Book of Genesis - Ch. 24, Vs. 5-50 (12/20/2015)

Park Meadows Church

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Yeah. She was a boy the whole time. It's a little bit. It's a little bit. It's a little bit.

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Yeah. Good. Good.

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Hey. Get my hand.

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I've got some friends. Oh, he's staring at you.

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Hello, girlfriend. Hi, buddy. Merry Christmas. You've got a pretty

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Christmas dress on. Huh?

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Is it up here today? Yeah. All right. Is it something out of a vent?

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See the flaky white things on the floor? You know, you were gone one second.

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I stand up there doing a thing. And right back here, a big old piece just moved. It's like defective.

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What is it? The tubes and the aerials? It's the material. I mean, inside of it.

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So it's the tubing itself or the glue? I think. I think it's probably the material.

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Those things are built out of it. Used to, they built those with sheet metal.

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Mm -hmm. No, it wouldn't.

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Replace it? Yeah. First, the ladder. First, the new ladder.

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First order of business. Well, there's not. It's just this. Yeah. It's basically a store fence.

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That's what I've got in mind. And to go up and work on the air conditioning and stuff up there is mainly what it's for.

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Well, it's after 10, and so I suppose everybody that's going to be here is here. Just take off.

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So we're going to go ahead and go. We're going to begin at the beginning of Genesis 24, about verse 3.

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Isaac has not shown up yet, but the stage is being set. And there's some interesting things that are going to happen.

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So, to begin. And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the

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God of earth, that ... Let me close that door. I should have pulled that tube behind me when

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I unlocked it. But I was distracted. We got into the ladder repairing business. And I will make thee swear by the

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Lord, the God of heaven, the God of earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughter of the

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Canaanites, among whom I dwell. But thou shalt go into my country, to my kindred, and take a wife to my son

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Isaac. Now, the first thing I've got to do is I've got to point out that I was in error last

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Sunday when I said that the name of Isaac was edited out of the Holy Scripture by the

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Holy Spirit until the Holy Spirit returned with the bride.

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That was not true, because right here it is. The name Isaac is there. That, though, does not affect ...

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We are in 24, and that was verse 4, where the name of Isaac was, in fact, mentioned.

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And as I thought about that, actually, Dave, the elder, pointed that out to me last

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Sunday, that, in fact, it was in there. And then when I read that, I said, well, sure it was. Well, and he also ...

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Well, actually, it makes the type fit even better. The type of Isaac as a type of Jesus fits even better if you allow him to be spoken of, but just not to be around, because Jesus certainly was spoken about in the

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Scripture. In fact, he himself said ... Ooh, I left ...

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Oh, I see what this is common. Pardon me, I've got to do a little bit of editing. Search the

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Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but they are they which testify of me.

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That was in John 5, 39. So Jesus is certainly spoken about throughout the period after his resurrection and until he returns, but he's just not there.

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So, in fact, he's the subject of the entire Scripture. He simply doesn't return until he comes for his bride.

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There's a second thing I'd like to point out, and this bothered me something last week.

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Not last week, about two or three weeks ago when we were in Genesis 22. Right after Isaac, Abraham had attempted to sacrifice his son, and the

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Lord had provided the substitute, and we had the idea of the substitutional atonement came into play, there was this genealogy, a little short genealogy, seemingly out of nowhere, in no way connected to anything else.

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And I said, what in the world was that there for? So I would like for you to go back to that, if you would, and we'll just read it together.

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Genesis 22, 20. Genesis 22, 20. It's right at the end of the event on the mountain.

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And I want you to read along with me, because I'm going to certainly slaughter these names. Genesis 22, 20.

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And it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Melchiel, she hath borne children to thy brother

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Nahor, who is his firstborn, but his brother Camuel, the father of Aram, Chesed, Hazel, Pildash, Jidlop, Bethuel, and Bethuel begat

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Rebekah. These eight, Melchiel did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother, and his concubine, whose name was

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Remah, she bear Taba, Gaham, Tehash, and Maccai.

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Now, that's a bunch of names, but did you notice anything interesting about that? I'll give you a clue.

