Let's turn back to Genesis chapter
24. This chapter is the longest chapter in the book of Genesis
and is one of the longest chapters in the Bible. And this is about
Abraham sending his servant who is unnamed in order to find a
bride for Isaac. And this is an allegory. Yes, it happened literally, but
this is an allegory given to teach us of the preaching of
the gospel and the response of Rebecca to the preaching of the
gospel. And I so desire that that be
the response of everyone listening. I will go. Not like Hobad when Moses said to him, we're going
on a journey to a place the Lord said, I'll give it to you. Come
with us, we'll do thee good, for the Lord has spoken good
concerning Israel." Hodab said, I'll not go. But here, Rebecca
says, I will go. Now in this story, I'm going
to end up reading this entire chapter and just making brief
comments on it. It speaks for itself. But in
this story, we have Abraham as a type of God the Father. We have Isaac as a type of Christ. And what a type of Christ he
is. He was born supernaturally. And then we have that glorious
story in Genesis 22 of Abraham being called upon to offer him
up. What a type of Christ Isaac is. And then we have Rebecca as a
type of the church. And we have the angel of the
Lord as a type of the Holy Spirit. And we have this unnamed servant
as a type of the gospel preacher. Now this could have been Eliezer,
but the text doesn't tell us. He's mentioned some 60 years
before as Abraham's servant in Genesis chapter 15. And he might've
been the same servant spoken of, but I love the way he is
not named. The name of the preacher is of
utter non-importance. It's who sent him and his message
that's of importance, not his name. Verse one of Genesis chapter
24, and Abraham was old and well stricken in age. Now this is after the death of
Sarah. As a matter of fact, we're going
to consider that tonight. Genesis chapter 23, the funeral
of Sarah. And what a powerful gospel message
that is. But Abraham is old, 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 in whom I dwell, but thou shalt go unto my country,
my homeland, and my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac. Now, Abraham wanted Isaac to
have a bride, and he didn't want this bride to come from the land
of Canaan. He wanted this to be from his
homeland. And he sends his son, or his
servant, Eliezer, to find this bride. Now, look in verse 14. Let it come to pass that the
damsel to whom I shall say, let down thy pitcher, I pray thee,
that I may drink, and she shall drink, and I'll give thy camel's
drink also. Let that same be she that thou
hast appointed. You see, he understood who he
was going after was the one that God had already appointed, didn't
he? He understood election. Look
in verse 44 of the same chapter. And she say to me, both drink
thou and I'll also draw for thy camels. Let the same be the woman
whom the Lord hath appointed out for my master's son. Now, he was on an errand looking
for one of Christ's sheep. You know, a man that does not
understand and believe and preach election, God's appointment of
his people, God never sent that man. You can just write that
down. Any true gospel preacher understands
that salvation is of the Lord, that that person will be saved,
that God has appointed to be saved. And he sends his servant
out with this errand. Verse five, and the servant said
unto him, peradventure the woman will not
be willing to follow me into this land. Must thy needs bring
thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest? Now the servant
had a concern. What if I go and tell of the
glory of Isaac and they don't believe my report? What then? What if she is just unwilling
to love and be married to someone that she's never seen. I understand
that. You know, in some cultures, they
appointed wives and husbands for their
children. Now, if I was a kid, I'd kind of like being able to
do that. You probably would too with your
kids, but it doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way.
She may not be willing to leave her homeland and go to a place
that she's never been or never even heard of before this and
be married to a man she's never seen. What if she is unwilling
to do this? She may not have this, Esteem
of the covenant that I'm speaking of in the land of promise. It
could be meaningless to her What do I do if that's the case? Verse
5 the servant said in him perventure the woman will not be willing
To follow me into this land must needs Must I needs bring thy
son again into the land from whence thou camest. Do I need
to bring? Isaac to her If she's not willing to come, do I bring
Isaac to her? Do I change the terms and make
it easier for her to come? Do I change the terms that she's
more likely to comply with? Do I bring Isaac to her? Verse six, but Abraham said unto
him, don't you dare. Don't you dare. Beware that thou bring not my
son thither again. Now there is to be no compromise. Don't you dare try to make it
easier. Don't you dare not do exactly
what I told you to do. There's to be no attempt to make
this easier to the flesh. There's to be no attempt to make
this more attractive to the flesh. There's no marketing or packaging
of this in order to make it an easier sale. God does not negotiate
with sinners. Let me repeat that. God does
not negotiate. with sinners. I'm not trying to make this an
easier sell. Now listen real carefully. This
is a non-negotiable. The Bible is the Word of God. To be believed, to be bowed to,
to be received in whatever it says, God is God. That's a non-negotiable. He is absolutely sovereign. He controls everybody and everything
and whatever he does is right. He has no law over his head that
he has to live up to. Whatever he does is right because
he does it. No other reason is needed. He's
absolutely sovereign. That means you're in His hands.
