Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: God has a whole purpose for your life. It's not that you're going to marry the perfect person. There is no way, there are no perfect marriages here on earth.

And it's really important that we understand that God is the one that brings that person, male or female, so that we can come together according to the Holy Spirit. Why? Because God has a plan for your life.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. It is great to have you along for our continued study of God's blueprint for a healthy marriage.

Today Raul will underscore the unique faith that's needed for those waiting on the Lord for a spouse. It is tough to be patient, but as you consider how God divinely orchestrated the union of Isaac and Rebekah, you'll discover that you can trust his perfect timing. Stay with us for assurance of the Lord's loving intentionality. Here's Raul Ries with the lesson, "How To Choose A Spouse." Join us in Genesis chapter 24.

Raul Ries: This morning we want to speak to those that are single and those that are married, we'll speak to you in a little while. But we want to get everybody that's single here this morning. We're not talking to the world, so if you're not a Christian, you can let it go if you want to let that go. But we want to talk to the Christian.

Those of you that have made a commitment to Jesus Christ. The reason I say that is to much is given, much more is required, which means one day there's a day of judgment coming. You're going to stand before God. You're going to have to answer to God, not to me or to this church, but to the Lord Jesus Christ in your life, the way you live.

And it's really important that we understand that here now Abraham in chapter 22 of Genesis, remember? He's taken his son as God came to him and said, "Abraham, I want you not to talk to your wife. I want you to get up in the morning early, get your servants, get your son, saddle your donkeys and head three-day journey to Mount Moriah, to Jerusalem."

"I want you to take a knife and I want you to take wood. And when you get there, I'll give you the rest of instructions." So as they travel in the morning, three-day journey, all of a sudden they saw Mount Moriah at a distance and they camped out on the side of Jerusalem.

And Abraham said, "Listen you guys," to the servants, "You guys stay here, me and my son are going to go up there and we're going to come again." Abraham immediately speaks words of faith and he says, "You know what? Even if I have to kill my son and God has to resurrect him, we will walk back from that mountain."

So he gets his son and his son carries the wood on the shoulder. Abraham gets that big old knife and they start walking up the hill. And when they get up to the top of the hill, Mount Moriah, which today when we go to Israel, I'll show it to you, beautiful, beautiful incredible hill, Mount Calvary today.

You begin to get the picture even greater. That as Abraham standing there and his son Isaac is with him, he says, "Father, the altar's here, I got the wood, you got the knife, but where is the lamb to be sacrificed?" And then Abraham said this in verse 8. He says, "God will provide himself a lamb."

Who was he talking about? That 2,000 years later in that same place, Jesus would die on the cross. So Abraham becomes a type of God the Father and the son Isaac becomes a type of the what? The Son, Jesus Christ. Abraham is an old man. Isaac is young, thirty-three.

And what happens is Isaac submits himself to the father and says, "Okay father, tie me up." He tied him up, laid him on the altar, took his knife out and ready to stab him. And a voice came from heaven as God said, "Abraham, Abraham, stop." He says, "I've seen your faith and your obedience. You don't have to kill your son."

And God provided a ram on the side for them to kill the ram instead of his son. But it was a picture and type of things to come 2,000 years later. That's the Bible, the way he speaks to us. So to me it's incredible when I read and I study.

And when I came to this 24th chapter now, they've been at Mount Moriah. Now notice it's another story now where God now, Abraham says, "My son is single, I got to get him a wife. So what do I need to do?" So here it is, verse 1. And now Abraham was old, he was 140 years old, well advanced in age and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.

Now it's interesting that among the Jews they divide old age in three stages. Number one, from age 60 to 70 is what they call the commencement of old age, the beginning of old age. Secondly, from age 70 to 80 what was called hoary or the age of white hair.

And then the third stage from 80 to the day you die is called well-stricken years when you start barely walking, you're bending over like a little tree. That's what he's talking about. So he's 140 years old, he's well past. I mean he's on his way down. But at 140 years old, he says, "You know what? This is what I got to do."

And the Lord has blessed Abraham with all things. Verse 2, so Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who's that? Eliezer, in chapter 15 of Genesis, verse 2. You can take notes, you can read his name. He's not mentioned here. His name is not mentioned. He's mentioned the servant of Abraham, his oldest servant, a type of the Holy Spirit.

