In Genesis chapter 24 is preserved for us the account
of how Rebekah came to be the wife of Isaac, the heir of grace,
Abraham's only begotten son. Now Abraham had a servant named
Eliezer. You remember when he pleaded
with God earlier in the book of Genesis, because he had no
natural seed, he had no son, and he said, all I have is this
Eliezer of Damascus. That was his bond servant, Eliezer. He was a beloved servant, and
we'll see that tonight. He was counted of all honor. He ruled over everything that
Abraham had. He was a beloved servant, but
he was not the seed. of Abraham. And so Abraham spoke
that way of him early in the book of Genesis. But he was a
bond slave born in his house, his eldest, most trusted servant,
and he had his master's appointed rule over all that he had. And
this highly honored servant was commissioned of Abraham to go
on a long and arduous journey. He was not close to the place
that he came out of. He was a pretty good ways away.
And he sent this man with a small company and a few camels on a
long, arduous journey into the land of Abraham's father and
there to select and fetch a bride back to his only begotten and
well-beloved son. Now, I'm going to keep going
over this same thing tonight because this is the heart of
what I have to say to you. This man, Eliezer, was to go
into a land where he was virtually unknown. They didn't know him. They didn't know who he was.
They had no reason to respect him. He didn't travel as Abraham
did with tents and thousands of camels and all of these things. He didn't have a big name. He
was just Eliezer the bondservant. who came in the name of his Master
and was virtually unknown. And then upon his testimony alone,
on his testimony alone, he was to retrieve a bride for Isaac,
who was not only Abraham's heir, but the heir of God's promise
through whom the seed of woman would come. Isaac, thy seed shall
come. Isn't that what the Lord told
us? Through this beloved seed, through
the lineage of this man Isaac, all the nations would be blessed. Now in Romans chapter 9, true
Israel is defined as not being the natural seed of Abraham,
but the spiritual seed, and therefore as Isaac was the son of promise,
even so are all God's elect. They which are the children of
the flesh, this is what it says in Romans 9, 8. These are not
the children of God, but the children of the promise are accounted
for the seed. And what I see in this story
is a clear illustration, an allegory of how the bride of Christ is
called into the holy union of faith with Him by the testimony
of His chosen Son. And I don't know of another place
in the Old Testament where it's pictured as clearly as it is
right here in Genesis chapter 24. And I don't know how many
times I've read this and just saw it in kind of a general way.
But I'm telling you, if you go home and you read this chapter,
you will not believe how clear it is on all the details concerned
with that ministry. It's as clear a picture of the
commission of gospel preaching that I've ever seen in the Old
Testament scriptures. And tonight I want to give you
five things. You could preach from these verses
several, several, several times on varying subjects. But I want
to point out five things just briefly. I want to stop and touch
on these five things. And I want to give you some things
that ought to encourage us as a local assembly, a small unknown,
virtually unknown, little band, little company of believers,
and will encourage us to do the will of God. Now, I want you
first of all to look at what Abraham asked this trusted, favored
servant to do. I want you to notice first who
he sends. This was no shackled slave. who
was forced under fear to do Abraham's will. This was a bond servant.
This was his trusted servant. This was the man under whom he
had appointed rule over all that he had. He had charge over all
of his herds, all of his herdsmen. Eleazar was head honcho over
the whole thing. He was a very trusted man. And he was a proven servant.
He was no Abraham didn't just go over there in the middle of
that outbid and say, come here, Henry, I'm going to send you,
and just pick somebody out of the crowd. He picked a man who
was tried, that he trusted, and he gave him this charge. He was a bond slave. That's what
Paul said he was over in Romans chapter 1. I'm a servant. That word servant there has to
do with being a bond slave. He was a man who loved his master
and gave himself to do the master's bidding. He was the eldest and
he ruled over all that he had. And this business of fetching
a bride for Isaac was a serious, solemn charge. It was a serious business. It would demand that the servant
drop all of his obligations. He had to drop everything else
that he had known to do. and go do this one job. He was
relieved of all his other responsibilities. You go do this. And do this alone. And it was a troublesome business.
