maybe some immigrants who come
in, and perhaps it's their custom in the country that they come
from that they'll have an arranged marriage. But I did bother to
look up a couple of things, and I found that there are still
some countries today where marriages are arranged, prearranged, we
might even say. Certainly India, this is a very
common practice In India, also in China, also in some Middle
Eastern countries, in Pakistan, Bangladesh, even in China, marriages
are arranged by the parents or the grandparents. and it was commonly practiced
in the days of Abraham. And so he commissions his trusted
servant Eliezer for this very important mission, go out and
find a bride for Isaac. Abraham, you know, is called
the father of the faithful. At this time, he's 140 years
old. And our next lesson in the book
of Genesis will be bidding goodbye to Abraham because he, like all
men with the exception of two, Enoch and Elijah, Abraham must
himself die. and so we'll bid goodbye to him. But he's an old man now, but
he still has this great longing for his son Isaac to have a bride
from the homeland. Not from among the Canaanites,
who are a godless people, who were an idolatrous people, but
rather to, he instructed Eliezer, and you'll notice that Eliezer's
name isn't even mentioned. We know it's Eliezer because
we can go back and we pick that up from earlier portions of Scripture,
but Eliezer doesn't even mention his name. Now Abraham, of course,
is a picture of God the Father, and Isaac is a picture of the
Lord Jesus, and Eliezer, he's a picture of the preachers of
the Gospel. You don't need to know the names of the preachers
of the gospel. You don't need to know me. Well,
I want you to call me by name, but hey, I'm not the important
one. Isaac is the important one. That
is Christ Jesus. He's the one you've got to know.
You don't need to know me. But you've got to know Him. Life's
in knowing Him. Believing Him. Loving Him. And worshiping Him. I'm just
the one, just like Bill before me and Henry before Bill. We're the ones who convey the
message. We're the aliasers of God. And we come forth with a message
concerning our Master's darling Son. and have that God has given
to him all things. He's so precious. He's so trustworthy. He's just the Savior all of us
need. We're here to brag on and point
people to Christ, the Lord of glory. So, Eleazar goes forth to tell
people to tell whoever he meets about Isaac, and he's especially
looking for a young lady. Our marriage to Christ, you know,
it's a prearranged marriage, isn't it? Well, sure it is. You
know, all things were prearranged for our relationship with Jesus
Christ to be the bride of Christ. God the Father arranged it all,
and He arranged it all before He ever made the world. He wrote
our names down in the Lamb's Book of Life. And then He sent
His Son to redeem us, to buy us back from offended justice. He knew us and He loved us and
He cared about us and He appointed us to everlasting glory. Way
before we knew anything about God. In fact, way before He ever
created anything. This is His eternal decree. God arranged a marriage. He arranged for a people. to
believe on His Son, to worship Him, to fall in love with Him,
to see His beauties, to appreciate His greatness, and to see how
that God had given all things over to Him. In Revelation chapter 21, John
sees the end of the eternal future. He sees that time when time shall
be no more. And he says, I, John, saw the
holy city, the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven
and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Adorned. You see, we are adorned as a
bride for Christ Jesus. Well, in what clothing are we
adorned? Well, not in our filthy rags. Those filthy rags of self-righteousness
have to be stripped off of us. We're adorned with the garments
that the bridegroom gives us, even his very righteousness. So, God has prepared all things. He's appointed all things. He
has prearranged our union with the Lord Jesus. Last night I
was talking to Nancy and she said, well, how's your message
going to go? She took Susanna to Dayton today and both of them
were wiped out, so that's why she's not here. She said, how's
your message going to be Wednesday night? And I said, well, I'm
going to talk about an arranged marriage. She said, you know,
ours was arranged too. And I said, well, that's right.
That's right. Ours was arranged too. Yours
and Ronnie's was arranged too. I wouldn't go around the room.
All of our marriages were arranged before the world began. But not
only our marriages, everything was arranged by God before He
made anything. But that which is at the very
head of the list, that which is most honoring and glorifying
to God, He arranged that He would save a bunch of people that would
fall in Adam's transgression, and they would be brought to
the Lord Jesus and joined to Him by invincible, effectual,
irresistible grace. And the gospel, the gospel of
the Lord Jesus, that's what His aliasers go around preaching. And here's the miracle of it,
this gospel, it will search out and find the bride. You remember our Lord said in
John chapter 10, my sheep, hear my voice. What is the voice of
the Lord? It's his gospel. It's the good
news of redemption finished and accomplished. It's the good news
of the grace of God for those who are undeserving of any good
from God. It's the good news of the Lord
Jesus and His completed work of redemption. Isaac is the second most important
person in this. And I guess we could even say
he's equal with Abraham. just like the Son of God is equal
with the Father, both of them being God. Isaac is now 40 years
of old. He's the promised son. He is
the heir. He's the heir. Look with me here
in chapter 24 at verses 35 and 36. Now here is Eliezer, and
he is speaking to Laban, who is Rebekah's brother. Eliezer says, and the Lord hath
blessed my master greatly, and he is become great. and he hath
given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and men's
servants, and maid's servants, and camels, and asses, and to
Sarah, my master's wife, barest son, to my master when she was
old." Now watch this. And unto him, unto Isaac, hath
he given all that he hath. Abraham has given everything. Abraham is a wealthy man. but
He gives everything over to His Son. And I'll tell you, I hope you see the picture here
that God the Father has given to His Son all things. Now understand
this, He already had all things by virtue of creation and the
fact that He's God. He's God over all, blessed forever.
