You
Good afternoon everybody and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If we can go ahead and find our seats, we will get started.
It's great to see everybody here tonight.
Once we find our seats, let's go ahead and grab a hymnal.
Let's all try to find song number 310.
Jesus. Song number 310 let's all sing it out together.
great singing everybody let's open up the service now with a word of prayer
Lord we thank you so much for this church and the wonderful opportunity to serve here Lord thank
you for all the souls that were won to you this afternoon Lord and um that's all the great works
that this church gets to do and us being a part of it we just ask now that you fill this room
with your spirit and help us sing unto you and it's in Jesus name we pray amen all right for our
151 where could I go?
at this time, we'll go through our announcements.
If you need a bulletin, please raise your hand nice and high.
We'll come around and get that to you.
On the front is our verse for the week, Jude verse seven.
On the inside, hopefully still have the congratulations
to the Scots, make sure that you reach out to them
if you have an opportunity and let them know
and congratulate them.
We have our service times and our so many meeting times there
for each day of the week and our stats below that.
Continue to keep our expecting mothers in prayer there on the right-hand side some upcoming events
We have Father's Day in a couple weeks, and we're gonna do Father's Day floats for that Sunday
Our next so-winning marathon is going to be in Shreveport on June 28th.
Really encourage you to plan and mark that down in your calendar.
It's a great opportunity to go so-winning, very receptive.
It'll be worth every ounce of your time that you spend there.
And it will be a pretty much an all-day thing, so make sure that you plan for that.
We look forward to going out to Shreveport.
We do have our totals for the Durant Sowning Marathon
that took place on Saturday.
Praise God for all the salvations that we had
and for the soul winners that showed up.
This morning I made a long announcement
about the teen summer.
My voice is pretty much gone. So I'm not going to repeat all that
If you have any questions about that, please see me after the service and I can fill you in with everything that you need
There is a sign-up sheet on the table
Please make sure that if your team would like to attend that they're marking every date that they can attend on that and then we'll
We'll get those dates the official dates lined out for that
in the next coming weeks
That's pretty much it for announcements. So with that, we'll go straight to our next song of the evening
I'll have brother Dustin come and give us that announcement
All right for our next song it's Psalm 150 in your binders your black binders. It should be nearby
Psalm chapter 150
Psalm 150 let's all sing it out together
crazy the Lord Psalm
the offering plates are being passed around. Go ahead and open your Bibles to the book of Genesis
chapter number 24. That's the book of Genesis chapter number 24.
Genesis chapter 24 the Bible says an Abraham was old and well stricken in age and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things
And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of this house that ruled over all that he had put
I pray thee thy hand under my thigh and I will make thee to swear by the Lord the God of heaven and the God of the earth
that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son, of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell.
But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son, Isaac.
And the servant said unto him, Per adventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land.
Must thy needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou cameest?
And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son dither again.
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 I give this land.
He shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence, and if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath. Only bring not my son dither again.
And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swear to him concerning that matter.
And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master and departed.
For all the goods of his master were in his hand, and he arose and went to Mesopotamia 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.
And he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day and show kindness unto my master Abraham.
Behold, I stand here by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water.
And let it come to pass that the damsel to whom I shall say, let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink.
And she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camel's drink also.
Let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac, and thereby shall I know that thou hast shown kindness unto my master."
And it came to pass before he had done speaking that, behold,
Rebecca came out who was born to Bethuel, son of Nulka, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her 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 said, Let me, I pray, thee, drink a little water
of thy pitcher.
And she said, Drink, my Lord.
And she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.
And when she had done giving him drink,
she said, I will draw water for thy camels also
until they have done drinking.
And she hasted and emptied her pitcher into the trough
and ran again onto the well to draw water
and drew for all his camels.
the man wondering at her held his peace to wit whether the Lord had made his
journey prosperous or not and it came to pass as the camels had done drinking
that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight and two bracelets
for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold and said whose daughter art thou tell
me I pray thee is there room in thy father's house for us to lodging and she
said unto him I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milka which she bear
She said moreover unto him we have both straw and provender enough and room to lodge in and the man
The man bowed his head and worshipped the Lord and 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 mother's house
these things
And Rebecca had a brother and his name was Laban and Laban ran out to meet the man unto the well
And it came to pass when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister's hands
And when he heard the words of Rebecca his sister saying thus spake the man unto me
That he came unto the man and behold he stood by the camels at the well
And he said come in thou blessed of the Lord
Wherefore standest thou without, for I have prepared the house and room for the camels.
And the man came into the house, and he 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.
But he said, I will not eat until I have told my errand.
And he said, speak on.
And he said, I am Abraham's servant.
And the Lord had blessed my master greatly
and he has become great.
And he hath given him flocks and herds and silver and gold
and men servants and maid servants and camels and asses.
And Sarah, my master's wife, bear a son to my master
when she was old.
And unto him hath he given all that he hath.
And my master made me swear saying thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell.
But thou shalt go unto my father's house and to my kindred and take a wife unto my son.
And I said unto my master, peradventure the woman will not follow me.
And he said unto me, the Lord before whom I walk will send his angel with thee and prosper thy way.
And thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred and of my father's house.
Then shalt thou be clear from this my oath, when thou comest to my kindred.
And if they give not thee one, thou shalt be clear from my oath.
