Well, good morning to everyone.
Hope everyone is doing well and safe. If you would, open your
Bibles with me to the book of 2 Corinthians 11. As you're turning, let me tell
you that the Lord willing, from what we're being told, we should
be allowed to start meeting publicly on Wednesday the 20th of this
month. And I will be sending out some
details to all of the members about how we can meet together
as safely as possible and follow the guidelines that we have been
given. But I'm looking forward to that
as long as we can do it together safely. All right, the book of
2 Corinthians chapter 11. We'll read the first three verses.
Would to God you could bear with me a little of my folly, and
indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with
godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means as a serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity
that's in Christ." You know, the apostle here says what every
one of God's pastors says and thinks and feels. I've brought
you to Christ. I've preached Christ to you.
I've brought you to Christ. Now don't ever leave Him. Don't
ever leave the simplicity of Christ. Don't ever leave the
singleness of Christ and go to Christ plus something else. I've
given you to Christ alone to be His bride, for Him to be the
bridegroom. Now love Him. Depend upon Him
and don't ever leave Him. That's what the Apostle is saying
here. In a few moments, you'll see ties into the message that
the Lord has given me this morning. Let's bow together in prayer.
Seek God's blessing on our worship. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverend is your matchless name. And Father, we bow before
you in worship and humility. We bow before you in thankfulness,
so thankful that sinful men and women such as we are could come
into your thrice holy presence and be accepted in our Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, how thankful we are for your
love and your grace and your mercy that you have purposed
for your people and your son. How thankful we are for the mercy
and grace and forgiveness and righteousness that your son has
purchased for his people with his precious blood. Father, we're
thankful. And we beg of Thee this morning
that You would enable us by Your Spirit to worship You this morning. Father, deliver us from just
going through the act, the motions of religion. Enable us to worship
this morning. Enable us to hear Your Word preached
and by faith to see our Lord Jesus Christ, to fall in love
with Him, to run to Him, to desire Him, and Him alone. Let the name
of Christ our Savior be magnified and extolled. Let us see His
riches, His beauty, His sufficiency and be compelled to come to Him. Father, we thank you for this
means of worship that you've given to us, this means that
you've given to us to preach your gospel at this time where
the world is ground to a halt and we're so restricted in what
we can and should do. Father, I pray you'd bless your
word. Bless your word to your glory, to the glory of your people,
to the blessing of your people. And Father, we pray for our land
at this time, that you would provide some relief from this
horrible virus that's sweeping across the land. Father, I pray
that you would be with our leaders and give them wisdom that by
nature they do not have and enable them to lead us aright. We pray that you'd be with our
medical people, that you would use them as instruments to provide
some healing and in some way that there could be some relief
from this virus. Father, we pray that you'd let
us see your glory in this. We so clearly see the weakness
and sickness of man. Let us see your glory in this
in some way that you purpose for your people to see it. And
Father, for those that you brought into the time of trouble and
trial, we pray for them. We pray that you'd comfort the
heart of those who are bereaved and brokenhearted. Father, be
with them. Comfort their hearts with your
presence, we pray. For those who are sick and hurting,
Father, we pray that your hand of healing and tenderness would
be upon them. Father, all these things we ask,
and we give thanks in that name which is above every name, the
name of Christ our Savior. All right, now if you would,
open your turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Genesis.
Genesis chapter 24. I've titled the message this
morning, The Son and His Bride. I want us to look at this story
of Abraham's servant going to get a bride for his master's
son, Isaac, and see a beautiful story of how God brings the people
that he loves to be the willing bride of his glorious son. I
pray that the Holy Spirit will show us this morning how that
He brings God's elect to Christ through the faithful preaching
of the glory and riches of Christ. Here's the first thing I want
us to see in our text this morning. I want us to see that the Father
has made a covenant to bring a bride to His Son. Genesis chapter
24, verse 1. And Abraham was old and well
stricken in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.
And Abraham said unto the eldest servant of his house that ruled
over all that he had, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh.
