We have a blessed picture full
of instruction in the gospel of Christ. The book of Genesis
is the book of beginnings. It tells us of the beginning
of all things and the beginning of the story of redemption. In
this, the first book of the Inspired volume, we are given beautiful
instructions in picture, in type, in symbol of God's ways with
men. Now the pictures are just that,
they're pictures, and obviously any picture of Christ is not
perfect. There's no need to try to make
everything in a type fit the type, no need to try to make
everything fit a certain pattern or mold, but the types are simply
stories or illustrations of divine truth. When I am telling you
something, instructing you in a doctrine, I'll give you an
illustration. That doesn't mean the illustration
is in every way and every detail perfect. It just gives you the
picture, so you get a general idea. And that's what the types
are. The types give us a picture of
gospel truth. Now, these things literally did
happen. They're literal events. What
we read here in Genesis 24 was a literal occurrence in time.
But if you would understand its meaning, if you would understand
its significance, you have to understand its allegorical interpretation. That is, it is given to us for
a spiritual purpose, to teach us spiritual lessons. Like Paul
said in Galatians 4, with regard to Sarah and Agar, these things
are an allegory. And what we have in Genesis chapter
24 is an allegory as well. Now in this story of Abraham's
servant seeking a bride for his son Isaac, Abraham represents
God, our heavenly father. Isaac represents the Lord Jesus
Christ, our savior. Eliezer, Abraham's servant, represents
the gospel minister, the man who is the instrument in God's
hands to preach the gospel and by the Holy Spirit seeks out
God's elect and brings them to Christ. And Rebecca represents
every true believer. Rebecca represents the whole
church of God's elect. Now the true preacher, the true
minister of Christ is like Eleazar of Damascus. He is sent of God
to find a wife for his master's son. In this chapter, the Holy
Spirit shows us plainly that God's servants are sent to do
a specific thing, and he shows us how it is that they're to
carry on their work. Throughout this chapter, Eliezer,
Abraham's faithful servant, spoke and acted like a man who felt
that he must say exactly what his master told him to say, do
exactly what his master told him to do, and go exactly where
his master told him to go. Eleazar had a commission. He
had a work to do. He had given an oath to Abraham. The old man Abraham was now stricken
in years, 140 years old or very close to it. And Eliezer put
his hand under Abraham's thigh and he said to Abraham in a most
solemn oath, this is what I'll do. And he went about to do the
work with a determination to fulfill everything he had agreed
to. And so Eleazar, with honor as
being one who is honor bound by his own word, went about seeking
a bride for Isaac. Now, as we go through these verses,
I want to call your attention to several things in the passage
that I believe are important lessons for us today. First,
in verses one through four, the servant of God, is sent into
this world for a specific purpose. And we're not going to read all
of these verses again. I hope you'll take some notes,
jot them down, and you go back and study as I just kind of highlight
the chapter for you. The first thing then in verses
1 through 4 is this. The servant of God is sent into
the world with a specific purpose. Abraham said to his servant in
verse 4, go unto my country and to my
kindred and take a wife unto my son Isaac. Now Abraham was
a wealthy man. He was greatly blessed and honored
of God in all his house. And his son Isaac was his only
son. Isaac was the apple of his daddy's
eye. Isaac was the delight of his
father's heart. Even Sarah now was dead. Abraham
had no one in the world but Isaac. No one that he loved, no one
that he cared for, no one in his family, no one to be an heir
but Isaac, his son. And Isaac was heir to his father's
fortune. Isaac was heir to the father's
covenant with God. Isaac was heir to the promises
that God had made to Abraham. And Isaac was heir to everything
his father possessed. And so Abraham, in his old age,
sends Eliezer out, his trusted servant, to seek a bride for
this son, Isaac. And he tells him that he must
seek a bride from among his own people, a bride who would share
with Isaac all the riches and the glory of his father's kingdom. Abraham said, now, Eliezer, here's
my son Isaac. You've been with me since the
boy was born. You watched him. You see him grow. You see everything
that is his. You see how God has prospered
me in all my days and now how that God shall prosper my son
Isaac. You've seen Isaac when we were
on the mount worshiping God. You've seen everything. Eleazar,
go fetch a bride for that boy. Go fetch a bride for Isaac and
tell her that everything Isaac has will be hers. You tell this
bride that she will share with Isaac all his riches, all his
honor, all his glory, all his being. Eliezer, go find a bride
not among the Canaanites, but among my own people, my own kindred. Now get the picture. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the only begotten well-beloved Son of God, and
he is the heir of all things. God the Father has given all
things into the hands of his dear Son, Christ Jesus, so that
