Lord, you've placed me in this world of time and space and missiles heard. With eyes I've seen the ghetto bloom. With ears I've heard the sonic bloom. And men cry out for breathing bloom. I cannot wait, I cannot wait. Here is my life, I want to live it. Here is my life, I want to give it. Serving my fellow man, doing the will of God. Here is my life, here is my life, here is my love. I give my life to you, my time, my talents each day new. With faith to witness to your plan. With hope to gladly take my stand. And love to minister to man. I cannot wait, I cannot wait. Here is my life, I want to live it. Here is my life, I want to give it. Serving my fellow man, doing the will of God. Here is my life, here is my life, here is my life. In the strictest sense of the word, Christianity is not a religion. Religion is a record of man's attempt to seek God. Christianity is unique in that it is the only expression of the God -man relationship in which the very essence is God seeking man. God seeks man through the medium of Jesus Christ. And the book that tells us the love story of God's search for man, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, is the Bible. In this book, we find one central theme. It is a book about God's love for the world, revealed in his seeking of man through the person of Jesus Christ. Here in his love, not that we love each other, but that God loved us and gave himself for us. For greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. The Old Testament and the New Testament are both written over a period of about 1600 years by approximately 40 different people. Most of them did not know the others existed. They wrote on different subjects. They wrote in different languages. But yet the Spirit of God brought them together with an organic unity that is unparalleled in all of literature. It is the Jesus book. It is the book about Jesus Christ. Frankly, I find it very difficult to see how a Jew, or anyone else for that matter, can honestly and openly read the Old Testament and not see Jesus Christ. They believe that one day the Messiah would come. We believe that one day he did come. The only difference in our concept of the Messiah who has come into this world, Jesus Christ, is that we know his name. The people in the Old Testament did not. The Old Testament foreshadowed Jesus Christ. It was the preview of coming attractions. The New Testament was the main event. All through the pages of the Old Testament, we find types and symbols of our Lord. The Lamb, the Ark, the smitten rock, the angel of the Lord, the serpent lifted up in the wilderness that men looking to him might be saved by faith. Joshua, Isaiah, on and on, are all glimpses, types, shadows of Jesus Christ. Now you know that. But I think this morning that without question, the grandest picture of the love story that the gospel is, the most complete in all of the Old Testament, is the basis for our scripture and study this morning. It is also the first time that the entire Trinity come into play in their redemptive part of the scheme of the salvation of the world. In Genesis chapter 24, verse 1, the story begins. Now let me give you the main attraction before the preview and tell you who the characters are and whom they typify. It is simply the story of Abraham, the loving father, sending out his servant to seek out a bride for his son, Isaac. Now the application is an obvious one. The father symbolizes our heavenly father. The servant is symbolic of the Holy Spirit of God who cooperates with the father in bringing the bride to the son. The bride, Rebecca, is sought by the servant for the son, Jesus Christ. The Bible calls Christians many things. We have many names that our Lord gives to us. Now I know that it is very astute these days to make disparaging remarks about the old -fashioned words. And we have new words for everything. But frankly, I find it very difficult to accept the fact that words like Christian and power and gospel and saved and lost and church and converted can really be improved on. Now people argue that the world doesn't know what they mean. Well, I don't know that that means that we need to change the words or do a better job of communicating to the world what they do mean. If we don't do any better in the next 200 years than we did in the last 200, they won't know what our new words mean either. I don't know of any better word for the bride of Christ. And all who are saved are referred to in many ways. We are called the saved, the born again, the converted, the followers of the way, the Christian, the redeemed, the ransomed, the blood -bought, the church. We're called a hundred things. Now there are local New Testament churches, but our Lord is also forming a great body of believers, which will be intact and complete when Christ comes, referred to as the church, all saved people. And so the sinners who have been saved, and we are not perfect, we are all sinners, saved by his grace, are referred to as, among other things, the church, the bride of Christ. The words are synonymous and subject to interplay. So remember again, in this story, Abraham symbolizes the heavenly father, God. The servant cooperating with him is sent out the Holy Spirit to convict, to seek out, to call, to bring a bride to the son, Isaac, Jesus Christ. And we are one with him. As the husband and wife become one, so the child of God in faith in Christ is in unity with him. It is a perfect husband -wife relationship allegory. Consequently, Christians, the church, are called the bride of Christ. Now the story begins in chapter one, in Genesis, the 24th, verse one, in Genesis, the 24th chapter. And Abraham was old and well stricken in age. Now I encourage you more than any other day to keep your Bible at hand. Follow along as I read and keep it open. we shall go back verse by verse. Abraham was old and well stricken in age, and the Lord had pleased Abraham in all things. And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand 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 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, Peradventure, the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land. Must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest? 