Now I'll 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 unto my country and to my kindred and take a wife
unto my son Isaac. Now in this story we're going
to look at this morning, Abraham is a picture of God the Father.
Isaac is a picture of God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And
Abraham's servant is a picture of God's preacher. Abraham told
his servant to go get a bride for my son from my people, back
home from my people. Don't take a bride from these
heathen Canaanites. Don't take this any old woman,
now to be a bride for my son. Get a bride from my people. And
Abraham made his servant swear to it. You know, putting his
hand under his thigh was kind of like us shaking hands to seal
a deal or putting our hand on the Bible and swearing to tell
the truth. It's a form of an oath at that time, putting your
hand under the thigh. And this is given to us as a
picture of God's covenant of grace. Almighty God, the Father,
He chose a specific people to be the bride for His Son, and
they're God's people. They belong to Him. God chose
those people because He set His love upon them. But now those
people, they don't know anything about this covenant. They must
be redeemed. They must be brought to Christ
the Savior. They must be given faith to Christ
and they must be brought to love Christ and to come to Him. So
God sends His preacher to go out and to fetch His people,
to willingly come to Christ as His bride. This is the job of
God's preacher. He's on the trail of God's sheep. He's seeking the bride that the
Father has chosen for His Son. Now Abraham told his servants,
you go get a bride from my people. And that's what God the Father,
that's His charge, His command to God's servants, you go fetch
my people to my Son. Those people that I have chosen,
those people that I love, those people that I have given to my
Son, you go fetch my people and bring them to my Son. Now the
responsibility of God's preacher is to go tell people about Christ,
to tell people about the glory of Christ, the beauty of Christ,
so that they will believe on Him, so that they will want to
come to Him. That is the responsibility that
God has put upon His preachers and the responsibility God's
put on His whole church. This is our responsibility as
a church body, to tell our generation of the glory of Christ. Now that's
God's covenant of grace. That's God's purpose. to bring
a bride to His Son. Now let's see God carry out His
purpose of grace. Here's the second thing I want
us to see. God works out His purpose to bring His elect people
to be the bride of His Son, to bring those people to Christ
through a faithful servant. Verse 5, And the servant said
unto him, Poor Venture, the woman, will not be willing to follow
me unto this land. Must thy needs bring thy son
again unto the land from whence thou camest? Now, the sermon's
got some questions here, and I understand the questions that
he's asking. Can you imagine what's going
through his mind right now? He tells Abraham, now, I'm going
to do what you want me to do, but what you want me to do is
go to a people that have never seen you, that have never seen
Isaac, that have never seen me, never even heard tell of me,
and you want me to find a woman there. Of all the women in that
place, you want me to find one woman, and you want me to go
up to her and tell her, now, you come with me, Leave your
family, leave your land, leave everything, you know, your country,
and you come with me to a faraway land and love a man that you've
never seen. That's what you want me to do.
You want me to tell her you leave your home, you leave your family,
and you go with me to a faraway land. It's going to take us days
to get there, and marry a man that you've never seen. That's
what you want me to do? Abraham, that sounds like an
impossible task. But you know what? That is the task God has
given His preachers. You go tell a people who are
far away from God, a people who are the natural-born enemies
of God, and you tell them about my Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. You tell them to leave everything
that's dear to them. You tell them to leave everything
that they have ever trusted in before, and you tell them to
come to Christ. You tell them to love a man that
they've never seen. You tell them to come and be
joined to a man that they've never seen. That sounds like
an impossible task, doesn't it? Well, preaching the gospel is
an impossible task if you depend upon the ability of the preacher.
Preaching the gospel is an impossible task if you depend upon the willingness
of the sinner to come to Christ, if that's what you're depending
upon. your ability to talk a dead sinner into doing something,
or if you're depending on the dead sinner to do something,
preaching is an impossible task. But let me give you two reasons
why true preaching, the preaching of the gospel, is not an impossible
task. First, true preaching is not
an impossible job because we preach the commandment of God. Preaching an offer, that's an
impossible job. because you've got to depend
upon a dead sinner accepting your offer and they can't do
it. Preaching an offer is an impossible job. But God's servants
don't preach an offer. God's servants preach the commandment
of God. You come to Christ and you believe
on Him. That's God's commandment. Verse 6 in our text, And Abraham
said unto him, Beware thou, that thou bring not my son thither
again. Here's what Abraham's telling
his servants. Don't you take my son back to that place and
parade him around for all the women to see and just see if
there's anybody there that wants to be his bride. See how many
women there want to be his bride. He said, don't you offer my son
to anyone. That's what Abraham's saying.
