As we were singing that last
hymn, I thought of something Sandy said earlier today. She's
not been able to travel like I have over the years. The Lord
has really blessed me to be able to come here and other places
to be able to hear the gospel. And this year was the first year
I was able to go to the Brother Donny Bell's conference. And the Lord
worked it out. I was able to go to Brother Donny
Bell's. Well, then last week I was able to go to Brother Drew
Deeds. And then this Sunday we're able to come here. And she said,
it's just amazing to meet God's people. And that tie that binds
all God's people together, doesn't matter where we're from, whatever
background, whatever walk of life, whatever culture, whatever
it is, wherever we come from, God binds his people together
under the sound of his gospel. And we rejoice in that gospel
and all God's people love God's people unconditionally because
he's given us that nature. What a blessing it is, what a
blessing to meet and worship with God's people. What a privilege,
what a privilege. If you would open your Bible
tonight to Genesis chapter 24. Genesis chapter 24. Pretty long chapter. 67 verses to be exact. But I'll kind of give you an
overview before we begin reading and making a few comments. In
this chapter, we have a picture of God's grace. We have a man
named Abraham, who is a picture of God the Father, who has one
son, Isaac, who is the heir of everything that Abraham has.
Abraham has given all that he has to this one son, Isaac, who
is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Abraham is determined
to have a bride for his son, Isaac. And he will have. He's determined, he's entered
into a covenant to have a bride for her. And he will have a bride,
I mean a bride for him, for Isaac. And he uses a servant. There's
a servant in this chapter named Eliezer. who is a picture of
God's chosen preacher sent by the power of the Holy Spirit
to preach the gospel, to go out on an errand of mercy, to find
a bride for Isaac. We see here how that God uses
his God-ordained means to save sinners. Abraham could have went
himself down to Mesopotamia and found the bride for Isaac. He
could have. Because he's Abraham. He's ruler
over all things. He's God. God can do anything
he wants to. And when he does it, he's right
in doing it. But it has pleased God, through the foolishness
of preaching, to save them which believe. And God only uses one
gospel, and that's his gospel, to save sinners. Some people
like to argue that point and say, well, can't he use another
gospel and all those things? No. Man can't believe in a God
he never heard of. How can a man preach except to
be sent? And God sends his servants on an errand of mercy, and they
have one purpose. That's to preach his gospel to
sinners. He's in search of a bride for
Isaac. And he will have a bride. She
will be complete. And she will come. She won't
just come part of the way. She'll come all the way to Isaac.
And that's what this whole chapter is about. It's a picture of God's
amazing grace. And it has pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them which believe. Let's look
at verses 1 through 4 first. Here we see that the servant
that God sends out to preach His gospel has one specific purpose. It says, And Abraham was old
and well stricken in age. And the Lord had blessed Abraham
in all things. And Abraham said unto his eldest
servant of his house that ruled over all that he had, put, I
pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and I will make thee swear
by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that
thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the
Canaanites among whom I dwell. You can't take a wife from just
any place. You must take her from the place
from a people that I have chosen and set apart, my people. Verse
4, But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and
take a wife unto my son Isaac. This was the main purpose that
God sent the servant for, was to take a wife for his son Isaac. Abraham was a very wealthy man,
but Isaac was the heir of all things. Everything is gone to
Isaac. Everything legally, rightfully,
is Isaac's. And everything is rightfully
the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him, He's the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. Everything God has for a sinner
is in the Lord Jesus Christ and nowhere else. All the riches
are wrapped up in Isaac. All things are in Him. All things. The glory of the Father's kingdom
rests upon Isaac. In Him alone it rested upon His
shoulders. This work that Eliezer has that's
laid upon him, this responsibility, this is a delightful work. Nothing
was more important to Abraham than this right here, having
a bride for Isaac. And nothing was more important
to Eliezer than this one thing, finding a bride for Isaac. That's his one sole purpose.