And I came this day unto the well and said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, if now thou
do prosper my way which I go, behold I stand by the well of water, and it shall come to
pass that when the virgin cometh forth to draw water, and I say to her, give me, I pray
thee a little water of thy pitcher to drink.
And she say to me, both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels.
Let the same be the woman whom the Lord hath appointed out for my master's son."
before I had done speaking in my heart behold Rebecca came forth with her
picture on her shoulder and she went down unto the well and drew water and I
said unto her let me drink I pray thee and she made haste and let down her
picture from her shoulder and said drink and I will give thy camels drink also so
I drank and she made the camels drink also and I asked her and said whose
daughter art thou
and she said the daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, who milked a bear unto him,
and I put the earring upon her face and the bracelets upon her hands.
And I bowed down my head and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my Master Abraham,
which had led me in the right way to take my Master's brother's daughter unto his Son.
And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my Master, tell me, and if not, tell me, that
I may turn to the right hand or to the left.
Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceeded from the Lord.
We cannot speak unto thee bad or good.
Behold, Rebekah is before thee.
Take her and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the Lord hath spoken.
And it came to pass that when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshipped the Lord,
bowing himself to the earth.
And the servant brought forth jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment, and gave them
to Rebekah.
He gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things, and they did eat and drink,
they rose up in the morning and he said send me away unto my master and her
brother and her mother said let the damsel abide with us a few days at the
least ten after that she shall go and he said unto them hinder me not seeing the
Lord have prospered my way send me away that I may go to my master and they
said we will call the damsel and inquire at her mouth and they called Rebecca and
said unto her wilt thou go with this man and she said I will go
And they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men.
And they blessed Rebekah and said unto her, Thou art our sister,
Be thou the mother of thousands of millions,
And let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
And Rebekah arose and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels.
followed the man and the servant took Rebecca and went his way and Isaac came
from the way of the well of Lahiroy for he dwelt in the South Country and Isaac
went out to meditate in the field at the eventide and he lifted up his eyes and
saw and behold the camels were coming and Rebecca lifted up her eyes and when
she saw Isaac she lighted off the camel for she had said unto the servant what
man is this that walketh in the field to meet us
And the servant had said, it is my master.
Therefore, she took a veil and covered herself.
And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done.
And Isaac brought her into his mother, Sarah's tent,
and took Rebecca, and she became his wife.
And he loved her.
And Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the word of God.
Thank you for Steadfast Baptist Church
and the admonition this morning to be steadfast.
Please help us to apply the messages that we've heard.
Please bless the preacher now.
Fill him with your Holy Spirit to preach with boldness.
And please give us ears to hear in Jesus' name.
Amen.
I want to open by thanking Pastor Shelley for the opportunity to preach.
We're in Genesis chapter 24, you'll notice in verse number 2, the Bible read,
And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house that ruled over all that he had,
Put I pray thee thy hand under my thigh, and I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God
of heaven and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the
but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac."
And we see here that Abraham, the story in Genesis chapter 24, all revolves around Abraham
seeking a wife for his son Isaac. And practically speaking, this is not what the sermon is about,
but practically speaking...
We immediately can derive that it's okay as a parent for you to have
Preferences about who your children marry that should be obvious the reason why he's asking though for the wife
to come from
His country his kindred is because of a spiritual reason. There's a spiritual reason for this and
What I want to focus on here in this chapter is not necessarily the
carnal lessons we could learn, but I want to look at some spiritual truths that this chapter illustrates for us.
Now just some background, Abraham, he's at an advanced age by this point in the Bible,
and he's been blessed by God. He's got wealth, he's got land, he's got his son of promise being
Isaac, and he wants to make sure that Isaac serves the Lord. In order to do that, well,
He resides in Canaan near Hebron at this time.
Of course, the Canaanites are evil.
He does not want a wife from them.
He does not want a wife for his son from them.
Let's look at verse 10.
of the camels of his master.
And just on a side note,
it's verses like this that make me
feel like I can really relate
to the Scripture, talking about camels
elsewhere you have
guys referred to as Harry.
And so, you know, that's a,
for me, there's a real,
you know, deep meaning there.
And I appreciate those parts of the Bible.
And so the servant took
ten camels of the camels of his master
and departed. For all the goods
and he arose and went to Mesopotamia under the city of Nahor.
Abraham sends his servant to Mesopotamia.
That's what the Bible is telling us, the city of Nahor.
This is potentially the servant.
The servant is potentially...
The the guy named Eliezer in Genesis 15, although I can't be dogmatic about that at the end of the day
That's not really relevant. Anyway, so I'm just gonna refer to him as the servant from here on out
But he goes to Mesopotamia. This is modern day. I believe modern-day Turkey
Syria that area of the Middle East and he's entrusted with a crucial task find a wife for
Isaac, a godly future, essentially, for Isaac.
And I would argue that, and hopefully you were paying attention during the reading of
God's Word, I would argue that we see Jesus in this story.
Now, some would say you see Jesus on every page of the Bible and it's kind of a spiritual
cliche if you will, but you know, I think there's truth to that.
And certainly the book of Genesis is no exception.
We see Jesus, we see elements of the gospel repeatedly in the book of Genesis.
And just to give you an example, we're in Genesis 24.
Well, why don't we talk about just the preceding chapters, right?
contains the story of the purported death of Isaac. Of course, we know that doesn't happen.
