Well, you can turn to Genesis 24, that's where our Old Testament scripture reading will be from today. We continue our sermon series in Genesis. Last week in chapter 23, which was about bereavement, I reminded you of how Abraham is set forth to us as someone that covenant love does encircle, steadfast covenant love. We see him as a man of God, responding to God and we see God leading him along. We see God chasing him sometimes when he's not responding as he should to God. And lately we've been seeing him responding to God and enjoying the blessing of walking with God very, very much. And this week we come to another very common situation in life that all of God's people have, the matter of finding a spouse. And it involves both parents and children as parents help their children to find a suitable spouse. And as we go, if we're not married, go looking for one. So finding a suitable spouse is a matter of extreme importance for God's people. Because you're setting something that is going to Be a permanent thing in your life for the future. Our entire life is to be lived for Jesus Christ. And marriage, therefore, is something that definitely ought to be done for God's glory. Both parents and children need to work together at finding someone that will enable a son or daughter to serve God in His Kingdom, that will facilitate that and not hinder that. For Abraham, this was definitely a matter of supreme importance, because God had promised to him that through his seed, through his children, that the kingdom of God would come, and that the Messiah would come who would redeem all the world, that the salvation of everyone was bound up in his descendants. And so, he had this one son through whom that offspring was then to come in future generations. And he knew, in this case, we don't always know whether it will be God's will for us to get married or not, but he knew absolutely that it was God's will for Isaac to get married and have children, that it had to happen. And so he comes at this matter looking at it with great importance, this sense that Isaac must marry and bring forth a godly seed. We see how then in our text, how Abraham and his household take this to heart. God's promises are bound up, you see, in this son, Isaac, and who he marries. But we should also take this matter to heart in our households, because we're not destined to bring forth the Messiah, of course. He's already come, hasn't he? Jesus came 2,000 years ago. But has God not called us to advance His kingdom through our households? Has He not promised us that He will bless us and our children? And so we should be looking toward the kingdom of God as we marry with wanting to marry someone that will advance the kingdom. whether or not God blesses us with children or not. We may not be able to have children, but we can serve Him in His kingdom with a person that is suited to that, the right sort of spouse. It's easy to get the wrong focus in looking for a spouse. But what matters more than anything is to marry someone that will help you in serving God. And if you can serve God without being married, then that's a fine thing too. But the goal is the service of God. And you see, if you set out with this aim, that you want to advance God's kingdom through whatever you do, whether it's to marry or not marry, then you're gonna be blessed. God will help you if you set out to advance his kingdom. If you set out for something else, as marriage is an end in itself, then that's not going to bring God's blessing. So please give me your attention now as I read to you from Genesis 24, because here we have the word of God given to us and guidance for us about this whole matter of finding a suitable spouse if we are an heir of God's kingdom. This is a very long section, so follow carefully as I read to you. It is the word of God. Very, very wonderful story. Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, please put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell. But you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac. And the servant said to him, perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came? But Abraham said to him, beware that you do not take my son back there. the Lord God of heaven who took me from my father's house and from the land of my family and who spoke to me and swore to me saying, to your descendants I give this land. He will send his angel before you and you shall take a wife for my son from there. And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from this oath. Only do not take my son back there. So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter. Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and departed, for all his master's goods were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water. Then he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, Please give me success this day and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, please let down your pitcher that I may drink, and she says, drink, and I will also give your camels a drink. Let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. And by this, I will know that you have shown kindness to my master." And it happened, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her picture on her shoulder. Now, the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin. No man had known her. And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her and said, please, let me drink a little water from your pitcher. So she said, drink, my lord. Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand and gave him a drink. And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, I will draw water for your camels also until they have finished drinking. Then she quickly emptied the pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. And the man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not. So it was when the camels had finished drinking that the man took a golden nose ring weighing half a shekel and two bracelets for her wrist weighing 10 shekels of gold and said, whose daughter are you? Tell me please, is there room in your father's house for us to lodge? So she said to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah's son, whom she bore to Nahor. Moreover, she said to him, we have both straw and feed enough and room to lodge. Then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord. And he said, blessed be the Lord God of my master, Abraham, who has not forsaken his mercy and his truth toward my master. As for me being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren. So the young woman ran and told her mother's household these things. Now, Rebecca had a brother whose name was Laban. And Laban ran out to the man by the well. So it came to pass, when he saw the nose ring and the bracelets on his sister's wrist, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah saying, Thus the man spoke to me that he went to the man, and there he stood by the camels at the well. And he said, come in, O blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house and a place for the camels. Then the man came to the house, and he unloaded the camels and provided straw and feed for the camels and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. Food was set before him to eat, but he said, I will not eat until I have told about my errand." And he said, speak on. So he said, I am Abraham's servant. The Lord has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great. And he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. And Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to my master when she was old. And to him he has given all that he has. Now my master made me swear, saying, You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell, but you shall go to my father's house and to my family and take a wife for my son. And I said to my master, Perhaps the woman will not follow me. But he said to me, The Lord before whom I walk, I will send will the Lord before whom I walk will send his angel with you and prosper your way. And you shall take a wife from my son, from my family and from my father's house. You will be clear from this oath when you arrive among my family, for if they will not give her to you, then you will be released from my oath. And this day I came to the well and said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, if you will now prosper the way in which I go. Behold, I stand by the well of water and it shall come to pass that when the virgin comes out to draw water and I say to her, please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink. And she says to me, drink and I will draw for your camels also. Let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master's son. But before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebecca coming out with her pitcher on her shoulder. And she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her, please let me drink. And she made haste and let her pitcher down from her shoulder and said, drink and I will give your camels a drink also. So I drank and she gave the camels a drink also. Then I asked her and said, whose daughter are you? And she said, the daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milka bore to him. So I put the nose ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrist, and I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the way of truth to take the daughter of my master's brother for his son. 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 hand or to the left.' Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing comes from the Lord. We cannot speak to you either bad or good. Here is Rebekah before you. Take her and go and let her be your master's son's wife, as the Lord has spoken. And it came to pass when Abraham's servant heard their words, that he worshiped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth. Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. And he also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. And he and the men who were with him ate and drank and stayed all night. Then they arose in the morning, and he said, Send me away to my master. But her brother and her mother said, Let the young woman stay with us a few days, at least ten. After that she may go. And he said to them, Do not hinder me, since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away, so that I may go to my master. So they said, We will call the young woman and ask her personally. So they called Rebekah and said to her, Will you go with this man? And she said, I will go. So they sent away Rebekah, their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, O sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and may your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them. Then Rebekah and her maids arose, and they rode on the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed. Now Isaac came from the way of Bir Lehiroi, For he dwelt in the south. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening. And he lifted his eyes and looked. And there the camels were coming. Then Rebekah lifted her eyes. And when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from her camel. For she had said to the servant, Who is this man walking in the field to meet us? The servant said, It is my master. So she took a veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into his mother's tent, and he took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. And may the Lord bless the reading of His holy word to us this morning. You can see here the firm resolve on the part of Abraham and his household to find a spouse for the glory of God and for the furtherance of God's kingdom. Abraham is getting very old and of course his wife has just died and Isaac is already 40 years old and Abraham is very concerned that Isaac would find a suitable wife for the kingdom. He knows how detrimental it will be to Isaac and the future kingdom if care is not exercised in this important matter. And so he calls his chief servant, his right-hand man, and he charges him to go and find a wife for Isaac, binding him with a solemn oath to follow his directives. Abraham clearly sets forth two firm rules by which the servants proceed. First, that Isaac under no circumstances is to take a wife from the Canaanites. God had sent Abraham to live among these people, among the Canaanites, so it might have been seen as very natural for him to just find a wife among some Canaanite girl that he could marry, a nice Canaanite girl that lived in the area. But Abraham had been told that the Canaanites were cursed. In fact, that goes all the way back to just after Noah, after the flood, when Noah was still alive, that Canaan was cursed. And Abraham knew this, and Abraham had been told this specifically. They were involved already in wickedness and idolatry. And Abraham did not want to mingle his offspring that was to be blessed with the Canaanites who were to be cursed. For us, there is essentially the same rule, namely, as the Apostle Paul puts it, that we are to marry only in the Lord. In other words, every household ought to lay it down as an unviable principle that the children of that household will only marry a faithful Christian spouse. Those who don't do this bring great sorrow on themselves. They have a divided household, And often the children in those divided households rebel against their parents. This is seen again and again with Israel's kings, where many of them took unbelieving wives. And then they had unbelieving children that caused great trouble in Israel. And besides, how can you possibly walk together if the very core of your allegiance is different? This is such a