he who honors the Son honors the Father, and he that honors
the Father honors the Son likewise. The Father's committed all things
into the hands of the Son, even the judgment of men is in his
hands. The Lord Jesus Christ is that one it pleased the Father
to give all preeminence to, in whom all the fullness of the
Godhead should dwell bodily. He is the object of His Father's
delight, the object of His Father's love, the object of His Father's
ambition, the object of His Father's purposes. Everything, everything
in the heart of God Everything in the purpose of God, everything
in God's mind is in Christ Jesus. Everything's in Christ. And Christ
Jesus, being the Son of God, is the sovereign Lord and King
of all things. God the Father took his dear
son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who comes to be the substitute for
sinners and for the salvation of those sinners, for the fulfillment
of God's covenant, of God's purpose. He puts everything under the
dominion of Jesus Christ. He made him to be head over all
things and he made him to be head over all things for the
church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth
all in all. And there is a people in this
world There is a people in this world chosen out of every nation,
kindred, tribe, and tongue. There is a people whom God has
chosen. There are some of you here today,
perhaps, you don't know it yet, but there's some of you here
today whom God from eternity, from old eternity, set out and
marked out as his own chosen bride for his well-beloved son. There's a people in this world
that God has said, thee shall be a bride for him in whom my
soul delights. And God Almighty has sent me
here to seek out that bride. That's what I'm doing in this
world, seeking a bride for the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as Abraham
sent Eliezer to find a bride for Isaac, God calls and sends
his servants out into the world to find his chosen bride for
his beloved son. And we find them, we seek them
out, we call them by the preaching of the gospel. Our Lord Jesus
said to his disciples, go ye therefore into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Where do we seek them? We seek
out that bride from among the fallen, ruined, condemned, helpless
sons and daughters of our father Adam. The work God has sent us
to do is a joyful but a weighty responsibility upon us. Like
Eliezer, our work is most delightful. And it's not my work alone. It's
our work. You and I, as a body of believers,
are sent of God into this world to seek out a bride for the Christ,
the Son of God. And it's a most delightful work.
What can be more joyful than the sound of wedding bells ringing?
We're sent to find a bride for the Lord Jesus, the heir of all
things. Nothing could be more honorable.
This is the business upon which my master's heart has been set
from eternity. Isaac was now 40 years old and
there was none to declare his generation. There was none to
carry on his family name. There was none who could share
his riches and his inheritance and his glory. So Abraham sends
Eliezer down into Mesopotamia to fetch him a bride so that
the covenant of God might be fulfilled. You see, nothing was
more important to Abraham than that boy Isaac and getting him
a bride. Nothing was more important. That
was on his heart. When the old man came to the
fullness of years, the one thing he wanted was to see Isaac married
and see a son born to Isaac that the covenant seed might come
and he might see the promise of God being fulfilled. Now let
me tell you something. This is what's been on God's
heart from eternity. This is what's been on God's
heart from eternity. God made this world and everything
in it. God Almighty created the world. He created the heavens, the angels. He created even those angels
that fell. He created everything and he
brings everything to pass because he's got one thing in his heart's
eye and in his mind's eye. He's got one thing to accomplish.
A people whom he's chosen, whom he's determined to save for the
glory of his son. That's the one thing. He made
a covenant and the covenant must be fulfilled. He promised his
son a seed to serve him, a people to declare his generation, a
bride as the reward of his labor, one who would share with him
his glory and his inheritance forever, who would be conformed
to his own glorious image. And the Lord God has sent us
to seek out that bride. God determined that the God-man
should not dwell alone. Christ Jesus must have a suitable
companion. He must have a bride, one for
the Redeemer's satisfaction, one for the Savior's recompense.
And the Lord Jesus, by his grace, has called chosen men to do that
work of seeking out this bride. Truly, we have this treasure,
this treasure of the gospel in earthen vessels. Eliezer, we're
told here in verse 10, he took camels from Abraham's herds and
all the goods of his master were in his hand. What does that mean? It means Eliezer carried with
him the authority of Abraham. He carried with him the authority
of Abraham. to confer on one particular,
ordained, chosen woman that God Almighty would call out to confer
upon her all the riches of Abraham himself. So he comes and here's
Rebecca. He sees her and he thinks, boy,
maybe she's the one. And he takes out that golden
earring and those golden bracelets, holds them in front of her. Would
you like to have this? Would you like to have them?
