A Bride for the King

Q: What does the Bible say about God choosing His people?

The Bible teaches that God chose His people before the foundation of the world, as seen in Ephesians 1:4. The doctrine of election is consistently affirmed throughout Scripture, signifying that God, in His sovereignty, chose a people for Himself before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4 states, 'According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.' This choice is not based on any foreseen merit or holiness in us but is rooted in God's sovereign will and purpose. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 reiterates this by stating that God hath from the beginning chosen us for salvation. Therefore, God's choice of His people is foundational to the message of grace and redemption throughout the Bible.

Q: How do we know God's promises are true?

God's promises are anchored in His faithful character and the fulfillment of His Word, as demonstrated in the Old Testament. The truth of God's promises is established by His unchanging character and the historical fulfillment of His Word. The story from Genesis 24 illustrates this, as God sends His servant to find a bride for Isaac, ensuring that His promise to Abraham would be honored. Abraham's confidence that the Lord would send His angel before his servant demonstrates a trust in God's faithfulness (Genesis 24:7). God’s sovereignty over the events of history affirms that what He declares will indeed come to pass. The certainty of these promises offers believers assurance and confidence in their faith, as all of God’s promises find their ultimate fulfillment in Christ.

Q: Why is the church referred to as the bride of Christ?

The church is called the bride of Christ because it is united spiritually with Him, set apart for His glory. Throughout Scripture, the imagery of marriage is used to depict the deep relationship between Christ and the church. The church is called the bride of Christ as a reflection of this intimate union. Ephesians 5:25-27 explains that Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it, sanctifying and cleansing it to present it to Himself as a glorious church. This relationship signifies not only love and commitment but also the purpose of being set apart for holy living. It encapsulates the idea that the church is chosen, redeemed, and prepared to reign with Christ, mirroring the wedding celebration described in Revelation 19:7-9. The bride is thus a central theme in demonstrating God’s grace and the redemptive work of Christ.

Q: How does God's sovereignty influence our evangelism?

God's sovereignty assures us that He has chosen a bride for His Son, motivating and encouraging our evangelistic efforts. Understanding God’s sovereignty significantly shapes the approach to evangelism. The story in Genesis 24 illustrates this beautifully, as the servant goes out to find a wife for Isaac, confident that God has already chosen the bride. Similarly, evangelists today can be assured that God has a people He has appointed to hear and respond to the gospel. This belief inspires boldness and peace, knowing that the Holy Spirit goes before us, preparing hearts to receive the message. As ambassadors of Christ, our role is to faithfully proclaim the gospel, trusting that those whom God has called will respond. The knowledge that God is sovereign over salvation frees believers from the anxiety of outcomes, allowing them to focus on faithfulness in their witness.