The gospel is not an offer. The gospel is a commandment to
sinners. Come to Christ. That's God's
commandment to you right now. This morning, God's commandment
to you, whoever you are listening, God's commandment to you is come
to Christ and believe on Him. And it would be impossible to
be successful preaching an offer, trying to get the sinful flesh
to fall in love with the Lord Jesus Christ because the flesh
can't love Christ. That would be an impossible task.
It would be an impossible task to present an offer to people
and to tell the sinful flesh to believe on Christ because
the flesh can't believe on Christ. But we will be successful in
calling out God's sheep if we preach this commandment from
God, from God Almighty, you come to Christ. You believe on Christ,
let me tell you about it. Let me tell you about his sufficiency. Let me tell you about his beauty.
Let me tell you how wonderful he is. Now you believe on him.
We'll be successful if we preach that message because God's going
to bring his sheep to come to Christ. Second, true preaching
is not an impossible job if you're truly preaching the gospel. Because
the responsibility for the results belongs to God, the Holy Spirit,
not the preacher. If the responsibility for the
results depended upon me, this would be an impossible task.
But if the responsibility for the results rests upon God, then
this is not an impossible task because with God, all things
are possible. Look at verse seven. The Lord God of heaven, which
took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred,
and which spake unto me and that swear unto me, saying unto thy
seed, will I give this land? He shall send his angel before
thee and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. There
was no doubt about it. Abraham had no doubt. You're
going to take a wife from that land and bring her to my son.
There's no doubt about it. How can Abraham be so sure? because
of this angel. The angel is going to lead his
servant. The angel represents God, the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit is the one who sends the gospel to God's sheep. And he
gives God's elect an ear to hear the gospel. He gives them faith
to believe it. He gives them a brand new heart,
a heart that does love Christ. That's how the Holy Spirit makes
God's people willing. You know, the servant said, well,
perventure, she not be willing. Well, don't you worry about that.
God, the Holy Spirit is going to make her willing in the day
of his power. He's going to make her willing
by giving her a heart that loves Christ and believes Christ. And
when you tell her about Christ, you'll come to him willingly.
Abraham had no doubt this journey was going to be a success. And
preaching the gospel is always successful. Now I know we don't
feel like it, quite often we don't feel like it, but preaching
the gospel is always successful, always. It always accomplishes
the purpose that God sent it to accomplish. All the responsibility
for people believing on Christ belongs to the Holy Spirit. That's
why it's always successful. And the preacher's only job,
his only function, is to preach the gospel. The preacher's only
function is to point the way to Christ. Now you go to him.
