 1873, when Horatio's family was drowned, I could tell
you a lot about it. My old brother Bliss and his time, and how we
have My Redeemer. I was found in a trunk after
his train crashed off of a bridge that collapsed, and he run back
in to save his wife, and he was burned to death. But the trunk
survived, and in there was the words to, I will sing unto My
Redeemer. but it didn't have any music
to it. I go on and on. I'm gonna quit stalling. Genesis
24. Genesis 24. While you turn there, first Sunday will be next week. We won't have a meal here in
October. We'll kind of save up for November.
I'm gonna smoke a turkey this year. I'm gonna claim it now. Y'all be happy. No meal next weekend, but we
will on the first Sunday of November. Coming up in November also, the
12th and 13th, they're having a conference at Grace Baptist
Church of the Ozarks. My dear friend, brother Eric
Flutter is there. They've been there a couple years
now, been there a few years, and they're finally able to have
my conference, and brother Donnie Bell, Larry Criss and Darwin
Pruitt will be there to preach for them. So if for some reason
you're in Missouri, I would encourage you or someone you know to go
there. There'll be plenty of water and
meal and oil there. Be good for them. All right,
Genesis 24. Looking for a wife. I got just
a few notes I'm gonna give you and then we're gonna go through
this text. I pray the Lord's with us. I feel like my brook
is just about dried up and I pray he'll be with us. I'll give you
the people here, the characters in this story. Eliezer sent to
go look for a bride for Isaac. Eliezer had to be humbled first. He'd been a servant of Abraham
for over 50 years. And Abraham prayed to God and
his servants heard him. He commanded his house well.
Didn't he? God said so. God made him. Eliezer
sitting right there. He heard Abraham pray, Lord,
you promised me a seat. All I got to Eliezer. Not good enough. What about me? Why not me? Right. It's not recorded,
but he's a flesh and blood like I am. For 50 years, a servant
was there. He didn't pitch a fit, take his
toys and go home. He didn't say, well, if I don't
get to do it my way, I ain't going to do it. He stayed right there with
his master. right there where the Word of God was, and he served. He served. Not much is said about
him, and I can't wait to meet him. You know what he's going
to tell us? Everything the Lord did for him. He's a faithful,
faithful servant. He served Abraham for 50 years,
and he's got one more thing to do. Abraham's going to have him
do one more task. So Abraham in this story we're
going to look at. Eleazar goes to get Rebekah for
Isaac. Abraham's the father. That's God the father. Isaac. His son, his only son that he
loves, that's Christ. Eleazar's the messenger, the
ambassador, the servant of the house of Abraham. He sent, he
sent to preach, he sent. He didn't nominate himself. Some
other man didn't put hands on him and ordain him through some
pagan ceremony. He sent, the father sent him. And he's taught, he's taught
what to look for and what to do. He's given his charge, the angel
goes before. He's gonna say, what if this
woman don't listen to me? And the father speaks to the messenger
and says, my angel's going before, that's God, the Holy Spirit.
What if she don't listen? You just tell her what I tell
you to say. And if they don't listen, your hands are clean.
Dust your shoes off, house of the kingdom of God's come now
unto you. Pack your bags and go. You're all right. And Rebecca
is the one he goes to get That's the bride of the Son. You see
that? That's plain, isn't it? That's
the church of God. That's the Lord's bride. Song
of Solomon. All of it. This one's pretty.
Real pretty. Isaac's going to like her. She's
beautiful just like his mother was. And a servant comes individually
to this woman, but this is the same for every member of the
Lord's body. Every one of his brides. This
is what happened to me. God's going to save you. He decided
he was going to do it. He's pleased to save you. The servant's sole
mission is to present the bride to the son. It's to go and tell
what's to be told. And if the spirit goes before
and makes the bride willing in the day of his power, he's just
to bring the bride back and say, there's a son. I've been telling
about the son all the time. There's a son. It's like Paul
said, I will present you a chaste virgin. like she was. He takes them back
where Abraham and Isaac are, not the land where they are in,
where Rebekah's in, not in the Chaldees. He takes her to another
land, the promised land. He goes with her, he's there
with her, and he presents her. We got 67 verses here, and I'll
try to keep it to 30 seconds or less a piece, okay? We'll
see what happens. You're looking at my outline,
you ready? Genesis 24. And Abraham was old and well
stricken in age. What were we just saying? Abraham
is a physical man, has a picture of the Father. He's going to
die. You're going to die. You get
that? It's a picture. He's a picture of the Lord. And
he's old, he's stricken in age. We just sang about the ancient
of days, didn't we? The one from everlasting that
always was. He's the Father. 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, he's the strongest in the house, let him
be the servant that ruled over all that he had. Put, I pray
thee, thy hand under my thigh. We'll make a serious covenant,
an intimate covenant, and I will make thee swear by the Lord,
the God of heaven and the God of 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 into my country and to my
kindred and take a wife unto my son, Isaac. You're my servant. Here's what I want you to do.