He's always been God. He's the Great I Am. He's Jehovah,
the ever-existent One. But this One who is the Son of
God, eternally the Son of God, He stepped out of glory and He
came to this world by divine appointment. And He joined His
deity with humanity. The scripture says he humbled
himself. What a stoop. To leave heaven. To, as it were,
step down off of his throne and then join himself to the same
kind of body that rebels on earth possessed. But his body was without
sin. And in that body, he grew in
stature and in wisdom. In that body, he fully obeyed
God's law. And then in that body and soul,
he had a human soul and a human body. He suffered all of the
indignities that men could heap upon him. But in his soul, he
suffered all of the wrath of God that was due to us because
of our sinfulness. And by His substitutionary death,
He paid all of our debt. He settled the issue forever. And He arose again because He
justified us by His righteous obedience. He saved His people. from their sins. And therefore
God has given all things over to his son. Just like Abraham
gave all things to Isaac, the father has given all things over
into the hands of his son. Now let me give you a few scriptures
here. First of all, Matthew chapter 11. And some of these you're,
probably all of these you're familiar with, but I want to
read these. I want you to take the time to
turn in the scriptures with me. Matthew chapter 11. Matthew 11. And look at verse 27. And there won't be enough time to comment
on these verses, but I just want to read them to you. Matthew
11, 27. All things are delivered unto
Me of My Father. All things. Not most things. All things. Nothing is left out. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal Him." Reveal Him. Look at John chapter 3. John
chapter 3 and verse 35. John chapter 3 and verse 35. John the Baptist says, John 3.35,
The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His
hand. Turn a page or two over to chapter
5. John 5. Verse 21. Verse 20, For the Father
loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that
himself doeth. And he will show him greater
works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth
up the dead, and quickneth them, even so the Son quickneth whom
he will. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. That's the reward
for his faithfulness. Look at verse 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 hath sent
him." Those who refuse to honor Jesus of Nazareth as being the
Son of God, they're not honoring God. Not at all. They're blaspheming
the name of God. Our Lord says very clearly that
if he that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which
hath sent him. Verse 24. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that
sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death into life. Verily, verily, I say unto
you, the hour is coming, and now is. When the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live."
What is that? That's regeneration. That's the new birth. That's
the Son quickening whom He will. Verse 26, "...for as the Father
hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life
in Himself." The Son of God is life. And he said that in John
chapter 14, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Look at verse 27, And hath given
him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of
Man. As the Son of God, no authority
was given to him. But it was given to him as the
Son of Man. He earned it. by finishing the
work that the Father gave Him to do. So, as we go back to our
text in Genesis chapter 24, the trusted servant, Eliezer, He goes forth and He's speaking
of the greatness of His Master's Son. This is our job. This is our responsibility. And
beyond that, this is our privilege. This is our honor. This is a
wonderful thing God has given to us that He has established
a local church here to make known the glories and the beauties
and the work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Eliezer, a faithful servant. His name means God is my helper.
He received a commission from his master. Go find a bride for
my son. And we as a congregation, as
a church, we're on a mission for we've received a commission
to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course,
Rebecca, she prefigured all of the Lord's bride. And the bride
was chosen in grace and redeemed by blood. as shall be called
by the Gospel. Now last week, we dealt for a
little bit, we talked about the mission that Abraham gave to
his trusted servant, and then that the Lord had promised that
the mission of Eleazar would be successful. I've said it before, and you've
heard other preachers say it, I'm sure, we're not on a fool's
mission. We're going to be successful.
