In Genesis chapter 24, you and
I have been looking at some pictures of salvation, and last week we
looked here at Isaac getting his bride. Abraham sending his
servant after Isaac, a bride. And we looked at this as a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ saving a sinner, bringing a sinner to
himself, through his gospel. And the scripture tells us in
different places that the believer is the bride of Christ. Christ
is the bridegroom, and the church is the bride. We're told that
in different places. You become dead, Paul said, to
sin by the body of Christ, that you should be married to another,
even to him that raised from the dead. So we're married to
another, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I've espoused you to
one husband. You're engaged to one husband,
even Jesus Christ. So He is our husband. We call
Him that. And He is that. And we're His
bride. But something that we noticed
last week as we studied in this story about Isaac getting his
bride, all the things that had to take
place before he got this bride. We studied all last week about
Isaac getting the bride, but we never mentioned about Rebekah,
did we? We haven't even got to her. We've
completed one old study, but we never got to her. There was
a lot of things that took place before this servant even looked
upon Rebekah and spoke to her. Remember some of the things that
took place. Abraham purposed to send his
servant to get this bride. There was an oath made and entered
into where this bride was to come from, what country and what
people. It had to be settled up here
in verse 10, the charity of her coming. Remember he gave those
four things. Abraham said, I know thy experience.
The Lord will bring her. He'll send his angel before you. And these things, the surety
of her coming had to be settled upon. And then it was settled
upon as to what the servant would take with him. He loaded up some
treasures of Isaac's and took those with him. Put them on those
old ugly camels. Remember the camels? And then
he took out through the desert. to go find this bride. So there's
a lot of things that took place in just preparation for this
bride of Isaac. And you know, ain't it that way
with the sinner? It's this way before you and
I ever come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you ever stop and
realize how many things had to take place even before the Spirit
came to you through a preacher You know, when the Lord comes
to us and makes us new creatures, we're new creatures in Christ
and old things are passed away. Old thoughts we had of God, those
are gone. The old way of worship, those
are passed away. The old way we used to think
about saving ourselves, those things are gone. These are passed
away. And all things have become new. We have a new God. We have
a new Savior. New way of worship. A new song
in our heart. Everything's new. But you know,
before we were new creatures, a lot of things had to take place
before the Lord ever saved us. Was there not a purpose? Did
He not purpose to save us before the foundation of the world?
Wasn't an oath not made? God made an oath to His Son and
swore to Him, Thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek,
before His Son ever came into this world and became a priest.
The oath was made. Who He would save? When they
would be saved? The surety of their being saved?
All the Father gives to me, they shall come to me. Of the sheep
I have, they are not even born yet. But them I must bring. Where they would be born at?
What day they would be saved? So many things took place in
salvation before we were actually ever saved. just like we saw
last week in this. And one may say, if it's all
been purposed and settled, as you say it has, then why don't
you just stay at the house? I had a fellow say to me one
time, he said, if I believe what you believe, I would just stay
home. I wouldn't even come to church. Well, Abraham's servant,
believe the same thing you and I believe, didn't he? We saw
that last week. We believe the very same things
he believed. What did he do? He didn't stay
home, did he? Abraham told him that the Lord
had this woman marked out, and he believed that this woman was
marked out appointed. Well, what did he do then? Well,
you see him out there in the field gathering up those camels,
saddling them up, You see him gathering all these treasures
of Isaac, these precious earrings and bracelets and necklaces. You see him packing them on those
camels. And you see him heading out through
the wilderness. He was going to Syria. And when
he got over there, what did he do? Before he ever talked to
this woman, we see him there at the well, and what's he doing?
He's praying, isn't he? He's praying. Oh, Lord! Prosper me in this work. Bless my master and prosper me. He was praying. He didn't just
just sit down at home, did he? And do nothing. And we don't
either. What are we doing here? What are we doing writing? What
are we doing preaching? What are we doing witnessing?
Because we believe that it's all been settled. A lot of things
have been settled. before a sinner is ever brought
to Jesus Christ. He said here in verse 10, And
the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and
departed, for all the goods of his master were in his hand.