Oh, I sure would. Let me tell you how you can get
them. Let me tell you how. And then he begins to tell her
about Isaac. And he says, now when you get
Isaac, you get everything Isaac has. And Abraham said, I could
give it to you. Abraham said, I could give it
to you. God's servant comes with the message of the gospel, the
treasure, the treasure of God himself. And he says to every
sinner, to every sinner he meets, how would you like to have the
riches and the glory of God's righteousness and God's being
and God's character? Oh, could I have that? When you
get his son, buddy, you get it. Trust his, come to Jesus, come
to the son of God, come to the glorious king and take all that
he has. Take him and take all that he
has by faith in him. And yet, though it is a most
delightful work, it's the most awesome, heart crushing, heart-rending
work in all the world. That man who is called of God
to seek a bride for his son has an awesome weight of responsibility. As you read through this chapter,
it looks like Eliezer, every time he'd take a step, he was
calling on God. Every time he'd move, he was
seeking something from God. Lord, direct my path. Lord, show
me who the woman is. Lord, prosper my journey. Lord,
for Abraham's sake. Lord, for Isaac's sake. Lord,
God, be with me. God, help me. God, make my decision
the right decision. Put me in the right place at
the right time to find just the right woman to deliver this message. All along the way, he has an
awesome, awesome burden. For he's seeking a bride for
Isaac. And he loved Isaac like he loved
his own soul. Eliezer loved that boy. He was
delighted in it. Eliezer, you see, had the responsibility
of representing and speaking for Abraham and Isaac. Abraham
and Isaac, who were the most precious people in the world
to him, he had the responsibility of going down into a place where
Abraham was known only by name. He hadn't been there in years.
He's going down to a place where Isaac had never been. And he's
going to speak to many women who do not know Isaac or Abraham. And all they know of Isaac and
Abraham is what they see and hear in Eliezer. You talk about
a responsibility. All they know. All they know. Let me tell you something. Let me put a let me put a weight
on your shoulder. Will you? Merrill, that fellow
works with you day after day after day. A man you've been
doing business with for 30 years. Only thing he knows about God
Almighty and his dear son is what he sees and hears in you. I speak to men and women. All
across the country. And the only thing they know
about God, the only thing they know of God's dear son is what
they see and hear in me. Oh, I want to represent him well,
don't you? I want to represent him well. I go places. Folks who haven't
met my wife or daughter ask me about them. I like to represent
them well. All those people know what I
tell them. Folks come up, See, Shelby, if I've been mad-mouthing
her and giving her a bad name, you know, they... Is this the
same woman you was married to last year when I saw you? She
doesn't look like or act like what you said she was. Oh, no,
I wouldn't do that. I love her. I want to honor her. Her honor is precious to me.
The honor of the eternal God, the honor of Jesus Christ is
precious I want to represent him well. Like Eleazar, God's servants
are called to speak of Christ. This man, Eleazar, was representing
one who was an extraordinary man. He was speaking for Isaac. Isaac was a man who was born
according to promise, not after the flesh, but by the power of
God. Isaac was born to fulfill a covenant, a covenant that was
made long, long ago. Isaac was born as the heir of
the promise of that covenant. Not only that, but Eliezer knew
full well that anybody who got in on the covenant, anybody who
ever obtained any promise from God was going to get it by virtue
of their relationship with Isaac. The whole thing's in Isaac. The
whole promise, the whole covenant of God's in Isaac. And Isaac
was a man whom Eliezer knew had been sacrificed to God Almighty
on the Mount. Eliezer was there, he was waiting
for Abraham when he came down off the Mount. Eliezer saw his beloved Isaac when he came down off of the
mount as one who had been raised up from the dead. As one who
had been himself in a figure raised up, representing that
one who should be slain and raised again from the dead. Isaac was
everything to Abraham and Isaac was everything to Eliezer as
well. Now in all these things, Isaac was typical of Christ.
What a weighty errand we have who are sent of God to find the
bride for his dear son. Sent of God to find a bride in
fulfillment of the covenant. Sent of God to find one who shall
be the heir of the covenant. Sent of God to find one who shall
be the wife, the bride of the substitute, the exalted Lord,
who shall be a bride for the Son of God. Who shall be a bride
for the Son of God? I'll tell you this, that one
whom Eleazar brought to Isaac has got to have at least two
qualities, got to have at least two qualities. She's got to be
exceedingly beautiful. I mean, Rebecca has got to be
something else. She's got to be something else.
Not only has she got to be exceedingly beautiful, but she's got to be
winning. to come to Isaac. Now this is our responsibility.
I'm looking for men and women to be wed to the Son of God. I'm looking for people who are
both willing and worthy to be married to Jesus Christ. Well, Don, you're going to have
to look in another crowd. You're going to have to look somewhere else. Where can such a bride be found
among the fallen sons of Adam? Nowhere. Nowhere. The task is
impossible. There are none who are willing
and there are none who are worthy. But I want to tell you something.
As God prospered Eliezer's journey and brought him to Rebekah, a
beautiful virgin, a fair virgin who had never known a man, and
made Rebekah willing to go back with Eliezer to that faraway
place she maybe had never even heard tell of out there in Canaan.
