Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: There's no way that God can bless your relationship with your boyfriend or girlfriend, or your wife or your husband, unless Christ is the center of the relationship. If Christ is not in the center of your relationship and you have something else instead of that, then that's idolatry. Because the Bible says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God."

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. We're glad you're with us for a continuing series exploring the elements of a healthy, God-honoring marriage.

As Raul reflects on the divinely orchestrated union of Isaac and Rebecca, he'll challenge you and your spouse to ground your relationship in faith. You'll see that when you keep God at the center of your life together, He can bless you and guide you by the leading of His Holy Spirit. Here's Raul Ries with our study, "How to Choose a Spouse."

Raul Ries: This morning, if you have your Bibles, turn to the book of Genesis, chapter 24. One of the things that happens as we begin to study this great chapter is that there are typologies that are seen here. The reason for that is God is preparing the way that His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, is coming, and He is looking for a wife for Himself.

So Abraham becomes a type of God the Father, Isaac becomes God the Son, Jesus Christ, and then Rebecca becomes the type of the church. Eliezer, the servant, becomes the Holy Spirit, a type. What's beautiful about this beautiful picture here in chapter 24 is that Abraham wants to make sure that his son marries someone in common fellowship.

This means, because the New Testament wasn't written yet, that the Holy Spirit was leading the event. When you go to 2 Corinthians 6:14 through chapter 7, verse 1, it says this: "Be you not unequally yoked together with an unbeliever, for what fellowship has God with Satan or the devil?" Think of how many people go into business as Christians with non-believers, and then you get ripped off.

Then I think of how many young people, and older people, and old people, make a choice when their wife dies, or they separate and divorce, to get remarried to someone that is not a Christian when the Bible forbids it. One day, we forget that we're going to stand in the presence of God in judgment. One of the things about before Christ, before you were a Christian, God doesn't hold you accountable to that any longer.

By His precious blood, He washed it all away. But the day you become a Christian and the Holy Spirit comes upon your life, from that day on until the day you die, you are accountable for your actions. Remember that. Before you make a decision, you better go to the Lord and ask Him. You better pray. If you don't pray, you could make a mistake in the flesh that will cost you for the rest of your life.

I've seen that happen so many times. Think of how many times Christians compromise—young Christians, single Christians—will compromise by having a non-believer boyfriend or girlfriend when God forbids it. Think of how many married people that have families, at work, or at the gym, or somewhere else, they have a boyfriend or they have a girlfriend. That's called adultery. For the singles, it's called fornication.

Then you have the gay movement. Gays, male and females, lesbians, homosexuals. Sin is sin. The problem is you have a sin of ignorance and then you have a sin of transgression. When you're sinning in transgressing against God, which means you have a conscience, if you know that it's wrong and you do it, to you it is great sin. Paul said it. God will judge you.

There's no doubt in my mind. Why? Because this is God's word. God is a holy God, and we are people that have unclean lips, and we're approaching a holy God. When Moses came to the burning bush and approached the burning bush, God said, "Moses, before you could ever come into my presence, you better take off your sandals. You have dirty feet, and you have to come in here in holiness."

There's no way that God can bless your relationship with your boyfriend or girlfriend, or your wife or your husband, unless Christ is the center of the relationship. If Christ is not in the center of your relationship and you have something else instead of that, then that's idolatry. If you worship your husband or your wife or your children, you love them more than you love God, then you're an idolater worshipping other gods.

The Bible says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Love God with all of your heart, all of your being, all of your mind." You can play church all your life and still go to hell. There's a lot of times that people have a mentality that if I go to church and they have membership, you sign a piece of paper, you become the member of the Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, whatever church it may be—even the Catholic Church.

You could become a Buddhist, you join Buddha, or Krishna, or you become a Muslim. That makes you a religious person. Yes, you become a religious person worshipping a religion. I'm not religious. I have a love relationship with God. That's the most important thing to me.

Abraham here in this story becomes a type of God the Father. His son, the type of Jesus Christ. The servant becomes the type of the Holy Spirit. Rebecca becomes the type of the church. What is God doing? God is looking for a bride for His son, to have fellowship, to be united.