That means I'm in His hands. And your eternal destiny is not
decided by you, but Him. He is God. Not in name only, but in reality,
He is God. That's non-negotiable. And God's
way of saving sinners is non-negotiable. You see, according to the scriptures,
when Adam fell, he became dead, spiritually dead. That's not
talking about physically dead. That's talking about spiritually
dead. What can a dead person do to save themselves, to give
themselves life? What can a dead person do? Dead in trespasses and sins. That means totally depraved. That means every aspect of you
and me is under the dominion and control of sin. You know,
the very thought of free will is ridiculous. Your will is controlled
by your nature. Dead in trespasses and sin. That's a non-negotiable. That's
not up for debate. That's not up for discussion. Make it easier for, don't you
dare. Don't you dare. Oh, God's salvation. This is
a non-negotiable. God elected who would be saved
before time began. That's not up for debate. Somebody
says, I don't agree with that, but so anyway. Christ Jesus, the glorious Son
of God, came as a representative of the elect, those the Father
gave Him. And when He said, it is finished,
from Calvary's tree, you know what? The salvation of every
one of them was completed. Oh, the infinite power of His
atonement. He made it to where I stand before
God, where everybody He died for stands before God without
guilt. That's a non-negotiable. Well, let's try to make it easier.
Don't you dare. Don't you dare. God the Holy
Spirit's grace is irresistible and invincible. When he gives
a sinner life, they live, and everybody that God elected Christ
died for and God the Holy Spirit calls will persevere all the
way to the end. Every one of them will. And don't
try to dress up the gospel with wisdom of words. Don't say, well,
if she won't come, let me come to her and try to talk her into
it. Don't you dare. With regard to the gospel, don't
try to package it. Don't try to market it. I love
what Paul said, 1 Corinthians 1, 17, Christ sent me not to
baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words. trying
to make it more attractive. Lest the cross of Christ should
be made of none effect. Now, what do I do? Do I bring
him back if she won't come? Don't you dare. Beware that thou bring not my
son thither again. Verse seven, 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, and that swear
unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land. He shall send his angel before
thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. And
if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt
be clear from this my oath. Only bring not my servant thither
again. Now, With regard to this servant,
he says, if she won't come, you're clear. Your only responsibility
is to tell the truth. You can't make somebody believe.
But I'm gonna send my spirit ahead of you, the angel of the
Lord, and she will cause this one to want to come. Now, the
preacher has no power. He's to deliver the message.
He's not to compromise the message in any way. This is non-negotiable.
But understand this, I'm gonna send my angel, my spirit, and
he will bring this woman according to my will. Verse nine, and the
servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his master,
and swear to him concerning this matter. I'm gonna go back to
where you're from, Ur of the Chaldees, and I'm gonna go into
your relatives, and I'm gonna find a bride from your people. I swear that's what I'm going
to do. Verse 10, and the servant took 10 camels, of the camels
of his master departed, for all the goods of his master
were in his hand. And he rose and went to Mesopotamia
under the city of Nahor, Abraham's brother." Now, a couple of things
I want to point out about that verse. All the master's goods
were in his hand. Now, what's that talking about?
The gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ is all of God. It's all of God. And he brings
these 10 camels. Well, you know that that 10 represents
the law in two senses. One, you've broken every commandment
with every breath. You've not kept one commandment
one time. Ten camels. And that commandment
is completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And you stand before
the law believing the gospel. Perfect. He comes with these
ten camels. And in these ten camels, he has
the whole gospel. Our sinfulness and the complete
salvation of Jesus Christ. Verse 11, and he made his camels
to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time
of the evening, even the time that women go to draw water.