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Only one female offspring was mentioned. There were two females, the wife and the concubine.

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Their names were mentioned. And of all the offspring, all that were mentioned were what?

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Except one. And what was the one? Rebekah.

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So think about this. Abraham knew the name of the bride he was sending for.

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Isn't that amazing? Abraham knew the name of the woman who

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Eliezer was sent to fetch. Now, he didn't tell Eliezer who it was. He didn't say,

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Go down to my kindred and fetch Rebekah. Rebekah. But that's the only name he knew.

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That was the only one available. So what was his instruction to Eliezer?

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Thou shall go unto my country and to my kindred and take a wife unto my son

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Isaac. Not just any wife. He didn't tell Eliezer that. Not just any wife, but which wife?

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Rebekah. Just Rebekah. That's who he was going after. And the servant said unto him,

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Prefecture, the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land. Must I needs bring my son again unto the land from whence thou camest.

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Now this is a curious, curious verse for two reasons. Reason number one. If you look at the phrase, bring thy son again, and you look up the literal translation it is,

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Sheweb ben Sheweb. Sheweb is on both sides of the word ben.

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Ben means son. Now Sheweb can mean either return or again. So you can read that either this way or that way.

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Again, son, return. Or you can say, son, return again.

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Those are the two possible translations of those words. Isaac has never been there.

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So that's strange. Now I don't think it's really talking about Well, that may be so, but there is something else that I want to get to.

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And that probably is the near reason. At the risk of overstretching our model, here's what

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Eliezer is asking Abraham. Eliezer is asking the father,

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Abraham, If the bride refuses to come with me, should the son come again to see that she does?

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That's kind of what you're saying. That is to say, will there be any other provision made for the collection of the bride other than that which is affected by Eliezer?

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Is there going to be a second way to get there? Is there going to be a second way to collect this bride? I have sent

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Eliezer, and Eliezer says, What if she won't come? Should I do a second thing?

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And what does Abraham say? And Abraham says to him, Beware that thou bring not my son thither again.

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So Abraham's answer is clear. No, don't bring my son back.

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Well, let's think about this. I believe, although I'm not totally convinced, that this passage is the same issue that is addressed in Hebrews.

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I'm not certain, but we're going to explore that anyhow. So let's go to Hebrews 1 .1. God, who at sundry times and diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his

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Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things. Now let me hesitate a second. Who else do you know about pertaining to the things of his father is heir of all things?

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Isaac. Isaac is the heir of all things. That's one of the messages that Eliezer is going to give to the kinsmen, that Isaac is going to inherit all things.

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I just thought I'd throw that in. By whom also he made the worlds, who being in the brightness of his glory and the expressed image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself perched our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.

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And then he goes on. What I really wish to explore here is this question.

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What help did God need in purging us of our sins? What help did

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Christ need in purging us of our sins? What help did

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Christ need in order to purge us of our sins? And it says right here.

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He had the father's plan. Well, it says in the passage we just read, he by himself purged us of our sins.

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So he didn't need any help. Another question to ponder is, how did he do it?

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How did Christ purge us of our sins? And the answer to that is in 1

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Corinthians 15. When Paul said, 15 starting verse 1,

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Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I have preached unto you, by which ye are also saved.

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How that Christ died for our sins, according to the scripture, that he was buried and he rose on the third day, according to the scripture.

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So that's how he did it. He died for our sins, he was buried and he rose again.

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That's the essence of the gospel. That's that by which you are saved, if you are saved.

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And then the third question. Who can receive this gospel?

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Let's say, who can see it? Or in other words, is this salvation which is provided according to the gospel available to everyone?

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It's available. Is it available to everyone? No. No. No.

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No one wants it. Is the gospel available to everyone?

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Yes. Well, okay. The answer is yes and no.

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I asked the question too many times. I had the answer I wanted and I should have stopped. That's what

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I tell my students all the time. They ask me, can I do something? And I say yes and they don't want to explain why. And I said, you need to learn one thing.

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When you get the answer you want, stop. All you can do is foul it up. You're talking yourself out of it.