You go get a bride for my son. Now, I don't want you taking
out of this promised land I'm already in. That's where Isaac
is right now. That's where Abraham is right
now. Don't you take it of the angels. Let's take some creation the
Lord had. You go to my country, you go
to my kindred, and you go take a wife for Isaac. What's that? That's where we are. How was
Adam made? He was made in the likeness of God, wasn't he? Christ
brought his bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, just
as mine is. He said, and you don't go take
another beast to the field, you don't go take another bird to
the air. That's what Adam went through. The Lord said, if one
of these is gonna be help for you, and there wasn't one of
them that fit, wasn't one of them that do, they're all promised,
they're all given to the Lord in that perfect garden. He had
to make one of him, of him, from his country, from his bones,
his DNA. He tells his servant, he said, you go take a bride
for my son out of my country, out of my kindred. It's gonna
be just like Isaac. And the servant said unto him,
peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me. unto
this land?" Oh, that's a good question. It's a good servant. He don't just blindly go, whoop-dee-doo. We'll see what happens. Not fatalistic.
He asked good questions, didn't he? I'm going to go down there
and I'm going to go find a wife for your son. She ain't never
seen you. She don't know a story about
you. She ain't never seen your son. She don't know what he looks
like, don't know how he is. She don't know this land. She's
never been here, don't even know what it smells like, looks like,
how the wind is, the rain, the climate, nothing. And she don't
know about these riches I'm gonna tell about, what comfort she's
gonna have, and the love that's here, the kind household that
I grew up in for 50 years. Well, if she don't, who's gonna
believe my report? Who's gonna believe my report?
Peradventure, the woman will not be willing to follow me into
this land. Must I needs bring thy son again into the land from
which thou camest? Well, if she don't hear me, but
do I need to bring Isaac If I go look for a wife and I can't find
one, should I take Isaac and make him come back again to this
land he was born out of? And Abraham said unto him, Beware
thou that thou bringest not my son thither again. Don't you
dare take Isaac back down there. Does Christ have to die one more
time? He shed his blood once, didn't he? That's what that means. Where there's remission of sin,
it's removed as far as the east is from the west, where his blood
is shed. Ain't no going back. We'll tell
about it. We'll proclaim it. But there's no going back and
doing this again. It means that. But this also means the Lord's
not coming back to this earth. He came here. He lived here. He died here for His people.
And He's risen again. He'll come back in His glory.
But He's not going to come back to this cursed ground and set
up a kingdom. This bride's going to go to Him. He's not subject
to His bride. His bride is subject to Him.
You get that? Well, we just don't wanna go
nowhere, so you gotta come to us. You ain't the bride. We'll find a different one. Eliezer's asking these things.
And Abraham said to him, beware that thou not bring my son thither
again. Why? The Lord God of heaven,
which took me from my father's house, verse seven, and from
the land of my kindred, from the land, and from which spake
unto me, and that swear unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will
I give this land." This one, you've heard about your whole
life, Eleazar. Preached it to you. He shall send his angel
before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.
That's what's going to happen. This word that I'm going to send
you with will not return to me void, is what Abraham said. And
to ease your concerns, because you're flesh and you're going
to have them. He'll get up and preach and preach and preach
and preach, ain't nothing gonna happen. It dries all over the place.
But for your sake, Eleazar, 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 hither again. Don't you go looking for signs
and wonders. Don't you do that. You don't do that. If she won't
hear you, dust your feet off. Paul said, I faithfully preach
the gospel to you and all men's blood's cleared from my conscience.
It's not on my hands. I've told you plainly. It ain't
on me. And the servant put his hand,
verse nine, in the thigh of Abraham, his master, and swear to him
concerning that manner. And the servant took 10 camels
of the camels of his master and departed. There's a whole lot,
like I said the other day, you can get into the numerology of
Abraham's bride, Sarah, being 127 years old, and you get so
tangled up in numbers, you walk clean past Christ, can't you?