He came at a time when women drew water. Now back then, ladies,
while the husbands stayed home and rested, you had to go out
and get the water. And that was what was going on here. So things
are better. Things are better. Well, maybe
they're not. Maybe they're worse. I don't know. But at any rate,
we see what these women had to do. They had to go out and draw
the water. And the servant said, I want to know if I'm at the right woman with the one
you've chosen. And I'm going to see if she responds. And if she responds, I'll know
she's the one that look what he says. And he said, O Lord
God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this
day and show kindness unto my master Abraham. You know, the
preacher knows the only way anything's gonna happen is if the Lord does
it. Send me good speed. Behold, I stand here by the well
of water and the daughters of the men of the city come out
to draw water. Let it come to pass that the
damsel to whom I shall say, let down thy pitcher, I pray thee
that I may drink. And here's her response. She
shall say, drink, and I'll give thy camels drink also. Let the
same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac, and thereby
shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master. Now,
here's how I'm gonna know this is the one. She's gonna respond. She's gonna do what I say. As
many as were ordained to eternal life believe. She's going to
respond. And it came to pass, verse 15,
before he'd done speaking, that behold, Rebecca came out who
was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's
brother. with her pitcher upon her shoulder, and the damsel
was very fair to look upon. She was absolutely beautiful.
A virgin, neither had any man known her, and she went down
to the well and filled her pitcher and came up, and the servant
ran to meet her and said, let me, I pray thee, drink a little
water of thy pitcher. And she said, drink, my lord.
And she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon the hand, and
gave him drink. And when she had done giving
him drink, she said, I'll draw water for thy camels also, until
they have done drinking. Now, ten camels, that's a lot
of water. That's a lot of trips to the
well. But she was willing to do it. It was in her heart. The
Lord put it in her heart. That's why she was willing to
do that. I mean, you take the average woman, get water for
my 10 camels. How many times does she have
to go back and forth to the well? That's a lot. But this woman
was willing to do it. You see, God's people are willing
in the day of his power. And she hasted, verse 20, and
emptied her pitcher into the trowel and ran into the well
to draw water and drew for all of his camels. And the man wondering
at her, whether the Lord had made his
journey prosperous or not. You know that the only way the
journey is prosperous is if the Lord made it that way, if he
does it. But there's two things I want
to point out about this woman, Rebecca. This is what is necessary
for the bride of Isaac. Number one, she's got to be beautiful.
She's got to be beautiful, and she's got to be willing. And the Lord makes both of those
so. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that
he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish before him. That's Isaac's bride. That's
the church. Perfectly beautiful through the
righteousness of Jesus Christ. Listen to me. If I belong to
the Lord, if you belong to the Lord, he says, with regard to
you, thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. Perfectly beautiful. Scripture
points out how beautiful she was. And she was willing to do
what he called upon her to do. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. But here this unnamed servant
is, he's, wow, just as I, Is the Lord doing this? He's waiting
to see if the Lord has made this prosperous. You know, I hate
it when preachers say, well, so-and-so was saved by this sermon
that I preached or that. You don't know. I just hate that. How do you know? What we do is
wait to see if the Lord has made something prosperous. It's all
we can do. Verse 22. And 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 hands of 10 shekels weights
of gold. I mean, this was a lot of gold,
a lot of gold. And he said, whose daughter art
thou? Tell me, I pray thee, is there room in thy father's house
for us to lodge in? And she said unto him, I'm the
daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, which she bare unto
Nahor. That's Abraham's brother. That's
his brother in the flesh. The Lord sent him there. She said, moreover unto him,
we have both straw and profit enough and room to lodge in.
And the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord. He saw, this is God. And he said, blessed be the Lord
God of my master Abraham, who has not left destitute my master
of his mercy and his truth. I being in the way, the Lord
led me to the house of my master's brethren. And the damsel ran
and told them of her mother's house, these things. Now she
had this big, I think it was the earring. I don't know if
it's an earring or a nose ring. Most people say that means a
nose ring. How'd she get it in? I don't know. But she had these
big giant gold bracelets on. She comes running. Look at this. Look at this. And this man gave me these things. Verse 29, Rebecca had a brother.