Let's open our Bibles tonight
to Genesis 24. I want to read you a beautiful
story, a beautiful story, and bring you a message entitled,
A Bride for the King. A Bride for the King, Genesis
24. This is one of my favorite, favorite stories, and I believe
one of my favorite messages. I believe it answers so many,
many questions for us. I love the Old Testament types.
I never get tired of preaching from the Old Testament. The pictures
and types and patterns of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Old
Testament are so beautiful. This one in particular, it says
to him, give all the prophets witness. Moses was a prophet.
About 16 prophets in the Old Testament wrote of Christ. To
Him give all the prophets witness. And especially Moses. Our Lord
Himself said, Moses wrote of me. Moses wrote of me. Moses wrote this. Moses wrote
of me. Now you always want to remember
though that no picture in the Old Testament, no pattern, no
type is perfect. It's just not perfect, and I'll
tell you why. There are two reasons. God, the
Lord uses these earthly stories and these earthly people to illustrate
spiritual truth and to be a type of Christ. But no earthly type
or story is a perfect picture of Christ. It can't be, number
one, because the characters are flesh. And they can't. perfectly reveal Christ. And then the incidences take
place here on the earth, and his mission is to heaven. You
know, the Old Testament priests are very faulty pictures of Christ,
very faulty pictures. They're a good picture, but very
faulty. I think that's one reason Melchizedek
came along, is to have a more accurate type of the priestly
work of our Lord, because Abraham was such a limited type. But this story, this story, oh,
it's just tremendous. I wish that every preacher, young
and old, would just rehearse this over and over again, read
it over and over again. I need to read it every so often. because it deals so effectively
with what we're trying to do, and that's preach the gospel.
All right, let's read some of it, then I'll come back and make
some comments. And Abraham, Genesis 24, was old and well stricken
in age. And the Lord had blessed Abraham
in all things. And Abraham said unto his eldest
servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, put, I
pray thee, thy hand unto my thigh. And I will make thee swear by
the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that thou shalt
not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites
among whom I dwell, but thou shalt go unto my country, unto
my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. And the servant
said unto him, Well, peradventure, the woman will not be willing
to follow me unto this land. I'm going to tell her about a
man she's never known, never met, never seen. And I'm asking
her to come with me and marry him. Of course, she's not willing
to do that. Must thy needs then bring thy
son again into the land from which thou camest? And Abraham
said unto him, Beware thy mother. that thou bring not my son thither
again." Now listen, "...the Lord God of heaven, which took me
from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred," this
is Abraham speaking, "...the Lord God, which sware, which
spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed
will I give this land, he will 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 you, then you'll be clear
from this my oath, only bring not my son thither again.' And
the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master
and swore to him concerning the matter." Now, let me stop there. Abraham represents the Heavenly
Father. Imperfect, I know that, but nevertheless,
he's the Heavenly Father. Isaac, the son, is the Lord Jesus. Isaac is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now Abraham was wealthy, one of the wealthiest men of that
time. And Abraham called this servant
in, he said, now I want a bride for my son Isaac. But I don't
want a heathen bride, I want a bride of my people. Now you
go to my people, where I came from, and get a woman. to marry
my son." Now, you see, the Lord Jesus Christ, see, Isaac is Abraham's
heir. Everything that Abraham has is
going to be Isaac's. Wealthy, powerful. Everything
is going to be Isaac's. And you see, Isaac represents
our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything is His. He is Lord,
He is King by decree, by design, and by death. The Father hath
given everything to the Son. Everything is His. That's what
the Scripture said. The Father lovedeth the Son and
hath given all things into His hand. The Scripture says that
he that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father. Christ
is King, Heir, Sovereign, Ruler, Lord of heaven and earth. It's
all His. It's created for Him, by Him,
for Him. And by him all things consist.
It's his. Now the Heavenly Father has given
him a bride. Our Lord Jesus has a people,
a bride. Scripture tells us that. Ephesians
1 said that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. I received a letter from a television listener this
week, a lady up in West Virginia, Mrs. Ellis. And she said, about
two or three weeks ago, said, I missed your program. And said,
a friend of mine told me that you preached on that program
about some people being chosen before the foundation of the
world in Christ. And she said, my neighbor and
I have looked all over the Bible. We can't find it. So write to
me and tell me where that's found and send me some information.
Well, it's all through the Scripture. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in John