That's the commandment. And there he is. Now you go to
him. That's the preacher's only job. And after we preach the
gospel, we're free from our oath. We're free from the oath we've
made to God. We're free from all responsibility after we've
preached the gospel. That's what Abraham says in verse
8. And he says, if the woman will not be willing to follow
thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath. Only bring
not my son thither again. And the servant put his hand
under the thigh of Abraham, his master, and swore to him concerning
the matter." And this is what Abraham told him. Once you do
what I've told you to do, you're free from this oath. Just don't
bring my son there again. You just go tell this woman about
my son and bring her. And after you've told her about
my son, you've fulfilled your oath. Your job is not to make
the woman willing. Your job is to tell her about
Isaac. And what is required of a steward? It's required that a man be faithful,
that a man be faithful in preaching Christ. This is our only job. We're not to try to fix the ills
of society. We're not to try to fix the political
ills of society. Our job is to preach Christ. Our job is not even to try to
get results, to try to gain a big following. Our job is simply
to believe Christ and leave sinners along with God. God the Holy
Spirit will bring his bride. It will be successful. There's
no question about it. And God's servants are faithful
to do just that. Just like Abraham's servant was
faithful. Look at verse 10. And the servant took ten camels
of the camels of his master and departed. For all the goods of
his master were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia
under the city of Nahor. Now everything Abraham had was
at the disposal of his servant so that he could use it to go
get a bride for Isaac. But you know, all of the riches
of God's grace, all the jewels of God's mercy, the diamond of
God's love, all the precious stones of God's promises are
all at our disposal to preach. We're to preach them all and
hold nothing back. Use those things to preach, to
tell sinners about Christ. What a beautiful message that
God has given us to preach. The beauty, the glory of Christ. Why wouldn't we be faithful to
preach it? Well, God's servants are faithful to preach it. Now
here he goes, look at verse 11. And he made his camels to kneel
down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening,
when the time that the women go out to draw water. And he
said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray that you send
me good speed this day. and show kindness unto my master
Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well
of water, and the daughters of 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." See, thou
has appointed. He chose. Let this be the one
you've appointed for thy servant Isaac. And thereby shall I know
that thou hast showed kindness unto my master. And it came to
pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out,
who was born of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor,
Abraham's brother, and with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And
the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin. Neither had any
man known her. And she went down to the well
and filled her pitcher and came up. And the servant ran to meet
her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of
thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord. And she hasted, and
let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. And
when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw
water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. And
she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again
to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. And
the man, wondering at her, held his peace. to wit whether the
Lord had made his journey prosperous or not. Now, Abraham's servant
prayed for a sign. He prayed for some evidence to
know which woman is the one you've chosen. You've appointed to be
Isaac's wife. Which one? You know, she's not
going to be wearing a sign on her forehead, Isaac's bride.
So how will I know? How will I know who she is? Now,
he would know depending on how she reacted to his request. And
that's how Rebecca responded. He prayed, well, you know, let
her give me drink and then say, well, I'll draw for your camels,
too. That was the outward evidence that something was going on in
her, that God had prepared her heart for Him. And she was doing
that, drawing that water, gave Him drink, and then she volunteered
to draw water for His camels. Now, I bet you that was a job.
Ten camels. I should have looked up. I wonder how much water a
camel can drink at one time. I bet it's a whole bunch of water.
She had to fill that pitcher up often to give all those camels
drink. And he's watching this go on.
And he thought, maybe this is the one. Maybe God's done a work
in her. I don't know yet. I don't know
yet, but it looks promising. Well, that's the way it is for
God's preacher. God's elect do not wear a sign on their forehead
saying, God's elect. If they had a sign like that
on their forehead, we'd only preach to God's elect, but we don't
know. We don't know who God's elect are, so we do what God
told us to do. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature, to all men. And the only evidence
we ever get that somebody is one of God's elect is faith in
Christ. It's the only evidence that there
is. The only evidence God chose you, the only evidence Christ
died for you, is faith in Christ. And God's preacher is looking
for some evidences of faith. We're looking and the evidence
is faith reacts to the Gospel. Faith reacts in belief of the
Gospel. Faith reacts in love for the
Gospel. And we think Maybe we see some
evidence. Maybe we see some evidence. Maybe
this one, maybe this is one of the Lord's own. I don't know
yet, but maybe. Maybe. Well, you know how we're
going to find out? Keep doing what God gave us to
do. Keep preaching the Gospel. That's
how we'll find out. Don't say anything. Don't try
to talk her into a decision. Just keep preaching to her. Well,
verse 22. It came to pass as the camels
had done drinking that the man took a golden earring of half
a shekel weight and two bracelets for her hands of 10 shekels of
weight. The servant here, now he starts
to give Rebekah some tokens, some tokens of his master's wealth,
some tokens of his master's generosity. You know, when her brother sees
these bracelets, his earring, he's pretty impressed. He started
giving her some tokens of his master's wealth and generosity.
And you know, that's what we do when we preach the gospel.