At the same time, let's begin by reading verses 1 through 9 real quickly. We'll pick up verse 10 where we're starting this morning. He says, "Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age." He was 140 years old. He was going to live another 35 years and then he would die. "And the Lord God blessed Abraham with all things. And Abraham said to his oldest servant, Eliezer of his house, who ruled over everything that he had, 'Please put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear. 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 where I dwell.'"

Wow, mark that. Point number one: you don't take a male or female boyfriend or girlfriend to become your husband and wife from the world. If they're non-Christians, you're in sin. That's in the Old Testament. It's also in the New Testament. It's really important for me to understand if I'm going to have one foot in the world and one foot in Christ, you're going to get hurt. Either fully committed to Christ or fully committed to the world, but don't straddle the fence. Please, you'll get hurt.

Paul the Apostle in the book of Hebrews 12:3-10, he tells us that if you're a real child of God and you're walking in carnality, what is God going to do? He loves you. So as a son or a daughter, if you have children, if they do something wrong, what do you do? You correct them. Otherwise, you don't love them. Think of how many parents compromise with their children, and then they reap the consequences in years to come. Poor disciplinarians.

They don't have the example in the home where the father's running around with another woman or the mom. Then they're getting divorced or they're getting separated. What are we doing? We're actually reaping what we have sown. Abraham wants to make sure that in his family, they don't marry non-believers. Why? Because Christ is going to come through that seed. That's the seed of the Messiah.

Watch this. Verse 4: "But you shall go to my country, to my family, to take a wife for my son Isaac." Notice how clear that is. 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 which I came from?" Now, listen, if I go and I talk to them and she says, "I don't want to go unless he comes here," he says, "It won't work. I'm not going to send my son. And if she don't want to come here, then break it up and you're free, but don't bring her. Unless she's fully committed."

Guest (Male): This is Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. We are here to support you and your spouse as you journey together with God. Visit the Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel for a wealth of live and archived biblical teaching, including Raul's weekly Straight Talk program. Let's return now to more of our study from Genesis, chapter 24.

Raul Ries: He goes on in verse 6: "But Abraham said to him, 'Beware that you do not take my son back there. Then the Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father's house, from the land of my family, 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. And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from your oath. Only do not take my son back there.'"

Why? Because my relationship with God is not by a law. It's not a forceful thing. It's willingly. I want to be willing to follow Christ. Imagine if you're forcing somebody to get married to you, the marriage will never work. That's not free choice. So Abraham, as a type of the Father, is saying don't force a relationship. If she don't want to come, that's cool. Break the relationship. That's fine. We'll wait on God to see what He has.

Think of how many young people don't wait on God, and then you reap the consequences in your marriage. I've done hundreds of marriages. I did one marriage that in the same day, the next day they got separated and the following day they got divorced. They got annulment. There are people like that in the church. You may be sitting here today.

To me, it's incredible because—I am a sinner, too—how I can come to church and sit in church and continue to be in sexual sin with my boyfriend or girlfriend, continue to be gay, continue to do the things that we do—molesting children, lying and cheating in my taxes—and do all these things and then call myself a Christian. That's hypocritical, my friends. That should never happen.

God won't put up with that. You have to be honest with God. You have to be holy as He is holy. Not perfect, because none of us are perfect. We all sin. We all make mistakes. We all trip and fall. But God here is giving instruction. Then check this out, verse 6 of chapter 24. He says, "But Abraham said to him, 'Beware that you don't take my son back there.'"

And then again verse 8, again he goes on: "And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you're released from your oath, and take my son back there, never." Verse 9: "So then the servant put his hand under his thigh of Abraham his master, and what did he do? He swore." What is the Holy Spirit? He's one with God the Father, God the Son. He says, "I'll do exactly what you told me to do. I will be obedient."

Verse 10, notice. Can God trust you? "Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and departed, for all his master's goods were in his hand. And he got up and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor." Nahor was Abraham's brother. Notice that. He's going to his brother's house to get a wife. "Be you not unequally yoked together," remember? He's going there.