He says, "Who rule over all that he had." He said, "Please put your hand under my thigh." Now I found that interesting in Jewish culture that whenever you were going to make a covenant or make an oath, it was not just putting your hand on the Bible and swearing like we do in our court system.

In this culture, you put your hand underneath their thigh and you swore. And what's incredible is that here is Abraham and his servant, God the Father and the Holy Spirit, making a covenant. What was the covenant? To look for a wife for his son.

Notice he was not looking for a wife, the son. Young people, you better listen. Yeah, you can fall in love with somebody, but is this God's will? God has a whole purpose for your life. You don't want to mess it up. It's not that you're going to marry the perfect person. There is no way, there are no perfect marriages here on earth. Only one in heaven.

You're going to make mistakes, you're going to be disappointed, you're going to fight, you're going to argue. And it's really important that we understand that God is the one that brings that person, male or female, so that we can come together according to the Holy Spirit. Why? Because God has a plan for your life.

What was God's plan here? God's plan is the Messiah was going to be born through the seed of Isaac and Rebekah. You want to be in God's perfect will. You don't want to break that line. You got to be careful. You'll see in a moment something else interesting.

Let me say this to you before I get there. God's going to tell you that when he looks for a wife and you're waiting for a wife, don't go into the world to look for a wife or a husband. You'll get burned. He says, "You pray and I'll bring you one." Check this out, verse 3.

He says, "And I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you," Eliezer, the servant here, "you will not take a wife for my son," check this out, "from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell." Wow. You know who the Canaanites were? Oh man, they were bad.

They were the worst, totally the worst. They did so much, they not only did that, they were like the worldly people of the world. They were wicked, they were wanton, they were vicious. And what God is doing here with his servant, Abraham and Eliezer, "Listen, I don't want my son to be contaminated. I don't want my son to be lost. I want my son to marry somebody comparable to who? To the Lord."

So there's fellowship because there's a promise to the seed of the woman. You see? So he warns his servant, "Don't go into the world and give me a wife. Don't get one from the world." Check this out, verse 4. "But you shall go to my country and my family and take a wife for my son Isaac." Notice what he's doing.

Go down to the church among my family, the church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and get me a bride for my son. You see, those that know God. It's really important that we understand what God honors and what God dishonors. And here God is giving us counsel, he's giving us wisdom so that we don't make the same mistakes that other people are making, ending up in the court cases, divorcing, lawsuits, and all these things, even bitterness and even murder because of that marriage.

And single people, you need to listen to me. You need to listen to God. You need to listen to what God's word says. God has a purpose for your life and God will give you the person that he wants to make a compatible with so you can have a good marriage and you can be productive in the kingdom of God.

God can use your life. And there may be some of you young people here that you've had a bad experience already. And it's really important that you're living with someone today when they come to me for counseling and they're single and they say, "We want to get married."

And when I talk to them and we counsel and we're honest and say, "And by the way, Raul, we're living together right now." I said, "I'm glad you told me that because I can't marry you until you guys separate for the next six months and see and get your relationship with God right and see if this is God's purpose or not."

I'll tell you that. That's why I don't do a lot of weddings. People don't like me. It's alright. I mean, I'm just telling you God's word. You know, but it's really cool when young people listen, they go, "Wow, you know, we've been coming here for the last five years living together and the word of God," they say God convicted us. So that's why we're here and we want to separate and we want to work it out. You know what? Out of sight man, that's obedience.

And you know what? God turned something that was ugly and beautified it because of their obedience as they separate and they wait on the Lord. That's what God desires for young people, for those of you that are single. Because as long as you come to this church or any church that preaches the true gospel of Jesus Christ, you're going to squirm, you're going to be uncomfortable because when you hear the word of God, it's not me, it's the Holy Spirit convicting you and you can't really be free and have a beautiful relation with God until you get rid of the extra baggage.

Until you repent and you make things right with God and man, then God can honor you. Otherwise, he can't honor your word. That's just the way it is. God here is saying to his servant, "Listen, I want you to go down in my country, my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac."

Verse 5, and the servant said to him, "Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. So what happens if I meet her and she says, 'You know what? Thank you so much, but I don't want to get married. I've never met him, I don't even know him. I don't want to get married.' Fine."