He took 10 camels. That was perfection and completion,
seven plus three, whatever. But them camels was provision,
and it was protection. It was a means of providence
to move him. Them camels will surround him
in a sandstorm, and their nostrils close, and their eyes close.
Keeps the sand out, and they'll just tuck up underneath them
camels. He took perfect provision. Perfect protection with him.
He took that, but he took those from the goods of his master.
And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master and
departed, for all the goods of his master was in his hand. What does the Lord restrain from
us? Look at all the good stuff, all
his promises in our hand, all his beauty he's given to us.
We see through a glass darkly, but we have that now, don't we?
We have this treasure. It's a treasure. A treasure in
earthen vessels. And he arose. He did what his
master told him. He arose and he went into Mesopotamia
unto the city of Naor. And he made his camels to kneel
down without the city by a well of water at the time of evening.
The time when the women go out to draw water. He went to where
the brides were. He didn't go to where they weren't.
Just like Elijah didn't go down there and say, well, I'm just
gonna, Lord may have some widow down here, I'm gonna go looking.
There's several people that take off in this world thinking that
they're doing the Lord's bidding, blindly. Well, I just, just like
Jonah, if the Lord didn't want me going to Tarsus, there wouldn't
have been a ticket. This must be it. I'm gonna take off to
the wild, wild west or wherever, the frozen north or the tropical
south. I can't believe there ain't more
people wanting to be evangelists in Hawaii. That place is beautiful.
Well, this is just where the Lord wants me. No, he was sent
here on purpose. And he used some good common
sense. Where are you going to find a bride? Where the brides
are. Where the women go to draw water. But he didn't just use
common sense, did he? Verse 12. And he said, O Lord
God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this
day and show kindness unto my master Abraham. He prayed. He showed up where the brides
were, doing what he was sent to do. And he said, Lord, be
with me. Lord, be with me. Honor yourself. Honor our father. Don't bring reproach on your
name. You be with me. Behold, I stand here by the well
of water. He wanted some proof. I stand
here by the well of water. And the daughters of the men
of the city come out to draw water. Let it come to pass. Lord, give me, don't let me just
sit here and spinning my wheels and doing something, looking
for a woman that ain't there. You move me. You act on this.
Make it, I'm dumb. I'm dumb. Make it plain to me
that you'll bless in this word, that this is your will. Make
it plain to me. Behold, I stand here by the well of water and
the daughters of all the men of the city come out to draw
water and 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 camels drink also. Let
the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac,
and thereby shalt I know that thou hast showed kindness unto
my master. He said, whenever I'm gonna go up to one of these
women, I'll say, can I have a drink of water? Have we heard this before? Give
me to drink? We've heard that, ain't we? That's
what our Lord did to the Samaritan woman. That's what we just looked
at Elijah with that widow. Give me a drink of water. sitting
uncommon. This is common means, isn't it?
This is foolish. Foolish means to people, the
foolishness of preaching. Will you hear me? Lord, will
you give me that woman, give her an attentive ear and make
her willing in the day your power to give me a drink of water and
let her be abundant. Let her be generous. And she
goes and gets water for them camels too. Now, whenever I go up to
one, I say, can you give me a drink of water? And she says, yeah,
here, have a drink of water. You know what, I'm gonna get some
for your camels, too. Then I'll know that that's the one, because
I'm done. I'm done, Lord. The Lord cursed
those self-righteous Pharisees. He said, give us a sign, show
us you're with the cross. He said, you ain't getting no sign but
the prophet Jonah. Thomas came to him. They were saying sonship.
And he said, I ain't gonna believe unless I touch your side. He
said, come here, Thomas, put your hand right there. Come here, brother. Eliezer
said, Lord, show me. Do this. Please give me this.
And that way I know, because I want to honor my master. And
I want to call out my future master, Isaac. I want his bride. I want this to be the right one
that you've chosen, that your spirits went ahead for him. I
don't want to bring some harlot up here. Lord, you show me. This
is precious. You ready? Verse 15. And it came
to pass before he had done speaking. They will call on me, and I will
answer them while they yet speak. You know what the Lord said? Before he had done speaking,
that behold, Rebekah came out, who was born of Bethulia, son
of Milcah, the wife of Neor, Abraham's brother, of his people,
of his bone, of his bone flesh, of his flesh, with her pitcher
upon her shoulder, and the damsel was very fair to look upon, she
was beautiful, 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. He ran to me. Lord, I ask you
for this. There she is. And he took off running. Was
he slothful? Was he slothful in business?