Instead, it's a ram used, that is caught in a thicket, picturing the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's a burial in chapter 23, the burial of Sarah. And here in chapter 24, I would pause it
We have a very strong picture of mankind's response to Jesus and what I mean by that is placing one's faith on the resurrected Christ.
So the death, the burial, the resurrection, the gospel appears in the book of Genesis from a symbolic standpoint and Jesus is all over the Old Testament.
It's funny people these days, and this is a dog that I'm kicking right now, but I think it's worth it people
They'll say like well, you know the Jews they believe
The Old Testament they just don't believe the New Testament
It's like that's a total lie because the the Old Testament clearly points to Jesus Christ
If they believed the Old Testament
they would believe Jesus.
And you know, the Lord Jesus Christ mentions this himself when he talks about that,
hey, if they actually did believe in Moses, they would believe in him.
But the title of my sermon is this,
Jesus in the Marriage of Rebecca and Isaac.
We see Jesus in the story, but more so man's response to Jesus.
Let's look at v. 5, Genesis 24 and v. 5, again Jesus in the marriage of Rebecca and Isaac.
The Bible tells us in Genesis 24 and v. 5, and the servant said unto him,
And you see that word right there?
Pay attention to it.
You can underline it if you like writing in your Bible, but it says, willing, will not
be willing to follow me unto this land, must I needs bring thy son again unto the land
from whence thou camest.
So the servant is symbolic of the soul winner.
This is someone who's going out to procure a wife for Abraham just as the soul winner
That's where the servant is going, but the soul winner goes out into the world to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and
Provide a quote-unquote wife
To the Lord Jesus Christ and so the servant is symbolic of the soul winner. We have
Abraham in this story. I would argue being reminiscent of God the father and
Isaac is Jesus
Rebecca pictures mankind, and I would say believers, specifically, believers, those
who have chosen to place their faith in Christ.
My first point is this, Rebecca's choice to marry Isaac pictures the free choice to
believe on Jesus.
Notice it said she was willing or I should say what if she's not willing the word willing is used there
And the question is asked what if she's not willing meaning she had the choice she had the decision
To make and she could have said no
She could have said no
She was not forced into this marriage
This is not Islam.
She was not forced to marry Isaac.
She had a choice.
She had to be willing.
Look at verse eight, and if the woman will not be,
there's that word again, willing to follow thee,
then thou shalt be clear from this my oath,
only bring not my son thither again.
And this reminds me of the fact that when we go soul-winning,
if somebody is not quote unquote willing to get saved,
well, you know what?
Hey.
We don't have to worry about that, just as sure as the servant was clear from the oath.
You know, their blood is no longer on our hands because they are the ones who chose to reject.
But what I really wanted you to focus on is that Rebekah had the choice not to go marry Isaac.
She would not be forced to marry Isaac. And this reminds me of the fact that as Christians,
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's something you have to do through your free will.
Nobody is forced to get saved.
Salvation is the product of a free will decision
that you have made.
Salvation is the product of a free will decision
that somebody makes to believe the gospel,
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And yet there's people out there who actually challenge this point.
There's people who are teaching that mankind is saved arbitrarily.
They say mankind is saved not based on their free will decision, their free will choice,
to believe on Jesus, but rather they say that mankind, those who are saved,
the component of humanity that's saved, were saved based on nothing.
Based on God picking arbitrarily who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Let me tell you something. That's a lie
Ladies and gentlemen, that is a lie
It's called Calvinism
Calvinism is one big fat lie
And the Bible does not teach that at all
And I think we see a picture of free will on the onset the free will to choose Jesus
Typified here in Genesis 24, now look at verse 12,
and he said, Oh Lord, God of my master Abraham,
I pray thee, send me God speed this day
and show kindness unto my master Abraham.
Behold, I stand here by the well of water
and the daughters of the men of the city
come out to draw water.
This is the servant praying to God.
And essentially what he's doing here is he's saying,
help me to recognize who I should choose for.
My master son who is Isaac and verse 14 says and let it come to pass
That the damsel to whom I shall say let down thy picture
I pray thee that I may drink and she shall say drink and I will give thy camels drink also
Let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac
And thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master."
So the servant, he's praying for his endeavor to be successful, and what he's looking for
is a hospitable woman, one who would offer him drink and his camels also.
And that's how he knows this is the one.
That's how he knows this is the one God has appointed.
So, the woman who offers drink to the servant and his camels essentially is chosen.
That's the one who the servant would choose.
And in the same way, it would be those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ through their
free will who are chosen of God.
And here's the thing that, again, Calvinists will discount completely, the foreknowledge
Meaning, he knows the end from the beginning, he knows the end from the beginning, Ephesians
chapter 1 and verse 4.
He knows what's going to happen in the future.
But I had you turn to Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4 where the Scripture tells us, according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
Now, the Calvinist will look at that and say we are chosen and they believe it was based
on nothing, false.
It's based on your agency to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and God knew who those people
would be.
It's kind of like if you were to watch a football game and you already know the score.
You watch it on your DVR just because you can call what the score is before the end of the game
Doesn't mean that you're a puppet master controlling everything happening on the field
Obviously, that's not a perfect analog, but I think it's one that can maybe help us comprehend this in verse 12
it says
That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ
so the Bible says
You first trusted in Christ, meaning what?
Your salvation hinges on your decision.
And this is what we do every time we go out and preach the Gospel.
We make them make a decision, especially if they're in a false religion.
