[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. An opening of Bibles to Genesis chapter 24. Now I won't take advantage of what my grandson Jake told me on the way here tonight.
[0:13] He said, you're still in Genesis? And then he said, I said, well, Lord willing, I'll preach all of Genesis 24 tonight. He said, why do you say Lord willing? I said, well, I'll make sure I have enough time to get it done.
[0:25] He said, granddaddy, it doesn't matter. We come to church, we need to get it all. Just go ahead and give it to us. And so I don't know if he really meant that. But anyway, that's what he said. So I hope you brought a lunch. Genesis chapter 24.
[0:36] Let me tell you a story. We're not going to read the chapter. We'll read some things. If you have your Bible open, if you have your Bible open, maybe there'll be some things you can mark. But I think if you'll check, it ends at verse 67.
[0:47] And so I'm not going to read all that to you. I'm going to Tennessee Hillbilly tell you the story of Genesis chapter 24. And try to draw three brief truths out and still get you out in 18 minutes or 19 minutes if I can.
[1:01] The Bible says that Abraham was old and he's well stricken and aging. In verse 1 it says, then the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. You ought to underline that.
[1:11] That ought to be your testimony. Just to be honest with you, we ought to all be able to say, you know, God has really been good to me. And he's brought me this far. And he has blessed me in all things.
[1:22] And when he got old, though, he looks around and he realizes that his son doesn't have a wife. Of course, I'm sure he knew that. The kid's 40 years old and can't find a woman on his own. He needs help.
[1:32] Say amen. I mean, I was married 22 years before where this story takes place. And this guy's 40 years old. In fact, I kind of offended missionary Keith Shoemaker when he said he was going to name his kid Isaac.
[1:44] I said, don't do that. He said, why not? I said, the guy couldn't even find a wife until he was 40. I don't like the guy that much. He said, he was a great man of God. I said, okay, well, whatever. But anyway.
[1:55] So anyway, he tells his servant. He calls his servant. And he says, put your hand under my thigh in verse 2. And he said, I want you to swear. In verse 3 he says, you're going to swear that you will not take a wife from my son here.
[2:07] But thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites. I'm in my dwell. I want you to go back to my country. I want you to go back to my family. And I want you to get them from my kindred.
[2:19] And the servant said, well, now what about it, Abraham, Lord, Master? He said, what if I go over there and I invite her and she refuses to follow? And in verse 8 he said, if the woman be not willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from your oath.
[2:33] And so he saddles up ten camels, ten semis of his day. And he loads them down with gifts from Abraham the Master. And he's going to take them with him.
[2:44] And in verse 12 he said, and he said, oh, Lord God of my Master Abraham, I pray. Send me good speed this day and show kindness to my Master.
[2:56] Now he has the weirdest prayer of all. He arrives over where he's going to look for a wife. And he says, Lord, what I'd like you to do, this sounds like a guy that's an administrator at a factory or a leader of some kind who doesn't want to work.
[3:08] Because he said, here's what I'd like to ask you to do. If you would, I want this lady to come along. And I want her to say, let me get you something to drink. That would be nice. And I'll get water for your camels at the same time.
[3:19] And I have no idea if you have any concept of how much water a camel can drink. But I used to carry water to cows. And one cow could put it in like 40 or 50 gallons. There's ten of them. If this thing's going to outdo cows, this girl's going to do some major running.
[3:33] It was not just open the spigot and let the water come out. And the girl comes out. And she's giving the camels drink. And in verse 16 he looks at her and he said, boy, she's pretty. And she's a virgin.
[3:45] And no man has ever known her. And in verse 19 she says, I will draw water for your camels also until they get through drinking. I'll get them all the water they need. And the guy says, boy, God's been good to me.
[3:57] God is sure blessed by journey. The lady's a hardworking lady. She's willing to get water for the camels. And in verse 27 he said, blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham who had not left destitute.