And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, and to the city of Nahar. 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 the women
go out to draw water. 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. Boy, he poured out his
heart to the Lord. If we believe the Lord Jesus
has some people, you know what we'll do? We'll seek to use every
means that God has given us, including prayer, to reach those
people. Lord bless us. If I thought salvation
was by accident, if I thought it was by the power of my persuasive
tongue to make somebody willing to come to Christ, I'd despair,
wouldn't you? I'd absolutely despair. There's
two things here in verse 14 that this servant realized. There's
two things that he realized. One, look at it. Let me read
the verse to you. See if you can pick out these two things.
And let it come to pass," here was his prayer, "...and let it
come to pass that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down
thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink, and she shall say,
Drink, and I will give thy camel 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." There
are two things here that this man knew. One, he knew this,
that God had appointed a bride for Isaac. He said, that's whom
I'm seeking. That's who I want to find, that
woman that you've appointed. He knew that, didn't he? He knew
that. That's something good to know if you're a preacher. I'm
telling you. If you're not a preacher, it's good to know. If you're
a preacher, that's real good to know. There's some people out there
God's appointed, and He's going to save them. And this man knew
that. God has appointed this woman. And the second thing he
knew this, God was going to use him to get that woman. That's
what he said in verse 14. Let it come to pass that the
damsel to whom I shall say. He knew that God was going to
get this woman through His testimony. Now brothers and sisters, that's
two good things to know. Two good things to know. God
has appointed men to salvation. And you know He's going to save
them by us? By our witnessing to them? By our preaching to
them? He uses means, doesn't He? He uses means. That's why
we do what we do. Now, let's begin here in verse
12. Let's begin here in verse 12. We just read that. And let's
go on down to verse 15. Let's read some of these things
because this is very important because Rebekah looked back. She had to look back. We learn
a lot by looking back upon our experience and see all the things
that had to come to pass to bring us to the truth. All the things
that God worked in His providence to bring us to the truth. Let's
begin here in verse 15 and see some of these things. Look in
verse 15. And it came to pass Before he
had done speaking, he asked the Lord to do this. He said, Let
the woman that comes out, and let me read verse 14 to you.
And it came 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 drink also. Let that be
she that thou hast appointed for my servant Isaac. Now verse
15, And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold,
Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Macha, the
wife of Nahar, Abraham's brother, and with her pitcher upon her
shoulder. Empty pitcher. She was coming
to get some water to wear. And the damsel was very fair
to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her, And she
went down unto 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 your pitcher. And she said, Drink,
my lord. And she hasted, and let down
her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him to drink. And when she
had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy
camels also, until they have done drinking. And she hasted,
and emptied her pitcher unto the trough, and ran again unto
the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. And the man
wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the Lord had made
his journey prosperous or not. And it came to pass, as the camels
had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half
a shackle weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shackles
weight of gold, and 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 am the daughter of Bethuel, the
son of Micah, which she bore unto Nahar. And she said moreover
unto him, We have brought straw and provender enough, and room
to lodge in. And the man bowed his head, and
worshipped the Lord, and said, Blessed be the Lord God of my
master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his
mercy. and his truth, I have been in
the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brother."
Now look at all the things that had to take place in this woman's
life. And here's the marvelous thing
about it. She didn't even recognize that
these things must take place. This servant opened his heart
up to the Lord and said, Lord, let it come to pass like this.
Let me speak to this woman and let her answer me. Let her go
down into the well and get me some water and give me a drink.
Then let her say to me, I'll water your camels also. Let all
of this come to pass. All of these things had to happen.
First of all, we're told here that this woman, Rebecca, had
to come to this certain well at this time when he was standing
there. I stand here, he said. Let her come here. That had to
take place. You say, Bruce, she came there
every day probably. Maybe so. Maybe so. But what
if she had not have come this day? What if she had been sick
this day? What if Laban, her brother, said,
Sis, sit down and help your mom with cleaning the house and I'll
go get the water today. What if that had happened? She
had to be there because that's the way it had to work out for
her to be saved. She had to come there to this
well. Even the things that were said to her and her reply had
to come to pass. Lord, when I say unto her, give
me to drink. And she replies, drink my Lord. That had to be said. Even the
watering of the camel. The watering of the camels. Isn't
this a solemn thought, just to look at it from this perspective?