We preach the gospel of grace to sinners. We're giving them
some tokens of God's wealth. We're giving them some tokens
of God's generosity, some tokens of God's riches, the riches of
his grace and mercy that he has reserved for sinners. Now verse
23, he said, whose daughter art thou? Tell me, I pray thee, is
there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in? And she said
unto him, I'm the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, which
she bear unto Nahor, She said, moreover unto him, we have both
straw and provender enough and room to lodge in. And the man
bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord. 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, 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. A servant
said, oh, I think I'm starting to see some more evidence that
the Lord is working here, that He has led me to one of His own. And I've seen that many times
in people that I've preached to over the years. You start
to see an interest. You think, I think there's a
light going on in there. I think I see some real interest
in somebody. Well, maybe it won't last. Maybe
it will go away. Maybe it's a passing fantasy.
You see it's lasting. I think I've seen this thing
grow. I think the Lord's working here. I think the Lord has brought
one of His own to Himself. But now let's not rush anything.
I still don't know yet. Let's just wait and see. But
I'll tell you what, this thing sure looks promising. So I'll
tell you what I'm going to do. I'm just going to keep telling
the story God's given me to tell. I'm just going to keep preaching
Christ to them. He'll reveal it sooner or later. In verse
29, Rebekah had a brother and his name was Laban. ran out unto
the man unto the well. And it came to pass, when he
saw the earring and the bracelets upon his sister's hands, and
when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake
the man unto me, that he came unto the man, and, behold, he
stood by the camels at the well. And he said, Come in, thou blest
of the Lord. Wherefore standest thou without?
For I have prepared the house and room for the camels. And
the man came into the house, and he unguarded his camels,
and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to
wash his feet, and the men's feet that were with him. And
there set meat before him to eat. But he said, I will not
eat until I have told my Aaron. And he said, speak on. Now here
is a faithful servant. I mean, Laban came and he rolled
out the red carpet for this man. I mean, he set a feast before
him. But Abraham's servant is not going to take advantage of
it. He wasn't looking to get fine things for himself. He wasn't
looking to get creature comforts for himself on this trip. This
servant was looking for a bride for his master's son Isaac. And
he was not going to let anything stop him from doing what his
master sent him to do. He wasn't going to be deterred.
He wasn't going to go off on a tangent, even eating this feast
until he had done what he came to do. This man came to serve
Abraham, not to be served by somebody else himself. Now that's
God's servant. God's servant will be faithful.
to serve the Lord and do what the Lord sent us to do. The Lord
sent us to preach. God's preacher is not looking
to get creature comforts or riches from the people to whom he preaches.
He's not looking to fleece the sheep and get creature comforts
for himself. And listen, the sheep are often
willing to give those things. I mean, that is the nature of
the sheep. They're willing to give of themselves, but God's
servant will not take advantage of it. He's not looking to get
something for himself. He's looking to lead sinners
to the Savior. That's what He's trying to do.
And He's not going to let anything stand in the way. Creature comforts,
fame, the applause of men. He's not going to let anything
stand in the way of what the Lord has given Him to do. Preach
Christ. This man said, I'm not going
to do anything until I fulfill my charge. Preach Christ. Now
this is our message. It's the message of the gospel.
And the faithful servant, his message will always be Christ. His message will always be the
glory of Christ. Verse 34. He said, I'm Abraham's
servant. And the Lord has blessed my master
greatly. He has become great. God has
given him flocks and herds and silver and gold and men's servants
and maid's servants and camels and asses. And Sarah, my master's
wife, bare son to my master when she was old. And unto him hath
he given All that he hath. Now this is preaching the gospel. Let me tell you about my master.
Oh, let me tell you about my master. The Lord has made him
rich in every way. And the Lord's given him one
son. He's got one heir. And my master has given everything
to his son. His son is the heir of all things. Now that's the message of the
gospel we preach. My master, the father. Oh, he's rich. He's so rich he owns everything. The cattle on a thousand hills
belong to him. It's all his. And he has one
son, his only begotten son. It's the son of the father's
love. And the father has put all things
in the hand of his son. He's given everything to his
son. Everything. He's put all men in the hands
of his son. He's given all judgment, all
rule to his son. He's given it all to his son.