[4:08] My master of his mercy and his truth. And so she said, let's go to the house. He wants to know, can I have a place to spend the night? They go to the house. She introduces, he gives her some bracelets, gives her some jewelry.
[4:18] She goes in the house. Everybody knows what's going on. Everybody realizes something wild is happening. And the dad says, well, why don't you sit down and let's have something to eat and drink. And in verse 33 he said, nope, I will not eat until I've told my Aaron.
[4:30] I'm going to tell you why I'm here. I'm going to tell you what I came to do. And he said, boy, God has been good to my master and he's blessed him big time. But he's got this 40-year-old son who can't find a wife for himself. And he said, I've come here to buy him a wife and take him back home.
[4:44] And Laban says, well, you know what? This thing comes to the Lord. And they make an agreement. He ends up taking her back home. Verse 58, she says, I will go. And he takes her back home with him and takes her back to Isaac to be comforted.
[4:58] And Isaac will be comforted after his mother's death. Now you go read the story. A lot more interesting than what I could tell it. But in the sake of time, that's a brief introduction of what happens in the story.
[5:09] The story is about Abraham getting old. Abraham is concerned about his son Isaac. He wants his son Isaac to have a wife. He lets his servant put his hand under his thigh, a way of holding his hand up, and said, I promise.
[5:21] I give him a word. I swear I make an oath that I will bring back a wife for her. At least I won't get him a wife from here in this place. And Abraham trusts him, gives him gifts. He goes to get the girl, brings the girl back home.
[5:32] And his son gets married. Father, I pray tonight that you'd let us learn two or three truths from this chapter that I'm sure contains so much more than that. And I pray that you'd bring it home to us and grow us and build us.
[5:45] And I'll give you praise for all that you do. And thank you so much for your goodness and your kindness. In Jesus' name, amen. First thing I wish you'd write down is this. He was a blessed man. He was a blessed man.
[5:55] Chapter 24 and verse 1. Abraham's old, and the Lord had blessed him in all things. You ought to underline that. The Lord had blessed him in all things. And I just thought about what we've gone through so far.
[6:06] And can I just remind you, these blessings, we ought to recognize these blessings in our lives too. You know, the first blessing I thought about is back there when he called him out of his father's house. He called him out of his father's house, if you recall.
[6:20] And in verse 7, he even mentions that. Look at verse 7. He said, the Lord God of heaven, which took me from my father's house. You know what his father's house was? His father's house, what we saw in, with his father's house, what we saw this morning.
[6:32] His father's house was idolaters. His father's house was people that don't know Jesus. His father's house were people that are going to go to hell when they die. And the Lord came and the Lord got him. And he remembered that. And God brought him out of that.
[6:43] That's the biggest blessing you'll ever have in your life. And you should not get over that. You should remember and realize that the God of heaven saved you when you did not deserve to be saved.
[6:56] He came down to where you were and he brought you out and he saved you. But he blessed him to be a blessing. That's the fact in chapter 12. He calls him out in chapter 11. In chapter 12 and verse 2, he says, in verse 3, he said, you're going to be a blessing.
[7:09] You're going to be a blessing. And he said, make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing. You're going to be a blessing. You're getting blessed, but you're getting blessed to be a blessing. And I'm afraid what's wrong in Christianity is that you and I have been blessed.
[7:23] And we're so thankful for our blessings that we independent Baptists are a half a step away from prosperity gospel preachers. We really think that God made us wealthy.
[7:33] We really think that God gave us all these blessings so we could enjoy them. And he does want you to enjoy them. He gives them all things rich so that we can enjoy. But when God blesses, he blesses for us to be a blessing.
[7:46] Can you say amen right there? Have you ever considered why God made you richer than 99% of the people on the planet? Maybe it was so you'd give something. But we're pretty stingy, to be blunt honest.
[8:00] I mean, we're 10%. That's pushing it. I mean, we know it's pretty hard to give 10% to give more than that. But God has blessed us to be a blessing.