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Let me read another passage from 2 Corinthians. This is from 2

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Corinthians 4 .3. But if our gospel be hid, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the

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God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, which is the image of God, should shine upon them.

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So I had my answer when John said, no, not everybody can see it. And I asked too many more times.

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So is that to say that there is a difference between the Word of God? The Word of God is everything that God says or it is

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God himself, Jesus himself. What's the gospel? That. Christ.

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The gospel. The one I just read. And the first of that was, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.

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That's 2 Corinthians 4 .3. So you're thinking of lost as like a lost sheep, a sheep that one of the elected just doesn't know?

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Yes. Yeah, and I think you can have that.

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I think you can have that parallel set of definitions depending on the context. This certainly fits in with our idea of once saved, always saved.

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Once lost, always lost. Yeah, that's true. But you know, he would say we shouldn't call the non -elect lost because he'd probably get that from a whole different scripture where the word is used a different way.

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I bet it's used in more than one way. Oh, I'm sure it is. Yeah, that particular verse, lost, would refer to the ghosts.

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That's right. They're never going to be saved, so they're lost from the human race. They're not part of the elect.

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They're lost. That's a frightening concept. And see, we all like to quote that once saved, always saved, but there's a, what do you call that in math, the counterpoint?

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The converse. The converse, yeah. If once saved, always saved, then once lost, always lost.

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And that is really frightening. Well, I thought

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I ought to cheer you up on this Christmas. There you go.

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Well, that should cheer you up if you are not lost. The Greek is apollon, so it is destroy fully, figuratively, destroy, die, lose, mar, perish, and it's where you get apollon from.

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So, like you were just saying, it's not like they were lost because they were never found. This just has to do with those, it sounds like, that are to be put to death.

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In other words, if that had been, if that had been translated to them that are destined for destruction, that would fit the word that you've got.

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That's right. That is, the base is to destroy fully, figuratively, destroy, die, lose, whereas them that are not actually in there, that's all one word.

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It is hid to destroy. To render useless, to kill, to declare that one must be put to death, to tap, to devote, or give over to the eternal misery in hell.

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To perish, to be lost, ruined, or destroyed. That's pretty definite.

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So the purpose of it being hidden is to destroy. It's hidden so that it can be destroyed.

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Now, let's go down a little further and look at how this, let's go down a little further and pick back up on the other side, the other group of people.

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Go to Hebrews 2 verse 1. So I'm going down the same passage.

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Therefore, thinking about what was above, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

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For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and every disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

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I didn't telegram you what

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I was going to preach on today. You just saved us about an hour's time.

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You're skipping around. You skipped to this exact point. Isn't that weird?

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That is weird. We do that a lot. It is strange to me.

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But I will tell you this, Brother David, I'm going to skip away right now. Yeah, you're going to hit the next one. I'll probably hit the next one.

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So my comment here was, if this is indeed connected to the passage in Genesis, which is where we came from, then what's the answer to the question, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

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What did He say to Eliezer? You won't escape.

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There will be no other provision. Now go with me to Acts 4 .10.

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Did you cite that one, Brother David? I just need 4 .10

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so that you know who I'm talking about. Be it known unto you all and to all people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom

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God raised from the dead, that's who we're talking about. Then he goes on down and says some other things in verse 12.

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He says, Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given unto men whereby we must be saved.

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What name was that? Jesus of Nazareth, whom you have crucified. It's only in that name that you can be saved.

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Moreover, we're not only to understand that there's no other name than Jesus, but also there's no other way to that name than the way provided.

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What's the way provided? To believe in Jesus Christ, to believe in the death, burial, and resurrection, according to the

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Scripture. That's the way. That's the only way. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the only way.

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So it's incumbent for us to reject all who teach any other path.

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Now go back to 2 Corinthians. Well, he had to be born, certainly, but there's a lot of people who've been born.

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Okay. Okay. Not of a virgin. And Paul could have said that, but he didn't.

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He said the death, burial, and resurrection. That's all he said. Go ahead.