And my master, he's rich. He is rich. And unlike a lot
of rich people, he's generous. He is generous. He's kind to
sinners. He is the friend of sinners. And oh, let me tell you now.
Let me tell you about my master's son. He's a handsome man. I mean,
he is a beautiful man. He is altogether lovely. You'll never see anybody as beautiful
as my master's son. You'll never see anybody as glorious
as my master's son. Nothing can be compared to his
glory. And the father has chosen a bride
for his son. And I'm here to tell you about
him. I'm here to find that bride and
bring her to Christ. Verse 37. And my master made
me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of
the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell, But thou
shalt go unto my Father's house, and to my kindred, and take a
wife unto my son." Now here is what I am to do. This is what
God's given me to do. To tell sinners about the Savior. To seek God's sheep so that they
hear of Christ and that they come to Him. And this servant
began just where we began preaching the gospel. He began telling
them, this is where the whole story started. With a covenant. With an oath. that my master
made me swear. This whole thing began with this
covenant. That's what God's servants do. We begin preaching the gospel
where this whole thing began. This whole thing of God having
a people and people being given to Christ. Their sinners is going
to be saved. You know where the whole thing
began? It all started in one fountainhead. The fountainhead
of God's electing love. This whole thing of sinners being
saved began in God's covenant of grace. It's the foundation
of everything that we preach. It's the foundation of the whole
gospel. God's election of a people. See, you can't preach the gospel
without preaching God's electing love. That's where this sermon
began. And listen, most people are going
to hate it. Most men, I understand, everybody by nature is going
to hate the truth of God's electing love. But you want me to tell
you who's going to love it? The bride. When she hears it, she's
going to love it. She's going to love it. Tell
me more. Tell me more about God's electing love. Tell me more about
this one that chose me and loved me. Tell me more about him. Tell
me where he is so I can come to him. God's servant's going
to preach that message, and he's not going to compromise it. He's
not going to compromise this message. He's not going to change
his message to try to appeal to different people who might
be listening. Well, you know, today we might have somebody
in the congregation, you know, and I know, well, they don't
like this doctrine, so I'm just going to tell them what they
like to hear. No, God's servant's not going to compromise it. It's
not going to matter who's there, who's listening. He's got one
message. It's the message of truth, and
he's not going to change it for anybody. Verse 39. And I said
unto my master, per venture the woman will not follow me. 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 and of my father's house. Then shalt thou
be clear from this my oath when thou comest to my kindred. And
if they give not thee one, thou shalt be clear from my oath.
And I came this day into the well, and said, O Lord God of
my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way, which I go,
behold, I stand by the well of water, and it shall come to pass
that when the virgin cometh forth to draw water, and I say to her,
give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink,
and she say to me, both drink thou, and I will also draw for
thy camels. Let the same be the woman whom
the Lord hath appointed out from my master's son. And before I
had done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebecca came forth with
her pitcher on her shoulder, 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 and let down
her pitcher from her shoulder and said, drink, and I'll give
thy camels drink also. So I drank, and she made the
camels drink also. And I asked her and said, whose
daughter art thou? And she said, the daughter of
Bethuel, Nahor's son, who milk a bear unto him, and I put an
earring upon her face, and bracelets upon her hand, and I bowed down
my head and worshipped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my
master Abraham, which hath led me in the right way to take my
master's brother's daughter unto his son." Now Abraham's servant
here, he didn't compromise, did he? No, he didn't change anything
when different people were listening. He told exactly what happened
from the time He and Abraham first talked about this thing
till all the way through his journey. He told exactly what,
he didn't change a single detail. He didn't exaggerate anything
because he didn't need to, did he? That is how God's servant
will preach the gospel. He will not compromise his message. He will not change a single detail
of God's gospel because the story is not his. It's God's gospel. His job is to declare it. He's
not going to change a single detail. about God's Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's not going to change a single
detail about salvation in Christ just so he can get a bigger following.