serious matter that really it calls into question your relationship with Christ if you don't care about this matter. If you just assume Mary is someone who is a believer or someone who is not. then that draws the question, do you really know Christ yourself? How could you be interested in someone who is not serving the Lord Jesus Christ? It's a direct violation of His commandment. And in fact, if anyone is among us to marry someone who is not a believer, then we would have to remove that person by church discipline. because they have clearly gone contrary to what God has commanded. So this is the first thing that Abraham insists upon. Not one of the Canaanites. Second, he insists that Isaac must not be removed from the promised land in order to marry. Abraham had been expressly called, he and his descendants, to come to this land. And he was called to a life there of wandering and of dwelling in tents. Now, we don't have that kind of revelation to us today, specifically that we're to go to this place or that place, but he had been told that this land, directly by God, that this land was to be given to his offspring and over a hundred, over 400 years that first they would go to Egypt and then that this land would be given to them. And so prior to that time, Abraham and his immediate descendants were to live in this land and to dwell among the Canaanites, but not to mingle them. with them. God's promise to be God to Abraham and his seed was tied to the land. Because you see, God was going to establish them there as His people, and there in that land, He was going to reveal Himself to them, make Himself known to them. This meant that the woman must be willing to leave her homeland and come to the land that God had promised to Abraham and Isaac. She would have to leave her household and her family and be content to live a life of wandering and living in tents. Now no woman would want to do that unless she saw this is God's call upon the man that she was with and God's call upon her life. There is a parallel for us in this as well. Namely, that a woman must be willing to submit to her husband in attending a faithful church and in serving Christ with him. The promised land was the place where God had promised to reveal Himself to His people. And today, it is in faithful churches where the Word of God is preached that God reveals Himself to us through the means of grace. A true church can be identified by the faithful preaching and exposition of the Word. by the proper administration of the sacraments, and by the exercise of church discipline, where people are held accountable to the things of the Lord. And if these marks are not present in a suitor's church, then a young woman should reject his proposals unless he is willing to change. And if, on the other hand, the young woman's church is missing these marks, a young man should not propose to her unless she is willing to change and follow Him. See, his house should be so much about serving the Lord that her going to marry him is, in essence, going to serve the Lord with him. If that's not what his relationship with God is about, then there's something wrong with his relationship with God. It's a call to serve God with this man. So these are the two firm rules that Abraham lays down for Isaac. And it's clear that his whole household is on board with this plan. They're united in this purpose. Abraham, of course, leads the way as the head of the home. He's the one that expresses these principles so clearly, that insists on these rules, has his servants swear to maintain them as he goes seeking a wife for Isaac. So fathers are responsible to rule their houses to the glory of God. And the matter of finding a spouse is not to be left up to the children's discretion alone. Parental involvement has been given a bad name in our day. Because in all the stories that we read and all the movies and everything, it's always presented as, you know, this selfish, controlling father that's trying to control his children. And it is often that way when this is done. It is often a selfish, arrogant man that's trying to run things in the wrong way. But for a Christian household, it can be the very opposite. It can be a father engaging himself and his wisdom of years in helping his son or his daughter to make one of the most important decisions that they'll ever make in their life. It can be a united purpose where you're working together. I remember my daughter Elizabeth, this was so encouraging to me at one point, giving me a big hug when we were responding to various men that came along, various suitors that came along, and telling me how much she loved me and how She was so glad that she didn't have to make this decision all by herself. That we could do it together. That was a great encouragement. And that's the kind of relationship you want to have. Not where you as a father say, no, no, no, you can't do that. And she said, well, I don't want to do that. And I'm not going to listen to you. And going on like that. No. It's a united purpose that the household has together. Isaac is obviously in full agreement with his father about this matter. Here he is 40 years old and he's not been with any of the daughters of the Canaanites. He's been living there among all these women and he's not taken any of those as his wife the way Esau later will do when Esau takes one of the women of the land. But Isaac had patiently waited and we see him in this whole matter submitting to his father and taking a wife from among his father's people. children of the covenant I would say to you you will get a lot more help from your parents in this matter if you show yourself to be willing to listen to your father if you let them know that you want their help you want your parents help if you make that clear to them then it'll make it much easier for them to give you that help if they're having to fight and wrestle with you then you're not going to get nearly as much help with from them because it's just not going to be very pleasant for them to have to do that. So remember that. It will be a blessing to you in this very important decision. It's going to affect your whole life. And your parents can see things that you might not be able to see. They can sometimes see them very clearly and see what the outcome will be. And then you don't get yourself in some disastrous situation. You can see that the servant is also fully in accord with the household of Abraham in this matter. He is a servant, Abraham's servant. He's totally a part of this whole process. He's one of the most godly examples that we find in the scriptures. He is such a trusted agent that both Abraham and Isaac are willing to leave this matter to him. Go and find a wife for Isaac. And they trust this guy so much that they're willing to leave it in his hands. And we see from the outset that