What if, when he asked her for a drink of wine, she had said
no and went on her way? You say, Bruce, that could not
have happened. We know it could not have happened,
but what if? Let's look at the what ifs. It had to happen. What if she had watered half
the camels and went on her way and said, I'm tired, I just don't
want to do this anymore. You know something? If that could
have happened, then she would not have been saved. And it was so important that
every detail, every jot of this come to pass just as it was supposed
to pass. This servant stood there and
waited until those camels had thoroughly drank. And not until
then did he say, that's her. That's her. See how anxious he
was to know if that's her or not. He said, has everything
come to pass that has to come to pass? He waited until he saw. That's a sobering thought, ain't
it? That's a very sobering thought. All these things must happen.
They were happening. And yet, she was unaware that
they had to happen. They had to happen. And as we
look back on our profession, on the Lord bringing us to Himself
and bringing us unto the truth, can't you see things in your
life, and probably as you look back as you get older in the
Lord, you look back and you can see the providence of God bringing
you to places to get you under the truth. Things that had to
happen. And look back on it now, and
sometimes we may say, well, what if that hadn't happened? What
if that hadn't happened? I remember I left Tennessee when
I was 20 years old. Joe and I got married, and there
was no work. Joe got laid off, and I was driving
a produce truck, so that ended that. And we said, well, we got
to leave. I cried like a baby. I got my
old dog and hugged him up, and man, I cried. And I thought,
I don't want to leave this place. I don't want to go to Mussie,
Indiana. What's a Mussie, Indiana? Left with $25. Ain't that what
we had in our pockets when we left? And I came up here and
I thought, one thing about it, I'm not going to the factory.
I done tried that and I thought, man, you ain't getting me in
the factory. I worked two years, two years at a filling station,
rather than going to a factory and getting a good factory job.
Well, finally, I got shut up and I had to go to the factory.
That killed me. That killed me. A hot Ford shop,
running those old gears, getting them out of the furnace, and
man, coming out of there with my clothes white. We had to eat
salt tablets, those old round salts. Remember those things?
One day they had to kill us. But I sat down there with a fellow
one day, and he told me about the Lord Jesus Christ. I was raised when my dad was
a free will Baptist preacher. First time in my life that I
ever was told about Jesus Christ. Sitting there sweating with an
old hard hat and glasses on, and the man told me about the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I went and bought me a Bible.
Why in the world would I have went and bought me a Bible? Instead
of them beginning to read it, and it scared me to death to
read it. But you know, I've often looked back and thought, what
if I had not left Tennessee? What if I had not have went to
that factory? What if that guy had not have been there to spoke
to me about the Lord Jesus Christ? All of these things, and I bet
you as you look back in your life, you can see places that
the Lord brought you under the truth of the gospel. And it's
amazing to me. It amazes you. You stand in awe
almost of it. As you look back through history,
you hear some tales that men have told how the Lord has brought
them under the truth. I was reading, they used to persecute
these preachers during George Whitefield's day. They used to
preach out in the field, out in the open air. And they had
a lot of people that hackled them all the time. They'd fill
their coats full of eggs or rocks, and they'd set up in the tree,
and when the preacher would go preaching, they'd throw rocks
at him and throw eggs at him. And this one fellow gave his
testimony, and I read his testimony, and I had to chuckle when I read
it. But he hated to hear them preach, so he had his rocks in
his pockets, and he had his ears stopped up, so he couldn't hear
what the preacher was saying. A bug lit on his nose. And he
said he shook violently to try to get the bug off of his nose.
And he said, finally, when he removed one hand to smack the
bug, the preacher hollered, He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear. And he said, my heart was smitten.
I couldn't get away from that. And the Lord used that to convert
him. What if that bug had not lit on his nose? See that? Right down to the little detail.
You know when Zacchaeus had it in his heart to climb up that
tree where he could see the Lord? Did you ever wonder what if that
tree hadn't been there? What would he have did? Maybe
somebody else started up that tree to see the Lord and got
a splinter in his hand and went on to dig it out. Did you ever
think about that? when Philip and that Ethiopian
eunuch got together down there in the desert? You know that
had to happen? Here was that eunuch going back
home unsaved, reading the Bible, had no idea what it was teaching,
as lost and confused as he could be, and it just so happened,
here come a preacher, and they met out in the middle of that
desert, and the preacher preached the gospel to him. I wonder if
there wasn't another unit or another company about 30 minutes
before him passed by, just before Philip got down there. And I
wonder who came by after Philip left. See these things that have
to come to pass. And you look back on it and you
say, man, what if this had not happened? What if this had not
happened? But it did happen, didn't it?