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 unto the thigh of Abraham, his master, as the custom was, and swear to him concerning the 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, this is his prayer, by the well of water. And the daughters of 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 the water, 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 heard, that thou hast showed kindness unto my master. And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that behold, Rebekah came out, who was born of Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abram's brother, with her pitcher up on 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 of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord. And she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave drink. And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. Now she takes the servant to her home, introduces him to her loved ones, where he recounts the story of his search. They discuss her going, and it is agreed that she shall go. And they sent away, verse 59, 59. 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, and followed the man. And the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. And Isaac came from the way of the well of Lehorai, 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 Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. And she had said unto the servant, 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 Rebekah, and she became his wife. And he loved her, and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. This grand Old Testament story, this great picture, the love story of God's love here in the book of Genesis, has hundreds of striking parallels. I shall point out a few of them for you. Number one, let's turn back now and start with verse number two. Verse number two, Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his, the eldest servant of his house, notice first that the concept of the seeking of the bride for the Savior is originated in the heart of the Father. It is the Father's idea. Man has yet to learn the lesson that every concept of religion boils down to but two, God seeking man or man seeking God. It is again, as always confirmed in the Word of God, that salvation is totally of the Lord. Number two, in the same verse, he says to the servant, put thy, pray thee, my hand under my thigh. This was a symbol, a custom of the day that two were in inseparable, undying agreement. The second great truth is that the Father and the Spirit cooperate with the Son, unhesitatingly, to bring a bride. There is absolute agreement as well as cooperation in the Trinity. What an important lesson and wonderful truth for us that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit have all shared and desired to bring us to Jesus Christ. well has it been said that it was the Father's idea that God thought it, the Spirit wrought it, Jesus bought it, and I've got it. Now, the third word is simply this, the bride is to be special. He says in verse number three, I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites. Now, these were unconverted people. They were heathen people who did not recognize and honor Jehovah God. He said, my bride is not to be just any bride. The Son will not have any kind of bride. She must be a pure, special, white, clean, holy bride. All through the word of God, whiteness and purity and sparkling cleanliness are symbolic of the bride, are used in reference to the bride of Jesus Christ. When we become Christians, the Bible says we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ, a royal priesthood, sons of the living God, bound for the promised land, citizens of another country, marching to the beat of a different drummer, listening to the instructions of a different master. Not just any person is to make up the bride of Jesus Christ. Now, that does not mean that the spiritual dragnet does not bring all kinds of us into the church, but once we are sons of God, we are to be pure and holy and dedicated and different and distinctly recognizable because of our difference to the world. Well, the next word is this. Look with me in verses number five. The servant said unto him, suppose the woman that I find will not come. Shall I then take the son down there to her? And he says in the sixth verse, see to it, beware, do not bring my son there again. The truth from this verse is simply this. The terms of the gospel are not to be compromised. He said, suppose she will not come. Shall we then take the son down to her? And he said, if she will not come up to him, she is not to be his bride. The church of the living God and the gospel that it preaches is not to compromise the terms of the invitation of the gospel of Christ. There are those who suggest that we change the words and change the approach and change the message and a thousand things. But he is saying to us, men will come to God. They will become the bride of Christ. They will receive him on his unalterable terms or they shall not come at all. On and on the story goes. Verse number eight. And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this oath. She must be willing to respond. God has so ordained that he never crosses the limitations of