He ran. When the Lord told Philip, I
got a eunuch down there. Get after him. He ran. Oh, there
she is. This might be the last saint
God's gonna call home. And then Eleazar gets to go home.
I'm gonna run. The race set before me. A servant
ran to meet her and said, Let me, I pray thee. Told you that
last hour. Right now. Right now. Drink a little water out of thy
pitcher. I'm thirsty. It's been a long journey. You
don't know where I come from. You don't know where I'm going,
but I need a drink of water. Let me have a drink of water. And
she said, Drink. Drink, my lord." She was respectful,
and she gave him to drink. And she hasted. She's in a hustle,
too. 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. You
just sit right there. You got enough? You look tired. Sit down. I'll take care of this.
Who is this man? She don't know. That's the heart
of God's people. That's the character of that
new creation. Kind to strangers. Loving. How could that be? We were strangers. God was kind to us. We love with
the love wherewith we have been loved. Do you see that? Or you
don't? Do you don't? Servant ran to
meet her and said, let me pray. 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'll draw
water for our camels also until they have done drinking. And
she hastened and emptied her pitcher into the trough and ran
again onto the well to draw water and drew for all his camels.
She didn't just do one. She took care of all his camels.
Camels drink a lot of water, don't they? That was an industrious
woman. She might have been poor. She
wasn't lazy. She might have been in a bad
time, they had a well, and she did what she could, what the
Lord had put in her hand to do, didn't she? She was creative,
she hustled. Verse 21, and the man wondering
at her held his peace, to whether the Lord had made his journey
prosperous or not. And I said, well didn't, he got
exactly what he asked for, didn't he? Then he said, let this woman
that comes, and I say drink, and she gives me a drink. And
then she's gonna say, I'm gonna go take care of your camels.
Let that be the one, that way I know I ain't coming vain. So
here comes this woman. He said, give me a drink. She
gives him a drink. And she says, you know what? Your camels look
thirsty, sit down. And she ran, sprinted to go fill
them troughs up for all his camels. Not one or two of them, boy,
it was full-fledged. She completely took care of his
camels, and now he waited. That's brilliant. That's God-given
wisdom. As a child of God, I knew once
I hadn't yet confessed Christ in believer's baptism, and it
would have been easy for me to sway one way or the other. Tell
them to hold off or tell them to hustle up. What in the world
are you waiting for? Should I do this? Yeah, you should
have done, been done. You should have done a long time
ago. I had to wait, not put my hand to it. Be patient, not be
too eager to keep somebody from serving the Lord or to push them
into serving the Lord. That takes God-given wisdom is
what that takes. And with all signs pointing to
this is the woman, he says, well, let's wait. I'm gonna wander
to her, I'm gonna hold my peace and wait for the Lord to work.
That's good, good advice. I hope you make me hold my peace.
And it came to pass as the camels had done drinking that the man
took a golden earring of a half shekel of weight and two bracelets
for her hands of 10 shekels weight of gold and said, whose daughter
art thou? Here's got a nice set of earring.
He's got earring and a nice set of bracelets. Whipping out the
good stuff, but it's just a foretaste, isn't it? And it's just a little
bit, whose daughter are you? He's testing her. I met some
people, I've heard a lot of messages, and there's some men that sound
like they might preach the gospel, but we have an expression where
I come from, they're anybody's dog that'll hunt. They'll get
up and preach, oh, God's sovereign and he saves the people and Christ
gets all the glory. And they'll turn around to somebody
else and say, well, now you gotta keep a day. And they'll dabble in
the works a little bit and they'll dabble in the truth a little
bit and they'll go back and forth and they'll go wherever they can
just keep fed, devour widows and have a whole bunch of long
prayers and be called titles in public. This one said, whose daughter
are you? She said, I'll be anybody's daughter you want me to be. How
much them bracelets weigh? Them's heavy. That's a whole
lot of gold. What do you want? She's honest.
Whose daughter art thou, verse 23, tell me, I pray thee, is
there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in? You see these,
I can pay for a night's lodging. I have the means the Lord's provided.
And she said unto him, I'm the daughter of Bethuel, the son
of Malchah, which she bear unto Nahor. She said, moreover unto
him, we have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in. She told him plainly, I'll tell
you who I am. I'm a Gentile girl from where the Cowdeys. We got
plenty of room. You can bring your camels. We
got plenty of straw. We got plenty of feed for them.