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2 Corinthians 11 .3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent hath beguiled

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Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

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For if he that preacheth another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit which you have not received, or another gospel which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him.

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I had a little problem with that, so I researched that, and I found something from John MacArthur that helped me.

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Here's what he said. Though the precise details of what the false apostles taught are unknown and don't matter, they preached another

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Jesus and a different spirit, which added up to a different gospel. And the phrase that says you might well bear with him in the version of the

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Bible that he used, it says you may well put up with it. Paul's fear was that the

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Corinthians would embrace the damning lies of the false apostles, and that prompted his jealous concern for them.

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So that phrase you might bear with him, what he's saying is I'm afraid that you might accept what they're teaching, which is right.

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He expressed his feelings about false teachers much more clearly in Galatians. Go to Galatians 1 -6.

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I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ into or unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

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But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

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As we have said before, so I say now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed.

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Now that's as clear as you can be, isn't it? False teachers are to be accursed.

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One of the issues with the churches in Revelations was they were accepting into their presence false teaching and false teachers.

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Okay, let's go back to Genesis. That is very frightening.

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Do you all remember Jonathan Lipson Segal? I know the younger people don't, but in the 70s,

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Jonathan Lipson Segal was a big thing. The guy who wrote that also wrote a book called The Reluctant Messiah after that.

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And the basis of this in the Bible was that nobody, Jesus was a person who had been touched by some sort of thing that made his mind greater than other men, but he was still just a man.

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This man had the same thing, and they were both messiahs, but they were both reluctant messiahs.

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And it was a total disbarment of the Bible. And I remember reading that and feeling like I was holding the devil's handbook of how to go to hell in my hand.

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And at the time, I was into humanism because that was the company I was in. I was doing sales all over the country, and I was into humanism in a big, cool way.

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And they were pushing this stuff at me, and humanism sounds good when you first hear it because you're

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God's creation, you're this and that, but it's still a worship of the creation rather than the creator.

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Or more than that, a worship of yourself as the creator of your

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God. Not that God created you, but that you create the God you worship. There was another book, and I was reading it, and I'm always flipped to the back of books, always, when

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I'm reading. And the Three Magic Words was the name of the book. I don't remember the author, but he's undoubtedly prying somewhere in the bowels of the earth right now.

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But his three magic words were, I am God. And you don't get that.

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And everything he teaches sounds so good while you're hearing it until you get to the bottom, and there's a gook from hell at the bottom of it scaring up all this stuff.

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And it's just, the world, David is so right when he teaches about the total depravity of man.

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There is nothing here that can save us outside of Jesus Christ. Without him, we're lost.

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I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get into this, but it was just, preaching a little, I'm sorry.

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I'm here for the last week, so I didn't get enough. That is quite all right. We can put our little

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X's across the screen anywhere we want to and start over next week. Let me go back one more passage and let it say, but though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

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And as we said before, say I now again, if any man preaches any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed.

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Now back to Genesis. We're at verse seven. The Lord God of heaven,

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Abraham is talking to Eliezer. The Lord God of heaven, which took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that swear unto me, saying unto thy seed, will

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I give this land, he shall send his angel before thee, and he shall take a wife unto my son from thence.

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Now remember, Abraham has not told Eliezer who this is. Abraham knows, but Eliezer does not know.

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What this is is a statement of Abraham's faith that the expedition to Mesopotamia is under divine oversight and therefore it can only be successful.

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And Eliezer says, and if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then, I'm sorry,

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Abraham says, and if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath, only bring not my son thither again.

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So you're relieved of your oath if the woman won't come, but just don't bring my son there again.

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And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his master, and swore to him concerning that matter.

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Now Abraham was sure that the woman would come. But he indicated to the servant in the event that she didn't, he would be relieved of his oath.

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Just don't take the son back. So the servant swore the oath and left for Nahor taking ten camels with him.

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Verse 10, And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his masters and departed, for all the goods of his master were in his hand.

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And he arose and went to Mesopotamia and to 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.