My ministry will be successful. I can't fail because I'm setting
forth the Word of God. And it says in 2 Corinthians
2, when a door is opened for the Gospel to be preached, we're
triumphant in Christ Jesus. And the Word of God may be a
savor of life and the like for some, and it is, and to others
it's a savor of death and to death. But the Word of God will
go forth and it will always accomplish the purpose of God. I remind you of how Eliezer asked
the Lord to bless his mission. And that's what we pray. Lord,
bless our mission. Bless our preaching. I'm up here
tonight sowing good seed. Good seed. The good seed of the
Word of God. Some of it falls on wayside hearers. The ground
is hard. There's been no preparation of
the heart to receive the seed. Some are stony ground hearers. The seed falls in, but there's
no depth to the soil. It doesn't take root. Others
are thorny ground heroes. You seem to receive the Word
of God, but then the thorns of this world just choke out the
seed. And then there's that prepared
ground. And you notice several times
Eliezer talks about being in the way. Did you notice that?
Being in the way. Sowing the seed. I'm looking
for a bride. He asked for God to prepare the
way. Prepare the way. But I want you to notice this,
and I read this to you. This servant of the Lord, and
if you're keeping an outline, first of all, the mission Abraham
gave to his trusted servant. Secondly, the Lord promised to
make his mission successful. And here's the third thing, the
servant must not deviate from his errand. When he got to the
house of Laban, and Laban invites him in, and Laban, he puts out
a big spread of food. This servant and his associates
have traveled a long distance. They're weary, they're hungry,
they're tired. But when food is said before
them, notice what the scripture says in verse 33. and there was said meat or food
before him to eat. But he said, the serpent said,
verse 33, I will not eat until I have told mine Aaron. And Laban
said, well, then say what you've got to say. Speak on. Speak on. Our Lord's business,
that's our priority. And we must not let anything
else get in the way. Eating is a good thing. But to
Eleazar, that's a secondary matter. He's there in search of a bride
for Isaac. He's got a message to set forth. And after that's set forth, then
we'll eat. But he said nothing's going to
be more important than that. I've been in the ministry a long
time. I've seen several preachers get sidetracked by what appeared
to be worthwhile endeavors. Eating is a worthwhile endeavor,
but it's not more important than delivering the master's business,
taking care of the master's business. I've seen preachers who seem
to be preaching the gospel, And then they kind of got legalistic. They got into rules and regulations
and law keeping. Left that narrow way of salvation. I had a young man in one of the
congregations I pastored. He was going away to school.
And I knew of a church in that area, and I said, hey, this would
be a good church for you to attend. And so he went away to school,
and he attended that church. He came home on break, and he
said, do you have any idea what that guy's preaching? I said,
well, I've heard him at Bible conferences. He said, he's preaching
the Jewish dietary laws. He got sidetracked. He forgot
his errand. He forgot His mission. Our mission
is not to straighten out your diet. Our mission is to tell you about
Christ Jesus, who He is, what He did, why He did it, and where
He is now. That's our mission. I know two preachers, they got
sidetracked by the Flat Earth Society. And I told one of them, I said,
what does it matter whether the earth is flat, round, or oblong? God's got a people here and we've
got to preach the gospel to them. If you think the earth's flat,
go ahead and think that, but that's not our mission. Whatever shape it's in, God's
got an elect people here and they've got to hear the gospel.
We've got to brag on Christ. They got all tied up in it. No good. No good. Got sidetracked. Let's endeavor to be like our
master. Do you remember when he dealt
with this Samaritan woman? Drink of the water that I'll
give you and you'll never thirst again. A water of life. And he dealt with her so tenderly
and kindly. And then she went into town to
tell her five husbands that she had divorced and anybody else
who would listen to her about the wonders of this great Messiah. Well, meanwhile, while he was
speaking to her, his disciples went to town to buy food. And then she left and then the
disciples came back and they said, Master, eat. It's time to eat. He said, I
have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore His disciples
said to one another, Has anybody brought Him lunch already? Anybody
brought Him something to eat already? And Jesus said to them,
My meat, My food is to do the will of Him that sent Me and
to finish His work. He said, That's My meat. And
I'm going to tell you something, that's our me too. It's to do
the work that he called us to do. We're not called to build
hospitals. We're not called to build orphanages.
Those are worthwhile endeavors that the lost can do. The men and women who don't know
God, they can build orphanages, they can build hospitals in foreign
lands, in pagan lands, but we do what nobody else does, honor
God in preaching the gospel. And that's what we stick to.
And that's the only thing we do. That's our business. Our business. You see, the preacher of the
gospel and really the church that believes the gospel, we
have meat to eat that the world doesn't know anything about.
They don't understand us. The Lord even says, they don't
understand you. The world knoweth you not because
it knew me not, He said. They don't understand what we're
all about. They don't know why we meet.
and come here and we don't conform to their standards, we don't
join in with them. We don't fit this religious society. The religious society today,
their theory is, let's sing like the world and dress like the
world and preach like the world and play instruments like the
world. Yeah, that's what they're doing. And the world is in there
then. That's all they got. It's a worldly
church. But you tell them, they ask you, well, what did your
preacher preach on yesterday? He preached on Christ crucified.