As God did that for Eliezer, the Lord God, by the power of
his grace, when the gospel was preached, does two things. He makes sinners willing in the
day of his power. And those whom he makes willing,
Bob, he makes worthy. He makes them worthy. Bob Ponsor. Worthy to be joined to Jesus
Christ. Can you imagine that? Can you
imagine such a thing? Yeah, yeah, I can. I know it
so. Paul said so in Colossians 1-12,
we're made need to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in life. We're made worthy. How on this earth is a fallen
gift to help the sinner made worthy of the Son of God? I'll tell you how. The Lord God
has taken the very righteousness of his Son and he's imputed it
to us. He's laid it to our charge. That
is, in the sight of God's holy law, you read Revelation 14,
we're called virgins. Virgins, pure and holy, righteous,
never having been defiled. Never! That's the way the law
describes us. That's the way the law describes
us. But that's not all. When God calls that sinner and
makes that sinner willing to come to Christ, He puts something
in him. He puts something in him. He
puts something in him called righteousness. He makes him a
new creature, a righteous man. He gives him a righteous heart,
a righteous will, a righteous nature, a holy thing that cannot
sin. So that now this man who deserves
by nature nothing but God's wrath, deserves by nature nothing but
to be shunned and forever condemned, is made both willing and worthy
of God's acceptance by God's almighty grace. That's it. Willing and worthy. Now the servant
of God is sent to seek out such people for the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the most delightful, most
honorable work in the world, but it's the most awesome and
weighty work in the world. There's no place in this work
for half-hearted men. The work demands all the servant's
heart. All is affection. all his care,
all his attention, all his time, all his talent. There's nothing
else, nothing else that's to concern Eliezer. He's going for
a bride for Isaac. There's nothing that even compares
with importance. Nothing. And secondly, in verses five through nine,
we see that that man who is sent of God to seek a bride for his
son can never accomplish his work
by compromise. That's an important, important
lesson. I'm sure that when Eliezer got this command, this commission
from Abraham, his mind, his heart, well, you can just imagine the
kind of questions he had. Lord, I've never been to Mesopotamia.
How do you get there? Where is it? Who lives down there?
What kind of people are those down there? You come from down
there. What are you sending me after? Abraham, it's a long ways. And you're calling for this woman
to do something no woman in the right mind would ever do. Abraham,
you're telling me to go down to Mesopotamia and find a woman
who doesn't know me, and doesn't know you, and doesn't know Isaac,
and doesn't know the living God, and ask that woman if she'd be
willing to leave her home, her mother, her father, her brothers,
her sisters, her security, her happiness, her welfare, her peace,
her prosperity, her friends, her environment, and take a long
journey with me across this barren, bleak, desert land to a place
she's never heard tell of. I'm going to tell her it's Canaan.
To live with a man who lives like a gypsy in a tent. What if she ain't willing to
come? But that's just exactly what I'd say. You know what? If I were her, if I were her,
I wouldn't come. Would you? Would you? Nobody's right mind would come.
Unless he knew Isaac. Unless he was made willing to
come. So Eliezer proposed a compromise. He said, now Abraham, if If she's not willing to come
up here to Isaac, will it be all right if I take Isaac down
there to her? Not on your life. Not on your life. Look at it
here in verse 5. And the servant said unto him,
peradventure, what if the woman will not be willing to follow
me unto this land? Must thy needs bring thy son
again into the land for which thou camest? And Abraham said
unto him, Beware, beware, be absolutely certain that thou
bring not my son thither again. The Lord God of heaven, which
took thee from my father's house and from the land of my kindred,
and which spake unto me and swear unto me, saying, Unto thy seed
will I give this land, he'll send his angel before thee. and
thou shalt take away unto my son from thence. And if the woman
will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear
from this my oath, only bring not my son thither again. Now, let me point out three things,
maybe four in Abraham's response here. First of all, Abraham told
Eliezer, God Almighty, will go with you, and he will prepare
the way before you." Eliezer's success was a matter of certainty. Abraham said in verse 7, he shall
send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto
my son. You see, God's servants do not
go into this world alone. It is not up to me. It is not
up to me to persuade men and women to trust Christ, to love
Christ, to follow Christ, to come to Christ by my own powers
of logic, persuasion, or eloquence. The Spirit of God goes before
the messenger of God, and he prepares our way before us. He
quickens whom he will, gives sinners ears to hear the gospel
and eyes to see Christ and a heart to love him. God the Holy Spirit,
when he awakens the dead and causes them to see Christ, effectually
brings sinners to Christ by the word which we preach. Last night, yesterday, Friday,
this morning, this has been my prayer. Lord God, go ahead of
me. Go before me. Find your people where they are
right now and prepare their hearts. Prepare the way for the word.