[8:11] In chapter 22 and verse 15, his obedience brought more blessings. His obedience brought more blessings. He offers up his son and his blessings. And he said in verse 17, that blessing I will bless thee.
[8:22] In verse 16, he said, you did not hold back your son, your only son. You're willing to give me anything. And so I'm going to pour even more blessings on you. Abraham was blessed in all things.
[8:34] That's a whole message all in itself. And if I didn't think we had a lot of Bible to preach, I'd stay here. He's blessed in all things. That didn't mean he didn't have hard times. We've been reading this story.
[8:47] We have read about him having hard times. We've read when he feared for his life and he even asked his wife to die. We've read when his dreams didn't come true like he thought they ought to. He felt like maybe God wasn't working in his life and he got frustrated and got, he had hard times.
[9:02] But he was blessed in all times. He had great testings, but he was blessed in all times. What it means is that God's with him through it all. And if you would look back over your life and think about it for a second.
[9:14] You've had testings and you've had trials and things have gone wrong. But the God that saved you has not yet abandoned you, nor will he ever abandon you. And we are blessed as the children of God in all things.
[9:25] In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3 it says, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. He's already blessed us all the way up to heaven. I'm blessed. The reason we don't see the blessings is that we are focused on the wrong thing.
[9:39] I spend much of my life comparing myself to you and seeing how much you have and how much I don't have. I spend my life looking at other people and considering them and thinking maybe more people ought to love me.
[9:50] Maybe more people ought to appreciate me. Maybe more people. I'm focused on the wrong thing. It's never supposed to be focused on me. It's supposed to be focused on Jesus. We look at material goods. Well, he wants us to rejoice in him.
[10:03] He wants us to rejoice in him. In Philippians chapter 4 and verse 4 the Bible said, Rejoice in the Lord again and always I say rejoice. Our rejoicing is in the Lord. It's not in my health.
[10:14] It's not in my health. I could lose my health. I very likely could lose my health. But you know what? That's not where I rejoice. We don't rejoice because we have good health. We don't rejoice because we have good money. We rejoice because we know Jesus.
[10:27] We rejoice because we're saved. We rejoice because if we lose every dime and if we were to be persecuted, it wouldn't matter. I read today, I guess it was Twitter, a guy said, a guy made the comment that Richard Wurmbrand, who was persecuted in Russia, said, We were happy preaching and they were happy beating us.
[10:45] It was a good thing everybody was happy. See, we're to be happy in Jesus. That's where we find our joy. In Habakkuk chapter 3 verses 17 through 18, the Bible says, When the fig tree doesn't blossom and there's no fruit in the vines and the labor of the olives shall fail and the fields you'll know meet and the flocks be cut off from the fold and there's no herd in the stalls, I will rejoice in the Lord.
[11:09] I will find joy. I will joy in the God of my salvation. We are blessed. If my wife were to die tonight, which would have drastically hurt me, I am blessed.
[11:24] If I found out tonight I had a week to live, I am blessed. If my life ended before I could get home, I am blessed. I need to get a hold of something. I am blessed because I know Jesus and I have eternal.
[11:38] But by the way, we're all going to die anyway. How many of you know somebody that's 150? You ever realize that the heroes of the faith that you know are mostly dead? But they died.
[11:49] You're probably going to die too. We are blessed. We are blessed. The second thing, I think there's at least one or two interesting lessons here about getting a spouse. About getting a spouse.
[12:01] Now, if we were in Peru, I'd preach on this to you and I'd talk to you because I had mostly young people that didn't have spouses yet. And you know, this kid definitely got his parents' approval. Well, his daddy bought the girl and brought her to him.
[12:12] He never even saw her, didn't know her, bought through a merchant. But I think here's a major lesson for you. He said, don't take a wife from these people.
[12:23] It had nothing to do with race or skin color. There's a big Bible principle that we're going to be taught in the New Testament that we marry born-again people. We yoke up and we link up with born-again people.
[12:37] People from our family. People from our family. It's not a race thing, not a skin thing, not even a language thing. It is a righteous family thing.