Because our goal is not to get a bigger following. Our goal
is to find God's sheep. Our goal is to find the bride
of Christ. Our goal is to glorify Christ
so that God's people, when they hear it, will come to Him. That's
our goal. Now, verse 49, look what he says.
And now, if ye would deal kindly and truly with my master, tell
me. And if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand
or to the left. Now, this is what God's servant
says. You've heard our message. You've heard the message of grace.
You've heard the message of Christ. Now, will you believe on Him?
Will you? You've heard of Him. Will you come to Him? That's
what God's servant, as his only interest, will you believe Christ?
You've heard Him, will you come to Him? Well, that's God's servant. Alright, here's the third thing
I want us to see. I want us to see a willing bride
for the Son. Verse 50. And Laban and Bethuel
answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the Lord. We
cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before
thee. Take her and go and let her be
thy master's son's wife, as the Lord hath spoken. And it came
to pass that when Abraham's servant heard their words. He worshiped
the Lord, bowing himself to the earth. And the servant brought
forth jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment and gave
them to Rebekah. He gave also to her brother and
her mother precious things. Now, Rebekah's father and her
brother, they said, she's going to have to decide for herself.
We can't tell you. We can't say to you good or bad.
Rebekah's going to have to decide this thing for herself. Now that's
people who believe Christ. Everybody who believes Christ
believes on Him for themselves. Somebody else can't believe for
you. Your family can't believe for you. You must believe. If you would be saved, you must
believe Christ. You must come to Christ. Everybody
that believes on Christ believes on Him for themselves. Everybody
who believes Christ believes on Him willing. Now, I know they're
willing because God made them willing in the day of His power,
but if you're going to believe on Christ, you're going to do
it willingly. Not because somebody's forcing you to, you're going
to believe Him willingly because you love Him. See, everybody
who comes to Christ comes willingly because God the Holy Spirit is
drawing them to Christ. And when they come to Christ,
the Lord just keeps giving them more and more and more of the
jewels and riches of His grace and mercy in Christ. Well, verse
54, And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with
him, and tarried all night, and they rose up in the morning,
and he said, Send me away unto my master. And her brother and
her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us for a few days,
at least ten, let her abide with us for a year, or at least ten
months, let her stay, and after that she shall go. And he said
unto them, hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way.
Send me away that I may go to my master. And they said, we'll
call the damsel and we'll inquire at her mouth. And they called
Rebecca and said unto her, will thou go with this man? And she
said, I'll go. See, Rebecca went to Isaac willingly. She's leaving her father's house.
She's leaving her family. She's leaving her home country.
She's leaving everything she's ever known and she's going to
go marry Isaac because she's already in love with him. What
she's heard about Isaac has already made her fall in love with him.
Well, that's Christ's pride. She comes to Christ willingly. She comes to Christ because she's
fallen in love with him. She's heard about his glory.
She's heard about his saving power. She's heard about his
grace and his mercy, his generosity to sinners, his kindness to sinners.
What she's heard about him in the gospel made her fall in love
with him. And she comes to him willingly, whom having not seen,
you love. Well, verse 59, and they sent
away Rebekah, their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant,
and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and
said unto her, Thou art our sister. Be thou the mother of thousands
of millions and let thy seed possess the gate of those which
hate them. You think they had any idea of
the blessing that they were pronouncing on Rebekah? That's exactly what
happened, wasn't it? She became the mother of thousands
of millions. She was blessed. The line of
the Messiah is going to go through her. The line of the Messiah
is going through Isaac. She's going to marry Isaac. The
Messiah is going to go through her line. Christ's bride. Oh, the blessing. They have no
idea when they first hear the blessing of Christ that they've
got in Him. They have no idea. Oh, the blessing of being joined
to Christ, of coming to Christ. Well, verse 61. And Rebekah arose
in her damsels, and they rode upon the camels and followed
the man. And the servant took Rebekah and went his way. Now, it doesn't tell us how long
it took for them to get back, but I would imagine it took a
while. Don't you think all along that journey, that servant, he
kept telling Rebecca more about Isaac. Rebecca had questions.