We got room for you too. Come on. This stranger. Give me something to drink. Here
you go. Let me take care of your camels. Can I stay at your place?
Come on. She's given to hospitality, wasn't she? And then some. And the man bowed down his head
and worshiped the Lord. Eleazar said, thank you, Lord.
Thank you. Thank you for your provision.
And he 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. Oh, I get in the way a lot. I
being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's
brethren. and the damsel ran and told them
of her mother's house these things." What happened last time she was
at the well we read? Did she run and tell all the things that
this man told her about herself? She didn't smear it to no one,
did she? Anybody listen. You know what happened? Let me
tell you something. This man prayed. I heard him.
He knows God. She went and told him. Verse
29, Rebecca had a brother and his name was Laban and Laban
ran out unto the man, unto the whale. And it came to pass, when
he saw the earring and the bracelets upon his sister's hands, that's
when he started talking. And when he had heard the words,
Rebekah, his sister saying, thus spake the man unto me, and he
came unto the man, and behold, he stood by the camels at the
whale. This guy's got a lot of camels, he's got some gold on
him. And he said, come in, thou blessed of the Lord. Wherefore
standest thou, standest without? Why are you standing outside?
Come on. We have prepared the house, and room for the camels. The man came in the house and
he ungirded his camels and gave him straw and provender for his
camels and water to wash his feet and the men's feet that
were with him. And there was set meat before
him to eat. Eleazar's finally there. He's finally where he
needs to be. And I said, here's a full spread for you, buddy.
Come on in, we'll take care of everything. And he said, I will
not eat until I have told my errand. I'm not going to eat."
Did Elijah eat the biscuit and then tell her that God said to
him? He was proven, wasn't he? His disservant was proven. So
was Eliezer. He said, I'm going to give you
the good news. Then we'll worry about dinner. Okay? Followed
down to Corinth. He said, what's wrong with you?
Why are y'all eating here at the church? Ain't you got stuff? You got houses?
Go eat there. He said, I want to know nothing among you save
Christ and Him crucified. That's number one business. Is
that crayon? I guess I can make it a little
bit plainer. That's priority number one. He
said, I ain't eating. Didn't he need to eat? Of course
he's hungry. Hey, that's a long journey, buddy. Camels, he took
care of the camels, didn't he? Take care of the Lord's house
first. That's my masters. We'll get them fed. I'll eat
later. And he said, I'm going to tell
my errand. And he said, speak on, her brother said. Verse 34,
he said, I'm Abraham's servant. The Lord hath, didn't he leave,
what, 75 years? Isn't that cousin Abraham? I know him. I'm Abraham's servant. The Lord hath blessed my master
greatly, and he has become great. 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,
she bare a son to my master when she was old. And unto him hath he given all
that he hath. You think he's just telling about
Isaac to them. What do you mean by that? This is a picture of
Christ. That's what I'm here for. Now,
I happen to be finding a physical Rebecca for a physical Isaac.
I'm here to get a spiritual Rebecca for a spiritual Isaac. That's
what I'm here for. He's put everything in his hand. And my master made
me swear, verse 37, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son
of the daughters of Canaanites, in whose land I dwell, but thou
shalt go into my father's house. under my kindred and take a wife
under my son's." What's he telling? Exactly what he was told. Is
that word for word? Is he telling what he thinks?
Is he giving his heresy? His opinion? He's just telling
what he was told. Verbatim, isn't he? And I said
unto my master, perventure of the woman will not follow me.
What's he telling them? My doubts. My doubts, not just the good
stuff. Well, you ought to be strong in the faith like me.
He's saying his doubts. What if I do all this and ain't
nobody gonna listen? And he said unto me, the Lord
before whom I walk will send his angel with thee and prosper
thy way and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred of my
father's house. Then shall thou be clear from
this oath when thou comest to my kindred. And if they give
thee not one, thou shalt be clear from my oath. And I came this
day into the well and said to the Lord God of my master Abraham,
now if thou do prosper my way which I go. I prayed to God.
I know I could be freed from this oath. I know what's right
and lawful. I know I could be freed from
this oath. And I petitioned God anyway. God save some souls. Bring your children to you. Bring
your brides, your son. I could just get up like Elijah,
it ain't gonna rain, it ain't gonna be no dew till I say so,
and then sit down, go hide, find me a nice batch of ravens and
a brook, go sit next to. The Eleazar prayed, didn't he?