[12:48] We are born-again people. To all of our young people. Let me just say this to all of you. Did you know the more you yoke up with God-haters, the more it's going to affect you?
[13:00] We go out to evangelize and witness to them. We go out to evangelize and witness to them. But we're not to be unequally yoked. And that's just not about marriage. We're not to be unequally yoked. The woman had a choice.
[13:14] He was to marry a believer. In Genesis chapter 28 verse 1, Isaac called Jacob. Now Isaac's going to do the same thing. And he blessed him and he charged him and said, Don't take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. So he gets up and he goes to get the wife that he wants.
[13:27] He ought to get. But in chapter 8 and verse 6, Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and he sent him away. And he told him not to take a wife of the daughters of the Canaanite. Now Esau's a representative of either a lost man or an extremely rebellious man.
[13:42] One of the two. And Esau said, I will take a woman of the Canaanites. I will take a woman that dad's not pleased with because she's not who he wants. In 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 14, the Bible says, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
[13:58] What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? I'm going to leave this whole point and go on to the next one and finish up. But let me just say something to you. It is a major principle in your life.
[14:11] You will become like who you run around with if you're not very careful. That's why number one, you run around with Jesus. That's why number one, you spend time in the Bible. You spend time in prayer and you walk with God.
[14:23] But just let me say something to you. There's a great big lesson in the Bible. If somebody don't love what I love, we're going to have a hard time getting along together. If somebody doesn't love what I love, we're not going to get along together.
[14:35] And see, if you like darkness and I like light, we probably can't be friends. And if you like idols and I don't like idols, we probably can't be friends. And he said, hey, what concord is light?
[14:47] What concord is... How much is God and the devil? How much they get along together? There's a whole passage in the Bible. I'm not telling you not to have a friend that's lost. That's not at all what I'm telling you.
[14:57] But we don't yoke up. And we're careful. You're careful because they do affect us. The wisest man in the world was Solomon. And he married bad women.
[15:10] Bad meaning because they were not believers. They had other gods. And it turned his heart from his God. It turned his heart from his God.
[15:22] He went out. This wisest man in the world who knows God built temples to false gods. The one who built the great temple to the great God built other temples to other gods.
[15:32] What blasphemy. What a mistake. What a mess that he had in his life that caused him to do that. Let me give you the last thing. There's some other pictures that might be applicable to us that I would like you to think about.
[15:47] You know, when I read chapter 24 and I have to think to myself, what's God want us to get here? And I really don't think that the main lesson at all is about who you're supposed to marry.
[15:58] I really don't think so. And I do know that some people would put a lot of emphasis on that and getting daddy's approval and all of that stuff. But that's not really, I don't think, the main emphasis here. I think the main emphasis is the dad wants to get a wife for his son.
[16:13] And he tells the story how he did it. I get to the New Testament. I found out all these things were written for examples for us or examples for us or teachings for us or types for us or to show us a bigger picture.
[16:23] And Jesus said that all the scriptures were written about him. And so he's found in every chapter. And so I find a lot of little interesting correlations here that I'd just like you to consider.
[16:34] We ought to be a missionary church. We ought to be a church that cares about reaching people for Christ. And in a great sense, we have been sent out on a mission from our father who we are servants to, to go out, who is our master.
[16:51] We're to go out and get a wife for his, for his bride, for his son, a wife, a bride for his son. That's what we're doing. If I were on the mission field, it would be my goal to see if I couldn't get people saved.
[17:02] It'd be my goal to get people in church. It'd be my goal to disciple people. It'd be my goal to make a difference in people's lives. And the truth of the matter is that's where you and I are. There's a lot of little interesting stories or things in this story that you might consider.
[17:15] We have been sent on a mission by our father. He's the head of our house. He's the father. And he sent us out to disciple people, to win people, to train people, to baptize them and to continue to disciple.
[17:28] We're seeking his bride. We are responsible to take the message, offer the gift and wait for a response. We are responsible to take the message, offer the gift and wait for a response.