Nothing else matters. That's what he was sent for,
and that reason alone. That was the burden that laid
upon his heart. That was what Abraham sent him
to do. Nothing else, not to be sidetracked. Though this was
a delightful work, it was an awesome, awesome responsibility,
this burden. And preaching the gospel is a
burden. It's a burden that God lays upon a man's heart to deliver
to unworthy sinners the message of grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Eliezer had to represent and
speak for Abraham and Isaac before people who knew not Abraham and
knew not Isaac. These people of Mesopotamia,
they may have heard of him, but they didn't know him. They'd
never met Isaac. They'd never met Abraham. And
it was his responsibility to deliver that message to these
people. Isaac was everything to Abraham. The one who Eliezer brought to
Isaac must, listen, be at the very least beautiful and perfectly
willing to come. You say, well, that's impossible.
Nobody's willing and nobody's fit to come. Let me tell you
this, God makes his own people willing and he makes them worthy. How does he do that? By imparted
righteousness. He justifies his people. And
when they are justified, they are justified. They are declared
righteous in God's sight, just like the word says when you break
it down, just as if I had never sinned. That's beyond my thinking.
That's hard for us to comprehend. But when God justifies a sinner,
he makes him worthy. He says that the bride is without
spot and blemish or any such thing. She's what? Perfect. She's not only justified, she's
sanctified. Not by her efforts, but by God
declaring and setting her apart. God set Rebecca apart and she
knew nothing about it. She knows nothing about the messenger
coming. She knows nothing about this.
But God did. God had set it apart. God had
set her apart. And God sanctifies His people
and makes them holy. And both justification and sanctification
are essential to holiness. Without this holiness, no one
will ever see God. God must do this work. And God's servants are sent into
this world for this one purpose. And there is no place in the
preaching of the gospel for somebody with just a half-hearted attitude.
This demands everything that a man has. This is one purpose. This is one purpose for existing
is what? Preaching the gospel, declaring
what Abraham has said, going into this world and finding a
bride for Isaac. That's his main soul. That's
his main purpose for existence. It demands everything a man has
and everything a man is. Secondly, verses 5 through 9,
the man who is sin of God to seek a bride for God's son can
never accomplish his work by compromise. And the servant,
watch this, verse 5, Eliezer said unto him, Abraham, peradventure,
perhaps the woman will be not willing to follow me into this
land. Perhaps she just won't come. Must I needs bring thy
son again into the land from which thou camest? If she won't
come, do I need to take Isaac down to Mesopotamia? And Abraham
said unto him, what's this? Beware that thou bring not my
son thither again. the Lord God of heaven which
took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred,
in which spake unto me, that swearing to me, saying, Unto
thy seed while I give this land, he shall send his angel before
thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. Verse
8. And if the woman will not be
willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be cleared from this
thine oath. Here he says it again, only bring
not my son thither again. And the servant put his hand
under the thigh of Abraham, his master, and swearing to him concerning
that matter. He had this question. What if she won't come? What
if I go down to get her and she just won't come? What am I to
do? What's my other alternative?
Am I to bring Isaac down to where she's at? What's this? And Abraham tells him, you're
not going alone. He says, my angel will go before
you. You don't worry about that. I'll
make her willing. You just proclaim my message,
and I'll worry about everything else. And when God sends forth
his messengers, it's just like the parable of the sower. There
were several different grounds. There was the thorny ground.
There was the wayside here. the stony ground, but there was
one ground that was good ground. Before the seed was ever sown,
somebody made that ground good. Those grounds represent everybody's
heart. We understand the stony ground
heart. We understand the wayside. We understand the thorny grounds.
We understand all those things, but how did somebody's ground
get good? Somebody made it good. God prepared
the heart. And God prepared the way and
God goes before his messenger. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. Abraham says, don't you worry
about it. God takes care of all the details before you ever get
there. Don't you worry about it. We
fret the little things. God takes care of all things.
And that's what he tells him. That's how he encouraged him.
We don't go forth in this world alone. It's not up to us to persuade
men to come to Christ. We preach the gospel and leave
it in God's hands. And God does the work. God does
the work. I'm glad the work don't depend
upon us. We preach and leave it in God's hands. And he does
the work. He does the work. And he said,
your labor won't be in vain. How many times do we think, well,
it doesn't seem like we see anything happen? To us, it may seem like
it's all in vain. How would you like to have been
Noah to preach for 120 years? God's still on the throne. And
I'll tell you this, he will have a wife. He will have a bride
that's totally, completely His. Everyone for whom He chose before
the world was made will come in due time, in His own time
and in His own way. God will save His elect. The
bride has been chosen. The bride will hear the voice
of the bridegroom and she'll come to the preaching of the
gospel. And the chosen called bride will
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. is as sure as I'm standing here.