Mark the way. Mark out the way. That's what
the Spirit of God does when you go to save a sinner. When I was
in Mexico, Brother Milton Howard's friend out on
the ranch took me out to show me his coffee
plants out in the jungle. I was out there where they made
all those Tarzan movies, you know, the old Tarzan movies,
right out there in the jungles. It's thick. Mosquitoes, just
thick as they could be. And the brush, thick. You just
couldn't walk through it. This old boy took his machete
out, cut down all the underbrush, all the growth. I mean, you'd
have thought he was driving a Mack truck through there, just a little
old bean walking by, you know. But he opened up a huge path. He was preparing the way so that
I could walk through without any disturbance. That's what
the Holy Spirit does in the hearts of sinners. In his providence,
by his effectual grace, he prepares the way for the Word. And if
he prepares the way, When you hear it, it'll fall like dew
from heaven on a dry, thirsty ground. And then Abraham assured Eliezer
that his labor would not be in vain. He said again in verse
seven, thou shalt take a wife. You see that? It's not a matter
of whether or not you're going to find a wife. God sent you. This is God's errand. This is
for God's covenant. This is for God's glory. This
is to fulfill God's purpose. You're going to get a wife. Oh,
yeah, you'll find her. God sends his angel. You'll get
your wife. You see, the bride's already
been chosen. The bride will hear the voice of her beloved. The
bride that is chosen and called will come. The preacher's responsibility
begins and ends in the matter of faithfulness. You go and seek
the bride. You go and preach the word. You
go and call the sinner. Go fetch his bride. You can bank
on it. You can bank on it. I don't labor
wondering what's going to happen. I don't preach trying to determine
what's going to take place, but I rather preach the gospel with
certainty, with certainty that God Almighty has a people whom
he shall call, whom he shall save by his grace. You can mark
this down as a matter of fact. If a man's called of God, a man's
sent of God, that man is a man to whom God will supply his needs. God will protect him. God will
preserve him in his work. God will order his steps, and
God will crown his labor with success. I don't have any question
about it. Just don't have any question.
If God's in it, all hell can overturn it. If God's in it,
if you can't see the way, if God sends you, if God calls you,
if God gives us a work to do, go for it! Just go for it! If God's in it. I was talking
to a young preacher several weeks ago, and he was telling me, he
says, well, I just don't know. Well, no, he said, I feel like
this is the will of God. I said, well, it's going to have
to be more than a feeling. But I said, now, when you determine
and you find out what the will of God is, you just go ahead
and storm the gates of hell. They'll fall. Just go ahead. Just go ahead. I don't have any
question about that. have seen it happen so many times.
I don't know why in the world we have ever questioned God's
grace and his power. We undertake a work and, man,
there's not any money for it. There's not any willingness for
it on the parts of men. There doesn't seem to be any
interest in it. There doesn't seem to be anything going in
that direction. I believe God would have us to
do it. I believe God will have us to do it. Well, I'm going
to pick up my hammer and go to work. That's all there is to
it. But you don't have any nails.
That's all right. God said do it. He'll provide
the nails. But you don't... Preacher? It
doesn't look like there's an open door there. Push on it. See if it'll open. Just push
on it. See if it'll open. If a man's
sin of God, if a man's called of God, if God's in the thing,
God will make a way for it. You won't have to sit down and
devise and connive and figure out how you're going to make
things work. God makes it work and you couldn't explain it on
your life. And that man who knows that his
sin of God will endure any difficulty and all difficulties and overcome
them all for the salvation of God's elect. You read 2 Timothy
1, there's Paul, prisoner. Why? For the elect's sake. For the elect's sake. To preach
the gospel to God's elect. That's all. That's all. Paul,
why did you put yourself through that? Why did you put your family
and friends through all of that? For the elect's sake. Paul, you
could have been a wealthy man. You've got all kinds of talents.
You could have done anything you wanted to. Why did you give
up that law degree? Why did you give up that position?
Why did you give up that fame and that fortune? What are you
doing down there in that dungeon? For the elect's sake. Most of us, most of us would
run into a little difficulty, a little opposition and say,
well, God's not in it. God's not in
it. Paul determined what God was
in. He determined God's will by the Spirit of God and the
Word of God and the providence of God. And he went for it. And he didn't let anything turn
him aside. Nothing. And somehow, somehow, if God's
in it, nothing's going to turn his servant aside. Nothing under
the sun. The man's called of God to do
the work. He's going to do the work and
nothing shall stop him. Nothing shall stop him. God's servant simply will not
allow anything to turn him away from the pursuit of Christ's
chosen bride. He must find her wherever she
is and tell her about her beloved. And once God's servant has delivered
his message, He's clear of all responsibility. Abraham said,
now, Eliezer, you go down and you seek the bride and you tell
these folks down in Mesopotamia about my son Isaac. And if she won't come back with
you, you're free of all guilt. You're clear of all the responsibility. You're clear of the charges.
It's your responsibility only to do what I've told you to do.
And then he gave Eliezer this strict prohibition. Only bring
not my son. Deadly right there. Whether the woman comes or does
not come, whether Isaac has a bride or does not have a bride, Isaac's
honor has got to be maintained, darling. Isaac's honor has got
to be maintained. Abraham told him twice, don't
you bring my son down here. Don't you bring my son down here.