Well, yeah. Well, everybody knows that. Oh,
everybody don't know that either. They don't know who He is, don't
know the reason that He died. We have a mission to fulfill. Well, so, we must not get sidetracked. And here's the fourth thing.
It comes time for a verdict. Time for a verdict. This man, Eliezer, he tells me, he says, I got to
ask Rebecca this. Is she going with me or not? And so Laban and her mother called
for Rebekah, verse 58. They called Rebekah and said
unto her, Will thou go with this man? It's time for a verdict. Brother Barnard used to stress
that. Time for a verdict. We're preaching
for a verdict. I despise cheap, easy, believism,
decisionism. I truly do. But I'll say this,
when the whole Gospel has been set forth, it is time for a verdict
then. Will you go with this man? Will
you believe this Gospel? Will you bow before Christ Jesus? Will you own Him as the Son of
God, the Son of Man? Will you acknowledge that He
alone is the Savior and He saves by grace? It's time for a verdict!
Time for a verdict. And she said, I will. Because you see, as it says in
Psalm 110 verse 3, thy people shall be willing in the day of
thy power. I will. And I tell you what,
all of you who are saved, You went to Christ Jesus willingly. Willingly. He didn't pick you
up by the nap of your neck and throw you into the kingdom of
God. You came to Christ willingly. Why? Say it. He made you willing. Otherwise, you wouldn't have
come. You see, Rebecca is a beautiful
type of the church. She was thought of before she
knew it. She was loved before she knew it. She was appointed
to be the bridegroom of Isaac before she knew it. And unbeknownst to Rebecca, her
husband had already passed through death and resurrection. That's
what Isaac He, as it were, went through death. Because Abraham,
in his own mind and heart, he executed that boy. He sacrificed
him. Believing God could raise him
from the dead. That's the picture of our Lord
Jesus who was sacrificed by God the Father. And He did be raised
from the dead. And here's the last thing. If
God sends forth a messenger, he will prosper his journey. I hope you notice this, how frequently
the word prosper is used in Genesis 24. Verse 21, the man wondering
at her held his peace to wit whether the Lord had made his
journey prosperous or not. Verse 40, And he said unto me,
The Lord before whom I walk will send his angel with thee, and
prosper thy way. Verse 42, And I came this day,
Eliezer said, unto the well, and I said, O Lord God of my
master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way. And then verse
56, He told Laban and Rebekah's mother. He said unto them, hinder
me not seeing the Lord that prospered my way. We believe in the prosperity
gospel. It's a gospel that prospers.
He can't be defeated. Well, Rebekah goes with the man And she sees somebody off in
the distance. She asks Eliezer, who is that? Who is that? Verse 65, for she had said unto
the servant, what man is this that walketh in the field to
meet us? And don't you know, Eliezer, he just burst in with
joy. He said, it's my master. That's my Master. He's the one
I've been telling you about. He owned everything Abraham has. He's given to his son. And I'll
tell you, everything God's got, He's given to Christ Jesus. He
has universal authority over all things. That's my Master. And when you hear who He is,
you'll do like she did. Verse 65. She took a veil and covered herself. She humbled herself before Isaac. Isaac, you see, meets her at
a well of water. Water, in the Word of God, is
that which cleanses. He said, that's my master. And
I'll tell you, a faith look to Jesus Christ will just melt the
heart, won't it? Just melts the heart. And you
worship Him. You say, oh, this is the Savior
I want. And verses 66 and 67, He loved
her. He loved her. Christ loved us with an everlasting
love. Therefore, in loving kindness,
He's drawn us." It's a beautiful love story, isn't it? I just enjoy preaching from this
passage of Scripture. I trust that it's been a blessing
to you. Let's pray. Father, we are so
very thankful you sending forth your aliasers
to preach of Christ and His glories and His beauties, of His excellencies,
of His person, of His offices, of His attributes, of His work
of redemption, that all things have been given of the Father
to Him. It's a glorious opportunity we
have week after week to declare the honors and the majesty of
the Savior. And to put this before men and
women. Wilt thou go with this man? I'm
not talking about making a light, quick decision. We're talking
about reaching a verdict. Who is this? Who is this Christ? Is He who God says He is? And
will we follow Him? Will we love Him? Will we believe
Him? Well, if you make us willing,
we will. And we're thankful that you've overcome our rebellious
wills and you've made us willing in the day of your power. Keep
us ever faithful. As I've said, we've seen others
get sidetracked. Lord, don't let us get sidetracked. Help us to always remember what
our errand is. What our mission is. It's just like the mission of
the Apostle Paul, who summed up his ministry. We preach Christ
crucified. Send us away rejoicing in Your
everlasting love to the bride of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In His name I pray, Amen.