But unknown to you. There was somebody else arranging
all of this stuff. It had to happen. But it did
happen. It did happen. That woman that came to Jacob's
well. I wonder how many women came to Jacob's well that day. But nobody came that time the
Lord was there, did they? When she came, the Lord was there.
Other women had no doubt came, that's where they got the water,
but the Lord wasn't there, was He? The Lord wasn't there. What if He hadn't been there?
What if He hadn't sat and waited? She would have brought her water
and went back home. See all these things that have to come to pass,
and they do come to pass, and you didn't even know about it.
But when you look back, you say, boy, I see how the Lord shut
me up. I see what He used to get to me. and how it all worked
out. Look back. You look back. All
things come together to bring you to faith in Christ, and you
stand humble, and you stand in awe of it. Here in verses 35 through verse
48, look at something else. We'll have to skip over some
of this. You'll have to read it at your leisure. This is a
wonderful story. Every verse is wonderful. But
in verses 35 through verse 48, I want to read this to you too.
And I want to read it to you, and you'll notice all this is,
from verse 35 to verse 48, is repeating something that's already
happened. You'll notice the repetition
in this. He first asked the Lord, Lord,
let her say this, and reply to my... request, let her go down
and water the camels. That's what he said to the Lord.
Then he repeats that another time as it actually happens.
Now he goes to her mother's house and her dad's house and her brother's
house, and now he's going to tell them everything that happened. And if you read this, after all,
you say, well, I don't need to read that because I know what
happened. You know, just repetition. There's a need for him doing
this. There's a need for him to go
over this and rehearse everything that happened. You know why?
Rebecca needs to hear it. She didn't know that all this
was purposed. She didn't know that all this
had to come to pass. She may have thought, well, that
was just an accident. It's happenstance. So she's going
to be taught a good lesson. And as she hears this servant
repeat everything that's happened, she's going to stand in awe.
She's going to learn something. And let's see some things that
she's going to learn. Let's begin reading here at verse
35. And look at it, just what we've
already studied on what we already know. This is where she brought
him into her house. Her brother went out, Laban went
out and brought him into the house. And in verse 35, and they
said there in verse 33, we fixed you a meal, set down to eat.
And he told them who he was, but verse 35, and he said, The
Lord hath blessed my master greatly. This is what he told Rebekah. This is what he told Rebekah's
mother and her brother and her dad and her family. The Lord
has blessed my master greatly. And he is become great. And he
hath given him flocks and herds and silver and gold and menservants
and maidservants and camels and ashes. And Sarah, my master's
wife, bore a son to my master when she was old, and to him
hath he given all that he had. And my master made me swear,
saying, That thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters
of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell. We already knew that,
didn't we? But thou shalt go unto my father's house, and to
my kindred, to take a wife unto my son. And I said unto my master,
Perhaps the woman will not follow me. And he said unto me, The
Lord before whom I walk will send his angel with thee, and
prosper thy way, and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my
kindred, and of my father's house. We learned that too, didn't we?
We have learned a thing that we don't already know. Then shalt
thou be clear from thine oath when thou comest to my kindred,
and if they give not thee a wife, then thou shalt be clear from
thine oath. And I came this day into the well, and I said, Lord
God of my master Abraham, if now thou dost prosper my way
which I go, behold, I stand by the well of water, and it shall
come to pass that when the virgin cometh to draw water, and I say
unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher
to drink, and she say to me, Both drink thou, and also drink
I will draw for your camels, let the same be the woman whom
thou Lord hath appointed out for my master's son. And before
I had done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with
her pitcher on her shoulder, and she went down into 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 will give
thy camels drink also. So I drank, and she made the
camels to drink also. And I asked her and said, Whose
daughter art thou? And she said, I am the daughter
of Bethuel. Nahar's son, whom Micah bore
unto him. And I put the earring upon her
face, and the bracelets upon her hand, and I bowed down my
head, and worshipped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God and
my master Abraham, which hath led me in the right way to take
my master's brother's daughter unto his son. And now, if ye
will deal kindly with me, and truly with my master." Tell me,
and if not, tell me that I may turn to the right hand or to
the left. Now, three things I want to show
you right quickly. What Rebecca heard from this
sermon, and why she needed to hear it, and what she learned
from it. And this is one of the reasons
that we go over and over these things. Because there are so
many things that you and I don't know, as young believers especially. So this is what we learn. We
need repetition. Let's see some things she learned.