he shows himself to be quite worthy of that trust. First, in that he is very careful. We see him as he takes this oath before Abraham. He wants to make sure that he's not taking a rash oath. And he says, wait a minute. What if the woman won't come back with me? You're binding me to this. What do I do then? Do I take Isaac there? What do I do? And Abraham says, no, no, no. You're free from the oath if the woman won't come with you. If you can't find a woman from my family that will come back with you, then you're free from the oath. He releases him. So you see he's very conscientious. And secondly, we'll see as the servant goes along, we're going to look at this much more later on, how he earnestly, faithfully, wisely, and prayerfully carries out his task. This servant, he is so committed to being a blessing to Isaac and to Abraham and doing what is good concerning them. You can see this all the way through. His whole heart is engaged with, man, I want to be a blessing to this family. I want to do this right. I want to make the best choice that I can possibly make for them. He's not a guy that's just a hireling that's going along saying, well, I've got to go and do this. No, this guy is totally engaged in the whole process. He too is a member of God's kingdom. He knows that God's blessing is tied up in Abraham's household and the Messiah is to come through him. He's part of the gospel here. Now we're going to look more at how he faithfully carries out this task in just a moment. But you see that Abraham's household is committed to finding a spouse for Isaac who will advance the purposes of God in bringing God's promised kingdom. But there is also something else that is exemplary in the matter that clearly pertains to every household that is seeking a godly spouse for their offspring. There is a firm trust in the Lord that he will give them success. Look at Abraham here. He expresses his confidence that God will provide. When the servant asked Abraham that question I mentioned before, what if one won't come with me? What do I do then? Abraham indulges him and he says, okay, you're free from the oath. But listen, that's not going to be a problem. Because God's going to provide someone. So that's not even going to happen. But if it does happen, sure, you don't have to worry about it. You see, Abraham beautifully confesses his firm assurance in this. This is the man, this man that had such faith that he'd come to the point where he was willing to, at God's command, offer his son as a burnt offering because he believed that God was able to raise him up again. And so he's sure, like, look, Isaac has to find a wife, can't be a wife from around here. This is going to happen. God's going to make this happen because of his promises. Look at his confession in verse 7. It's wonderful. He says, The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, To your descendants I give this land. That was the covenant promise. He will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. He's very sure that as God has called him to Canaan, and also promised him offspring through Isaac that God will provide a wife for this purpose. He adds in verse 8 that under no circumstances may the rules that he has set down be violated. And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from the oath. Look at the emphasis. Only do not take my son back there. Under no circumstances are you to deviate from those rules that I have set down, because if you do, God is not in that. When your goal is not marriage for its own sake, but marriage for the glory of God and His kingdom, you can be certain of God's help. Your trust will be seen in leaving the matter in God's hand and refusing to compromise even if you have to wait a long, long time. And I might add, even if you never find a suitable spouse in your case, because you don't necessarily have a promise that you will. You see, Abraham knew that it was absolutely God's will for Isaac to marry, but you do not know that in the case of yourself or of your son or daughter. Leaving the matter in God's hand means not only waiting for the right kind of person, but also leaving it to God if perhaps you are not to marry at all. You can't know for certain what God's will is in this matter. But what you can know is that if you commit your whole way to God and you say, Lord, my purpose is to do what pleases You and to honor You in my marriage or my not marriage, then God will be pleased to answer that prayer. He will bless you in that. You see, that has to come first. The answer to your prayers will not necessarily be that you will find a spouse. but that whatever happens, God will bring honor to His name. Well, now let's look, as I told you we would, at how the servant faithfully carries out the task of finding a wife for Isaac, because there's a lot for us to learn here. Excellent example of how a household, how a family should operate in the pursuit of a godly spouse for their son or daughter. See how the matter of finding a wife for Isaac is faithfully pursued by labor, prayer, and prudence or wisdom. First, labor is expended to find someone suitable. The servant is set on a journey to find a wife for Isaac. Now this was a huge matter. He had to travel a great distance. at great expense, a lot of time. He took ten camels with him along with a company of servants. What was all that for? Well, if you were wealthy, then you would be taking gifts to the bride's family when you went to get her, to take her. And you would also be in need to provide transportation to come back. So this was like a fleet of limos that he was taking. And she was going to come back with her servants, and they were all going to be on these camels riding back from the land. That was why he took 10 camels with him. And so this was no little task. This is a big job. It would have been much easier. Aren't there some girls around here that Isaac can marry? But you see, he goes on this trip because of the commitment that Abraham's house had in this matter. And we've already seen how diligent and earnest the servant is along the way in the whole process. He's committed to God, to God's covenant, to his master, to his master's son. And therefore, he takes this journey and he applies his whole being to the task before him. And we need to see in this that trusting the Lord does not mean sitting around and waiting passively. Young people ought, first of all, To prepare themselves toward a godly marriage. Learning the skills that are appropriate to that. Learning to be diligent. The character that you need. Learning to be faithful in serving others. Submissive to authority. Self-controlled. Responsible. Wise in following God's ways. Just in learning how to get along. All of these things. Men need to equip themselves to provide for their families. And women particularly. You need to