He prayed, and he told them about it. And I came this day, verse
42, in the well, and O Lord, God of my master Abraham, now
thou do prosper which way I go. Behold, I stand by the well of
the water. And it shall come to pass that when the virgin
cometh forth to draw water, I say to her, give me, I pray thee,
a little water of thy pitcher to drink. And she saith unto
me, both drank thou, and I also draw for thy camels. Let the
same be the woman whom the Lord hath appointed out for my master's
son. And before I had done speaking
in my heart, I was praying to God. Should we just cut this
out? Because it's already happened.
Couldn't we just say, well, everything, he just told him everything that
happened. That's important. This is the old, old story, isn't
it? Do you want to hear something different? I don't. Well, if
somebody's preaching out of Ephesians 1 this morning, let me hear. I've heard my pastor preach out
of that 30 times in my life. Will he do 31? I want to hear. He labors it. He rehearses this,
as Brother Angus told us, isn't it? He rehearsed it. Verse 45,
and before I had done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah
came forth with her pitcher. There she was, the Lord provided.
And she went down under the well and drew water. And I said unto
her, let me drink, I pray thee. And she made haste. Oh, she was
diligent. And let down her pitcher from
her shoulder, said, drank, and I'll give thy camel's drink also.
So I drank. And she made the camel's drink
also. And I asked her, I said, whose daughter are you? She said,
the daughter of Bethul, Naor's son. who mouth could bear unto
him. And I put the earring upon her
face and the bracelets upon her hands, and I bowed down my head
and worshiped the Lord and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham,
which had led me to the right way to take my master's brother's
daughter unto his son." He told them verbatim what happened.
You know how many times I've read
that this week? I might go home this evening and read it one
more time just for me. That's precious. That's precious. That's
how God saves sinners. Sends a man preaching the gospel,
praying for them people. Is that precious? Precious to
me. He sends water. If you've been
in a famine, you've been changed, you'd be glad to have you a pitcher. Now, verse 49, and now if you
would do kindly and truly with my master, He said, you do kindly
and truly with me. No, he said, you do kindly and
truly with my master. That's who you're dealing with. Tell
me. And if not, tell me. That I may
turn to the right hand and the left hand. You gonna give me
Rebecca to be Isaac's bride? Just say so. If it's yes, I'll
go to the right. I'll head down and take her back
to Isaac. And if it's no, I'll go to the next house. Something's
been put in my hand to do and I'm gonna do it. Then Laban and
Bethuel, verse 50, answer and said, The thing proceeded from
the Lord, we can't speak unto thee good or bad. This is God's
doing. This is evident. It's obvious.
Behold, Rebekah is before thee. Take her and go and let her be
thy master's son's wife as the Lord has spoken. And it came
to pass that when Abraham's servant heard the words, he worshiped
the Lord, bowing himself to the earth. Thank you, Lord. Thank
you. And the servant brought forth
jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment and gave them
to Rebekah. And he also to her brother and
her mother precious things. Those precious things were for
Rebekah, but the mother and brother got some too. It was some fruit
that came out of that tree that benefited those around us. There's
some people blessed in this world by proximity because the Lord
uses this world like those black ravens to sustain his people.
How could Rebecca be without a mother? She had a brother,
and they're gonna benefit by being around her, because the
Lord's blessed her. Now, whether that's in material
things or countenance or forgiveness or just somebody that didn't
waste a whole day being grumpy, and they're just a little bit
happy that day. That blesses other people, don't it? He said, say so. Yea or nay,
you're either blessed or cursed, ain't you? And they did eat and
drink, verse 54, and he and the men that were with him and tarried
all night, and they rose up in the morning. He said, send me
away to my master. I'm going to leave, boys. Get them camels
out. And her brother and her mother said, let the damsel abide
with us a few days. That's translated a year. At
least ten. Ten months. She needs to age
a little bit more. We really like her. Now she's
got a little bit of She's got a little bit of money coming
in. She's got a little bit of benefit. Some diamonds and rubies. She's got a sugar daddy now. And we could probably benefit
a whole lot more. So how about you just let her stay here with
us? Because they ain't going nowhere. Did they pack up our
stuff and go? They said, we're going to be like Abraham. Get
all your stuff, throw it on him, sell off everything, go to wherever
this man is. I want to meet this Isaac and Abraham. who served
the Lord and know Him." Won't be where God's preached, where
Christ is preached. They didn't do that, just let her stay with
us, didn't they? And he said unto them, hinder me not, seeing
the Lord hath prospered my way. The Lord's in this, don't you
stop me. Send me away that I might go
to my master. And they said, we will call the damsel and inquire
at her. We ain't gonna turn her loose.