the dignity of the sovereignty of the individual. Unless you want to come to Christ, you are not to be brought against your constraint. He always honors the free will of the individual. And I think that we need to continually hold high the claims of Christ, that to enlist in his army does not merely mean a spurious Sunday morning relationship, but a constant fidelity and dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ. Unless you willingly come, the totality of your being, you are not to come at all. Verse 10, verse number 10, and the servant took 10 camels of the camels of his master and departed for all the goods of the master were in his hands. Now this does not mean that he took everything his father owned, but he took of everything his father owned. There were no possessions that were the father's that were not to be offered to the bride. Our Lord has nothing. He withholds nothing from us. He possesses nothing. He offers nothing that he does not give to the Christian. Grace, purity, power, peace. I shall preach on that subject tonight on the benevolence of a benevolent God, the goodness of a sharing God. And all that he does for us is a little wonder that our Lord has said through his servant that I have never seen nor ear heard, nor has it even entered into our hearts what God has prepared for us. For in him, Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And when I am in union with him, I am no beggar's son. I am no spiritual pauper. How well we sing amazing grace that saved a wretch like me. He goes on, all of the possessions of the father are given to the bride, to us, to the Christian. Now verse number 12, he said, the servant now is interceding. Oh Lord, my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me Godspeed. In other words, lead me. He is interceding, the spirit interceding with the father for the bride. Let me find the right one. Let me be led to her. Our Lord tells us in just the same way as the Trinitarian presence of almighty God in every area of our life is concerned with our welfare that the spirit groaneth with the father in our own stead in groanings that cannot be uttered. Is it any wonder that men cannot gainsay the claims of Christ that who shall lay anything to the elect, to the charge of God's elect? The father hath loved us, the spirit intercedes for us, and the spirit, and the son of God pleads his own blood in our defense, claiming, interceding for the bride. Now the 15th verse, and it came to pass before he had done speaking, and behold, Rebecca came out. Isn't that just like our Lord? He hadn't even finished praying. You see, our God is always quick to answer. He is always eager to answer the requests of the Christian. As much as you want healing and health and blessing, God wants it for you more. God interrupted his prayer. How many times have we had that experience, that we had longed and hoped and prayed for things, and before we had ever even done praying, our God in his goodness had moved to meet our need to meet our need and answer our prayer. Verse 16, the first part. And the damsel was fair to look upon. The bride of Christ is sweet. The bride of Christ is lovely. The bride of Christ is attractive. The disciples were called Christians because they were like Jesus. Behold how they love one another. Amazed the world in which they lived. What a pity that in far too many churches today, the world says of them, behold how they criticize one another. Behold how they pick on one another. Behold how they condemn one another. A critical tongue, a sharp word, must never fall from the lips of a child of God. If we speak ill, let it be of evil, but not of men who are the redeemed of God, not of the lost as well, only of the evil that is done. She is to be a lovely bride. I think when the church assembles on Sunday morning, there should always be a love, a Shekinah glory, a glow, a golden hue about the people of God that stir and warm the heart of the stranger who comes in that makes him sense the presence of God and want to be in a fellowship like that. The bride is to be pure and meek and sweet and lovely. The next word is this, verse number 19. And when she had done giving him drinks, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also. The bride is always happy to serve. It was indicative, it was characteristic of her personality that when asked to do one thing, she could not do something else quickly enough. Nobody had to tell her, nobody had to pump her up. She just wanted to serve. Every man among us that has the slightest testimony and a talent for the Lord ought to be lined up, wanting a place to teach, wanting a spot in the choir to sing, wanting to go the second mile. And when asked to make a visit for the Lord, to say, give me two and turn me loose. The bride of Christ is eager to serve. Well, the next word is this. Oh, how beautifully the love story continues. Verse 23. And he said, whose daughter art thou? Tell me, I pray thee, is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in? And the answer, of course, was an obvious yes. The bride of Christ has room for the son in her house. The Christian will have room for the son in his house, not just in the church, not just in his walk out there, but in his heart and in his home, in the whole house. The answer was this to the bride. Is there room in my house for you? Every day, the Spirit of God, the servant, asks us, is there room in your house for me? Is there in your daily affairs, in your personal life? It is characteristic of the bride that she has room for the servant, that the Spirit of God will have control of her life. Verse 25. They ask her to go. She said, moreover unto him, we have both straw and provender enough and room to lodge