When God calls them, they're coming. Man may call and they
just fall on deaf ears, but if God ever calls, just like he
called Lazarus from the grave, when he calls that sinner by
name, they come. They come. Our responsibility begins and
ends with this matter, faithfulness to that message, faithfulness
to Abraham. Listen, if God ever calls a man
and God ever sends a man, God will supply that man's needs.
Every one of them. Just like Elijah. God sent Elijah
up to the brook and he stayed there and the ravens fed him.
And when the brook dried up, God sent him somewhere else.
And when he got up to that widow's house, it maybe seemed like she
just had a small little bit of flour in that bin, but it never
run out. does provide. Our God's not a
beggar. Over where I live, there is a
children's home. And they do a good work, but
what really bothers me is when they call it a Christian children's
home. You know, they think they're just in the market of making
little children converts. And what I'm getting at, they
have these what they call share-a-thons two or three times a year, you
know, to try to raise money. Me and my youngest daughter, Caitlin,
was driving down the road one day, and they stand out in the
middle of the road trying to collect money. I said, they're having their
beg-a-thon again. They try to make God out to be a beggar.
Abraham is no beggar. Abraham didn't send a servant
down and beg to say, would not somebody except Isaac to be their
husband? And that ain't how it works.
God provides all things. We leave it in God's hands. And
let me tell you this, in verse 8, when the servant delivers
his message, he's clear of his responsibility. God never told
us to save a single sinner. He said just preach the gospel.
Preach the gospel. Proclaim the gospel. What's the
gospel? Abraham owns all things. And
he's committed all things into the hands of his son. And he
will have a bride. And we leave it in God's hands.
Where nobody ever comes, we leave it in God's hands. We leave it
in God's hands. He was forbidden, now watch this,
to make any compromise. We were talking back into the
study, probably 100, 150 years ago, I don't know, when the convention
and all those things were established, they were some of those men that
believed and not only believed it, but they preached the gospel
and something happened. You know what happened? Compromise. Let's change it just a little
bit. Well, what if she just won't come? You reckon I'll take Isaac
down to where she's at? He said it twice. Whatever you
do, if she's not willing to come, don't you dare take Isaac down
to where she is. Don't you dare take Isaac down
to her level. That's compromise. They've tried
to bring Christ down to man. changed the truth of God into
a lie and they worship and serve the creature more than the creator. You know what that is? That's
compromise. God does not, he will not bless
compromise. He does not. He does not. Isaac's honor must be maintained. Years ago, I used to have people,
when we were in religion, I don't know if they do up here. I don't
even know if y'all have them. They're called Gideons. They'd want Gideons
to come in and speak all the time. Well, you know, if he was
part of the Southern Baptists, you know, the association that,
you know, they'd want to send Gideons in. And then they'd call
me all the time and they'd say, well, we're trying to set up
these speakers for certain churches and we want to know if we could,
if you'd be willing to have a Gideon come speak. And I said, I'd just
rather not, you know, just try to be as nice as you can. And
they said, why not? I said, well, we probably disagree
on the main issue. I said, what's your main reason
for sending out Gideons? They said, to get people saved.
I said, that's where we miss it. Our main objective is not
to get people saved. It's to magnify Isaac. It's to
honor God. It's to honor the Lord Jesus
Christ if nobody gets saved. Because if your main objective
is to see souls saved, you know what'll happen? You will compromise
the message to get those results. You'll change your message. You'll
change your methods. You'll change your music. You'll
change everything else to get those results and they're trying
to bring Isaac down to where Rebekah's at and that ain't how
it works. Isaac's honor, Christ's honor
must be maintained. He's God. He sits at the right
hand of the Father. All judgment has been given into
his hands. All judgment has been given into
his hands. Isaac is no beggar. What if Eliezer had brought Isaac
down to Rebekah? What would this have done? You
know what this would have done? That would have made Rebekah more
important than Isaac. And that cannot be. The Lord
Jesus Christ, he's the most important one. And that would be a virtual
denial of God's covenant and God's promise and God's power.