17, He prayed about six times for those given Him, the Father
gave Him, those whom the Father had given Him. Ephesians, Paul
said in chapter 1, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in the heavenly places, according as He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy. He didn't
choose us because we were holy, He chose us to make us holy.
He chose us. Back yonder in the eternal counsels
of God, He gave Christ the people. That's just so. That's in the
Scripture. He made a covenant with His Son and gave Him a people
and Christ became the surety of those people. That's so. Everybody who is being saved. You take, when I read this letter
here, from this young man in Australia. It was no accident
that he found that piece of paper advertising that meeting. It
was no accident that he came and heard the gospel. He was
one of God's sheep. And the fact that these tapes
have gone over and he's played them for his high school friend
and that man's wife and mother and son, those are God's sheep. He has a people in every tribe,
kindred, nation, tongue unto heaven. And they will come. They'll be saved. And the father
gave them to the son. That's so. My father gave them
to me, he said. Now, so the father, Abraham,
called the servant. Who's the servant? Abraham's
the father, God the father. Christ, Isaac's Christ, the son. Who's the servant? He's the preacher. Preachers, missionaries. You,
witnesses. You're witnesses. Jerry was telling
me today about someone in his family he's been talking to about
the gospel, about Christ. He gave this person a tape. The
person heard the tape several times, returned it, sent it back,
called him. You know what? You told me the
story about this person you talked to. Well, you're one of those
servants. You're a servant. And he calls his servant, and
he said to that servant, now, swear to me, and putting that
hand under the thighs like of shaking hands, or like in court,
you know, we have a, we put our hand on the Bible, swear to tell
the whole truth and nothing but the truth, sort of an affirmation,
sort of a contact between, and you're promising me that you're
going to do this, that you're going to go and get this bride
for my son. And that's what the servant,
that's what the preacher does. He goes, go ye into all the world,
Christ said, and preach the gospel to every creature. He said, all
authority is given unto me in heaven and earth, go ye therefore
and preach the gospel. You see, we're ambassadors of
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. Be ye reconciled to
God. That's what we are. Paul said
this, he said, God sent me to preach the gospel. And it's the
gospel that we preach that quickens, and calls, and convicts, and
reveals Christ, and brings folks to Christ. So that's the picture
we have here in these first few verses that Abraham, the heavenly
father, says, I'm going to have a bride for my son Isaac. Calls
in his trusted servant, and he makes him swear. I'm putting
a responsibility on you. I'm bringing you to a commitment
that you're going to go and get this bride for my son. Don't
you compromise now. You go get a bride for my son.
And that's so the Heavenly Father has given Christ to people. Christ
is the heir of all things, and He's given Him a people, given
Him before the world began. He knows who those, this bride,
they know who, God knows who this bride is. This bride is
the church, that's who this bride is, it's His church. And the
servant's going after it. Now, verse 5 through 9, the servant
had a lot of questions. And I have a lot of questions,
and I know preachers do. I'm sure this servant standing
there, here's Abraham, his master, and he sent him on this mission.
And I'm sure this servant thought to himself, now, what if she
doesn't believe me? How do I know which one is the
one? I hear I'm going to a strange
land among a strange people, And I'm going to call a strange
woman to come and marry a man she's never seen. This is an
impossible task. And it is. It is. It's impossible as far as we're
concerned. But we go forth with these four
things we know. Every preacher ought to know
these four. This is what Abraham said to the servant. Look at
verse 7. The servant said, You know, how am I going to know?
How am I going to, how are we going to work this out? And Abraham
said, you listen to me. Verse 7, The Lord God of heaven,
which took me from my father's house by his sovereign will and
mercy from the land of my kindred, which spake unto me and sware
unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land. He'll
send his angel. Who's the angel? The Holy Spirit.
He'll send His Holy Spirit before you. In other words, He's telling
His servant, before you ever go, before you ever go to this
land, before you ever encounter one woman, before you ever open
your mouth, the angel of God is going to go before you, and
the angel of God is going to speak to this woman. And when
you get there, she's going to respond to you. That's right. And I know these four things.
As I go to preach, wherever I go to preach, on television, radio,
here, meeting, number one, the bride's been chosen. Paul said
in 2 Thessalonians, he said, Beloved, I thank God for you,
beloved of the Lord, because he hath from the beginning chosen
you. Secondly, the servant is sent and he'll endure all things
that that bride might hear this gospel and be saved. That's right. In other words, that servant
is committed to his master. And when he knows that his master
has a people, and that that people is going to be saved, that bride,