In verse 35 and verse 36, look what she learned. In verse 36, Abraham had all
these riches of maidservants and menservants and camels and
donkeys. And Sarah, my master's wife,
bore a son to my master when she was old, and to him Hath
he given all that he hath? Here is something she found out
that she did not know before. That Abraham was exceeding rich. And he had given everything he
had, all his treasure, he had given them to Isaac his son. And as this servant told them
this, here Rebecca is standing there and she's got this earring
in. And she's standing there rubbing
that earring. And you know what she's thinking? This is Isaac's. This belongs to Isaac. And she's
looking at those gold bracelets and she said, these are Isaac's. These are Isaac's. And as she
hears that, What she's told that that's just a very, very small
portion of all that belongs to Isaac. He is filthy rich. He has treasures that's been
given him of his father Abraham. And you know something what she's
told now? Not only is he rich, but he's
wanting and willing to share all his riches with her. Did
you see why she needed to have this repeated to her? She had
some things of Isaac's own, but now she finds out more about
it. She finds out how filthy rich he is. And oh, no doubt,
her heart begins to go out to want to meet him and be his wife.
That he must be so loving, even though he's so rich, to share
all these riches with her. What am I saying? Well, I'm saying
this. Sinners need to be told. of the
riches of Christ. Sinners need to be told that
the Father in Heaven, who is the Creator and Owner of everything,
has given everything that He has over to His Son, Jesus Christ
the Lord. Now, brothers and sisters, all
of us are in agreement that if we talk to lost people, we need
to warn We need to warn them of the dreadful and sad and dangerous
state that they're in. But we don't want to stop there,
do we? We want to tell them of the riches of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That He's rich in mercy. That
He's rich in redemption. He's rich in grace. He's rich
in pardon. You know what those Pharisees
did to those poor publicans and harlots and sinners? They discouraged
them to death. They didn't have a gospel to
preach. The Pharisees and scribes, they had a message for good people.
They had a message for righteous people. And those publican sinners,
they wouldn't come around them. They'd say, you guys got nothing
for us. You've got a message for the righteous people. We're
sinners. We despair to hear your message.
But when Christ came on the scene, and He started preaching, Come
unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, That appealed
to them. When He preached unto them that
I've come, the Son of Man has come, that all manner of sin
and blasphemy would be forgiven the children of men. I didn't
come to save the righteous. I didn't come to call righteous.
I come to cause sinners to repent. And boy, that got in their hearts.
They heard that. They said, man, that's different
than what we've ever heard. There was something appealing
to them. And you know what they did? They started coming and
setting at Jesus' feet. These treasures that were in
Him attracted them. It won their heart. Paul said,
I preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If we want men to come to Christ,
tell them of Christ. If we want something to appeal
to them, tell them about the wonder of forgiveness and redemption
that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Father has put it in
Him. Give it to Him. He's rich, ain't He? He's rich
beyond measure. And I tell you, it's rich as
you keep finding in this world. When Rebecca looked at those
bracelets, she said, man, ain't nothing like this made in this
country. That's from another country. And it appealed to her. The beauty of Jesus Christ and
the glory of Christ and the riches of Christ's redeeming love is
in Christ. Let's tell sinners about Him
and about His riches. Rebecca's need to hear about
it. They need to hear about the riches of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was appealing to her. It was
appealing to her. And how else was she going to
hear about it if this man didn't repeat it again? Secondly, she
heard this. Look here in verse 40. She heard
this. Boy, this cleared up some things
for her and probably made her stand in awe. Not only did she
hear about Isaac and all his riches that Abraham would give
to him, but here in verse 40, Abraham said unto me, in verse
40, here is what the servant said, Abraham said, The Lord
before whom I walk will send His angel with thee and prosper
thy way And thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and
of my father's house." Rebekah heard this. This guy said, this
guy said, Abraham said before I ever left my homeland, that
there's going to be an angel going with me. And he's going
to prosper my way. And I was going to find a wife
for Isaac. You know what probably dawned
upon her mind? No wonder I was at the well that
morning. Now I know why I was at the well. Now I know why I
said, well, drink, my Lord, and I'll water your camels also.