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And as the camels rested, the servant prayed. And here's his prayer. And he said, remember now

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Eliezer doesn't know who he's going, Eliezer doesn't know who he's going to get, he just knows where he's going to go.

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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

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Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well of water, and the daughters of men of the city come to draw water.

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Let it pass that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher,

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I pray thee, that I may drink, and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also.

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Let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac. And thereby shall

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I know that thou hast shown kindness unto my master. And we talked about this last week.

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That's some test. It's common courtesy to offer water to a thirsty stranger. But that's a cup of water.

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That's not so much. She's now going to offer to draw water for ten camels that can drink about 25 gallons each, 50 50 -gallon barrels of water drawn up from a well on the end of a rope by hand.

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I don't know how much time that would take, but it would take more than I would be willing to offer. Some commentators suggest that this was a test to find a bride for Isaac who had a serving spirit.

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Now, I think they missed the entire point. This was not about finding someone with a serving spirit.

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Only someone selected by God would make such an offer. I mean, it would be one thing even to offer enough drink for five or ten people, much less five or ten camels.

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And that not by their own goodness. Only someone selected by God would make such an offer, and that not by their own goodness, but because God compelled it.

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Now remember, Rebecca is going to become the bride of Isaac, not by some merit of her own, but because she was elected and drawn.

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Remember, Abraham already knows who this woman is. He knows nothing about her except her name and that she is the daughter of, well, that she is like a grandniece to him.

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She's the granddaughter of his brother, whatever that would be. John said in John 6, 44,

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No man can come to me except the Father, which has sent me, draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day.

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The question I ask is, did Rebecca and do we make choices? Okay.

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We make choices, but the choices we make are the result of our position in Christ, not the cause of our position.

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We make the choices we make because God elected us. It's not that the choice that we make makes

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God elect us, if I can say it that way. We have nothing to do with it.

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It's unconditional. If you were going through the five points of Calvinism, you'd be on the

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U. Unconditional election. It doesn't matter what you do.

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It only matters what God does. Okay, so how long did Eleazar need to wait before God answered his prayer?

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We'd like all of our prayers to be answered like this, wouldn't we? And it came to pass before he had done speaking that, behold,

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Rebecca came out who was born to Bethuel, the son of Macca, the wife of Nahor, the one that was mentioned to Abraham in this genealogy, but Eleazar doesn't know that.

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Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her picture upon his shoulder, the first person he saw was

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Rebecca. And the last one was very fair to look at, but that was after he saw her.

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And she was a virgin, but that was after he saw her. That's after Abraham had selected her. Neither had any man known her.

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She went down to the well and filled her pitcher and came up. So this is the first opportunity to have a test.

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And the servant ran to meet her and he said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water from thy pitcher. So he makes his thirst known, and Rebecca, according to the culture of the day, offers him a drink.

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And she said, Drink, my lord. And she hasted and let down the pitcher from her hand and gave him to drink.

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And more than that, without hesitating or without prompting, she offered him to water his camels.

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And when she had done giving him drink, she said, with no prompting, I will draw water for the camels also until they have done drinking.

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And she hasted and emptied her pitcher into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water.

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And she drew for all his camels. So the very first woman that came to the well passes

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Eliezer's test. What was Eliezer's test? I'll ask her for a drink of water and she'll offer to water the camel.

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But does she meet the conditions set by Abraham? He has no way of knowing.

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Eliezer has no way of knowing. All he knows is he prayed to the Lord, let the person that it is, when

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I say, I want to drink of water, she just say, Here's some water for you and I'll water your camel also.

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That's all he knows. That was a lot. It did surprise him.

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So what was the condition set by Abraham? Namely, she had to be from his country. Well, he's in his country, there's a good chance that was true.

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But she must be kindred. In Genesis 24, 3 it says,

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And I will make thee swear by the Lord God of heaven and the God of earth that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the

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Canaanites among whom I dwell, but thou shalt go into my country and into my kindred and take a wife for my son.

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So he's in his country, but he doesn't know that this is his kindred. He doesn't know who she is.

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So the man, wondering at her, held his peace to wit whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.

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What's he waiting for? Her answer to the next question, which is going to be, Who are you?