We'll go see what she has to say, because they got in her
ear. You know, you could stay. I've been your brother your whole
life. This is fame. We're blood. You don't know us,
fella. Some guy's coming, talking about some man you ain't never
seen and some place you're supposed to be living that you ain't never
been to. He's got a lot of money, though. The fullness of the earth
is his, it seems like. Won't you stay with us? Well,
let's ask her, because it's been all night, hasn't it? They've
been here, and they called Rebecca, verse 58, and said unto her,
Without go with us, with this man, you gonna go with him? You
had it good, and now you got it better. And you got family
here. We can eat Thanksgiving every
year together. We can watch the Super Bowl together. You gonna
go with this fella? I mean, we like him. He don't
bring no reproach on the gospel, but you gonna go with him?" And
she said, I will go. Eleazar said, today's the day
of salvation. You might not get it tomorrow. You may die tonight
and you'll sleep. You gonna bow to God now? You
will cry out to him. You gonna worship him? Is he
gonna be in all your thoughts? Or is this gonna be something
we do for 45 minutes? Man, what y'all doing for lunch?
Is Chili's open? I got a coupon. You see that?
He said, today's day's salvation. I'm leaving. Get her. Don't you
hinder me. And I said, what are you gonna do? She said, I will.
Wilt thou be saved? Wilt thou be made holy? You will
have to leave some stuff. You'll leave that nonsense there.
I don't worship him behind. She said, I will. I'll go." She
had faith. She had God-given faith. Which
the Lord gave us some God-given faith to follow Him. Well, you
gonna go after that fella? Where's he going? He's going
back to Abraham and Isaac, to the Promised Land. He's going
to the Father. My brother John Chapman was told one time, I
said, you know, you just follow Henry Mayhem. And he said, so
what? That's the most untypical thing.
People quote stuff and they're just ignorant of the scriptures
because they don't know God. What did Paul say? Follow me
as I follow Christ. Well, what about those that follow Paul?
Well, if we follow them, we're following Christ too, ain't we?
I'm gonna go where Eliezer went. I mean, I like him. I appreciate
him. He's the one that brought me
the good news. But he ain't the good news. I love my pastor. God used to speak to my heart.
I love him. You ain't going to say nothing
bad about him. But he's just a man. I like him well. I like
the God he preached. I want to go to a land I've never
been to and meet a husband that loved me before I ever showed
up. I got to hurry. Look at verse 61. Rebecca rose
in her damsels and they rode upon camels and followed the
man. And the servant took Rebekah and went his way. They went together.
And Isaac came from the way of the well of the Horei, for he
dwelt in the south country, as they were coming towards the
land of Canaan. Isaac went out to meditate in
the field at Eventide. This is a man of God. He went
out to pray. Prayed, Lord, you bring my bride
to me. My father has sent that servant
out to go get my bride. Bring her to me, as you promised
you will. And he lifted up his eyes and
saw, and behold, the camels were coming. What's on the horizon? Ten camels. Look at that. Is
that Eleazar? Huh. While he yet prayed, the
Lord answered, didn't he? Pray me, Rebecca. There she is. While he lifted up his eyes to
behold his beloved, while he eyes the beloved, Rebecca lifted
up her eyes when she saw Isaac. She didn't eye her garments,
she eyed her beloved, and lit off the camel. She got off the camel, she jumped
down. What's that mean? She's up pretty high, wasn't
she? Humble to the ground. She saw her husband and was brought
to the ground. If you see Christ, you're gonna
have your head chopped off, you're gonna bow at his feet. and every
knee will bow." Get that? She humbled. She'd come down
off her camel. For she said, for she had said unto the servant,
Eliezer, what man is that walketh in the field to meet us? Who
is that? She'd ever seen him? She didn't
have to ever see him. She heard of him, and she said, that one's
different. There's something inside of me
that knows that man's different. Who's that? Who's that? And the servant said, it's my
master. That's the one I've been telling
you about. He's my master. That's your husband. That's who
he is. He sent me. Therefore, she took
a veil and covered herself. Oh, don't look upon me. Hide
yourself. Oh, Lord, I can't look you in
the eye. There's no way. He was better than she imagined.