I mean, you'd think she'd never seen this man. Once she's heard,
she's got a spot for him in her heart, but oh, she's got questions.
He answered every question. It was a joy to him to talk about
his master's son, Isaac. That's preaching the Gospel. What a pleasure to be given the
opportunity to keep talking about my Master's Son. To keep talking
about the riches, the glory, the character of Christ our Savior. Let me tell you one more time.
Oh, let me tell you about Him one more time. He kept telling
her about Isaac. In verse 62, and Isaac came from
the way of the well of Lehoroi. For he dwelt in the south country,
and Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the even tide.
And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, the camels were
coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes,
and when she saw Isaac, she jumped off that camel when she saw Isaac.
For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh
in the field to meet us? And the servant has said, It
is my master's son. Look at him there. It is my master's
son. Therefore she took a veil. and covered herself. This is
kind of a famous story repeated often in my house. I don't know
if many of you probably watched the movie Ten Commandments with
Charleston Heston. My wife and girls, there's a
scene in that movie they love. They just love it. It's when
Moses comes walking across that desert, left Egypt, he comes
up on those group of girls that are around the well and they
see him come and they say, it's a man! It sounds like that's
what Rebekah said. It's a man. I mean, look at him.
He's so beautiful. I mean, what a specimen this
fellow is. And the servant told her, that's
my master's son. That's Isaac, my master's son.
Oh, she's happy. She's happy. That's the man. Now let me tell you about my
master's son. If God ever lets you see him, you're going to
go. And you're going to jump off your camel, and you're going
to bow down yourself, thankful at his feet. Well, verse 66. And the servant came, he told
Isaac all things he had done. This is the one he said. And
Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent and took Rebekah,
and she became his wife. And he loved her. Oh, he loved
her. And Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. They
lived happily ever after. That's basically what that verse
says. They lived happily ever after. Now that, my friend, is
how God calls his chosen bride to come to his son willingly
and lovingly. He does it by the preaching of
the gospel. the preaching of the gospel,
that He gives His people a heart to love and a heart to believe.
Now the bride's been chosen. Here's three things I know beyond
a shadow of a doubt. The bride's been chosen. The
servant has been seen. The servant has been sent to
preach Christ. And I know this, the bride, lots of people might
hear the gospel, but the bride, she's going to hear of Christ
and she's going to love Him. She's going to believe Him. She's going
to come to Him. I know those three things beyond a shadow
of a doubt. Well, then here's the fourth thing I know. God's
servant's not going to compromise that message. There's no reason
to. There's no reason to. The bride's
going to hear it, and she's going to come to Christ. She's going
to love him. So he's never going to compromise his message. He's
just going to continually preach Christ. Now, that's what I've
tried to do for you this morning. I've tried my best, by God's
grace, to preach Christ to you. I'm asking you the same question.
Abraham, his servant, asked Rebecca. You've heard the gospel preached.
You've heard about the riches of my master. You've heard about
the generosity of my master. You've heard about God's love
and God's grace that's in Christ Jesus, the Savior. Now I ask
you, will you go to Christ? Will you believe Christ? Will
you be joined to Christ? Will you have Christ bear all
the responsibility for your soul? Will you? Will you? I pray the
Lord will make it so in your heart and in mine. I hope that's
been a blessing to you. Let's bow together in prayer.
Our Father, how we thank you for this beautiful picture of
how you call out your sheep to the preaching of your gospel,
through the preaching of the glory of Christ our Savior. And Father, it's been done with
human lips, As best we know how, we've told the glory of Christ
the Savior. We've told about His person.
We've told about redemption in Him. And Father, I pray that
You would bless this Word. Bless it to go reach the hearts
of Your people, to call us to Christ, to cause us to fall in
love with Him and to come to Him and to never leave Him, to
rely on Him and Him alone for all things. Father, bless your
word. Bless it for the glory of our
Savior and for the good of the bride, of our dear Savior. It's in his precious name. For
his glory, we pray and give thanks. Amen. Well, I pray the Lord will
bless that to your heart and that he will bless you and keep
you until he enables us to meet again.