You know what it was saying? Well, God's just not able to
do that. He's got to some way manipulate them and persuade
them. And when I was in religion, they
would teach you how to preach and give invitations. They'd
say, you need to sneak up on sinners. None of this. And listen, Isaac would have
never had Rebecca's heart if she had not been willing to forsake
her family for Isaac. If she's not willing to give
up everything for him, he would be better off without her. And
if Isaac were willing to come down to Rebecca, she would be
better off without him. Cannot be any compromise. And
I tell you this, we don't have to compromise. We don't. We will not bring Christ down
to men. God's people won't. God's preachers will not. God's
servants that are sent by Abraham will not. They'll do exactly
what Abraham bids them to do. What's that? You just tell them
about me and about Isaac and you leave it all in my hands.
And when you've done that, then you're free. You leave that up
to me. Leave that up to me. Verses 13
and 14. That man who is sin of God, he
knows that the work he is called to perform is too great for him. The ezer said, behold, I stand
here by the well of water. When he goes down to Mesopotamia
and the daughters of men come, here he's waiting for a woman
to come. He said, and the daughters of
the men of the city come out to draw water. Then 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 camel's drink also. Let the same be she that
has appointed for thy servant Isaac. And thereby shall I know
that thou hast shown kindness unto my master." He realizes
that he's dependent upon God. He's standing here beside this
whale. You let her come by. And just think for an instant,
what if Rebecca hadn't went to the well that day? What if she
hadn't? She just gets up like any other
day. She thinks she's going to the well just like any other
day, but here the servant is waiting on her. And he said when
she comes, he said a couple of things. He says, I'll ask water
of her and she'll give me drink. This is how he'll know that she's
the one. And then this is what she'll say. Not only let me give
you water, but I'll water all those camels. Do you know how
much water a camel drinks? And there's ten of them. She
goes and draws water for every single one of them. He said,
I'll know she's the one. Gotta take care of it. She didn't
know. She had no idea. Had no idea. Think that wasn't God crossed
your path. This work of us finding God's people is beyond us. And
maybe we just happen to go somewhere one day and God sends somebody
across our path on purpose and on time. That's how God works. That's
how God works. And we know we preach, but only
God can awaken dead sinners. He's the only one that can. God
can only give life. In verses 15 through 28, God's
servants must seek, wait, and follow God's directions, verse
15. And it came to pass before he
had done speaking, before he had even got through speaking,
that behold, Rebekah came out who was born to Bethiel, son
of Malchi, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, and her pitcher
was on 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 hastened and let down
her pitcher upon her hand and gave him drink. And when she
had done giving him drink, she said, here it is. I will draw
water for thy camels also until they have done drinking. and
she hastened and emptied her pitcher into the trough and ran
again to the well to draw water and drew for all of his camels.
The man wondering at her held his peace to wit whether the
Lord had made his journey prosperous or not. 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 and of
ten shekels weight of gold, and said, Whose daughter art thou?