Now I see why all of these things come together as they did. There was this angel, this unseen
messenger working everything. Why did I leave Tennessee? Now
I know why I left. Why did I get sick of working
in the filler station and go to the factory? I didn't even
want to go. Now I see. Why did I go buy me a Bible?
Now I see. Now I see. Now you know, don't
you, why everything happened in your life to bring you to
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This unseen messenger, the Spirit
of the living God in His sovereign providence arranged it all and
brought you there and brought the truth to you. And now we
know this unseen message. And it's there, ain't it? It's
there. You and I can't arrange things to get sinners onto the
truth. It's an amazing mystery. That all happens. It's the mystery
of God. And the third thing is this.
We find it here in verse 44. There's something else she heard.
And boy, can you imagine how she rejoiced when she heard this.
She didn't know this. She had no way of knowing this
until she heard this servant say this. Look in verse 44. This is the servant still rehearsing
everything that had taken place. And she's saying to me, Both
drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels. Let the same
be the woman whom the Lord hath appointed out for my master's
son." This is the first time she ever heard such a thing.
He believed it. Abraham's servant believed it.
It was even in his prayer, wasn't it? And now he's preaching it. Somebody said the other day that
some preachers, they'll pray, and they pray, and when they
pray, they pray right. Poor things, they just don't
preach right. We should pray right and preach right, shouldn't
we? And he believed it. And now she hears it. And she
believes it. I was the one? I was appointed? You mean, I just didn't happen
to go there? I just didn't happen to hear
and say what I said? That didn't just happen? Me being
Isaac's wife, this rich man's wife, God has appointed me to
be His wife. Don't you think she was amazed
for that? It wasn't how good looking she
was. She was a beautiful lady, the Bible tells us that. I tell
you, there's more than that involved in it. God's will was involved
in it. God's choice was involved in
it. And people say, why do you just
dwell on that all the time? Well, we can't help it. Everywhere
we look we find it, don't we? It's all through this story.
We can't have it. I'm sorry. But we can't have it. We can't
have it. And don't you rejoice in it? Where would we be if we didn't
have some hope that God had appointed us to come to Christ? He had
appointed us to believe in Christ. He had appointed us to life eternal.
You remember when Paul, his first missionary journey, him and Barnabas,
that went into Antioch and is preaching to the Jews, and is
preaching through this man, is preaching to you the forgiveness
of sin. And by Him, everybody that believes
is justified from all things by which you cannot be justified
by the law of Moses. There just happened to be some
poor old dead dog Gentiles standing there that day. And they made
their way up to Paul and Barnabas and they said, Reckon you can
preach that to us? He said, when you want to hear it, he said,
how about next Sunday? We got a bunch of friends that we want
to come here and listen to that message. If God allows you to
preach it to us. Next Sunday, Paul and Barnabas
showed up there, right at that same place. And a host of Gentiles
like you never laid your eyes on. Man, there's everywhere.
And these Jews got so upset and so jealous that he's preaching
to the Gentiles and they begin to blaspheme. And Paul said,
since you count yourself unworthy of everlasting life, we're turning
from you and turning to the Gentiles. For God has said, I have set
you to be a light to the Gentiles. I'm going to save the Gentiles.
That's what he's saying. I'm going to bring light to the Gentiles.
And those Gentiles heard that and it said they were glad. They
were glad. And you know what the very next
verse tells us? Everyone that was appointed was ordained to
eternal life. They believed. No more, and thank
God no less. There was a bunch of Rebecca's
there that day unknown to them or anybody else. This messenger
had arranged everything for them to be there and to hear this
message. And they found out that God had
appointed them to come to Christ, to believe in Christ. And you
can bet they were amazed and they were in wonder and they
rejoiced and they were thankful, just like Rebecca. But she had
to hear that. Somebody said, well, when the
Lord saves, you just automatically know about election. You don't
either. We don't know nothing if somebody don't tell us, do
we? You'll know what you've been told. And that's it. That's it. Okay, look over in verse 23.