That long trip on them camels, she's probably dating her. I
wonder how tall he is. I wonder what he looks like. I wonder
if he's got a beard. I wonder if he's clean-shaven or whatever.
Is he blond-headed or brown-headed or what kind of eyes has he got?
And there he was. And boy, he was fair to look
upon. She covered her face. And the
servant told Isaac all things that he had done. I did what
you told, Lord. Just as the Father commanded me, that's exactly
what I did. And he rehearsed the story, didn't he? What's
going to be the story in glory? Well, now we're in a post-millennial
hush. It's going to be the glory of
Christ. He saved his people. He laid
down his life for the sheep. He sent a man to tell me about
it, to allure his bride. He sent his spirit ahead of time
to work in the hearts of his people. Well, didn't Isaac know
that? Yeah, he did. He told him anyway.
It's the only story he had. It's the only word he had. And
the servant told Isaac all things he had done, and Isaac brought
her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became
his wife out of necessity. Well, the law demands it. I've
got to do this because daddy made me. It's for daddy's glory,
but that's what I'm doing it for. No! No! Took to Sarah's tent, took
Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. You ever seen two married people
that's happy? That loved one? You ever seen a bride that just
had eyes for her husband? It's a rare thing. You ever seen
a husband that just, I mean, was enamored? Do ya, comes to
mind. You still get a thrill when you
see me come across the hill, do ya? I do. That's precious
when you see a husband and wife in love. I mean, just adore one
another. I have several couples I'm thinking
of right now. That's precious. Isaac loved Rebecca. What's that mean? Christ loves
his bride. Not out of necessity, not out
of duty, not out of law. He loved her. And Isaac was comforted
after his mother's death. All that wounding it took, all
that labor and work beforehand. And that's because we just had
a whole chapter on the burial of Sarah, wasn't it? A lot of legwork in there. He's
up 40 years old. He's still with his father. Hadn't
married a Canaanite yet, but working diligently. And all that
work leading up to chapter 24 and all that praying, intercession,
intercession that he made for his bride, that was all eased. All those labor pains were gone
because his love was there. You see that? The father sends
a servant. to go looking for a bride for
his son. He don't know which one's his. She ain't got a big
B on her forehead. And so he talks to him. The Lord
makes himself obvious that he's working because he provides a
bride for his son. She's willing in the day of his
power to go to him. And there's love there. That's
what based the whole thing on. Is that precious to you? Go home
and read that again. Dwell on that, still want it.
Has the Lord came to you? Has he sent some old, hardly,
Eliezer ain't even named here. A nameless servant. Said, you
ain't the heir, you're right. Get to work, okay. I got some
questions. Abraham loved, he sent that servant.
Has he sent him to you? Come to him. We'll go together.
Till the day of his coming, amen. All right, Brother Mark. Please turn to hymn number 452.
If you'll stand with me as we sing, My Savior's Love. Hymn
number 452. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how He could love me, a sinner
condemned unclean. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me! For me it was in the garden he
prayed, not my will but thine. He had no tears for his own grief,
but sweat drops of blood for mine. How wonderful and my song shall
ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me! In pity angels beheld Him, and
came from the world of light, To comfort Him in the sorrows
He bore for my soul that night. How marvelous, how wonderful,
And my song shall ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful,
Is my Savior's love for me! He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own. He poured love-burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful,
is my Savior's love for me! When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see, It will be my joy through the
ages To sing of His love for me. Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful! And my song
shall ever be! Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful! Is my Savior's
love for me! Old Wilma made again Wednesday
evening. Here in just a couple weeks,
my brother Fred Evans is with us. from Sellersburg, Indiana,
Lord willing, and he'll preach the gospel to you while I'm out
of town, but he's going to stay around until that Wednesday.
So we're going to try to help him all we can. So Lord, lay
that on your heart. In addition to what you already
do so much to do that too, we want to help him. But as the
Lord allows, we'll have Fred here and Frank Tate in November
and Marvin was scheduled to come in December, but they canceled
his flight yesterday. He got an email. I was talking
to him, and he preached out of Genesis 24 at that conference.
Who knew? I told him, I said, if you'd just email me them notes,
I'd really appreciate that. We talked about it a good bit
on the phone, but hopefully he'll get his ticket sorted out, and
y'all have the gospel that week in December, if I'm allowed to
leave. We'll see what the Lord has for us, so keep those things
in mind, and the Lord be with you till Wednesday. We'll see
you then.