Tell me, I pray thee. Is there room in our father's
house for us to lodge in? And she said unto him, I am the
daughter of Bethiel, the son of Micah, which bear unto him
Nahor. She said, moreover unto him,
we have both straw and povender enough in room to lodge in. And
the man bowed down his head and worshipped the Lord and said,
blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not
left desolate my master of his mercy and of his truth. I being
in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren,
and the damsel read and told them of her mother's house these
things. The hardest thing for us to do
is to wait upon God, for God to do His work in His own time without us become negligent or
irresponsible to our task. Eliezer held out the servant,
held out these bracelets and these earrings of gold. These
were tokens of Isaac's wealth. He didn't reveal to her all of
Isaac's wealth. He did later. But here he just
enticed her. He allured her to bring her to
Isaac. You notice he didn't say anything
really to her. He just showed her the bracelets. That's how
God works in his own way and in his own time. When he revealed
everything to her is when Rebecca had committed her whole heart
to Isaac and something else. Verses 29 through 51, the servant,
God's servants must not get sidetracked. Look at verse 29. And Rebecca
had a brother and his name was Laban. And Laban ran out unto
the man and to the whale, and it came to pass, when he saw
the earrings and the bracelets upon his sister's hand, 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 whale. And he said, come in, thou blessed
of the Lord, wherefore standest thou without? For I have prepared
the house and room for the camels. And the man came unto the house,
and he and girded his camel, and gave straw and pavender for
the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men's feet
that were with him. Now look at verse 33. And there
was set meat before him to eat. But he said, I will not eat until
I have told mine Aaron. Notice before he had not said
a whole lot to Rebecca. He had just displayed to her
the golden earrings and the bracelets. But now that he comes to her
house and her parents' house, he's going to tell them exactly
why he came. He's going to expound to them
his errand. And he said, I will not eat until
I've told why I've come. Don't sidetrack me. I've come
for one purpose. I didn't come to eat food. I
didn't come to take rest. I came on one errand. He's going
to tell them exactly. He's going to explain to them
exactly in detail why he came. And I can just picture Rebecca
standing over in the corner just listening to what he has to say. Here's why she finds out. Here's
where she found out why she met this man by the well. She thought
it was just by accident. But it was no accident. And he
said, here's what he said. I am Abraham's servant. First
of all, who is he? I'm just Abraham's servant. That's
all I am. Just a voice crying in the wilderness.
I'm just Abraham's servant. And the Lord has blessed my master
greatly. And he has become great. He's
not some weakling. He's not some feeble old man. that can't do what he determines
to do. He has become great. God hath
given him flocks, and herbs, and silver, and gold, and menservants,
and maidservants, and camels, and asses. And Sarah, my master's
wife, bare a son to my master when she was old. And watch this.
And unto him hath he given all that he hath. They know nothing about Abraham.
They know nothing about Isaac, and he's telling these people
right now exactly who Abraham is, and he's telling them exactly
who Isaac is. Isaac is the only begotten son
of Abraham. He's the miracle child that was
miraculously born by God Almighty. And it describes God's son. 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. God chose
a people. God chose a bride distinctly
and on purpose. But thou shalt go into my father's
house to my kindred and take a wife unto my son. And he said,
I said unto my master, peradventure, 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 unto my son of the kindreds of my father's house." Can't
you just hear Rebecca? What just happened? Something
just happened here. Somebody was arranging my life
ordaining my steps on purpose to cross the path of that servant. She just now finds it out. Isn't
it amazing when God reveals his gospel to you? And you see, just
like John Newton did, through many dangers, tolls, and snares,
I have already come. His grace has brought me safe
thus far, and grace is going to take me all the way home. Verse 41, then shalt thou be
clear of this thine 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 dost prosper my way which I go,
behold, I stand by the well of water. Just stand here and wait. I just stand here where God sent
me. 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 waters
for thy camel. She didn't know what she was
doing. He never told her to water all them camels. She just said,
I'll do it. And she had to, because God determined
it to happen, and it did happen. And now she knows why she did
it. Knows why. Let the same be the woman whom
the Lord hath appointed for my master's son. And before I had
done speaking in my heart, maybe not even uttering the very words,
he said, before I had done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebecca
came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder, and she went down
to 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 camel's drink
also. So I drank, and she made the camel's drink also. And I
asked her and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter
of Ethiel, Nahor's son, whom Malkar bare unto him, and I put
the earring on her face and the bracelets on her hands. And I
bowed down my head and worshiped the Lord and blessed the Lord
God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way.
And God always leads us in the right way to take my master's
brother's daughter unto his son. And now, if you will 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. Then Laban and
Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the Lord.
We cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold, Rebecca is before
thee. Take her and go and let her be
thy master's son's wife as the Lord has spoken. He would not
be sidetracked from this errand. He must tell why he came. This is his errand, to explain
to them why he came, to explain to them who Abraham is, to explain
to them who Isaac is. And let me tell you this, to
a sinner he is who God Almighty is, not who they think he is,
not who they have formed in their false imagination. and they must
hear who God is in his true character, and they must hear who Isaac,
the Lord Jesus Christ, is in his true character. They cannot
believe and trust him. That's the errand of God's messengers.