in. She said, come ahead on. Let's go. She was ready. She was quick to respond. Not a question. Not a moment's delay. Not a second of hesitation. Not an argument. Not a problem. He said, I will abide in the house. And she said, come on in. How many excuses, how many funny reasons do you suppose people give every day, every week for not serving our Lord? She was so quick to be about the master's business. When I was called from my former pastorate to come to this wonderful church, a very great thing happened. Ours was a very new and young church and needed a shepherd badly. And in answer to prayer, the very first man that the public committee went to hear, they called the next week. And when he left to become pastor from Kansas City, the very same thing happened. The Kansas City public committee went to see a man in Missouri and they called him the first one that they saw the very first Sunday. And when he left to go up there, the same thing happened in his church, all three in a row, which inspired Brother Draper, my successor, to preach a sermon called, God is in a Hurry. Now I like that. I believe as we close out the end of the age, as the end of the world and the coming of Christ bear down on us, I believe that our God is going to be in a hurry, that he's cutting across corners, that he's anxious to do what he wants to do. You explain to me one other reason why Amazing Grace is climbing to number one on the rock and roll hit parade, because God is moving fast. And oh, somebody said to me, preacher, another revival already? Yes. And another one in the spring and in the fall, bless God. He's in a hurry. He's in a hurry. Multitudes, multitudes without Christ. And I believe there must be a constant urgency about the work of the Lord. She could not get up fast enough and go do his will. Church, never drag your feet. Always be ready to respond. She could not move quickly enough. Verse 28, and the damsel ran and told them of these things. She was excited. A young lady cornered me after church last night and said, it's all emotionalism. I mean, last Sunday night. I said, what's all emotionalism? She said, the service, the singing, the choir number, you're preaching everything. She said, you're just so excited. I said, that is very true. I wouldn't say it's all emotionalism, but I'm very excited. I cannot for the life of me understand how a man can be in work, be involved in the work of bringing men to Jesus and not get excited about it. I make a New Testament church ought to be excited. It ought to be enthusiastic and pulsate and vibrate with warmth and life when men come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verses 29 through 49, he meets Laban. Someone else is called into the play, into play, her brother and observer and the rest of the family. Now, what happens? For 20 verses, the spirit of God records that he recounts the story to them that he had just told to her. And what does she do? Does she go off and pout in one corner? Does she put her head in the sand? No. I believe she just stands there beaming and grinning, enjoying, hear it again. Listen, the church never tires of hearing the old, old story. Never tires of hearing it again. John 3, 16 and Romans 10, 13 and 8, 28. Never, never, but never grow old. I challenge you to get Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope and Woody Allen and every entertainer in the country and you take a crowd of a thousand people and lock them in a church, lock them in an auditorium and turn the entertainers loose on them for six months, every night, day and night, week after week. The end of six months, the people will be stark raving mad. Let us out. They'll be going crazy. But you take the same group of people redeemed of the grace of God, put them in the same church, throw away the key, give them the word of God week after week, month after month. The end of six months, they'll be clamoring, go on, go on. Tell us anew the story of grace. The bride of Christ never tires of hearing the story again. Oh, how wonderful it is. Now to verse number 50. Very, very quickly. Verse number 50. Now Laban, representing the outsider, the world, Laban, her brother, and Bethuel answered and said, after they heard the story, this thing, the thing proceedeth from the Lord. We cannot speak unto the bad or good. We cannot gainsay it. We cannot put it down. It's of God. I suggest to you that the world usually knows the real McCoy when they see it. This thing is of God. Every once in a while, I read something in the paper about some preacher criticizing the church and criticizing preaching. And I just get all woe be gone. And I think, oh, tomorrow morning, everybody will believe him and my church will be empty and no one will come. But you know, that's not true. The crowds grow. The enthusiasm continues. People are still saved. Most people still know the real McCoy when they see it. Now let's go on. In verse number 53. Verse number 53. 