learn skills that will help them in rearing their children and training them up and being a blessing in their home. And then once you have prepared yourself, then you need to get out there and find a suitable spouse. There are many ways to do this. Spending time with other families that have young people, going to conferences where you can meet people, letting people know that you're looking, using the internet. There's all kinds of different ways. But the point is that it's no lack of faith to take action. Faith doesn't sit around and say, well, you know, I need to get a job, but maybe God will call me, somebody will call me today and offer me a job. No, if you trust God, you go out and you look for a job, praying as you go. And it's the same thing with a spouse. Well, that's the next point. That labor must be coupled with prayer. It's practical atheism to pursue a spouse without fervent prayer. This is not something you want to do without God's help. As we've seen, it's a very important decision. It's going to affect your happiness and your holiness for many, many years to come. You need to think about that. Now, if you're a parent or as one who is seeking marriage, either one, and you're not faithfully praying about this matter, then it shows that your priority about relationships is not right. Now, even if you've got little tiny children, you should be praying for their future spouse now. See, you're interested in this, looking for this. You need to repent and start praying if you're not doing that now. And you have to greatly admire Abraham's servant in this regard. He prays every step of the way. You have to love the familiarity that this man has with the Lord. You just love the way this servant acts, you know, his godliness and his piety. Look at verse 12. See, he comes along, he gets to the land and it says, Then he said, he gets to Haran, he says, then he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day and show kindness to my master. See how committed he is to Abraham? Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, Please let down your pitcher that I may drink. And she says, Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink. Let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master." Isn't that great? And then God answers this godly man, and he very naturally then breaks out and prays to God. It's just who he is. As soon as God answers, then immediately he's talking to God about it. Look at verse 26. Then the man bowed down his head and worshipped the Lord, and he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his mercy and his truth toward my master. The covenant love of God, the steadfast covenant love surrounds everyone whose trust is in the Lord. And he's saying, that's what it is with my master Abraham. He says, as for me being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren. Brought me right to the people, first people that I met, first people that I talked to in this place. This is God's doing. This is the pattern of this man's life. He prays for help before the event, and then he gives thanks after the event, because he knows that it's all in God's hands. Tremendous example. And note that in addition to labor and prayer, This man also exercises wisdom and prudence. Now, there's this whole matter of the test that he sets up that we just read about. You know, this young woman, have her offer to water my camels if she's the one. What a brilliant test he sets up here. I mean, the woman that would marry his master needed to be a woman who is a gracious, willing servant. And you see, Isaac might not have thought about that. The servant had already seen that she was beautiful. But if Isaac had gone, he might have said, whoa, she's beautiful. But this servant is, I'm going to check something out here. You see, any woman that would not only share her water with a travel-weary servant that she didn't know, but would also offer to get water for his camels, would be that kind of woman. A character test is going on here. Now he's giving a test before the Lord too, asking God to guide him. But camels can drink 25 or 30 gallons of water at one time. And there were 10 camels. And so we're talking 250 potentially to 300 gallons of water. Now, we don't know if these camels were on empty. They might have only been half empty. But whatever the case, these guys could drink lots and lots of water. And she doesn't know that when she says, I'll draw for your camels until they finish drinking also. This was not a little task. They had water jugs that carried about three gallons. If you do the math with that, that's about 25 pounds of water plus the weight of the pot. And if you do the math again, if there's 300 gallons, then we're talking about 100 trips back and forth, down to the well, back up with the water, down to the well, back up with the water, until all the camels had finished drinking. And this was kind of an amazing thing. No wonder that Abraham and Isaac were confident to send this man to find a wife for Isaac. This guy knew what he was doing. And he applies great wisdom in finding the right woman. And she's beautiful too. He already noticed that. And that was easy to see right away. Everybody thought that Rebecca was beautiful. But prudence needs to be exercised in finding a suitable spouse. There are many things that you can do to help discover a person's character. One of the first things that I always would ask any of the young men that ever called for my daughters was, I would ask if I could have a chat with their pastor. A lot of the ones we were contacting Live Far Away and we didn't know them. So I would ask them, can I talk to your pastor? And that was often very, very revealing. I remember one time when I asked that and there was a young man that said, Well, he said, OK. And then the next morning, I had an email from him. And it said, you know, when you talk to my pastor, he'll probably tell you something that I didn't tell you. Oh, is that right? I wrote back to him. I said, well, let's have a chat about that before I call him. And so I did. And I didn't need to call his pastor after that. But you see, that was a way of testing and finding out what this guy was all about. And that's the kind of thing that we need to do. And it's also a very wise thing to do too. And by the way, this can be informative and instructive to you if you're someone who is looking to get married in the near future. Look and see how does the young man or the young woman treat their mother or their father. The way that you see, if there's some girl that you're interested in, the way she treats her father, will be the way that she treats you down the road, almost every time. Oh, no, no, she doesn't treat me like that at all. Well, of course she doesn't now. But wait till you get married. Her character will go with her. And that