This business of seeking a bride for Abraham's son was a troublesome
business. It had cost him many a sleepless
night. I guarantee you. This man, Eliezer,
going down into this country, he didn't have a name. Abraham
didn't say, go down there and get Rebecca. He said, you go
down there and get a bride. It's a big world, ain't it? It's
a big world. It's troublesome. And it's troublesome
for three reasons. It's troublesome, first of all,
because this was the business of the master's heart. This wasn't
This wasn't tending the herd. This wasn't counting the sheep. This wasn't taking care of the
herdsmen and seeing to it that they got a full day's work out
of them. This wasn't common monetary business. This was heart business. This was his master's heart's
desire. And he made him take an oath,
a serious oath. Made him swear. Not some monetary
responsibility. that if he messed up, it could
be smooth gold. This was heart business. It was
heart business. This business had to do with
what all these other things were about. This is why God gave him
them sheep and gave him them oxen and brought him into this
land. This was what all these other
things were just about. All things are about God's elect.
It's about God fulfilling that purpose of grace in His Son and
that calling out of His elect. Everything else just falls into
place as it concerns this end. This was the business of his
master's heart. And then secondly, it had to
do with Isaac. Isaac was as much his master
as Abraham. Isaac was the heir. How many times do you find the
Son of God saying, I and the Father are one? If you honor
the Father, you honor me. If you dishonor me, you dishonor
the Father. And then He says that of us.
He says the same thing. This had to do with Isaac, and
Isaac was as much his master as Abraham. Isaac was the heir,
and not only in a natural sense. And I want you to see this, and
I tell you this because I read it to you a few moments ago.
I don't know if you caught it or not. But this was a godly
business. This was not just choosing a
wife for his son. This had to do with the fulfilling
of the promise of God. Isaac was the heir. You remember
back here in Genesis 24? Let me read it to you again.
Here's how Abraham talked to him down in verse 7. He said,
The Lord God of heaven, You see that? Now he's going to tell
him what this business is. The Lord God of heaven, which
took me out of my father's house. This had to do with his being
called out of his father's house. It had to do with these promises,
these everlasting promises of God. And then thirdly, this was
a serious and solemn business because the heart of Isaac was
broken. And it longed for the love of
a faithful bride. His mother was a faithful bride. She was faithful in all that
she did. She was a believing wife. She was a believing wife. Isaac's
mother had died and she loved that boy and she loved Abraham.
And children of faithful, believing parents have a special blessing.
They have examples of love and tenderness and kindness. And
they have, especially in believing wives, they see that helped me. They see what she was to him. He knew that. And he longed for
one of his own. All right, now here's the second
thing. That's the commission. You go down here. I'm going to
make you swear to it. I'm relieving you of all your
responsibilities. You've got this one charge. You
go down there and bring back a wife and my son. All right,
here's the second thing I want you to see. The servant is set
clear on the business. God's going to set him clear.
He has no names to ask for. He has no specific individual
to seek. The one he is to seek and bring
back to Isaac will be made known by her faith. That's how she's
going to be made known. Isn't that something? We go preach
the gospel. I'm searching for the bride of
Christ. But how am I going to know her when I see her? By her
faith. Ain't that what Paul said? I
know your election of God. That's what he told us. That's
the one. This bride must receive the testimony of God's servant,
commit herself to Him completely. You think about this now. I don't
know how many hundreds of miles he is. But he's all the way back
now in in the land of Abraham's father, back in Mesopotamia. And here he is. And now he's
going to go in and he's going to declare the testimony of Abraham. And he's going to talk to him
about who Abraham is, who his master is, and who his master's
son is, the heir. He's going to talk to her about
these promises of God, all connected with Isaac. And then she's going
to say, yea or nay? Yea or nay? All the way back. And then she's going to have
to take all that she has, and she's going to have to take herself,
and she's going to have to follow this servant all the way back
to Isaac. All the way back to Isaac. All
the way back. And he was armed only with his
master's testimony and the love of his master in his heart. He
came to proclaim his master's purpose to take a bride for his
beloved son. And he told of the greatness
of Abraham, and he told of the promised son Isaac. He told of
his miraculous birth, his blessed life. and told about all those
miracles of grace that God had done to him, about God's wonderful
providence that had led him, about God's power that had called
him out and separated him, and all the glory attached to it.