Now I take that to mean there's something more important to God
than the salvation of sinners. There's something more important
to God than the salvation of sinners. And that something is
the honor of his name and the glory of his son. Now I could
preach here. the rest of the day and tonight
as well. I'm going to try my best to be
brief, but I want you to hear me. I want you to hear me. This
generation of religious men and women, this generation of churchgoing
folks, and for people who hear this thing on tape or television,
wherever you hear it, listen to this preacher. You listen
for just a minute. This religious generation, in
order to get numerical success, in order to fill the churches
up with somebody, in order to get somebody to make a profession
of faith, has sold the glory of God to the will of man. They've done exactly what Abraham
commanded Eliezer he must not do. If men will not come up to
Christ, this generation says, we'll bring Christ down to man.
If men will not follow Christ, this generation says, we'll have
Christ follow man. If this generation will not hear
Christ, this generation says, we'll have Christ to hear men.
If this generation will not come after Christ, we say, well, wait
a minute, Jesus will run after you. Let me tell you something.
We dare not bring Christ down to man. We dare not alter our
message or even trim off its rough edges. We dare not even
alter our methods to suit the world. I had one fellow say to
me one time, I've had dozens of people say things like this.
This one fellow, he said, now, now we can't ever change our
message, but we've got to be willing to change our methods
with the times. Oh, no. Oh, no. I know I'm behind time. I tend to stay that way. I know
in this generation we have ball games and ball teams and we have
senior citizens clubs and little citizens clubs and we have concerts
in the church and we have puppet shows in the church and we've
even got a comedian in town up here who goes around the world
making a living poking fun at Jesus in the name of Jesus. We
got everything under the sun in the name of religion, everything
under the sun, except the one thing that God Almighty has ordained
his church to do, and that's the preaching of the gospel.
I happen to preach a little lengthily and go over an hour in preaching. Some folks hear me say go over
an hour, and they're shocked to think I'll go over 30 minutes.
I happen to go over an hour in preaching, got to apologize.
Because in this generation, we got time and room for everything
under the sun except preaching, except the preaching of the gospel. I dare, I'd be willing to make
a wager and I'm not a betting man. I'd be willing to make a
wager. But even go to any fellow you work with, any of them, find
out where to go to church and take a, just take a poke. I'll
guarantee you they spend more time doing anything in their
churches than preaching. Anything. Spend more time and
more money on anything than they do on preaching. Of course, it's
a good thing they don't preach anything to start with. Let them
have their ball games. But I'm telling you in the kingdom
of God, we will not alter our message. We will not trim our
message. We won't even take off the rough
edges. Not even use any fine sandpaper to get the rough corners
off so it feels good. We're not going to water it down
with milk and honey and sugar so that it'll slide down good
and folks won't be offended by it. As a matter of fact, it is
the very offense of the cross that is our glory and our strength. Just suppose, just suppose that
Eliezer, by compromise, could get Isaac down to Rebekah and
get Rebekah and Isaac together. Just suppose that could happen. You know what that'd do? That
would make Rebecca more important than Isaac. That'd make Rebecca's
happiness more important than Isaac's glory and his honor.
And that's what this generation does with Christ. They say the
sinner's happiness is more important than the glory of God. If he could persuade Isaac to
come down to get Rebecca, because after all, Rebecca, she says
she won't go. Then what Eliezer has done is
he's denied the covenant of God, the promise of God, and the power
of God. He says, well, I know God said
this, but it ain't happening that way. I know God said that
he was going to send his spirit before me. I know God said that
it was going to be a woman there whom he had called to come with
me, but I can't find her. There's not anybody like that.
I must misunderstand. There's got to be some other
way. Tell you what we'll do. I'll go back to Canaan. We'll
fetch Isaac and bring him down here. What he said is God's not
to be believed. And this generation of preachers,
by their compromise, by their refusal to plainly declare the
gospel of Jesus Christ, have denied God Almighty and they,
by their preaching, expose their unbelief. For they say that God
will not and cannot fulfill His covenant. They say that God's
grace and His power is frustrated. Somehow we've got to conciliate
the sinner and make Christ acceptable to the sinner. Oh no! A Christ
that is acceptable to a fallen guilty sinner would do that sinner
no good if he got it. None whatever. Just suppose Eliezer were to
bring Isaac down to Rebekah and get them married. Rebekah wouldn't be fit to have.
She wouldn't be fit to have. He says, Rebecca, here's Isaac. If you want him, you got to go
through that desert. You got to leave your brother
and your mother and your father and your sisters and your friends
and your family. Well, the only way you're going
to get Isaac is to go through that desert for him. Oh, no. Don't believe I'll have him.
OK, well, I'll bring Isaac down here then. She's got Isaac's
name, but Isaac doesn't have her heart. You see what I'm saying? I had a friend of mine who was
courting a lady and he had questioned as to whether or not he ought
to marry her. He said, I don't know whether
she would be willing to live where I want to live. Would she
be willing to go here, go there? And I said to him, I called him
by name. I said, well, I find out. I'd
just tell her we're going to move here. What if she's not willing that
I go find me another wife? She's not willing to leave her
mother and father? She's not willing to leave her family?