character is expressed in the people that she has established relationships with now. And that character will be seen in her relationships that she has now. Same thing applies in the other way. with the young man. How does he treat his mother? That's pretty well what you can count on is the way that he's going to treat you. Now I say pretty well, there's sometimes there's reasons that things are not like that. Sometimes a person can change, all of those things. But we need to see that. A person takes their character with them. How do they behave at work? That's how they're going to behave at home. You see, and if everybody, they're always saying, oh, everybody's always mistreating me at work, and everybody's always, well, you're gonna get the same thing when you're at home later on. Right now it's all great, but it's not going to be that way in the future. Your character, whether good or bad, you take with you wherever you go. The point is, you need all the wisdom that you can get so that you can make a wise decision about a potential spouse. Again, it's no wonder that Isaac and Abraham trusted this servant, because this guy really knew what he was doing. Committed diligence, honest prayer, and practical wisdom were his attributes. And that is just what you need in seeking a faithful spouse. And now I want you to see how the Lord blesses those who seek to do things for his kingdom. First, that the Lord guides the servant to the right person in his providence. In this case, God brings him to her or her to him all at once. What a great story it is. As soon as the servant gets to Haran, he prays as we have seen. And even while he is yet speaking, then Rebekah comes along. And right away he sees that she's very suitable. She's beautiful. She's a virgin. She was a chaste woman that had not been running around with all the men that came along. Verse 16, Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin, no man had known her. And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up. And then she proves to be gracious and kind to strangers as we saw he tested her. And look at how this is phrased here in verse 17 through 20. It says, the servant ran to meet her and said, please let me drink a little water from your pitcher. So he's doing his test here. And so she said, drink my Lord. Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand. gave him a drink and when she had finished giving him a drink she said I will draw water for your camels also until they have finished drinking then she quickly emptied the pitcher into the trough ran back to the well to draw water and drew for his camels. She ran back to the well. Notice how she does this. And the servant is spellbound. I mean, wouldn't you have been? You know, you would expect her to say, she's looking at all the camels and say, maybe I can get a little bit for your camels too, you know. But she's taken off. And the man wondering at her, it says in verse 21, remained silent so as to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not. He still didn't know you know, who she was, where she was from. But when he checks, then he learns that she's the granddaughter of Nahor, Abraham's brother, and his wife, Nahor's wife, Milka. And after giving her some precious gifts for helping him, he finds this out and he goes for hospitality. He receives an offer of hospitality. What a display though, of God's providence. God brought these two together. They were seeking for someone that could honor God with Isaac, and God brought this about. You see, it is God who brings things together in this way. That's what we call providence. God works all things after the counsel of His own will. He's sovereign. But I can assure you that it does not always happen this easily. You shouldn't expect that you'll go out in the first person just like that will be the right one. This is a special case. Remember, Isaac's 40 years old. The servant's made a long journey. The field is very, very narrow because the servant has to find a girl that is from Abraham's household. I mean, he had a pretty big family there, but still. had to be from that household and she had to be willing to leave home and go wandering around in tents in a land that she didn't know, just like Abraham had been called to do originally. I think one of the reasons that God answered the servant's prayer so decisively and so obviously was for the sake of the young woman and her family. Because this young woman and her family, they knew about Abraham. They knew that Abraham had been called by God and that he had left because of God's call to go out into the land of Canaan. There were no doubt stories around their dinner table. Rebecca probably had kind of an awe and admiration for this great uncle, this mysterious guy that she had never met and heard about that was called by God and he left and went out. You know, wow, this is kind of unreal, this is kind of amazing. And now here she is talking to his servant and being proposed marriage. And she and her family needed to see clearly that God was calling her, just as He had called Abraham to leave her homeland and go out for the sake of God's kingdom. They needed to see that. And so God worked out the whole situation so that this immediate answer was given with these clear indications that she was called by the Lord. So the application is not that if you trust God and truly look to honor Him in your selection of a spouse, everything's going to come together all at once for you, just like that, in a clear, magical way. It's rather that if you seek to honor Him in the process of finding a spouse, He will work out what needs to be worked out in your situation. to bring you to a godly person that you can share your life with. You don't know who that will be. And it may be that God will lead you to someone, and you will become engaged to that person, and they will be someone that would be suited for you to serve God with, and they may die in a car accident before you get married. And that will be for God's kingdom too, if God does that. You see, whatever God has for you is what you need to seek. And you need to put it all in His hands. It may be that there will not be anyone for you. But you put this in God's hand and put His kingdom first. That is the goal that I am here for God. I am here to honor God. And He will bless you in whatever He does. And now there is some tension in the story. Everything has fallen beautifully into place, but now... the decisive moment, what will this woman's family say to this call? I mean, this family, you know, they were not as much into idolatry as the Canaanites were, but they were people that worshiped idols, too. There was kind of a mix of good and bad. They were sort of godly people that sort of feared the Lord, but in other ways, they really didn't. So what's going to happen