that's the third thing, she's going to hear. And fourth is
she's going to come. All that my Father giveth me
will come. She's going to come. And him that cometh out of no
where is cast out. Now when a man knows that, it
will determine his message, He'll preach. He'll preach his master. He'll preach his master's gospel.
He won't compromise it. He knows the bride's there. He
knows the bride's chosen. He knows the bride'll hear the
gospel. He knows the bride'll believe it. He knows the bride'll
come. He knows the bride's gonna come back with him. And that'll
determine his message. Consistently, what we were talking
about. Consistently, it'll determine his message. It'll determine
his music. He's not going to take some kind
of music and try to woo her. He's not going to take a message
and try to woo her. He's going to take a message
and preach to her. He's going to talk about his
Master, and the glory of his Master, and the beauty of his
Master, and the power of his Master, and the riches of his
Master, and the kindness of his Master, and all that. But he's
not going to word it so that he'll bring her to himself. He
wants her to love his Master. Not him, his Master. And he won't
use some kind of music, you know, to put her under a spell. He
doesn't want her under a spell. He wants her to consciously,
intelligently know his mastery and know what he's saying. He's
not going to use this psychological music to put her under a spell. And thirdly, it will determine
his methods. Yeah, it will determine his methods. He's not going to
promise her something he can't give her. He's not going to say things
that aren't so. He's going to tell it just like it is, Ted,
just exactly like it is. He's not going to say, now, if
you'll come and cry, my master, and don't like him, you can come
back. No, he's not going to say that. It'll determine his methods,
it'll determine his manners. You know what he said? Later
on you'll read it. He says, now, if you'll come,
fine. If not, I'll be leaving. You
send me somewhere else." Because he said, you don't have to come. I'm looking for the bride. That's
what he told them later. I'm looking for the bride. So
he's at peace. He's at rest in this matter.
He's not all troubled and torn up. His manners are pleasant. He's not trying to force her
on his master. He doesn't come to people and
say, now you've got to go. You've got to go. He's got to
help you. He wants you. He just says, you're welcome.
He's a wonderful master. And if you're the one, you're
going to have a great life. But if you're not, you just stay
right where you are. He's at peace. His manners, and then
his motive. This servant here, Abraham called
him and sent him out. He had one motive, and that was to find a bride,
to tell her about his master, to glorify his master, and to
come back home. That's exact. He didn't covet
anything in that land. He didn't covet a private following
or gold or silver. He got his orders from his master.
He got his provision from his master. He got his inspiration
from his master. Everything was from his master.
His determination was to complete his mission and go home. Isn't
that right? So if a preacher, or a witness,
or whomever, or just see what we're saying here, that Abraham's
a father, Isaac is Christ, the bride is the church, the servant
are his preachers, or witnesses, or teachers, or missionaries,
or whomever, going out to witness to people. And our whole, our
message, our manners, our motive, our methods, our music, everything
we use is geared to this one thing. My Lord has a bride. I'm looking for her. And she
will hear my message. And she'll believe it, and she'll
come. And if the ones I'm preaching to won't hear it, I'll go somewhere
else, because I'm looking for that bride. I'm at peace about
it. She's coming. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them I must bring. And they shall hear my
voice, and there shall be one fold, and there shall be one
thing." It's going to be a marriage. One fellow said, there's plenty
of room in heaven, but no vacancies. Every place setting has a name
on it. Every place. There's a bride,
and she's coming, say something. All right, now watch this. Let's
go on and read some more. Verse 10, And the servant took
his journey, and he took ten camels, of the camels of his
master, and departed. For all the goods of his master
were in his hand. Oh my, isn't that something?
Available to him. All the goods. You know what
those goodies are? The gospel. All the riches and
treasures of the gospel. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia. unto the city of Nahor, 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 out
to draw water." He's a man on a mission. And he said, let me
tell you something, this man, this servant knew his inability.
Do we know ours? I tell you, the opening of the
heart, God has to do that. The new birth, God has to do
that. The quickening of the dead, God has to do that. The revelation
of Christ, God has to do that. No man can come to me except
my Father which sent me draw him. And this servant knew that. And he's going to pray. Now listen
to him. And he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray
thee, send me good speed this day. In other words, bless my
ministry. Bless my efforts. Show kindness to my Master Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well
of water, and the daughters of men of the city come out to draw
water." There's lots of them. Lots of them. I can't see their
hearts. All I can see is the outward
flesh. God looks on the heart. I can't do a thing. We look over