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 her mother precious things. Gifts bestowed by the servant on the bride benefit the world. This is a better world because of the Christians that are in it. What God does for us overflows and benefits the world. Sometimes a woman will say to me, oh, I don't want my husband to be an alcoholic. And he drinks and they want him saved. And oh, they don't want him like that. And then he'll be saved. You know, go to church and he'll really get in it. And he'll start to tithe and go to prayer meeting. And some of them will gripe. Well, I didn't want him to do all that. I don't want him to go overboard. You see. And with one hand, we fight dope in the schools. and we fight God in the schools, and on the other hand, we pass laws and initiate programs to pick up the problems that leaving God out of the schools have caused. We don't know what we want. We don't want religion, but we do want the benefits of religion. We don't want what the Lord does. We don't want it all religious. Now we turn around and try to solve the problems that not having the Lord have caused. How funny is our society. When a man is a man of God in a school, in a home, in a society, he will benefit every area of the way of life of that society which he touches. Well, I must come to a quick conclusion. Verse 55. Verse number 55. Her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days. The world doesn't give up easily on its own. The world doesn't turn loose of its own easily. Strange about life. We want our kids not to take dope, and not to have sex, and not to steal, and not to be rebellious, but yet we want to hang on to them when it comes to God. We don't want them to be too religious. We don't want them to be too spiritual. We don't want them to go to church too much, and love the Lord too much. Here is a great illustration that the world doesn't want to let go of its own. Now in the very same verse, she says, Let her wait a few days, at least 10. Delay is always the world's excuse for keeping its own. Always tomorrow. Tomorrow. We'll do better tomorrow. Let them go to church tomorrow. When do we get out of school? Let them be saved next year. But God's time, the next thought is this. God's time is always today. The servant said unto them in verse 56, Hinder me not. No, sir. I will not do it. The Lord hath prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master. God does not compromise with delay. His day is always today. His time is always now. Verse 58. Verse 58. They called Rebekah and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? Wilt thou go with this man? The ultimate decision was hers, and it is yours. And she said, I will go. And wise men still seek Jesus. She didn't know Isaac. Probably had never heard of Isaac. I suggest to you that she responded in faith. The Bible says, as loving him whom we have not seen. We've never seen Jesus, but we love him. We've responded to him in faith. And the only way you can respond to him is in faith. Now listen, the 63rd verse so beautifully says, And Isaac went out to meditate at the field of the eventide, and he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, the camels were coming. The Savior is always waiting. He's always looking for the bride to come. That's why we sing every Sunday, the Savior is waiting to enter your heart. The 64th verse says, And when she saw him, she leapt down and ran. The bride is always eager to see the Son. The church always wants to see the Son. That's why more than any other doctrine of the New Testament, the Bible says he's coming again. That's why we sing praise God he is coming again, because we're excitedly looking forward to seeing the Son. Another word. When she saw him, she hid her face. She was meek as a sign of her meekness and holiness and purity. The church is always to be meek and sweet and pure and humble. And verse 66, Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent and took her back, and she became his wife, and he loved her. The church goes on a long, long honeymoon with the Son, and it never ends. It never ends. Does it not quicken your heart? Does it not stir something inside of you to realize that we are being born by the Spirit closer and closer to Christ? That the Son is waiting for us? That he's eager for us? And that one glad day when the rapture takes place, and we're caught up to meet him in the air, it should be the one motivating factor that makes us pure, that makes us excited to see him, that makes us want to be white and right and holy, that makes us want to be responsive and meet him. Oh, the story comes to a tingling climax as she sees him, and he sees her, and they come together into oneness and love each other and live together forever. That's what our God is doing. The bride is just about to see the Son face to face. Praise the Lord, the coming of Christ is near. Soon the trump of God shall sound, and our Son, the Messiah, the Savior, shall come from heaven, and we shall be caught up, and that ought to tingle us and thrill us and excite us and motivate us how soon the glad love story will come to its grand conclusion for each one of us let's stand and pray together dear father we thank thee for jesus our soon coming savior who has loved us and called us and sought us by the holy spirit to come to be a bride a wonderful bride for the son thank thee dear lord that we shall be united with him help us to be in a hurry to be pure to be white to be loving to be sweet to be modest to be humble to be holy to be eager to be expectant and all that you would have us do as we approach thy coming in the master's name amen what a wonderful thought it is how soon the wedding is to be how grand the ceremony how endless the honeymoon oh listen the love story that began on the cross two thousand years ago is fast moving to its great conclusion and you and i may be around to see the end of it oh what a day what a day united with jesus one with the lord i don't know about you but i cannot stand here on two feet and say it i almost come loose if i weren't nailed down i think i'd come up listen to me the most wonderful love story of all is this one this one and you're in on it you're the object you're the bride he's the groom as a christian today ought you to join his church ought you to commit your life to him anew without the lord ought you not to receive him as your savior to come and say oh lord jesus thou who has sought and waited and loved me i want to come to thee and now come as we sing the invitation