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Now, before he asked the question, though, he pays her for the water. And it came to pass as the camel had done drinking that the man took a golden ring of a half a shekel and two bracelets of ten shekels weight of gold.

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So she's got ten and a half shekels of gold that she got paid for watering the camels.

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That is ample pay. That's more than ample. Whatever kindness she has shown has now been well paid.

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And now for the crucial question, Who are you? And he said, Whose daughter art thou?

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Tell me, I pray thee, is there room in thy house for us to lodge? And she said, I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Melchiah, which ye bear unto

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Nahor. And she said, Moreover unto him, we have both straw and provender enough and room to lodge in.

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And the man bowed down his head and worshipped the Lord. And he said, Bless me, the Lord God of my master, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and truth,

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I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren.

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So there he is. Very first person that comes meets his test and is the right person.

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So Eliezer is convinced that this is the chosen one. Now what question is left?

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Will she go with him? Now, I reworded that question to make it fit better, better us.

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There are two better questions that we could ask. Can anyone elect of God refuse to come?

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And can anyone not elect of God choose to come? They might choose to, but they can't get on the bus.

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Okay. I'm not even going to argue that. I think that's probably good.

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And the damsel, I don't want to say damsel. And the damsel ran and told them of her mother's house these things.

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And Rebekah had a brother. His name was Laban. And Laban ran out unto the man and to the whale.

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Now Laban has got a quick introduction to Abraham. What is it?

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This is a servant of a wealthy man. He came with ten camels.

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I watered his camels and he gave me ten and a half shekels of gold. I mean, he kind of overpaid.

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So Laban is anxious to meet this guy. We'll meet Laban again later, but we don't want to dwell on him right now.

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But for now it's sufficient that we note that he is motivated by the opportunity for monetary gain.

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And it came to pass when he saw the earrings and the bracelet on his sister's hands and he heard the words of Rebekah, his sister, saying,

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Thus spake the man unto me, that he came unto the man and, behold, he stood by the camels at the whale.

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Laban recognizes this is an ordinary traveler and there might be a chance for him to make a buck. And he says,

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Come in, thou blessed of the Lord. Wherefore standest thou without? For I have prepared the house and room for the camels.

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And the man came into the house and ungirded his camels and gave straw and proviner for the camels and water to wash his feet.

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And the men that were with him and there was set meat before him to eat. But he said, I will not eat until I have told my

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Aaron. So Laban invites Eliezer to spend the night and to eat.

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But Eliezer says, First I've got to tell you why I'm here. And from verse of Willis' school and he said,

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Speak on. And he said, I am Abraham's servant. So the first thing he does is he identifies his master.

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I am Abraham's servant. And the Lord hath blessed my master greatly for he has become great and hath given him flocks and herds and silver and gold and menservants and maidservants and camels and ashes.

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So the next thing he does is he emphasizes how the Lord has blessed Abraham. Next, And Sarah, my master's wife, bare a son to my master when she was old.

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And in doing him, he hath given him all that he hath. So next he's going to inform

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Laban that Isaac is to inherit all of Abraham's possessions. What it's saying is everything that Abraham has will become the possession of Isaac, his son.

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And if this, if your daughter, who is going to be joined to Isaac, becomes joined to Isaac, he will be, she will also be privy to all of his wealth.

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And Laban, being a tagalong, will get benefit from it. I think that's where the story is going.

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And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the

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Canaanites in whom I lay and I dwell, but thou shalt go unto my father's house and to my kindred and take a wife unto my son.

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So now he's stated his purpose. He's here to procure a wife. And then he goes through,

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I'm not going to read that again because we've just done it. He goes through and talks about all the discussion that he had with Abraham regarding whether the wife would come or not.

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And so we get way down to verse 49. He says, he's talking now already about the discussion between Abraham and Eliezer as to what would happen if she would refuse to come.

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and the drinking at the well. But the issue is, Isaac, not

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Isaac, Eliezer has been relieved of the oath if either one of two things happen. If the offer is made and the bride comes, he's relieved of his oath because he fulfilled the conditions.