We're drawing this quickly to a close. Quickly. Verse 53. Boy, look at this. Can you imagine this? And the
servant brought forth jewels of silver and jewels of gold
and raiment and gave them to Rebekah. He's running out there just to
have a whip stitch and he's got those old camels sitting out
there. And remember the old ugly camels? They're still loaded
down with these precious jewels. He'd go out there and he'd get
a beautiful necklace and bring it in and put it on her. Some
more beautiful bracelets and bring them in and put them on
her. And don't you know what she was thinking? These belong
to Isaac. He must be rich. Ten camels loaded
down with the things of Isaac. He must be rich. You know how
you belong to Christ? He's putting some things on you
that belong to Him. If you're here tonight and you're
His, He's given you some of His jewels. Faith is one of them. Love is another. Hope is another. He's put the graces of His Spirit
in your heart. And you didn't have those. And
those aren't by nature. Those come from heaven. Those
come from another country. And you know the last part of
verse 53. Notice how the gospel blesses
people that's just around it. Just being around the gospel
blesses people. And He gave also to her brother
and to her mother precious things. You take a society where the
gospel is known and loved and where Christ is worshipped, that's
a blessing to society. That's a blessing to society.
God blesses a community for His people's sake. Did you notice
that? He sure does. He sure does. Verse 56, And He said unto them,
Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way, and send
me away that I may go to my master's house." And they said, we will
call the damsel and we will inquire at her mouth. He said, you know, it's time
for me to go back now and take her to Isaac. And they said,
well, stay about ten more days. He said, no, don't do this to
me. I've come here and God's prospered me. Now you send me
away. God's prospered my journey. I found this woman as He's appointed.
Now you send me away. They said, well, let us call
for her. In verse 58, they called Rebekah and said unto her, Will
thou go with this man?" And she said, I will go. I will go. We can look at this in different
ways. We can look at this in our initial
coming to Christ, can't we? You came to Christ willingly.
He dealt with you in such a way that He broke your will. He enlightened
your understanding. He brought you to Him. You become
willing to be saved by Christ. We can look at it that way. You
know another way we can look at it too? How often in our lives
as Christians we have to become willing to follow Him. We have
to become willing to bow and accept His providence, whatever
He's brought us into. The Lord never crossed your path.
And boy, at first, you couldn't say, Lord, your will be done.
You might pray that, but you can't say that in your heart.
So you have to die. You just die. You reach the point
where the Master did in the garden. Father, not my will. Your will
be done. And this can also be looked at
as this. What if the messenger come to
you today and said, Gail, this is the last day in the world
for you. I'm going to take you to the
Master today. I'm going to take you to your husband today." And
you know what Gail would say? Let's go. Are you ready to go? Are you
ready to go today? Do you love Him so much you long
to see His face? You've seen His treasures that
He's put upon you. You've thought about Him. You
believe in Him. But you long to see His face. If you were
told that He was appearing today, you would love it. You would
say, Come, Lord Jesus. Are you willing? Willing to leave
this life? You don't have too big a hold
on this life. You don't want to leave it, do you? I can't leave family. I can't leave friends. I can't
leave job. I can't leave things. You're not like that, are you?
Has He brought you to the place where He said, You're going to
be with the Lord today. Let's go. Let's go. Let good and kindred go, this
mortal life also, when the Master calls. And I don't know how long
it took them to get there. I imagine quite some time. But
look what he said in verse 61. And Rebekah rose in her damsels,
and they rode upon the camels and followed the man. And the
servant took Rebekah and went his way. And Isaac came from
the way of the well of Lahoroi, for he dwelt in the south country.
And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the even time.
And he lifted up his eyes and saw, behold, the camels were
coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac,
she lighted off the camel. For she said to the servant,
What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And
the servant said, It is my master. Therefore she took a veil and
covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all
things that he had done. And Isaac brought her unto his
mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife.
And he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after
his mother's death." Can you imagine what a scene that was?
Can you imagine that? When he first saw her and had
on his fangs? And she first saw him and thought,
my, my, the half wasn't told me. Can you imagine what it will
be when we leave this world and we see our Savior? We've told
you about His beauty. We've told you about His precious
fame. We've told you about the heaven where He dwells. But brothers
and sisters, the half has never been told us. And when we see
Him face to face, and tell the story saved by grace. What a
day, what a day that will be. Lord bless you.