Told him about Isaac, the servant did. And through this man, he
said, all the children of God be blessed forever. And he'd
bring these glad tidings. And then he'd wait on the Lord
to do his work. And he'd look for the evidence
of faith. That's what this man is sent to do. And then thirdly,
look what's this. I want us to see that Abraham
equipped this man with everything he needed. Everything. He separated ten camels. Camels
are big animals. And loaded them to the hill.
Loaded them to the hill. All the goods, all of his master's
goods, it said, were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia. A company of men was given to
him. You've got to go on down into the 40s, into the verses
somewhere in the 40s there to see this. But when they came
into Laban's house and Bethuel's house, And these things had begun
to be personal, and he was invited in, and they were making plans
to leave. Then it talks of not only greeting
them, but the men who accompanied them. So there was a company
of men. He didn't just go alone, but
Abraham gave him some men with him to support him and help him
and protect him. And these ten camels loaded,
a company of men who rode with him to help him. protect him
and encourage him. But this was a spiritual work,
and here is what I want you to see. This involved the salvation
of souls. This involved the promised seed.
This involved all the promises of God. This was a divine mission,
and it could not be left to the hands of a man even though he
was faithful. It could not be left into his
hands or to the nature of the woman to whom he addressed, either
one. When I go to preach or when I
stand up here to preach on Sunday morning, I know in myself that
I do not have the ability and power to cause you to believe. I don't have it. It requires
regeneration. It requires revelation. And I
also know that those to whom I speak don't have that power
and that ability. I'm 100% dependent on God. And so when this faithful servant
began to contemplate on this mission and saw that these things,
Abraham turned his mind. This man was full of ifs and
whatabouts and what if she ain't going to be willing? What if
I get all the way down there and this woman said, well, I
ain't going with you. Let me tell you why he asked
that question. Because he knew what was in him. And he knew
how sorry he was, same as I do. And I think the same thing. Boy,
if this thing is left to me this morning, ain't nobody going to
listen. Ain't nobody going to hear. Ain't nobody going to follow
me. This was a divine work. And that's what Abraham turned
his eyes to see. This is about God. This mission
I'm sending on you is about God. And he's going to send his angel.
before you. Now I challenge you to look it
up. I'll tell you a good verse to find out what he's talking
about here is Isaiah chapter 63 where he talks about the angel
of His presence and he tells you who He is. It's the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit. Here's what Abraham is telling
you. God is going to send the angel of His presence before
you. He said the same thing to the children of Israel. I'm not
going to send you down there into Canaan by yourself. I'm
going to send before you an angel. He is going to do the work. He
is going to do the work. He is going to do the things
that you can't do. He is going to do. Here is the only comfort we can
get. Verse 7, The Lord God of heaven which took me from my
father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which
spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed
will I give this land. He, the God of heaven, the God
who promised, the God who swore because He could swear by no
greater, swore by His own name. Isn't that what Abraham is telling
us? This God of heaven who called
me out and who took His oath upon His own name to me, an oath
of sovereign grace, He shall send His angel before thee, and
thou shalt take a wife. Thou shalt take a wife. Do you
see that? There are no ifs involved in
this thing. Thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence." Equipped as even Abraham might
have made this man, the presence of God's Spirit absolutely demanded
in this thing of faith. And I tell you this, I just refuse
anymore to define the sovereign work of the Spirit except to
say this, that this work involves the fetching of a wife for his
son. I do know that. I just think
I'm coming to see more and more that all it does is expose our
ignorance and foolishness when we start trying to define the
work of the Holy Spirit of God. He's sovereign. He blows. The
wind, he said, blows where it listeth, and you can't tell where
it comes from or where it's going next. The only thing you can
do is just shut up and stand there and see the effects of
it. That's all you can do. And who can explain the mysterious
work of regeneration or revelation? How often I've read through this
book and not seen things and boom, just like that, there it
is. Why is that? That's divine revelation. Can
you explain it? No. No, I can't. No, I can't. Who can explain the turning of
the affections from this world to the things of God. There was
a time when my heart ached for the things of this world. Can't
you remember that? You ache for them, long for them. If it took 20 hours a day, 20
hours a day is what I'll give. I'll give all that I want this.