sinners and they all look the same. We can't give them life,
we can't give them repentance, we can't give them faith. It's
impossible with men. And he said, Behold, I stand
here, and they come, verse 14, Lord, let it come to pass that
the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray
thee that I may drink. Let her say, Drink. And I'll
give your camels drink also. Let the same be she that thou
hast appointed for my servant Isaac, and thereby shall I know
that thou hast showed kindness unto my master.' And it came
to pass before he had done speaking that, behold, Rebekah came out,
which was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, wife of Nahoi, Abraham's
brother, with a picture upon her shoulder. And the damsel
was very fair to look upon, a virgin. Neither had any man known her.
And she went down to the well and filled her pitcher and came
up. And the servant ran to meet her. And he said, Let me, I pray
thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. Now what did he
ask the Lord? Well, down here in verse 14, he said, Let it
come to pass that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down
your pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink. Let her say, Drink. I'll give you camels' drink also."
So here he said, verse 8, verse 17, "...and the servant ran to
meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of
thy pitcher. She said, Drink, my lord. She hasted, and let
down her pitcher upon her 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. And she hasted,
and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again into
the well to draw water and drew for all these camels. And the
man, he knew something was going on. You know, there's just a
true servant of God who sincerely knows these things that God's
taught us. God's sovereign, God's on the
throne, the Lord Almighty's omnipotent reign. He has the people, given
them to Christ. And he sent us out to preach.
And we go and preach. This man prayed, God, make our
message effectual. Make my mission effectual. Reveal
to me your people. Let them hear the Word. Let them
respond. Let them say, and they will.
They'll say certain things. They'll say certain things. They'll
talk about their own sin. They'll talk about their need
of a Redeemer. They talk about the good news of the gospel.
They talk like this young man talked in his letter. And this
man said, let her say certain things. And she said those things,
and it just, boy, he's not sure now. He's not sure she's the
one. But he's encouraged. He's encouraged. She's heard
him. All right, let's read on. He's
not, and the man wondering, verse 21. Don't write her name on the
line yet, you know. We're getting too big a hurry,
don't we? We're trying to look for converts
anyway. He wondered. He figured now, oh, he didn't
say, well, you know what? He wondered at her and held his
peace. I wish we could hold ours. I
wish we could leave people to God. I wish we could wait on
the Lord. Don't you? Held his peace. held
his peace. Namely, whether the Lord had
made his journey prosperous or not. Some of you feel like, I
know you do, I know that people come, you bring people and they
hear the word and they talk a little bit and they say, Brother Man
doesn't get very excited. No, he really doesn't. I've seen
too many false alarms. I'd rather wait. I get excited
in here, I'm not going to show it. Maybe this person is one
of God's elect. Maybe this one really is hearing
the gospel. Maybe this one is truly a child of God. Maybe.
You just hold your peace. You don't know. You can't see
the heart. And we can be, we can be badly fooled, can't we?
So just hold your peace. This might be one of God's own,
but we'll wait and see. All right, verse 22. It came
to pass as the camels had done drinking, the man took a golden
earring of half a shekel weight and two bracelets for her hands,
ten shekels weight of gold. Put a gaten to her. He's good
to her. He's kind to her. Kind to her. Let's be kind to folks. Let's
be compassionate. Let's give. Let's be gracious
in every way we can. He's good to her. Good to her. That's a lesson there, isn't
it? And he said, whose daughter are you? Tell me, I pray thee,
is there room in your father's house for us to lodge in? She
said, oh, I'm the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, which
he bound to Nahor. She said, moreover unto him we
have both straw and provender enough and room to lodge in.
And the man bowed down his head and worshipped the Lord. I believe
she's the one. But he still held his peace.
He said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who
hath 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 house, her
mother's house, these saints. Rebecca had a brother. His name
was Laban. And Laban ran out to the man
and to the well. And he 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 said, Behold,
and behold, he stood by the camels at the well. And he said, Come
in, thy blessed of the Lord. Wherefore standest thou without
your kinfolks? I have prepared the house and
room for the camels. And the man came into the house.
Now I want you to watch this. He is still about his master's
business. He's still about his master's
business. He cared not for the comforts. He wouldn't be misdirected. He wouldn't be sidetracked. Now,
don't you listen. Watch this. And the man came into the house
and ungirded his camels and gave straw and provender for the camels
and water to wash his feet and the men's feet that were with
him and there was set meat before him to eat and he said, I'll