And his name was Laban. We're going to find out more
about Laban in the future. He was a swindler. He saw those
gold, and boy, it got his attention. Look at this gold. You know,
he would later swindle Jacob and Jacob would turn around and
swindle him too. But he was taken up with this gold. Rebecca had
a brother and his name was Laban and Laban ran out into the man
under the well. He wanted to find out where this
gold came from. And it came to pass when he saw the earring
and the bracelet upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the
words of Rebekah, his sister saying, thus spake the man unto
me, that he came unto the man. And behold, he stood by the camels
at the well. And he said, Laban said, come
in, thou blessed of the Lord. Wherefore standest thou without?
For I have prepared the house and the room for the camels.
And the man came into the house. And he ungirded his camels, and
gave straw and proviner for the camels, and water to wash his
feet, and the men's feet that were with him. And there was
said meat before him to eat, big feast. But he said, I'll not eat until
I've told mine errand. This is gonna have to be put
off. I'm gonna tell you exactly why
I came, and what my purpose is. And that's to preach the gospel.
That's what my errand is. It's a declaration of the gospel.
It's not to be provided for by you. It's not to get what you
have. My errand is to do what my master
sent me to do, to preach the gospel. And he said, speak on. And he
said, I am Abraham's servant, that's all I am. I'm Abraham's
servant. And the Lord hath, remember,
Abraham is a type of the father. And the Lord hath blessed my
master greatly, and he has become great. Who can describe the greatness
of the infinite God? Words fall to the ground. Whatever
we say, it's not good enough. The infinite greatness. The independence
of God. He has no needs. He doesn't need
me. I need him, but he doesn't need
me. He's everywhere at once. He's all wise. He's all powerful. The greatness. He hath given
him flocks and herds 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 unto him hath
he given all that he hath. Now he's talking about Isaac. Abraham's given everything he
has to Isaac. The father loveth the son and
hath given all things into his hand. Now Understand this everything
God has for the sinners in Christ everything It's not given to
you in response to anything you do It's all in the hand of Christ. God will not speak to you, nor
will He allow you to speak to Him apart from the mediation
of His dear Son. God hath put everything in the
hand of His Son. He is all in salvation. I can't take that far enough.
He is all, all God has for the sinner is in Christ. You better
be happy about that. What if it was dependent upon
something you have to come up with in order for God to give
his favor to you? You'd be in trouble, wouldn't
you? I would too, but thank God all of God's favor, all of God's
salvation, all of God's mercy, all of God's grace is in his
son. The Father loveth the Son. This
is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye Him." Verse
37, he's telling about what took place. And my master made me
swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the
daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell. But thou
shalt go into my father's house, into my kindred, and take a wife
unto my son. And I said unto my master, peradventure
the woman will not follow. He relates what was said in verse
six through eight. And he said unto me, the Lord
before whom I walk will send his angel with thee. That's God
the Holy Spirit, and prosper thy way. And thou shalt take
a wife for my son of my kindred of my father's house. Then shalt
thou be clear from this mine oath when thou comest to my kindred,
and if they give not thee one, thou shalt be clear of thine
oath. So I came this day unto the well. Now he's dealing with
the facts. He's dealing with the facts of what actually took
place. And you in gospel preaching, we're dealing with the facts.
Jesus Christ was before He came, the Eternal Son. He came in the
flesh, and He did what He came to do. He saved His people from
their sins. We're dealing with the facts,
and He's giving the facts as to what took place. And I came
this day into the well and said, this very day, here's what happened.
Oh Lord God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way,
which I go, behold, I stand by the well of water. And it shall
come to pass when the virgin cometh forth to draw water. And
I say unto her, give me, I pray thee, a little of thy water of
the pitcher to drink. And she say to me, both drink
thou, and I will also draw forth thy camels. Let the same be the
woman whom thou hast appointed out. for my master's son, and
before I'd done speaking, in my heart, behold, Rebecca came
forth with her pitcher on her shoulder, and she went down into
the well and drew water, and I said, let me drink, I pray
thee, and she made haste. and led down her pitcher from
her shoulder and said, drink, and I'll give thy camels drink
also. So I drank, and she made the camels drink also. And I
asked her and said, whose daughter art thou? And she said, the daughter
of Bethuel, nay, her son, whom milk a bear unto him. And I put
the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon 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 to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son. And now,
here's the verdict. Here's the verdict. Now preaching
is always preaching for a verdict. This isn't just throwing out
information, you can take it or leave it. Here's the verdict. 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 can't speak
unto thee bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before thee.