I've got to have this. And all of a sudden, it turns. Can you explain that? Uh-uh. Who can explain how one can be
of his own mind, and then suddenly be of the mind of Christ? Just
all things begin to see him. Who can explain this heart of
stone broken into submission? My heart wasn't submissive. I
was a rebel from the get-go. But the Lord broke me, and He's
still breaking me. If all that were done were dependent
on me, surely the task would be done from the start. But think on this, He shall send
before you His angel. We need to think on that before
we go talk to our children. And before we invite our neighbors
and friends to come here and hear this gospel, we need to
sit and think on this and contemplate on this. He's going to send his angel
before you. Then you have some confidence.
You got some confidence. Listen to this. The foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, and you all know without
me going into a big explanation that the seal of God has to do
with His Holy Spirit. It has this seal. The Lord knoweth
them that are His. You don't, but He does. He does. Does not God Himself
single out the two children of this wife, Rebecca, in Romans
chapter 9, and establish forever His election on her two children? I'm telling you, if ever there
was a chapter in the Bible that goes through this thing of the
ministry and the preaching of the gospel and talks about and
defines the elect of God, it's this chapter right here. Right
here. The bride of Christ was chosen
to be His bride from the beginning. When the time comes for her to
be joined in a loving union of faith to Him, He sends forth
the angel of His presence to give her ears to hear. And then
He sends forth His messenger to give her the message to hear.
And she hears. She hears. And then notice this,
the angel of God's presence that sent before does not relieve
the servant of his mission to seek. Huh? Looks to me like if God
was going to send his angel down there and do the work that was
required to be done, why should he have to go? Because God told
him to go. That's why. God told him to go. And I tell you this, nothing
will kill a local assembly quicker than the doctrine of fatalism.
Men say, well, God's sovereign, so whatever will be, will be.
whether we ever come to see it or not, whether we ever have
anything to do with it or not. No sense going and preaching.
We were down in a small town down in Florida one time holding
a meeting. And we were meeting at a Seventh-day
Adventist church. And they met on Saturdays, so
they would allow us to meet in the church on Sundays. And we
rented it from them for so much when we went to meet. But when
we got there, the fellow that had invited us down asked the
man who rented the church for him, he said, don't we need to
take a sign or something and put it out here and tell folks
we're meeting? Oh, he said, if they're God's elect, they'll
know. No, they won't. No, they won't. The God of glory is pleased to
have us pray for the salvation of the lost and then to answer
our prayers. but the same. The God of glory
is pleased to use the preaching of the gospel, supported by a
group of believers, to save them which believe. Can you see that
in this company of men that accompanied this man down here? This messenger
has the message, but he sent a company of men with him. And
he sent all of his supplies. He made all things possible for
him to go and do this work. And these men supported him.
They encouraged him. They went down with you. Preaching is necessary. It's
necessary because it pleased God to make it so. Preaching
is necessary because it exposes the inability and weaknesses
of men to accomplish the will of God. God's going to show this
thing to be a work of His grace. And how's He going to do it?