not eat until I told my heirloom. I'm not going to be sidetracking
this thing. They want to have a feast, you
know. But he's there on a mission. His first love is his master
and his master's gospel. Let's don't be sidetracking.
Don't be taken up with the feastings and the frolics and all these
things of the world. Let's get this matter settled
here about man's salvation. Let's stay with the gospel. Stay
with the gospel. And that's what he's showing
us here. He said, I'm not going to eat
until I've told my Aaron. And they said, speak on. He said,
I'm Abraham's servant, and the Lord has blessed my master greatly.
He's become great. He's a sovereign God. He's a
rich God. He's given him flocks and herds
and silver and gold and men's servants and maid's servants
and camels and ashes. And Sarah, my master's wife,
bore a son to my master when she was old, and to him Has He
given all that He has? That's Christ our Lord. The Heavenly
Father has given all things to Christ. Christ is King. Not going to be. He is King.
He owns the universe, Jim. He owns the world. He owns the
heavens. He owns the earth. He owns all things. It's all
His. It's going to be His. He's going
to have a name above every name, preeminent, exalted. Everything's
going to be of Him, through Him, for Him, by Him, to Him. This man's talking about his
master. He loves his master. That's his message, everything.
And my master made me swear, saying, verse 37, I shall not
take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanite in
whose land I dwelled. I shall go into my father's house
to my kindred and take a wife unto my son. And I said unto
my master, what if the woman won't follow me? And he said
to me, The Lord before whom I walk will send his angel with thee.
Prosper thy way, thou shalt not take a wife for my son of my
kindred, thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, my
father's house. Then shalt thou be clear from
this thy oath. Then shalt thou be clear. When
thou comest to my kindred, if they give not thee one, thou
shalt be clear from thy oath. You're not to pick one. If the woman doesn't come, they
don't give it to you, you're finished. Your dispensation is
over. Isn't that what he's saying? So I came this day unto the well,
and I said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, if now thou shalt
prosper my way which I go, behold I stand by this well of water.
It come to pass that when the virgin cometh forth to draw,
And I say to her, give me, I pray thee, a little water of my pitcher
to drink. She say to me, both drink thou, and I will also draw
for thy camels. Let the same be the woman whom
the Lord has appointed out of my master's son. And before I
done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebecca, your daughter, came
forth with her pitcher on her shoulder, and she went down into
the well and drew water. And I said to her, let me drink,
I pray thee. She made haste and let down her
pitcher from her shoulder and said, drink. I'll give your camels
drink also." So I drank, and she made the camels to drink.
And I asked her, and I said, whose daughter are you? And she
said, the daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom milk abound
to him. And I put the earring on her
face and the bracelets on her hand, and I bowed down my head
and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham,
which hath led me in the right way to take my master's brother's
daughter under his son. Now, here's the question. After all, I've told you who
my master is and who his son is. After all, I've told you
about his wealth and beauty and his home and this privilege that
is somebody's privilege to be his bride, forever reign with
him. Now then, if you'll deal kindly
and truly with my master, you tell me. And if not, you tell
me. There's no just as I am in 15
verses here, is there? There's no raise your hand and...
Now, listen. Now, if you're not quite making
up your mind, let me pressure you a little more. No. I've told
you who my Master is. I've told you who the Son is.
I've told you of His glory and His beauty and His wealth and
His power. And I've told you of the glory
that will be the one that matters. Now, if you'll go with me. Come
on, let's go. If not, you tell me. That's all
I'm asking you. If not, tell me, verse 49, and
I'll go to the right or to the left. I'm not through. My ministry's
not over till he has a bride. I'm not finished till he has
a bride. I'm going to find that bride. If you're the bride, let's
go. If you're not, you tell me. I'll
head down the road. That's right. That's not hard,
is it? That's just... See, you've got to glorify God.
That's what I say, you don't... My God's not a beggar. He has
a bride. And I'll tell you this, you're
highly favored of God if you're the bride. Oh my goodness, alive. There's no way to even express
it. But He has no unwilling bride. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. They'll come. They'll come. All right, let's go on. And then
Laban, verse 50, and Bethuel answered and said, The thing
proceeded from the Lord. We recognize that. We cannot
speak unto thee bad or good. Mom and, here's daddy and her
uncle. Here's her daddy and her uncle
speaking. But we can't, we can't do anything about it. We can't
say either way. Behold, Rebekah is before thee. Take her and go. And let her
be thy master's son's wife, as the Lord hath spoken." And it
came to pass when Abraham's servant heard these words, he worshipped
the Lord, bowed himself to the earth, and the servant brought