They're sent with that errand, and they will not be sidetracked. Nothing else matters. Nothing else matters. Some get
sidetracked by money, fame, the world, or Satan. Didn't Paul say about Demas,
he hath forsaken me having loved this present world. Nothing else
matters. And Satan will do and use anything
he can to get God's servant sidetracked from this one purpose. This is the only thing that matters. He said, I won't even sit down
and eat. to I've told you why I've come.
Can't you just imagine his heart was probably getting ready to
burst. I want to explain to these people why I've come. I've come
all this distance, brought all these camels, brought all these
riches, brought this gospel of God's grace for one purpose.
I can't wait. I tell you, some that have tried
to preach, they know exactly what I'm saying. Sometimes it's
the scariest thing you've ever done. But sometimes you just
can't wait to deliver that burden that God's given you. The right
run. I've come all the way from Wilkesboro
on this one errand, and that's to tell you who God Almighty
is and to tell you who His Son is. That's my only purpose, my
only reason for existence. It's that purpose, and that's
what He said. The servants of Jesus Christ are like Eliezer,
they have but one message, and that's Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It's the only message we have.
You hear me next Sunday at my place, I'll have the same message,
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. When your pastor stands or whoever
stands here the next time in this pulpit, they'll have that
one message, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the only
message, the only hope for a depraved sinner is Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Not some weak, frail Jesus, some
little weak Isaac that wants to do something and somebody
just won't let him. No. He sits on a throne and all
things have been given in His hands. Listen, you know why He
came? You know why He came? He came to win Rebecca's heart
to Isaac. He did. The bride must not be
attracted to the bridegroom, not the bridegroom's friend.
We're just messengers. We are just messengers. I don't care who he is. If he's
a gospel preacher, he's just a messenger. And our job is to
point people to Isaac. Like old Rock Barnard used to
say. There's a lot of people that preach the gospel a whole
lot better than I do. And there are a lot of people
who preach the gospel a whole lot better than I do. But they
don't preach a better gospel. They don't preach a better gospel.
And listen, our job is to point people to Him and Him alone. It's only Christ and Him crucified. In verses 52 through 60, the
servant of God must press upon sinners the claims of Christ,
calling them to may to make an immediate close or decision with
Christ, and that word decision is not a wrong term in its context. Watch this, verse 52. And it
came to pass when Abraham's servant heard these words, he worshipped
the Lord, bowing himself to the earth. And the servant brought,
watch this, then the servant brought forth jewels of silver,
jewels of gold, and Raymond, and gave them to Rebekah not
before, but now. He gave also to her brother and
to her mother precious things, and they did eat, and he eats
now. He's done delivered his errand,
and he drank he and the men that were with him, and they tarried
all the 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 a few days, and
at least ten, and after that she can go. What's this? He said unto them, hinder me
not. Seeing the Lord has prospered
my way, send me away that I may go unto my master. A lot of people
try to hinder people from coming to Christ. They'll do everything
they can to stop them from bowing to the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know what they're trying to do? They're trying to hinder Rebekah from
going with Eliezer to meet Isaac. He said, don't you hinder me.
And he said, we will call the damsel. We'll call Rebekah and
require her mouth. We'll ask her what she wants
to do. Now you may listen to me. Rebekah has never seen Abraham
with natural eyes. She's never seen Isaac with natural
eyes. But God sent this servant to
her to explain the gospel to her heart, and now they ask her,
will you go with this servant? Will you go and be Isaac's bride?
Will you leave everything, everything without any regrets, and go and
be his wife? And she said, and they called
Rebecca, and said unto her, Will thou go with this man? And she
said, I will go. God makes a man willing in the
day of his power. She saw something that they didn't
see. She understood what he said. And God makes a man willing. Listen, we were not willing. We chose everything else but
him. But I tell you this, when God made you willing, you throwed
away everything else and you came to Him willingly and lovingly. And that's how God works. She
said, I will go. Faith in Christ, salvation in
Christ, a true interest in Christ is an individual's total commitment
to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a total commitment. None
of this half-heartedness. People say, well, Jesus is just
a big part of my life. If He's not your life, He's no
part of your life. He must be all or none. They wanted her to stay. She
says, I cannot stay. I cannot stay. I want to meet
him. Take me to him. I just can't
wait. Listen, it's a total commitment. Children cannot be sprinkled
into the covenant of grace. They can't. They can't be educated
into the kingdom of God. And it's not passed down from
one generation to another. God must do a work. It's in God's
hand. God did a work in Rebecca's heart.