Hey, do you still want to be a Catholic until you die and go to hell?
Or do you want to change your mind and make a decision for Christ?
A free will decision for Jesus.
Rebecca, by the way, was not chosen arbitrarily.
She met a certain criteria.
You were not chosen arbitrarily.
You met a certain criteria.
You believed the gospel.
And you weren't forced to do so.
Let's go back to Genesis 24.
So I think the first picture we see is the free will choice to believe on Jesus.
He's not forcing anyone to get saved.
Now in verse 15, as we get to Genesis chapter 24, we go back there.
Look at verse 15.
It says, And it came to pass before he had done speaking.
That, behold, this is verse 15,
Rebecca came out, who was born of Bethuel's son of Milka,
the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother,
with her picture upon her shoulder.
She meets the criteria, she's of the right kindred,
and it says in verse 16,
and the damsel was very fair to look upon,
meaning she's attractive.
You could use this on your wife if you come home from work one day. Hey, that weren't very fair to look upon
You could say to her and it'll probably make her smile
It's a joke folks a virgin neither had any man known her and she went down to the well
and filled her picture and came up.
So sometimes prayer is answered very, very quickly.
Not all the time, but sometimes it is.
Before he's even done, here comes Rebecca
and she meets the criteria of what he's looking for.
We know that she's very fair to look upon.
She's a virgin.
She resembles the bride of Christ, folks.
She resembles the bride of Christ.
Who is the bride of Christ?
Believers.
If you believed the gospel, if you believed on Jesus,
you're a part of that group collectively labeled the bride of Christ.
Now let's skip down to verse 53.
I'll be skipping around.
And we'll look at verse 53.
It says, and the servant brought forth, notice this,
jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment.
And gave them to Rebecca.
He gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.
So skipping ahead to the story,
the servant ends up giving
Skipping ahead in the story, I should say, the servant gives Rebecca jewels of silver,
jewels of gold, and raiment. And this is part of his assignment. This is what he gives her,
and she accepts it and ends up following him. Now, what does this symbolize? Well, these are blessings.
Obviously, I mean, we're reading the story together.
These are blessings, the jewels of silver, the jewels of gold.
Those are blessings given to Rebekah.
Rebekah received a blessing in spite of the fact that she lived in Mesopotamia.
This is a Gentile region.
And this reminds me of how the blessing of Abraham came on the Gentiles.
blessing of Abraham came on the Gentiles through Jesus.
It was through the Lord Jesus Christ and in the same way
this blessing is bestowed on Rebecca through
Abraham through Isaac.
And essentially what we have is the Lamb's wife
is being blessed. I think this is a symbol of that.
The servant ends up handing Rebecca these jewels.
And it reminds me of how the soul winner, the soul winner will hand an unsaved person
the blessing of the gospel, enabling them to also become the bride of Christ.
But don't miss this.
What else does the servant give Rebecca in this passage?
She also receives raiment, a.k.a. clothing, and that leads me to my second point.
The raiment gifted to Rebecca pictures the imputed righteousness of Christ.
Let's look at Romans 4, Romans chapter 4.
The raiment gifted to Rebecca pictures the imputed righteousness of Christ.
What that means is...
When someone believes on Jesus, they receive the righteousness of Jesus
imputed unto them.
Some people say that the word justified refers to this idea just as if I never sinned. So the perfection of Christ in
your identity, it is placed on you and
you now are righteous and you go to heaven based on the merit of Christ and his righteousness, not your own.
And I think this is typified in the scripture as a garment, putting it on, putting on the
righteousness of Jesus, the robe of righteousness.
And the servant gives this raiment to Rebekah just as the soul winner gives a spiritual raiment
to the lost person when they believe they're putting it on.
And look at Romans chapter 4 and verse 6.
It explains this concept in Romans 4 verse 6, even as David also described it, the blessedness.
I think those are the jewels of silver and gold that Rebecca received of the man unto
whom God imputed righteousness, meaning the righteousness of Christ is placed on the person
who believes without works, without works.
Rebecca received these blessings and it's a parallel to the blessing of the Gospel,
The imputation of righteousness, the imputed righteousness of Christ that comes through faith.
Now look at Revelation 19. Revelation 19.
The Bible tells us, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
How do we receive this? By faith.
And, you know, the righteousness of Jesus, once you believe on him, it becomes your own.
You now possess it.
And that's why the Bible describes it in Revelation 19 in this way, in verse 8.
In verse 8 it says, and to her, this is talking about the bride of Christ, was granted that
she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints.
belongs to the saints. It is now theirs. And that's why it's described in this way.
The Lamb's wife is a raid, if you noticed in the passage it talks about, a raid in fine linen, clean, white.
Why? Because it is washed in the blood.
And you know what the blood is, according to the Bible?
Precious, just as those stones were that Rebecca received.
Those were precious.
And it's the blood of Christ that is precious.
It is his righteousness that believers receive,
just as sure as Rebecca received this garment.
Meanwhile though, the unsaved,
they're also wearing something.
People who are trusting in their works,
they're also wearing something too.
It's called a strange garment, folks.
It's called a strange garment.
And if you look at Zephaniah chapter 1, it talks about this.
They have not on the wedding garment.
They have something on that is strange.
It is filthy.
It is their own righteousness.
You know, Revelation 3, it tells us,
He that over cometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment.