He's going to take the foolishness of preaching. That's how He's
going to do it. Preaching is necessary because it's contrary
to the ways of men. And it manifests the true wisdom
of God. And preaching is necessary because
God himself said it was. Now, that's where I leave it,
right there. I ask myself these questions.
What did the shepherd's staff have to do with the splitting
of the sea? Huh? That sea wouldn't have split.
It would not have split. Had Moses not stretched that
staff out over that sea, that sea wouldn't have split. God
told him to put that staff out there. What did the hitting of
a rock have to do with the releasing of the water inside? It's a rock. He hit it with a shepherd's staff
and the water came. What did it have to do with water
coming out? God commanded him to do it. What did casting in
a tree have to do with sweetening the waters? Nothing. What did the blowing of the trumpets
have to do with the disintegration of the walls of Jericho? Not
a thing. Except God commanded them to
do it. And what did touching the garment have to do with clearing
up the issue of blood or spitting in the clay have to do with giving
a man his sight? Because it was the Master's command. And that's where I leave it.
Preaching is necessary because He who has all power in heaven
and earth commands us to go into all the world and preach His
gospel. But what if she ain't willing? What if when we get
there and we preach this gospel and the woman's not with him?
What do we do then? Should I then return and take
Isaac to her? Now, I'm going to tell you something.
I want you to think about this. Isaac had already returned in
time when Abraham laid him on that altar. When he laid him
on that altar. being sacrificed to God on an
altar of worship, being raised from the dead, Hebrews 11, verse
19, from whence also Abraham received him in a figure, dead. You see that? Isaac was said
on several occasions in chapter 24 of not returning again to
his father's land. And yet Isaac had never been
in his father's land. Oh, but yes he was. He was there
in the promise. He was there in the purpose of
God. He was there in the loins of Abraham. And he was there
on that altar when he offered him up before God. He was given
by promise and purpose and oath before Abraham ever left the
land. And now in his old age, mature in faith and having been
taught the hope of substitution and representation, he will not
permit his son again to return to this place. His bride will
be fetched to Him. His bride will be made willing
of God as He and His beloved wife were made willing in the
beginning. She will receive the testimony
and follow Him back or die in the land of idolatry. Look down
here at verse 8. If the woman will not be willing
to follow Thee, follow the servant, believing He sent of the Master,
believing His testimony as He declared it, then thou shalt
be clear of my oath. But either way, don't you bring
my son again into this land." Isaac was the way out of sin
and idolatry, not the compromising of God's holiness. And this thing
of fetching a bride is a divine work, and the servant knows it
so when he puts himself into the hands of God. And he goes
where God's providence leads him to go. All right, here's
the fourth thing I want you to see. Eliezer began his search
at a well. Now, I've often wondered, but
I know in my mind how it came to be. He was led there by the
providence of God. I know that by experience, and
I know it by studying of God's Word. But he came to a well,
and wells in the Old Testament are significant. And I'm interpreting
this verse now, the old by the new, okay? Local churches are
wells of water in a dry and thirsty land. You're not going to find
water outside the church. Well, what about if I just go
down to this Pentecostal church? You're going to eat dry sand.
That's what you're going to have. You're not going to find no water
down there. Local churches are wells of water in a dry and thirsty
land. Before their journey through
the wilderness of sin, Israel came to Elam. Elam is said to
be a place of strength and support in the desert. And there were
twelve wells in Elam. Do you remember the story? Twelve
wells. There was a well for each of
the tribes of Israel. There were wells and water for
the whole of Israel, the whole of God's elect. There were wells. Christ sat on that edge of that
well, and that Samaritan woman came to draw water, and He said,
If you had asked of Me, I would have given you water to drink,
I would have been a well of water in you. Ain't that what He told
her? Bringing up into everlasting life. I'm not a hard shell or
a fatalist, but I do believe God uses local churches to call
out His bride. And if He establishes a church
in a place, it's for this reason. That's why He does it. He does
not establish a church and call men together and unite together
in assembly, and they build them a building, and they meet there
and worship God, unless He intends to call out His own. That's why
He does it. That's why He puts them there.