Then he made his camels to—when he got there—he made his camels to kneel down outside of the city by a well of water at evening, at the time when women would go out to draw water. In that culture, the woman's job, when you go to Israel, it's a good lesson for women to be on the bus and look out to the left as we're going up to Jerusalem.

The reason I say that is because you've got the Bedouins on the right and on the left. They live in tents. They've been around for a long time, to the time of Abraham. What you see is you see the men in the tent sitting on pillows drinking coffee and smoking their pipes. And the women? They're the ones that take down the tent, put up the tent, go get the water, and take care of the herds. Since they're little until they grow up. Things haven't changed yet for them.

You get a good education in the Middle East. It's by the grace of God in Jesus Christ and Paul the Apostle that women have been set free in America and in the world because of Jesus Christ. It's really important that we understand that in this culture, when he got to the city, before he ever did anything, the first thing that he did, he stood outside. What he does is he prays for God's will to be done.

He doesn't do anything. Watch this, verse 12. "And then he said," he starts praying, "Oh Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day and show kindness to my master Abraham." What does the Holy Spirit do? He intercedes. Romans 8, read it. Verse 28, it tells you the Holy Spirit is the one that intercedes for us when we pray.

What's really cool about that is he's praying, and then verse 13 says, "Behold, here I stand by the well of water and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water." So as he watched the young girls coming out, he said, "Okay Lord, if Isaac's wife is among them, show me." What is he going to do? He says, "Show me by these two signs. Number one: I'll say, 'Could I have a cup of water?' She'll give me a cup of water. And then she'll say, 'Do you want me to also give water to your camels?' Then I'll know that's her."

Watch this, verse 14: "And now let it be that the young woman whom I say, 'Please let down your pitcher that I may drink water,' and she says 'Drink, I will also give your camels to 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." Wow. Full dependency on who? God. Full dependency, not rushing it.

Think of how many young people rush it. They don't even know each other. Think of how many young people in dating, if they don't keep a pure life, how many girls end up pregnant and then commit abortions. Millions of babies have been killed because people like to play. That's called murder. It's really important that we see that when Rebecca comes here, it's appointed by God. They haven't ever met.

Watch what happens, verse 15: "And then it came to pass before he had finished speaking, he was praying, that what? God answered his prayer immediately." Notice this. "That Rebecca, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her pitcher and her shoulder."

"And the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin." Notice that. If you had previously had sex when you were not a Christian, you come to Christ, then Christ sees you now as a virgin. All things become what? Brand new. All things are passed away, behold all things are new.

The problem will come greater when you become a Christian and having the knowledge and the wisdom, and yet you transgress against the truth. That's what kills people. You know you're wrong and yet you rebel against God. He will discipline you if you're a real son and daughter of God. He says that she was a virgin, no man had ever touched her, known her sexually. She went down to the well to fill her pitcher and came up.

So we have this beautiful picture of what, of the church. Then verse 17: "And the servant ran to meet her and said, 'Please let me have a drink of water from your pitcher.'" And she said—notice God's word now—"Drink my lord." Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand and gave him a drink. And when she had finished giving a drink to him, she said, "I will also draw water for your camels also until they have finished drinking." God's word comes to fulfillment.

Do you know what it's like to actually give camels a drink of water when you have 20 of them? Camels love water. They store water. Think by the time she finishes giving water to drink to every one of those camels, the hard labor that she had to do.

But notice God's word, as he says, it comes to pass. Here is the woman that God is choosing for who? For Isaac. You are the bride of Jesus Christ. I am the bride of Jesus Christ. God has chosen us from the foundations of the world. The way God works blows my mind.

Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough. She ran back to the well to draw water and drew for all his camels. And then the men wondering at her remained silent so as to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosper or not. What did he do? He waited and tested her to see if this was really the Lord. "Lord, show me for sure if this is her." He didn't jump and get emotional. Too many relationships are emotional. It's amazing how God speaks to our hearts.