If you believed the gospel, you've overcome.
You receive a white raiment, the righteousness of Jesus.
It is faith that enables us to get that imputation.
But I want to show you the inverse here.
I want to show you the complete opposite.
What would be the opposite?
We're wearing the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Well, here's what a lot of other people are wearing.
In Zephaniah 1 and verse 8.
Zephaniah 1 and verse 8.
It says, And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's
sacrifice, that I will punish the princes and the king's
children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.
strange apparel. So you're either wearing the wedding garment or you're wearing
strange apparel. And it's those who wear the strange apparel who are punished by
God. And then spiritually they're going to be punished with hellfire because
they don't have on the right garment. They don't have the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. They're trying to be justified by their own righteousness and that is a
one-way ticket straight to hell. It's that easy. It's called work salvation.
And, you know, there's people out there who not only do they have this strange apparel
on, but they're also loud and they're proud about it.
They're loud and they're proud about it.
They're called the false prophets of our day.
And here's a false prophet, let me start over.
Here's a type of false prophet.
It's called street preachers.
This is a malicious false prophet.
And here's essentially what a street preacher is doing.
They're getting up with a megaphone and a big old sign,
and they're loud and they're proud about wearing a strange garment.
That's what they basically are saying.
They're saying, I'm wearing a strange garment.
Not literally, but spiritually, that's really what they're saying.
When they're yelling and screaming about how you have to turn or burn,
how you have to stop sinning, how you have to be perfect like them,
relying on their own righteousness.
Some of them even say you have to be a homo-nomo.
It's like, that's not possible.
It's called the reprobate doctrine, buddy.
But these guys, they get up and they're just proclaiming how wonderful they are
and how righteous they are.
Hey, they're in Dallas, folks.
If you go to the AAC, you might see them.
But they're up there, and here's the thing, they're wearing a strange garment.
That is not the wedding garment that you need if you want to get to heaven based on the
merit of Christ.
And here's something you have to understand.
When it comes to this doctrine of imputed righteousness, this garment we've received,
it's another reason why Osas is true, one saved, always saved.
It's another, one of many reasons.
You could argue maybe this was more exotic, but one saved, always saved.
Why?
Well, think about it this way.
I'm not relying on my own righteousness.
I have on the righteousness of Christ.
If I go to hell for any reason, here's what you're teaching.
What you're saying is, if you think you could lose your salvation,
you're saying the righteousness of Christ is actually not righteous enough.
Because you've been imputed with that righteousness.
If you go to hell, then I guess the merit of Jesus wasn't enough for you.
You know, it's not, that's what you're doing.
You're calling Jesus unrighteous in light of this doctrine.
If you think you could lose your salvation.
Let's go back to Genesis 24.
Rebecca received this raiment and it's a picture of the imputed righteousness of Christ.
And again, if you think, if there's anyone out there who thinks that they could lose their salvation
in light of this doctrine, what they're saying is Jesus is not righteous enough.
Because guess what? He gave believers his righteousness.
If that's not enough, you know what? You believe in something that I would argue is blasphemous.
Abraham's servant meets Rebekah, then her family, and they agreed to let her go.
They agreed to let her go.
Verse 50, Verse 50, Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing precedeth from
the Lord, we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.
Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife,
as the Lord hath spoken.
excuse me, of Rebecca. And they say, hey, this is of God. They recognize that this is of
God, and they say, she's before you, you can take her. Now, they could have thought that
to basically abscond Rebecca from them but that's not what he was there for.
He was there to procure a wife for Isaac and it was of God. They recognized that it was of God. Look at verse 54.
So they recognize this is of God in verse 54 it says and they did eat and drink he and the men that were with him and
Terried all night and they rose up in the morning and he said send me away under my master and her brother and her mother said
Let the damsel abide with us a few days at the least 10
And that escalated quickly.
We went from a few days, all of a sudden to 10 days.
It's like, man, they are procrastinating.
They are trying to delay the departure of Rebecca pretty
badly here.
After that, she shall go, they claimed.
Verse 56, and he said unto them, hinder me not.
Seeing the Lord hath prospered my way,
send me away, then I may go to my master.
So the servant says, hinder me not.
Let's go now.
And hey, this is a great soul-winning tip right here.
When you're being hindered,
hey, hinder me not.
This person needs to get saved right now.
Someone's trying to interrupt you or delay the process.
You know, the Bible says,
now is the day of salvation.
And although Rebecca's family is trying to stall that process,
it was the servant who said,
hinder me not, she's got to go right now
because now is the day of salvation.
Look at verse 57.
And they said, we will call the damsel and inquire at her mouth.
And they called Rebecca and sent her to her,
whooped out, go with this man.
And she said, hold on, let me look him up on Facebook first.
No.
She said, oh, I don't need no man.
I got government to take care of me.
No?
That's not how things were back then.
There wasn't daddy government to help all these single women out.
So that they don't have to get married and instead can remain single until they're 40 years old 50 years old and
Eventually just forego marriage completely and die surrounded by a bunch of cats
Reading their favorite feminist novel no, that's not how it works
She says I will go
She says I will go now. I want you to understand the the significance of this first of all they're inquiring at her mouth
Why? Well, because of the fact that, hey, with the mouth that's how you get saved.
You call on the name of the Lord.
And here's the thing about this that you have to realize, she has never seen Isaac.