[17:40] Here's what happens when the whole story goes on. Abraham said, I want you to swear to me you won't bring the wrong kind of woman to my son. You understand me? Yes, sir, I do. Put your hand under my thigh and swear to me.
[17:51] Weird way of swearing, but that's the way they did it in his country. So he said, I swear that I won't. And then the servant looked at him and said, I've got a question. He said, what would happen if she doesn't want to come?
[18:02] He said, if she doesn't want to come, that's okay. Judas, don't take my wife out of the wrong people. That's okay. And then he said, but the angel of my God, the angel of my God that brought me out of the land where I used to be and got me out of my father's house, he'll go before you.
[18:21] And he'll work out this deal for you. Don't you worry about it. So the servant went out extremely expectant. He went out extremely expectant. And he went out thinking, the servant, the angel of my God, the angel of my master is going before me.
[18:36] He's going to prepare the way when he gets there and he's ready. He's in the land where he's supposed to be. He says, hey, Lord, I don't know what all happens in the story. Maybe there's some things aren't in the story. But he says, hey, Lord, I, hey, Lord of my master, I need help here.
[18:50] Come on and do something. And the very first girl that comes along is the one. I want you to notice that we are to take the message, offer the gift and wait for response. Verse five, Genesis chapter 24, verse five.
[19:02] And the servant said unto him, peradventure, what happens if the woman will not be willing to follow me into this land? Must I needs bring thy son again into the land from whence thou camest? And he said, if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then you're clear of your oath.
[19:16] But don't take my son back there again. If the woman is not willing to follow, you don't have to go. I want, can I say to you, you're going, I pray that you'll go out and invite people to church.
[19:31] I pray you'll invite your friends. I pray you'll mention the gospel. I pray you'll share it with them. But maybe you don't because you feel like you're a failure and you're not doing any good because people never come when you invite them. But never was your job to begin with.
[19:42] If the girl doesn't want to come, the servant's not responsible. And if you'll give out the invitations and you'll bring people to church or you'll try to bring people to church, they may not come.
[19:53] But you were never told that you had to make them come. Not your decision for them to come. Your decision is to obey, take the message, offer the gift, and wait for response. He's got ten camels loaded down.
[20:04] I mean, this guy's got ten semis with him. He's going to give out some. By the way, I have great gifts. If you'll trust the Jesus I tell you about, I've got more than ten camels worth. Second thing I wish you'd see.
[20:14] You can be certain. You can be certain that you'll have success. Look at verse 27. He said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left me destitute. Hath not left my master destitute of his mercy and his truth.
[20:29] I being in the way. I just being in the way. That's an interesting phrase I could preach on a while, but we won't. The Lord led me to the house of my master's brother. I was just on the way. And, you know, he didn't have a GPS.
[20:41] He's riding a stinking camel through a desert. And he ends up exactly at the right place. And as you're on your way and as you're doing your life, God will take you to people that need Jesus. There was an urgency about him.
[20:53] Verse 33. I will not eat till I've told you my errand. I will not eat till I've told you my errand. In verse 40, he said, I'll just tell the story of my father's blessings and work.
[21:09] He 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 and of my kindred. I wish you'd online in verse 40, prosper your way.
[21:23] Abraham says, you don't have to worry about it. But the one who came and got me out of my daddy's house, he's the same one who's been blessing me. And he will go before you and he'll prosper you.
[21:35] And when Jake Talby goes to China or David Gates goes to Egypt or some of the other guys go out, I just want you to know something. They're not that smart. They're not that good looking and they don't have that much talent.
[21:46] It's never the messenger. There's somebody who goes before. There's somebody who prospers our way. And all the servant did when he showed up was ask God to do something.
[21:59] Give a gift to the girl that's kind of a hint of what was going to happen. And then when he got to the house, he started saying, let me tell you the story about how good my God's been. Or God's been to my master. He told the story. And Abraham knew what was going to happen.