And that's how God works in the hearts of sinners. They say,
I will go. Our Lord, I mean, Sandy was talking
about this morning, come down by the Sea of Galilee to those
little fishermen. They were probably nothings and
nobodies in the world sight. And our Lord said, follow me.
And you know what they did? They followed him. They left
their father and they left the ships and they left everything
else. You know why? Nothing else didn't matter. You
ever see Christ, nothing else in this world matters. She didn't,
and she didn't leave, said, boy, I hate to leave my mother and
my father, and boy, I hate to leave my home and all the comforts
I have. None of it didn't matter. Only
one thing mattered, and you know what that was? Meeting Isaac.
To a child of God, the only thing that matters in this world is
the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. Nothing else just doesn't
matter. It's just wasting space and wasting
time. Lastly, verses 61 through 67,
the man who is sent of God always accomplishes the work God sent
him to perform. Rebekah rose, read verse 60,
and they blessed Rebekah and said unto her, thou art our sister,
be thou the mother of thousands of millions. Let thy seed possess
the gates of those that hate them. Rebekah arose. and her damsel, and they rode
upon the camels and followed the man and the servant, took
Rebekah and went his way." God's bringing her to Isaac. And I
tell you this, God will take us to Isaac. God will bring us
all the way to Isaac. Isn't it Revelation 19 with the
marriage supper of the Lamb? That bride, she's married to
him. And it's going to happen. And
Rebekah rose in her damsels, and they rode upon the camels,
and followed the man. And the servants took Rebekah and went
his way. And Isaac came from the way of the Leleiharoi, for
he dwelt in the south country. And Isaac went out to meditate
in the field in the evening 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 lighted off the camel. For
she said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the
field to meet us? And the servant had said, It
is my master. Therefore she took a veil and
covered herself." When we come in the presence of God and to
His holiness, we must cover ourselves because of our sinfulness. But
when we come to Isaac, the God-man, the mediator between God and
man, we take off the veil and it says, And Isaac's servant,
The servant told Isaac all that was done and Isaac brought her
into his mother Sarah's tent and took her back and she became
his wife and he loved her and Isaac was comforted after his
mother's death. They are united. He didn't lose
her in the desert. He brought her all the way to
Isaac. Can you imagine what she thought
when she saw him? It was love at first sight. She loved him. She said, can
you not imagine? I love to try to picture things
in my mind. I can just see her riding on that camel. She said,
is that him? Is that the one you told me about? Is that Isaac? He said, yeah, that's him. That's
him. Can't you imagine her heart just
overflowed with joy? This is our peace. This is our
rest. And as we preach the gospel,
we trust God. God honors his word. God blesses
his word. And he brings his brides all
the way to Isaac. None of them will fall short.
They will not be a a single one for whom the Lord Jesus Christ
died and shed his precious blood that were ever wind up in hell.
He shall see of the travail of his soul and what? He shall be
satisfied. They'll all come. They'll all
make it all the way home. And what a day that will be.
And it all comes down to this. Will a man trust God's Son? God demands that a man forsake
all and follow Him. And a man, he'll do it or not.
What if it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and
lose his own soul? Our Lord said, if you love your
father and your mother more than me, you're not worth it. He said,
if you love your brothers and sisters more than me, or you
love your children, or if you love anything else, or if you
love yourself more than me, you're not worthy of me. He said, if
you do, you cannot be my disciple. It costs the man everything he
has. That's the gospel. It costs everything to see Isaac in all of his glory,
in all of his splendor. And I'm glad to not, he still
rules and he reigns and he still blesses his word and he still
saves sinners the same way. And we leave it in God's hand
to accomplish his work in his own time. May God bless his word
to our hearts. Amen.