That's why I made the joke about the Facebook thing because you know women in this scenario and it's understandable
They're gonna be like well, okay, you want me to go be this guy's wife. What does he look like? I
Think that's kind of important, you know, I don't know if you guys would ever marry a woman sight on scene
But, in this situation, she's being tasked with marrying a dude sight unseen.
Does not know what he looks like, has never seen him.
And my third point is this, Rebecca choosing Isaac pictures sight unseen faith in Christ.
Rebecca choosing Isaac pictures sight unseen faith in Christ.
Here's the reality.
You say, I have seen Jesus, the door's over there.
Verse 60, I mean, like the only people who make that claim that they've literally seen
Jesus, the man, tend to be a little crazy, unless you're talking about the Bible and
you're being, you know, smart, okay, fine, I'll accept that.
Somebody lift up that their Bible. It's like, yes, I get it fine
You've seen Jesus if you looked at this, but that's not what I'm talking about verse 60
And they blessed Rebecca verse 60 and said unto her thou art our sister
Be thou the mother of thousands of millions and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them
I believe a shadow of the millennium there where Christians are gonna possess the earth and the earth will act as a gate
For those that are in hell verse 61
And Rebecca arose in her damsels and they rode upon the camels and followed the man and the servant
Took Rebecca and went his way
Rebecca decides site unseen to go and follow this servant to draw closer to Isaac to marry Isaac
without visual confirmation
Without having ever looked at him unexamined unviewed
And they inquired at her mouth, like I said, because hey, with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Just as sure as you've called on the name of the Lord without having ever seen him,
Rebecca with her mouth makes this proclamation, I will go having never seen Isaac.
John chapter 20 and Jesus himself talks about this concept of sight unseen faith in
John chapter 20
We've never seen Jesus yet. We've believed on it
And it's funny to me because the atheists of our day
They claim that if they receive some kind of special revelation,
if they receive some kind of sign from Jesus, then they would believe.
That is, of course, a total lie.
First of all, people rejected Christ in his first coming as he walked on this earth.
They'll do it again in the millennium.
But additionally, they have a sign. It's called the Word of God.
There's your sign, like it or lump it.
And so God's not going to do that.
You have to accept that sight unseen.
That's what these atheists have to accept.
That's what they have to recognize.
And in the same way, Isaac, he wasn't going to Rebecca.
He wasn't going to go to Mesopotamia himself to convince her to marry him.
That's not the way this was going to play out.
It had to be sight unseen faith, and in the same way, hey, that's how we got saved.
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed, blessed
are they that have not seen."
Rebecca received a blessing, didn't she?
And we see here that those who believe without having seen, they are blessed with the Gospel
and yet have believed.
Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed, that describes each and every
single one of us who made the same decision in a sense that Rebecca did going to Isaac
without having seen him.
We walk by faith, not by sight.
This is why the Bible tells us,
whom having not seen ye love,
in whom though now ye see him not yet believing,
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Folks, we walk by faith, not by sight.
We walk by faith, not by sight.
Just as Rebecca walked by faith and not by sight.
And this is what the Christian walk is all about.
Because it's not just salvation, folks, every step you take in your Christian life is one
in which you're following a master who you've never seen.
You're drawing closer to an individual, to God in the flesh.
You're drawing closer to the second person of the Trinity,
the Lord Jesus Christ, having never looked upon Him with your eyes.
It is those steps of faith that we have to take in our Christian walk
without actually seeing where the road may end up
that highlight the fact that, hey, sometimes,
even though you can't see what it is that you're walking toward,
that's where faith comes in.
And it highlights the necessity of a strong and a powerful faith to realize,
hey, I may not be able to see the end of the beginning,
but I'm still going to do everything in my power to serve the Lord,
to do everything He asks me to do to the best of my ability.
I look at the Christian life as a series of crossroads,
and you have to make a decision every time you come up to one.
Will you do what Rebecca did and make the decision to go and to leave?
and to draw closer to Isaac.
Will you make the decision to go and to leave
and to draw closer to Jesus Christ,
whom you haven't seen just as Rebecca
made the decision to draw closer to Isaac,
whom she had never seen before?
That's the journey of the Christian life.
And I would argue that it's defined by faith
in the one who bled
and he died for us and he was buried
and he rose again for us
and yet we never actually witnessed that.
But that's what we've staked our salvation in.
Now let's go back to Genesis 24 and I want to look at verse 63 when we go back there.
Genesis chapter 24, we have sight unseen at faith in the one who bled and died and rose again for us.
The Bible reads there,
and Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide,
and he lifted up his eyes and saw,
and behold, the camels were coming.
And Rebecca lifted up her eyes,
and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel.
So Rebecca goes and meets Isaac here,
who had been in the field,
and lifts up her eyes, the Bible says.
Well, you know what, there will come a day
When we, in the same way, lift up our heads and we meet Jesus.
As Jesus said in Luke 21, when these things begin to come to pass,
then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh.
Isaac meeting Rebekah physically, and we will do the same one day with Jesus.
We'll meet him in the air, and those who are alive and remain at this time will look up.
Luke 21 says, and they will see that their redemption has drawn nigh.
Let's look at verse 65.
For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us?
And the servant had said, It is my master.
Therefore, she took a veil and covered herself, and again, Isaac meeting her just as we will
meet Jesus in the air one day.
Verse 66, and the servant told Isaac all things that had been, that had done, or that he had
done rather.