here? There's tension here in this story, again. Well, we see next that the Lord moves Rebekah and her family. to let her go and be Isaac's wife. Her parents see the hand of God and they do not wish to stand in the way, or I should say her family does. Rebecca runs home to tell them and her brother Laban, who is her brother that is going to be the head of the home, her father Bethuel is apparently an older man. He appears but he's not, is engaged. And so Laban runs back to meet the man and to extend hospitality to him. You see that in verses 28 through 32. And then the servant, very eager to find out what they will say, breaks the customary practice. Okay, the customary practice was that you ate and then you did business. And so they had the dinner ready and everything. You said, I don't want to eat until I've done my business first. And he lays out an offer to them, right here, a proposal. to Rebecca in verse 34. So he said, I am Abraham's servant. The Lord has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great. And he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. And Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to my master when she was old. To him he has given all that he has. Now my master made me swear, saying, You shall not take a wife or my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell, but you shall go to my father's house and to my family. and take a wife from my son. And then he retells the whole story that we already had that story read a couple of times of how he had prayed and how the Lord had immediately brought Rebekah to him and how she had done exactly what he had asked in the sign. So he does this because Rebekah and her family need to see the hand of God in this situation. Again, essentially Rebekah is being called to do the same thing that Abraham had done. to go out to a land and a people that she did not know. I mean, she knew Isaac through the family, but she's been called to participate in the blessing of that household that God has put His hand on. This is really what any young man offers to a woman when he asks her to be his wife. God has called me to be His servant, He says. And He has blessed me with His kingdom and salvation. And I want you to join me in serving Him and His kingdom. That's essentially what a young man, a Christian young man, is to say to a woman. The servant basically says, take it or leave it, you know, accept my offer or I'll be on my way. You know, I've come on this business. This is the whole reason I'm here. And if you're not interested, then I'll go and look for someone else. Look at verse 49. Now, if you deal kindly and truly with my, if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. Now, if you say yes, tell me. If not, tell me that I may turn to the right hand or to the left. Rebekah's household sees the hand of God in all this. Verse 50, then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, the thing comes from the Lord. We cannot speak to you either bad or good. Here is Rebekah before you. Take her and go and let her be your master's son's wife as the Lord has spoken. They recognize, the family recognizes that this is the call of God for Rebekah and so ought not to be resisted. And they were right. And what does the servant do again? He worships God right then and there. He worships and gives thanks to God because God has made his mission successful. This was an extraordinary call again because Rebecca was asked to go out as Abraham had to a place that she did not know, to a man that she did not know, though she knew that God had blessed this man. We should not expect to have this extraordinary working of providence in this way. But we should expect for God to open the way in the ordinary work of His providence. If we seek His kingdom first, He will bring things about so that we meet someone who is appropriate, if it is His will. Interestingly, the next morning, Laban and his mother asked the servant if Rebekah could stay for ten days. The servant says, no. Verse 56, he says, Do not hinder me since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away so that I may go to my master. Now, here again, we talk about the wisdom of this servant. This is an experienced man. He looks at this family. He looks at this request. Ten days or more. And he's thinking, OK, I know where these people are coming from. And we know what the family's like later on. We have some special insight. But this probably would have been 10 years if he had said, OK. I mean, they would have dragged this thing out forever. And so he says, no. Don't hinder me. God has brought this together. It's time to go on. This is just like Jesus when He would call someone to follow Him. They'd say, let me first go home and do this and this. And He would say, just forget it. Either come now or don't come at all. Will you go with this man, they say then in verse 58 to Rebekah. And she says, I will go. So the outcome is that the Lord brings this couple together to establish a house for the advancement of His kingdom. This was Isaac's and now Rebecca's desire. So God does not withhold that desire from them. They wanted to establish a godly household. God says, that's great. And he brings that about. We've already read about how the servant brings her back and how they approach and then they find Isaac out in the field and Rebecca inquires and finds out it's him, and then she veils herself, which was the custom to show that she was a betrothed woman now. And the servant tells the wonderful story to Isaac. And you know the servant must have loved that. You can tell he loves telling the story. This is what happened. Look at this. And now he gets to tell Isaac. Isaac, let me tell you what happened. And he lays that all out. And I'm sure Isaac was going, Oh yeah, oh yeah. No, Isaac, he's looking at this woman. Wow, wow, this is amazing. This is wonderful. This is great. He was delighted with the whole matter. And you see that we're told that they make a beautiful home together. Look at what it says in verse 67. Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and he took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. Now we know that there's conflict in this home later on. We're going to see that. But you know, we shouldn't let the conflict that occurs sometimes in our home carry too much weight because this was a home that was nevertheless built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. And what it says here, Isaac loved Rebekah. And that's God's Word. She proves also to him to be a woman of strong faith. And later on, when he is weak, and he wavers about what God has directed, then Rebekah is steadfast. And she stands in for him. We're going to see that in the future. But the kingdom of God is advanced through this marriage. It's a beautiful thing. If Isaac had only wanted a woman, There were plenty of women in Canaan. If Rebekah had only wanted a man, there were plenty of men in Heron. She was a beautiful woman. It would have been no problem for her. But God had given Isaac this precious calling, just as He has given you if you are a Christian. and therefore you don't squander that precious calling, getting into some relationship that is going to be detrimental to your walk with the Lord, detrimental to that calling. But this is a very important matter that you need your parents' help, you need the churches, you need everything you can get, you need wisdom, you need prayer to engage yourself in this matter so that you can find someone by God's grace that you can share your life with. And you see, if God's kingdom and God's glory is your aim, then you can be certain that God will minister His grace to you, He will work in His providence, and He will bring about what is good concerning His will and concerning you. If you're discouraged about following Him, you say, well, I have a hard time following the Lord. That's why Jesus came. He died for our sins. And He has grace for you. So you come to Him and say, Lord, I'm a sinner. Help me to be all that You have called me to be. And He will give you the grace that you need. So don't be discouraged. Don't despair. Don't settle for less than what God has promised to His people. His Kingdom will go forward, and it will go forward through your household if you seek His Kingdom first. Please stand and let's call upon His name. Our most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have a beautiful, marvelous kingdom, a kingdom that brings eternal life, a kingdom that blessings of which only just barely begin to come to us in this life. We thank you also, Lord, that in your providence that you work with those who seek your kingdom first to bring it about, that they will be able to find suitable people to share their life with. We thank you, Lord, that you work in a powerful and mighty way to bring this about. And we pray that it would be the desire of every young person, and every parent, and every older person here that is perhaps seeking a wife, that they would be looking for the advancement of your kingdom, for the sake of your kingdom, and not just for their own comfort without reference to your kingdom. Father, we need to see in our lives every day that your kingdom is what matters more than anything. that service to Jesus Christ and His blessing on our lives is the thing that will truly make us happy and blessed, not only now, but forever and ever. We pray, Father, that you would give us a clear perspective on these things and that we would be able to exercise the prayer and the prudence and the diligence that we saw in the household of Abraham. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. And you may be seated as we prepare to come to the Lord's Supper. What a great blessing it is to see in our text today how Rebecca and Isaac were able to establish a home for the Lord. It was all on account of God's grace and calling in Jesus Christ. We're outcasts apart from Jesus Christ. We were cast out of the garden of God because of our wretchedness and our sinfulness. And through Jesus Christ, we come back into God's kingdom and we're able to establish households in his kingdom. And now Rebecca is called to establish fellowship in the house of Isaac, serving the Lord with all those excellent promises that were given to those who are his people. How can it be that God would receive us into his house? Because we're not fit for God's house, we're sinners. And that's what Jesus displays to us at this table in a visible way. He displays before our eyes bread that He says represents His body that was given as a sacrifice. Because we are wretched sinners, Jesus came and took flesh and was sacrificed for us to atone for our sins so that we could be forgiven and we could live in God's house. And Jesus presents before our eyes the cup of wine, representing, He tells us what it represents, His blood that was shed on the cross to atone for our sins. And so we come with confidence to live in God's house, not because we're worthy, and not because we're able, but because Jesus Christ was crucified, and by grace through faith, He gives us life in God's kingdom forever. Eternal life. Hear the words of institution from the Apostle Paul for this for this supper. He says for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup." So if you're trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and if you are a communicant member in good standing of His church, then you are welcome to come and partake of the bread and wine in remembrance of Christ. Do so with a heart filled with gratitude and also with yearning that you would have the blessing of Christ in your life, that He would nourish you. Because this is a picture of how Christ nourishes us through His sacrifice. What He did atones for our sins. And if we've come to Him, our sins are forgiven and we're cleansed of those sins from our guilt. But He also presents this to us, His offering as a peace offering to us that we partake of, that we have communion in for our spiritual nourishment and for our growth and grace. So come with a heart of gratitude and with a heart of yearning. And if you're not a member in good standing of a church that confesses His name, then take care of that first and then come to this table. Well, let's look to the Lord for His blessing as we prepare to come. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank You for our Lord Jesus Christ that makes it possible for us to have houses in Your Kingdom. We know, Lord, that we would be only outcasts if Jesus hadn't come and shed his blood for us. We thank you that through faith in him that we're brought near by the blood of Christ and that we have access into this grace in which we stand. We pray Lord that you would help us to delight in our Lord Jesus Christ and promote him among the nations and among the people that are around us and that we would establish households that are for him and not households that are selfish and that are for ourselves. We thank you, O Lord, for the privilege that we have to be named by Jesus and to be called Christians because he has taken us in. We thank you, Lord, that he has done all that is required to atone for our sins. And we come now yearning for nourishment and grace that we may be able to serve him and that we may even be able to find those that would be suited for our children or for ourselves, whatever the case may be, to share our lives with. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. May the Lord your God be with you as he was with your fathers. May he not leave you nor forsake you that he may incline your hearts to himself to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments as he commanded your fathers. Amen.