She's not willing to be my wife then? That's all there is to
it. She's not willing to be mine.
She'll either be mine, totally mine, or not mine at all. One
of the two. One of the two. That's what I'm
saying with regard to Jesus Christ and sinners. That's what I'm
saying. You'll either be his, totally his, totally his, or
he won't have you. One of the two. In these days,
the church is so compromised and whittled away at the gospel,
to where they had no gospel to preach, and they brought Christ
down to Rebekah, brought Isaac down to Rebekah, brought Christ
down to the world in such a fashion that the world has now come in
and totally, totally corrupted and dominates the church of God.
Totally. Totally. I get letters all the time from a group of men who are still
part of the Southern Baptist Convention, and they're trying
to—they have what they call a Founders Conference every year over in
Memphis. We're going to get them back on the right track. Got
a little old handful of fellows who claim to believe sovereign
grace. And they're trying their best to turn the Southern Baptist
Convention back to sovereign grace. After all, that's the
way it was founded originally. Phooey. Phooey. Just come out
from among them. Just flat come out from among
them. That's all. Leave them alone. Let them have
their paganism. Let them have their ungodliness.
Let them have their programs. Let them have their religious
ritual. Let them have their religious ceremony. Oh, but they've got
the means and they've got the influence and they've got the
money. I've got God Almighty. Don't tell me I need anything
else. Don't tell me I need anything else. I mean it. I mean it. There's no need for us to make
concessions to the world. There's no need for us to compromise.
God will save his elect and he will save his elect by the naked
truth of the gospel. Preach in naked simplicity. Compromise will never save, it
will only damn. I preach to you as far as I know
it, to the best of my ability, the pure truth of God. And I'm
not ashamed of its peculiarities or of its offensiveness. Indeed,
that which the world find most offensive is the very thing in
which I glory. And I deliberately, publicly
cut myself off from those who deny the truth of God. If I didn't,
I'd be compromising my own testimony. I deliberately, publicly cut
myself off from those who deny the truth of God. And not only
that, but I cut myself off, deliberately cut myself off from those who
even associate with men who pervert the gospel. Why? Faithfulness
to God, faithfulness to my calling, faithfulness to your souls demand
it. God helping me, I cannot, I will
not bring Christ down to men. I proclaim a gospel that brings
men up to Christ. I don't court man's favor and
I don't fear his frowns. I'm the servant of God. That's
all. Here's another thing in the text.
That man who is sent of God knows that the work he is called to
perform is too great for him. In verse 10, Isaac left Abraham,
and this is the first thing he did. Verse 11, he made his camels
to kneel down without the city by the well of water at the time
of the evening and even the time that the women go out to draw
water. And he said, oh Lord God, my master, God of my master Abraham,
I pray thee send me good speed this day and show kindness unto
my master Abraham. He said, who's sufficient for
these things? I can't do this alone. Lord,
I don't know who's out there gonna hear. I don't know how
to preach to them. I don't know how to show them
Christ. I don't know how to show them the gospel. I don't know
how to instruct men. Lord, you choose the man and
you cause the Word to be powerful. You seek the sinner and call
him by your grace. I'll let no man ever attempt
to deliver a message in God's name which he hasn't received
from God the Holy Spirit. and let no man plead with men
for God until he first pleads with God for men. Having said
that, let me show you this in verses 15 through 28. This is
the fourth thing, by the way. God's servant must seek, wait
for, and follow God's direction. Look down in verse 27, the last
part. Oh, back up verse 21. Rebecca
came out and the man wondering at her held his peace. He saw
her He said that's that's got to be it. She's got to be the
one I never saw a woman like that in my life She's got to
be the one he saw her but he held his peace To wit whether
the Lord was in it or not. He let's see if God's in this
thing let's see if I'm judging by the flesh or judging by the
Spirit and then in verse 27 And he said, Blessed be the Lord
God of my master Abraham, who have not left destitute my master
of his mercy and of his truth. God has not left my savior destitute
of a witness. He has fulfilled his mercy and
his truth. I being in the way, the Lord
led me to the house of my master's brethren. Hardest thing on this earth for
us to do. is to wait upon God without becoming
negligent and irresponsible. Eliezer was determined. He was
determined not to get the wrong woman. He was determined to get
a woman. Now, what's he going to do? Well,
I can picture it. The old man's out in, let's see,
he's sitting out there in the desert. Not anybody lives for
a thousand miles. And somebody comes along in a
caravan riding a camel who's lost. Eliezer's sitting there. What's your name, Eliezer? What
are you doing? My master Abraham sent me out
here to seek a bride for his son Isaac. What are you doing? Waiting for
the bride. Where does your master live?
I believe I'll go apply for your job. You're not much of a servant.
No. Eleazar didn't act like a dummy. He didn't act like a dummy. He
used common sense. He went down into Mesopotamia, and he found
the well. He said, well, it's about noon.