Verse 67, and Isaac brought her into his mother, Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became
his wife, and he loved her, and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
We see a marriage, and this is what the entire story
culminates with the marriage of Rebecca and Isaac and
You know she later of course gives birth to
Jacob and Esau, but the fourth point I want to make is that the marriage of Rebecca and Isaac
pictures the marriage of the lamb
Rebekah saw Isaac and then they were married and in the same way the resurrected saints will see Jesus there will be a
marriage supper of the Lamb and
That occurs in Revelation 19. Let's flip over there for just a moment and you can see what I'm talking about in Revelation
chapter 19, this marriage supper of the Lamb.
So it's kind of the same sequence of events.
Rebecca sees Isaac, they're married,
we will one day see Jesus and there will be
this marriage supper of the Lamb,
the marriage of the Lamb as described in Revelation 19
and verse seven, Revelation 19 and verse seven,
the Bible says, let us be glad and rejoice
and give honor to him for the marriage of the Lamb
is come.
and his wife had made herself ready.
So the marriage of the Lamb is come right here,
Revelation 19 verse 7.
Isaac's marriage, I think, to Rebecca,
is pointing us to this event.
There's a lot of things that it pictures,
but one of them is this event right here,
the marriage of the Lamb.
Essentially, Rebecca and Isaac are united,
just as sure as the saints will be united with Jesus,
The physical kingdom, the millennial reign of Christ, the physical kingdom will be set up on this earth
subsequently. Let's look at verse 9. And he saith unto me,
right, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me,
these are the true sayings of God.
So the marriage supper of the Lamb, that's when the Antichrist's armies are slain and it's kind of graphic, but
You know what? It's the Word of God. Their dead bodies are then eaten by the fowls of the air.
That is the marriage supper of the Lamb. And I think that's what we see.
This marriage is, I think, pictured in Genesis chapter 24.
And it's the bride of Christ that eventually rules and reigns with Jesus after that.
Let's go back to Genesis chapter 24, and I'll get into my last point.
So I brought up some spiritual truths and some symbolism we can derive from the chapter.
But now for this last point, I want to talk about something more practical and it's an
application all of us can take home with us.
It's an application we can all take home with us.
And I want to read verse 58 again, Genesis 24 and verse 58 one more time and look at
practical standpoint it says in verse 58 and they called Rebecca and said
unto her, Will thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. And they sent away
Rebecca, their sister and her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men. So my
fifth point is this. This is my final point. Rebecca going from Mesopotamia,
forsaking all for Jesus, forsaking all for Jesus to be his
disciple. Verse 61, let's skip down to verse 61. And Rebecca
arose in her damsels and they rode upon the camels and
followed the man. And the servant took Rebecca and went
his way. So Rebecca left all that she had, folks. She leaves
which I think is a symbol of this world she leaves
and leaves her family behind to draw closer to Isaac.
And in the same way, we as Christians are called
to make the same decision to say,
I will go to draw closer to Jesus, to be his disciple,
to be his disciple.
You know, the reality is there's more than one way to be sanctified.
I know that some independent Baptist churches apparently don't understand this, but there's
more than one way to be sanctified.
You're sanctified as soon as you get saved in your identity, but then we have to be,
and we ought to be, I should say, sanctified in our experience.
You're sanctified positionally when you believe on Jesus Christ,
but then you ought to be sanctified practically in a practical sense as well
through your everyday life and the decisions you make and one of the
decisions that you should make and it's
I think
Arguably, one of the most powerful decisions you possibly could make is to be sanctified
in this sense, to say, I'm willing to forsake all for Jesus.
To be sanctified in a practical sense, to forsake all for the Lord Jesus Christ to be
his disciple, I want to put Jesus first in my life.
I want God to be the number one priority in my life.
Now I get it.
That's like extra points not only are you here on Sunday night, but the pastor's out of town. I
Understand the audience and so for you the application is keep going
Keep doing what you're doing, but there's always areas in our life
There's always something that we could point to in our life and say you know what God is second here
God is third or fourth here in this area. I ought to move him up to first
He has to be the top priority if you want to be a disciple and after he bled and died and suffered in hell for you
And rose again the third day. Why in the world would you not want to serve him with everything you've got?
It's our reasonable service
You say, but you don't understand, you know, on Wednesday nights, that's when I go play bingo
And it's like look, I'm not saying don't play bingo. I
Realize it's a weird example. It's all I could come up with
Hey, I understand. Hey, you know you like to go play your bingo. Just how about not on Wednesday night at 7 p.m
That's what I'm talking about. I'm not saying you're not allowed to have any hobbies. That's not what I'm preaching
I'm not saying that the only thing you're allowed to do is stare at Leviticus all day,
or you're not right with God.
That's not what I'm saying.
But you know what?
If there's something going on on a Wednesday night at 7 p.m. that's keeping you out of
the house of God, then that should be forsaken if you want to be a disciple of Christ.
Putting church first, putting the house of God first.
You say on Wednesday, oh excuse me, you say on Sundays, I watch the Cowboys lose every
week.
DVR, the stupid game, and watch it the next day, or watch it when you get home.
But put Christ first.
That's what I'm exhorting you to do.
And I think when Rebecca said, I will go, forsaking all that she had, it's a picture
of the saved Christian putting Jesus Christ first and saying, I will go from the things
of this world to follow God and to follow Jesus specifically with everything I've got.