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Or if he made the offer and the wife didn't come, he still is relieved of the oath.

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And so he says, Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me, and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right or to the left.

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What should I do? Am I going to take Rebecca with me and go or am I just going to go?

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I have met the conditions of my oath. That's what he's saying to Laban and Bethuel.

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So what he's basically saying, Rebecca is the one that was chosen. Tell me if she's available.

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Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from God. We cannot speak unto thee good or bad.

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Behold, Rebecca is before thee. Take her and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the

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Lord hath spoken. Now Laban probably sees an opportunity for gain.

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In any case, he gives his permission as does Bethuel. They say, Take her and go.

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Pardon me. And it came to pass that when Abraham's servant heard the words, he worshipped the

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Lord, bowing himself to the earth. And the servant brought forth jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment and gave them to Rebecca.

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And he also gave her brother and to her mother precious things. Apparently the ten camels were to carry all the gifts.

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By this gift, Rebecca was officially now betrothed to Isaac. And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and they tarried all night, and they rose up in the morning, and he said,

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Send me away to my master. That's Eliezer talking to Laban and Bethuel. Protocol and courtesy demanded that he asked to be dismissed.

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And her brother and mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at least ten.

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After that, she can go. And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way.

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Send me away, that I may go to my master. And they said, We will call the damsel. That is awful.

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Call the damsel and inquire at her mouth. And they called Rebecca and said unto her,

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Thou go with this man. And she said, I will go. Now my question is, did she have a choice as to whether she was going to go or not?

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She thought she did. She thought she made that decision. She was elect.

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She was named. Abraham knew her name before he sent for her. She was summoned.

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She was elect. She was called. She was drawn. And she couldn't resist the drawing.

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That's kind of like we are, isn't it? We're elect.

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We're called. And we can't resist. I certainly think so.

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And I was running late on time. I'm already almost into the after 11 time slot.

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But yes, I think so. I think there's always a hindrance to the world. When the Lord summons you, when the

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Lord summoned you, you had a euphoria at the very first.

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We all did. We are all full of joy and excitement.

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And we can't wait to do the things that we should do for God. And then the world interferes.

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I mean, I played soccer on Sunday afternoons. And that made it hard to go to church on Sunday morning.

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And so it interfered. The world has a way of putting things to do what?

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To delay us. Because it's hitting home with us.

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We don't want to let them go. And it's a picture of even though the parents don't want to let her go, it's

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God's will and they have to be immediate to that. They have. Of course, back then it was so much more difficult because they probably never see her again.

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But it's a picture for parents that even though we want to, we have to let them go because the

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Lord has a purpose. That's my motive to Laban and Bethuel.

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Actually Laban and Bethuel's wife. That the reason they didn't want to let her go is because they knew they would miss her.

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Maybe that was, I'm sure that's part of it too. It is hard to let people go.

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You're getting ready to do that, aren't you? Anything else?

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In a way, when we're looking at it from his perspective, the tendency is to say he made the choice for us.

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In a way, yes, he did. I mean, we're elect. We're going to make the choice. But it's deeper than that.

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It's that he made us to make the choice. One of the people you hear about two weeks ago, a visitor, made the comment because this was kind of coming up, perking up then.

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Think of the faith that Rebecca had to have to make that choice to go with a man she had never seen, to marry a man she had never seen.

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And the condition being she probably would never see her parents again. That is a big choice.

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That's a lot of faith. How many of us would have that kind of faith? Well, fortunately she did.

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Those that God gives the faith to. Those that have to make that choice. Brother, Hubert, could you dismiss us with a prayer?

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Dear Jesus, thank you for this day. Thank you for this group. Lord, we just praise you for your word. We praise you for creating us to make the choice to love you.

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We know that we could not do that without you. We praise you that we are chosen by you for that purpose.

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We just pray that we reside in that purpose and we seek out how we should act within that purpose,

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Lord. We just thank you for our church family. We thank you for your word. We thank you for this time together.

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just pray that you bless the rest of the time together and bless us this Christmas season. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.