[22:11] He said, he'll prosper. Like Rebecca in the story, our relationship with our Lord will be one of service. I think it's really interesting. It's one of the funniest things to me is the girl gives drink to ten camels.
[22:23] And the guy apparently just sat there in the recliner and watched her. I mean, it's like he's not, I don't get it. I mean, can you imagine he shows up and he says, Lord, if you find the right lady, you just have her give something to drink to my camels.
[22:37] He didn't say, find a young man to do it. He didn't say, I brought a boy with me to help me drive these ten camels. I'll let him do it. He said, let a girl do it. I don't know, ten camels. I'm sure there's at least nine other drivers. And he said, let's sit in the shade while that girl gives a drink to our camels.
[22:52] Oh, you know, that's a funny story for me. Because I worked in Peru and the ladies used to carry the market bags home while the husband walked three or four steps ahead with nothing in his hands. I used to tell him, it sounded like a Peruvian man and his wife.
[23:06] Amen. Find you a girl and carry your market bags for you. But can I just say this to you? The girl was a servant and you're a servant. You never need to forget that. I got saved to serve.
[23:18] I got saved to serve. Then the lady said, I will go. Verse 58. Rebecca said unto her, wilt thou go with this man?
[23:28] And she said, I will go. I just want you to know that every one of us said that too. Somebody came to us and brought us a message and brought us a gift and they waited for a response and we said, yes, I'll go.
[23:41] And we trusted Jesus. There's a falsehood in this term soul winner. Because sometimes it seems to put the emphasis on the man who did the soul winning and we begin to think we did something.
[23:55] Even in the term missionary or preacher, sometimes it's like, boy, he's a great preacher. He's led a lot of people to Christ. When the truth is, no preacher has ever led anybody to Christ. It's always been the Holy Spirit did it anyway.
[24:07] So that takes some pressure off of us. It's their decision. Take them the message and invite them to Christ. Verse 67.
[24:18] His servant shows back up at the house and he brings the girl. And Isaac was comforted at the death of his mother. And it just took me in my mind to Isaiah. Isaiah where in Isaiah it said, he shall see the travail of his soul and he shall be satisfied.
[24:31] You realize every time we lead somebody to Christ, our Lord is satisfied. He's like saying, that's why I did it for them to believe. I did it to save them. You and I have privilege to take part in the greatest thing in the world, telling other people about Jesus.
[24:47] You do not have to leave this church tonight saying, I've got to learn 20 verses so I can lead somebody to Christ. Christ, you could honestly just be their friend and invite them and sit with them. You could just honestly share what little bit of you know about Jesus.
[24:59] You could just honestly insist they come to church with you. You could just take one of those little things for friend day and use it. And God could take what that does. If we were on the mission field, I would not expect you to go out and know 50 verses and get everybody saved.
[25:13] I would expect you to go share the message, give the gift, and wait for a response. That's all you've got to do. But if you invited 10 people for friend day, or if you invited 10 people for next Sunday, somebody might just show up.
[25:28] Amazingly, all this just happened today. I didn't have any of that planned. A lady shows up from two years ago. Who knows who did, who put that track on their door? Maybe she'll never come again.
[25:40] But that screamed, you guys didn't bring her. I did. That screams, you guys didn't do anything. You stuck it on her door two years ago.
[25:52] I'm the one that reminded her. How did she find something from two years ago? If you called me and said, find that piece of paper, somebody stuck on your door two years ago. I said, I don't have any idea where it's at. I don't know what piece of paper you're talking about, but God can use you.
[26:07] Take the message. Bring the girl home. Father, I love you. I pray your blessings on your people tonight. God, I pray that you would help us to know we're a blessed people.
[26:19] I pray, God, you'd help us to know that we're to be a separated people. And I pray, God, that you'd help us to know tonight that we're to carry the gospel. And I pray, God, that tonight, some of your people might just say, I will invite my friends, and I will share the gospel, and I will try to make a difference.
[26:35] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com, where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recording.