forth jewels of silver. Now he had the father's permission
and Laban's permission, but he hadn't got her answer yet, has
he? 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, Laban was her brother,
wasn't he? And to her mother, precious thing. And they did
eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried
all night, rose up in the morning. He said, send me away with my
master. And her brother and her mother
said, let the damsel stay a few days. Man's always got to work
something in here, hasn't he? We're not ready to part with
her yet. Let her stay a few days. Now they've been doing all the
talking. They haven't even talked to her. Let her stay a few days. Maybe ten days. Maybe two weeks.
She can stay home with us. And after that, she'll go. We'll
send her." And he said to them, Boy, I love this servant. I love the way he holds your
feet to the fire, don't you? Holds your feet to the fire.
This is, this is, if she stays a few days, that's Isaac's business.
Because she belongs to him. That's what we're talking about.
We're going to settle this matter. Now he said, don't you hinder
me. Don't you get in the way. Seeing the Lord has prospered
my way, send me away that I may go to my master. And they said,
well, we'll call the damsel and he will inquire of her. Case
has been stated. Now the question is going to
be put directly. And they said call her. So verse
58, and they called Rebecca. and said unto her, will you go
with this man? Will you go? Cast your lot one
hundred percent. You go to be the bride of Isaac.
Will you turn your back on your home and family and all these
things you've always known to go to one whom you haven't known
and haven't seen, but of whom you've heard? She said, I'll
go. Isn't that beautiful? I'll go. Someone may say, well, Preacher,
are you surprised that she went with this servant? Yes and no. Naturally, yes. Spiritually,
no. She saw something, God revealed
something to her, spoke to her heart, and she was acting on
faith, but faith itself. Were you surprised that Noah
went into the ark? Yes and no. Naturally, yes. Here's a man who's never seen
it rain. Scripture said it never rained up to that time. And he
took all his family, built 120 years, built an ark, and then
went in. God shut the door. Am I surprised he went in? Yeah.
Naturally speaking, there's no answer. There's no answer to
that. The natural world says that's foolishness. But the scripture
says, Noah, being warned of things not seen, not seen, moved with
fear. He saw them. He heard them. He believed them. And he moved
with fear and built an ark to the salvation of himself. And
this woman, Abraham said to the servant,
said, the angel of the Lord will go before you. He'll go before
you. And I tell you, when we come
to preach, I wish every preacher in America could understand that.
Well, yes, preachers do. But we don't come up here cold.
We don't come up here alone. You don't witness. When you're
talking to this person, you're talking about, he's already done
something for you, came on the scene. This woman is already,
God's Spirit's already dealing with her. God's Spirit chose
her. God's Spirit dealt with her. God's Spirit revealed something
to her. God's Spirit was working in her. That's the reason she
said the very thing He wanted her to say. The very thing He
wanted her to say, she said. The very thing He wanted her
to do, she did. Why'd she do that? God made her do it. Made
her willing. And when we step into the pulpit
to preach the gospel, We're not coming up here looking for volunteers. We're not looking for volunteers.
We're looking for brides. And we're standing up here, if
we could just see, and we're stating truth. My master is master. My king is king. My king is going
to reign. This world is going to be destroyed.
He's going to have a bride. He has a bride. He died for that
bride. He purchased her. He paid a dowry,
didn't he? He satisfied justice. He obeyed
the law. He gave her a wedding dress that
nobody else could give her. And she's coming, and I'm going
around here telling everybody I know, and I'm asking, are you
one of them? I'm not one of them. Okay, God
bless you. Went on down the road. I go to
the right or the left. We're going to find that bride.
We're going to find that bride. And when you look at her and
you say, will you go? She'll say, I'll go. I'll go. I'll go with you. Gladly, lock,
stock, and barrel, I'll go with you. I see something others don't
see. All right, that is a beautiful
story, isn't it? Just so exciting, so wonderful. I love it. Oh, I love it. Let's
do it again next Sunday. It wouldn't hurt at all, would
it? You see what I say when I say preachers ought to read that
regularly? And it'll give you that reminder
that we keep that. Well, what if nobody will hear
me? Most of them won't. But she will. She will. And boy, when she does, when
she says those words, your heart just gets excited. OK, Mike, come.

A Bride for the King

What does the Bible say about God choosing His people?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why is the church referred to as the bride of Christ?

How does God's sovereignty influence our evangelism?

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A Bride for the King

What does the Bible say about God choosing His people?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why is the church referred to as the bride of Christ?

How does God's sovereignty influence our evangelism?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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