They're not churches everywhere you go. I don't know how far
out of Arkansas you've ever wandered, but I'm telling you, I drove
from one end of this nation to the other. These churches are
few and far between who preach this gospel of grace. If he establishes
one somewhere, he's got a purpose in it, and I'm encouraged by
it. So be encouraged and take heart. If God had no intention
of calling out His bride, He would not have established a
place where she could come and get a drink. He goes to this
well. Now watch this, verse 11. And
he made his camels kneel down without the city by a well of
water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out
to draw water. There's a time to draw water.
Now if you look at the local church as a place of water in
a dry wilderness, There's a time to go get the water. The time
is when they meet. It's not on Tuesday or Thursday
or Saturday. It's on Wednesday and on Sunday.
That's when the water's being drawn. That's when you go to
get your water. You don't go out there in the
hot afternoon sun and go trucking up water out of the well. You
go at the time of drawing. There is a time. There's a time
for everything under the sun, and there's a time for this drawing.
I know folks think they can just be saved whenever they want to,
whenever they take a notion. I can be saved. One of these
days I'm going to get right with God. How many times have you
heard that? One of these days I'm going to
straighten up my life. One of these days I'm going to
get saved. Well, you can't get saved. You can't get saved. But that's what men think. Men
think they can get saved whenever they want to. They think that
water is always at their disposal. But it's just not so. And he
didn't go there and look in the heat of the day, and he didn't
go out there in that hot afternoon sun. He waited until evening,
until the time of drawing. And he went there and he made
his camels to kneel down. They sat there quietly. Wait. Wait. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there shall I be in the midst. And I tell
you this, if you're looking for the bride, look at the well. God intends to save her, that's
where you bring her. You bring her to the well. and then look
at the right time. And I can't emphasize to you
the importance of assembling ourselves together. I just cannot
emphasize it enough. He calls the denial. I challenge
you to read Hebrews chapter 10. He calls the denial of this worship
and this gathering of ourselves together and this declaration
of this way to God. He calls this thing, he calls
this worship and these privileges in Hebrews chapter 10. The denying
of those things and just putting these things off. He calls it
the trotting underfoot of the Son of God and counting the blood
of the covenant whereby you were sanctified, an unholy thing,
just a common thing. Just like eating crackers. Just
like going out there and getting you a cold glass of water at
night and throwing your feet up on the chair. Just a common
unholy thing. And doing despite, that means
despising the Spirit of grace. Now I tell you, you read it,
that's what it says. Eliezer goes to the well, and
he bows his head in earnest prayer. Even in this place, so prominent,
even being led there by God's providence, he still don't have
a clue who she is. And so he bows his head in holy
reverence to God. And he basically asked God to
do a work of grace in their heart and manifest that grace to him
so he would know who she was. And then last of all, I want
you to see how Eliezer presses for an immediate answer. The
Gospel provokes a response. Now you may not say it out loud,
but it provokes a response. Look here at verse 49. down in verse 49. He stated his
case to the woman. The woman has manifested a gracious
heart, the evidence of faith, listens to what he has to say,
and he gives her tokens of his grace. And they go back to the house
and Laban her brother and Bethuel her father at this house. And
here's what the servant says, verse 49, And now if you'll deal kindly
with my master, tell me, and if not, tell me, that I might turn to my right
hand or to my left. Having said all he was commanded
to say, he'd now have an answer. He said, I'm going to have an
answer. I'm not begging you. I'm not going back to get Isaac
and bring him down here. I'm not going to cause some miracle
to happen out in the backyard. I presented my testimony to you. Now I'll have an answer. Yes
or no? Yes or no? Yes or no? Laban, her brother,
and Bethuel, her father, gave the only response that can be
given to the Gospel down here in verse 50. They answered and
said, the thing proceedeth from the Lord. What are we going to
say? What are we going to say? He
didn't convince them one way or the other about the woman.