Take her and go and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the
Lord has spoken. You know, one can't help but
think about what all Rebecca was thinking during this time.
She heard about Isaac, who had this vast wealth, and she'd never
seen him, but she was interested, wasn't she? Whom having not seen,
you love. Oh, she was interested. Behold,
Rebecca, verse 51, is before thee, take her and go and let
her be thy master's son's wife, as the Lord has spoken. And it
came to pass that when Abraham's servant heard their words, he
worshipped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth. And the servant
brought forth jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment
and gave them to Rebekah. He gave also to her brother and
to her mother precious things. And they did eat and drink, he
and the men that were with him, and tarried all night. And they
rose up in the morning and he said, send me away unto my master.
And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with
us a few days. And my marginal reading says
10 months or a full year. At the
least 10, 10 months after that, she shall go. Procrastination in this is not
allowed. Nope, we're not gonna wait. The greatest false refuges that
I know of are the past and the future. You can have a false refuge with
regard to what you think you've done or experienced in the past,
or you can have some false refuge of what you think you will do
in the future. All that is is salvation by works. Faith is
right now. Not waiting for something to
happen. Not waiting. When is the time for you to believe?
Right now. Don't wait for something. Don't
wait for things to get better. Don't wait until you have a little
bit more experience or a little bit more knowledge or you've
got a little bit more victory over sin or a little bit better
of a life. Don't wait. It's all a lie, it's
all false. Her brother and her mother said,
verse 55, let the damsel abide with us a few days, if at least
10, and after that she shall go. And he said unto them, hinder
me not, seek that the Lord hath prospered my way, send me away
that I may go to my master, I'm leaving now. And they said, we
will call the damsel and inquire at her mouth. And they called
Rebecca and said unto her, will thou go with this man? Will you
go to this place you've never seen with this man you've never
seen? And you don't have proof that
everything the man said is true. Will you go? And she says, I will go. Will you trust one you've never
seen to be everything in your salvation? Well, you know, it's
really not like I got another option. I'll go. I'll go. And they sent away Rebekah
and their sister and their nurse and Abraham's servant as men.
And they blessed Rebekah and said in her, thou art our sister,
be thou the mother of thousands of millions and let thy seed
possess the gate of them which hate thee, they wish her well.
And Rebekah rose and her damsels and they rode upon the camels
and followed the man. You know what? I can follow a
man's fall in Christ. If he's leading me to Christ,
I'm gonna fall just like Rebekah did. That's what Rebekah was
doing at this time. And the servant took Rebekah
and went his way, and Isaac came forth from the way of the well
Lehoroi. The well, we first read of it
in Genesis chapter 16. It's the well where God sees. God sees, God sees me. Isaac came from the well Lehoroi. For he dwelt in the south country,
and Isaac went out to meditate in the field. Yeah, that's the
only time that word's used. And I see Isaac as such a type
of Christ, meditating on the things of his father. Oh, the
delight between the father and the son. And Isaac went out to
meditate in the field at the eventide, 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. Now that word lighted is actually, she came down quick. She came
down quick. If I ever see who Christ is,
I'm gonna come down quick. I'm not gonna, this is not gonna
be scratching my head. No, John said, when I saw him,
I fell as one dead, dead. She came down, for she had said
unto the servant, what man is this that walketh in the field
to meet us? And the servant said, it's my master. Therefore she
took a veil and covered herself. You come into his presence, you
see you need his covering to come into his presence. Everybody
does, it comes into his presence. And the servant told Isaac of
all the things that he'd done. And Isaac brought her into his
mother's sheriff's tent and took Rebecca and she became his wife
and he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after
his mother's death. What a glorious type of gospel
preaching. May we all be like Rebecca. I'll go. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that all you have for
the sinner is in your blessed son. Lord, when we are allowed by
you to preach the gospel, Lord, let us not dare compromise your
gospel in an attempt to make it appealing or attractive to
the flesh. But we trust you to send your spirit to accomplish
your word. And Lord, we ask in Christ's
name by your spirit that you will enable us to be like Rebecca,
to go after and trust one we've never seen. and believe completely
on Him. Bless your word for Christ's
sake, in His name we pray, amen.