The women will be coming out here to get their water now,
getting ready to fix lunch. We're going to sit over here
and watch for them. He put himself in the place where
he might find such a woman. And he waited on God to identify
her, to bring her, to call her, and to show that this is the
one. I preach the gospel. I plead with God. Sometimes I see somebody looks
like they're a little bit interested. Every now and then I'll preach
to you and I'll see on somebody's face Little tear trickling down
your cheek. Maybe he's heard what I'm saying.
Maybe she's heard it. Say, well, you better strike
while the iron's hot. No, no. I'll wait and see whether or
not you've heard. I'll just wait and see. And I'll say a word. I'll say a word. Don't you care?
Oh, I care. That's the reason I'm not going
to say a word. You young people, you'll never hear this pastor
put any pressure on you, try to twist you and persuade you
to make some kind of profession of faith. It will not happen.
Why don't you care? Oh, I care too much. I care too
much. I'm going to preach the gospel
to you and plead with God for you. And if God gets hold of
your heart, all hell can't keep you away from Christ. And when you come confess Him,
I'll proclaim to you with full confidence you're accepted in
Him. But it'll be just that way. It's
going to wait. Where'd you learn that lesson? I learned it in
the book. But I'm like most people. I'm
kind of hard-headed. I had to experience it first. I have never
yet, I've never, never gone to a person and press the issue
personally, but what I didn't regret it sooner or later, Darwin.
Never. Never. Never. I only did it one time. One time. Persuaded somebody
to come join the church. Make a profession of faith. Persuaded
them that they ought to do it. And I regretted it from the very
day it happened. It just ought not to happen.
It just ought not to happen. And then the fifth point, so
very important, I've got to just touch on it. Verses 29 through
51, you can read it. The servant of God must not get
sidetracked. Eliezer came into Rebekah's house,
into Laban's house, And they prepared meat for him and set
it before him. In verse 33, there was meat set before him to eat.
But he said, I will not eat until I've told my errand. I will not
eat until I've told my errand. Well, you got to eat, Eliezer.
Not until I've told my errand I don't. You see, the servant
of God, Satan will do everything under the sun to get him sidetracked. I've lived long enough to see
men ruin their lives and ruin their ministries simply because they got sidetracked. I have a friend. I tried my best to persuade him. I begged him. I mean, I reasoned
with him and begged him and pleaded with him not to start in this
business. He and I started pastoring together
about the same time. I said, don't do it. Don't do
it. Madonna, make a little money.
Yeah. And you'll find that you make
a little more and a little more and a little more. And soon all
you're going to be doing is this. And I'll never find you back
there again. And that's all it's doing. Others
get turned aside from the message, sidetracked. Satan doesn't care
how he sidetracks you if he just gets you sidetracked. Eliezer
said, I've got a message to tell you. You know what he told him?
He told him all about Isaac. You read the next verses. All
he had to say was about Isaac. Isaac, Isaac. Let me tell you
about Isaac. Let me tell you about, let me tell you how Abraham
got him. Let me tell you where he came from. Let me tell you
why he came. Let me, let me tell you what
he possesses. Let me tell you what happened
on Mount Moriah. Let me tell you about Isaac. Oh, that's God's
son. Let me tell you about the son.
Let me tell you who He is and where He came from, His excellence,
His beauty, His glory. Give me your ear when I get done
telling you about Him. Then maybe we can sit down and
chat a little bit, but I've got some business here. And then
the last thing that took place, we'll just skip down to verse
58. Eliezer came with Laban and all Rebekah's family. And he
said, now this is what it's come to. Wilt thou go with this man? Wilt thou go with this man? That's what it's come to. That's
why I'm sitting here. Will you go with the Son of God? Will you follow Jesus Christ? Will you? Tell me and I'll be
on my way. Tell me and I'll be on my way.
I'm pressing you right now to make a decision now. Will you
or will you not go and join your heart to the Son of God? Will
you or will you not forsake all and follow Christ? Rebecca said, I'll go. I'll go. And they came with good success. The journey was over. And in
the end, here comes Eliezer, that faithful servant. Abraham! Isaac! Here she is. Rebecca saw Abraham coming and
scripture says she covered her face. wouldn't show her face to Abraham. A sinner dare not show his face
to the holy God of criminals. He quakes with fear before God.
But when she saw Isaac, it was love at first sight. She jumped
off her camel into his arms. And when Isaac saw her, it was
love at first sight. He took her into his mother's
tent and made her his wife and was comforted. Oh, sinner, sinner, sinner. No sooner will you look to Christ
than you'll see Him. And when you see Him, I tell
you, it'll be love at first sight. Oh, he'll ravish your heart. And he'll be delighted to have
you. Yeah, he'll take you. He'll take
you. Make you his bride. And the suffering Savior shall
be comforted, satisfied for all his soul's travail. God help
you then to trust his son. Amen.