So what does that look like?
living according to the Bible,
purging ourselves and cleaning ourselves up of the sins
that we may be struggling with, raising our children
according to the Scripture, running our marriage
according to the Scripture.
Let me say that again because this seems to be a battle
that we're struggling with right now.
Running our marriage according to the Scripture,
not the opinion of man.
According to the Bible, you say I want to be someone who could be described as Rebecca who chose to just forsake all for Jesus.
Hey, run your marriage according to the Scripture, sacrificing for the elect's sake, living an above board, clean life, straight, laced, purity, standards, holiness, all the rest of it.
And you say, well, how do I do that? You walk in the Spirit.
You walk in the spirit
Saying I will go I think points us to forsaking all for Jesus our reputation
Our reputation. Yeah coming to this church going to churches like this one choosing to put Jesus Christ first
It may mean losing your reputation. You might you might have to say I will go from my reputation
My reputation's gone. It's Mesopotamia. I'm leaving it behind. Now they're writing articles as
Pastor Oz is familiar with
Now they're writing in the local paper about me
Now they're smearing me online
Now they're talking crap on the internet on social media
My reputation you might have to forsake that you might have to forsake your time
There may be things like I talked about that you do on Wednesday nights at 7 on Sunday mornings at 10 30 or 4 30
And you might have to say I will go from those things because they're keeping me from forsaking all for Jesus
Yet the reorganize reprioritize your life. Hey even your own life
There may be a day
I don't want this to be any time soon, but we're in a room filled with post-tribbers
here and they may be a day where our lives are in jeopardy for preaching the gospel.
You know, I just, I have a challenge for you.
We talked a lot about the cool spiritual types and everything like that and how this marriage
pictures Jesus, but I want to leave you with a challenge, which is this, don't just be
spiritually sanctified in your identity, but actually be sanctified in your experience
be sanctified practically as well by forsaking all for Christ by saying,
hey, I will go to draw closer to Jesus, just as Rebecca said that to draw closer to Isaac.
The Bible tells us, and I'm winding down here, in Luke chapter 14,
so likewise whosoever he be of you that forsake it, not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Matthew 19 it says in everyone that a forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or
Lands for my name's sake shall receive in a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life. This is exactly what Rebecca did
Forsaking everything that was familiar even her own kindred to draw closer to Isaac. Are you willing to do that?
What are you willing to forsake?
What teaching do you have to forsake? What activity do you have to forsake?
Hey, what person do you have to forsake to put Jesus Christ first?
Now for some of us, we even had to forsake
some of our own family. We even had to forsake those of our own kindred.
I know exactly what that's like, but sometimes, hey, you might have to lose your family
to gain a family.
And I feel like that's happened to me.
I have that testimony.
I'm sure others have it as well.
But I feel like I've lost a family, in a sense.
But you know what, I've gained a much better one anyway.
And you'll notice that when you make that sacrifice for God
and you do choose to forsake all for Jesus Christ,
some of those things that you sacrificed
end up getting replaced with something
a heck of a lot better.
And if I had to choose between those people that I forsook and my brothers and sisters in Christ,
let me tell you the the choice that I'm making every single time every single day of the week
It's the brethren because I love the brotherhood. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ
So I said in point one Rebecca's choice to marry Isaac pictures the free choice to believe on Christ and
Then kick the Calvinist dog a little
Point two, I said the raiment gifted to Rebekah
pictures the imputed righteousness of Christ.
I said in point three, Rebekah choosing Isaac,
pictures sight unseen faith in Christ.
I said in point four, the marriage of Rebekah and Isaac
pictures the marriage of the Lamb with the bride of Christ.
And we looked at Revelation 19 for a second there.
And then my fifth point, which is also an application,
I said Rebekah, going from Mesopotamia,
pictures forsaking all for Jesus Christ. And I would leave you with this. You say,
I didn't listen to anything you said. It all went over my head. I'm bored. Well, I hope
you at least listen to this part. Be like Rebecca.
If you didn't understand anything that I talked about in this sermon,
I hope you at least understand this, be like Rebecca.
And when you're faced with the same dilemma that she was faced with to choose,
will I go or will I stay?
Will I leave everything that is familiar to me?
Will I leave my family, my kindred behind to draw closer to Isaac?
Be like Rebecca and say, I will go to draw closer to Jesus.
Forsaking what may be familiar, what you might have known in the past, for Christ.
Doing it all for Jesus.
Deal with that dilemma the same way she did.
So we see Jesus here in this chapter, and I think we also see a powerful practical point for us to try to follow
the draw closer to Christ as Rebecca drew closer to Isaac.
Now, believe it or not, I actually could have said more, but looking at that clock back
there, I think it's a good time to stop.
So I'm going to go ahead and bow, let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Father in heaven, I just thank you, Lord God, for this chapter.
Your son Jesus as Rebecca did here with Isaac, but additionally I pray that you would help us to recognize Christ on every page
especially in the Old Testament where there are so many shadows and I
Pray Lord God that we if we're ever faced with the same dilemma that Rebecca was that we would make the same decision
She did which is I will go in Jesus name. I pray amen
All right, in closing, let's go to song number 364.
Song number 364, standing on the promises.
Song number 364, let's all sing it out together on that first.
Let us raise his name, glory in the highest high we'll shout and sing, standing on the promises of God.
Great singing, everybody. You were all dismissed.