What does he tell him? He says, "Then you break what I told you and come home. It's a done deal." Watch what he says. And the servant said, "But perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me then to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came? Should I come back then and take your son so he can meet the girl and then they can get together and maybe get married there?"

He says, "Nope, my son is never going there. Uh-uh. My son will never go there." Can you imagine what it must have been like with Isaac and Rebekah never seeing each other? And then her, I'm getting ahead of the story but that's okay, I can get there and say, "You know what? Her parents say, 'Okay, you want to go, why don't we spend some time together, rethink it, and then if you want to go, you can go and if not you stay.'"

And Eliezer says, "You know what? You really don't have to go. So think about it and then tell me." She comes back and she says, "I want to go." And they've never met each other but she feels in her heart this is God's will. She has peace. And so she returns with Eliezer.

Imagine that. That's one thing about serving God, God gives you peace. The peace that passes all understanding, man. No condemnation. You're free to worship. And when people face you, you don't have to put your head down. You can be right in the eyes and say, "You know what? I'm serving the Lord. I am a true Christian. No hidden agenda, no hidden baggage, to really serve God."

Why? We're living in the last days, people. Look what's happening in Europe, here in America. All of the economies of the world are collapsing just like the Bible said and everything's going to end in Europe. That's what's happening right now. The Lord's coming for who? His bride, Rebekah. That's why we're here.

Things are coming to summation, it's coming to an end. And then with North Korea, man, and all the things that are going on, Ezekiel 38, 39 building up, and then the last seven years of world history and the Antichrist arising, bringing peace to the world financially and then Armageddon comes at the end and all hell breaks loose.

And we come back at the second coming with Christ. Wow. I'm excited what's happening. Exciting days to live but you got to be right with God to have peace with God. We can't be married to the world. We have to be married to Jesus Christ. My relationship has to be to Christ fully, completely, and I have to be faithful to Christ. I have to be faithful to my wife, I have to be faithful to my husband and faithful to my children because they're watching me.

And if you're single, all of the world's watching you, all of your friends, all of your family. You got to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, a good example. That you're doing things biblically, not the way you want. You can't do them your way. They have to be God's way or no way at all. It's either God's way or the highway.

Bottom line. Because you'll sit here for years or months or days or weeks and you'll be miserable. You won't be comfortable. Not because of me, it's because of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will get you every time you come here and he'll never let go. You know why? Because he loves you so much he wants you to repent. He wants you to get right with God.

Husbands that are committing adultery on their wives are going out on their husbands' wives. Or you're arguing, you're fighting, abusing verbally, physically, whatever it may be in the home. It's not good for your neighbors, it's not good for your house, it's not good for your children. You're putting scars in their minds. They'll become abusive too. You husbands, you men, are to be the leaders of your homes, not your wife, you.

By you submitting to Jesus Christ and becoming the godly man that God wants you to be so that your wife can respect and she'll submit to you and your children can love you and submit to you. But how can a wife or children submit to someone that doesn't even pray or read the Bible or even speaks about God but they're onto themselves? There's no respect. It builds hatred in people's hearts when there's selfishness.

So it's really important for me to understand what the word of God teaches here. Here is Abraham asking his servant, "Go get her. She doesn't want to come, don't bring anybody else. And you're not going to take my son over there." Watch this. He goes on, verse 6.

But Abraham said to him, "Beware that you do not take my son back there." Notice that. He says, "The Lord God of heaven who took me from my father's house," verse 7, "and from the land of my family and who spoke to me and swore to me saying, 'To your descendants I will give this land,' he will send his angel before you and you shall take a wife for my son from there."

Notice, God would send a messenger to protect it, an angel to go along the way to protect. I mean, God is so clear in his word. So clear. Verse 8, "And if the woman is not willing to follow you," notice we're not forced into Christianity, we're not forced to do anything, "then you will be released from this oath and only do not take my son back there."

That's the second time he says it. Don't take my son to the world. I want him to find a wife in the church, in the place of worship. God has a plan. He knows exactly what he wants for your life. So Eliezer got instruction from his boss.

And it's beautiful here because notice that the bride is not to be forced to go where? To go with Eliezer. The Holy Spirit will never force himself on any one of us at all. We have a free will. Free will. And you can do God's perfect will or you can take second choice. I want his perfect will in my life.