But his mission was of God, and they understood it. They understood
it. And they said, we're not going
to say anything bad or good. We've got no choice in the matter.
Take her and go. Take her and go. Got no choice in the matter. And he took treasures of his
master, and he gave them both to the woman, and to her mother,
and to her father, and to her brother. Unloaded these treasures,
and these treasures came upon all her house. But then another
problem arose. They wanted her to stay ten more
days. They said, let her stay. Just
ten days. But don't run off. Don't take
her off. Let's stay here ten more days. Let me give you what the servant
said, and I'll close down in verse 56. He said unto them, Hinder me
not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way. Send me away, that I
might go to my master. Now you think of the blessings
of grace and the favor that God has brought to you. You think
of His favorable providence, His hand upon your heart, and
the heart of His servant, and all the things involved in the
calling out of His sheep. Now here's what that servant
told them. Don't delay. Don't delay. There's a time, I'm telling you,
you can find it, you can say what you want to, but you go
in the Scriptures and you'll find people who've sinned away
a day of grace. The children of Israel did. He
said, these 10 times you've tempted me and they're not going to be
a number 11. Now your carcasses are going to lay out in the wilderness.
You go to Isaiah 63 that I just talked to you about a while ago.
where he talks about the presence, the angel of His presence, the
Holy Spirit of God coming to them and working among them and
showing them these things and revealing these things and all
of these things that happened in their midst. But they resisted
this angel. They resisted His Holy Spirit.
That's what Stephen told them over there. You have always resisted the
Holy Ghost. Always have. Killing the prophets
and killing those sent of God. And so God took His presence
away from them. But if God's blessing, and God's
blessed you, and He's brought you here, and He's given you
ears to hear, and He's given you all the blessings of the
covenant upon you, and you see it in His providence, and you
see it in the place, and you see it all around, what are you
delaying for? Let's get on with it while God's
in the mood. That's what He said. The Lord
is blessing this thing. He has blessed me here, and He
has blessed my testimony, and He has blessed your ears, and
you have heard it, and He has blessed this house, and He has
blessed my master. Now let me have the bride, and
let me get on about my business. So they called Rebecca, and they
said to her, will you go with this man? Boy, here's a message for you
right here. Is this not the bottom line? Is this not what the Lord
told the Seventy in Luke chapter 10? He that heareth you, heareth
Me. And he that despises you, despises
Me. And he that despises Me, despises
him that sent Me. Will we leave our home, our ways,
our provision, our influence, and go with a man? Will you do
that? That's what he asked her to do. His master was with him by the
Holy Spirit, but he wasn't standing there. There wasn't nobody there
but a servant, earring in his ear, bored through with it all,
standing there giving his testimony. And he expects this woman's mother
and father to say, and expects her to say, okay, I'll go, and
load up on the camels, and stay in his protection, and stay in
his hand until he goes all the way back to heaven. Now that's
what the gospel and local churches are all about. You come in here
and you hear this gospel and you say, I believe that God's
servant, and I'm going to hear him, and I'm going to follow
him all the way back to Christ, all the way back to Christ. Listen
to this. Over in I Thessalonians chapter
1, I'm going to read you just a little quote from it. Paul
tells them, Brethren, beloved, I know your election of God,
because our gospel came unto you in power and in the Holy
Ghost and much assurance. And listen to what he says. And
you become followers of us. Ain't that what that says? And
the Lord. us and the Lord. I'm going to tell you something.
You have to have ears to hear to do that. You have to have
ears to hear. God be pleased to give them to
us.