I'm reading now verse 2, Genesis 24.
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.
Now, that's the way men took an oath
in that day.
Didn't raise their right hand and put the
left hand on a Bible.
Didn't have a Bible to begin with.
And frankly, I don't think it's necessary for
anybody to put your hand on the Bible
to swear.
If it's necessary to get you to tell
the truth to do that, then it may
be you won't tell the truth.
But here, this was the method in that
day.
A man put his hand in the thigh
of the man that he's going to make
an oath to.
And so this servant, and I think it's
Eliezer, he was the head servant in the
home of Abraham.
And he had a son.
Remember, Abraham called God's attention to that.
Now God says to him in verse 3,
I'll 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.
My Christian friend today, you got a boy
in your home or a girl in your
home that's marriageable, you ought to pray that
they will not marry one of the Canaanites
because they're still in the land and there
is always a danger of our young people
marrying one of the Canaanites.
And if you do, someone has said, if
you're going to have the devil for your
father-in-law, you're going to have trouble
with him.
You always do.
And now will you notice, Abraham here says
to his servant, verse 4, but thou shalt
go unto my country, 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 that thou
bring not my son thither again.
The servant said, Now suppose I can't find
a girl, it'll come with me.
Shall I come back and get Isaac and
take him to that land?
And Abraham said, Never take him back.
This is the place where God wants us.
And do not turn him to that land
under any circumstance.
That's very important, by the way, to see.
Now verse 7, 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.
Now Abraham is really a man of faith.
He demonstrates it again and again, and here
he's magnificent.
He says to this servant, You can count
on God leading you.
God has promised me this.
Now you see he's not taking a leap
in the dark.
Faith is not a leap in the dark.
It must rest upon the Word of God.
I find a great many people today, they
say, Well, I believe God and it'll come
to pass.
Well fine, it's wonderful for you to believe
God, but do you have something in writing
from God?
Abraham always asked for it in writing, and
he had it in writing from God.
God had made a contract with him, and
he says, God has promised me that through
my seed, and that's Isaac, that he's going
to bring a blessing to the world.
Now you can be sure of one thing.
God has a bride back there for Isaac,
and you see he rests upon what God
has said.
We need not be foolish today.
Faith is not foolishness.
It's resting upon something.
It's always reasonable.
It's never a leap in the dark.
It's not betting your life that this'll come
to pass or that'll come to pass.
It's not a gamble.
It's a sure thing.
Faith is the real sure thing, and Abraham
here is sure.
He said you can be sure of that.
Now he says, though, if the woman will
not be willing to follow thee, then thou
shalt be clear of this my oath, only
bring not my son thither again.
Don't ever return my son back there.
But if the woman won't come, then you
are discharged.
Well what does that mean?
It means simply this.
Abraham would, I think, have told you very
frankly, well, God has another way of working
this out.
I don't know what it'll be.
But he says, I'm sure of one thing,
that this is the way God wants it
done.
Now friends, that's what faith is.
Faith is acting upon the word of God.
It rests upon something.
And God wants us to believe his word
and not just believe this pious nonsense that
I hear today that you can force God
to do something and that God has to
do it because I believe it.
May I say to you, no one wants
to be healed more than I have.
And I believe in divine healing, and I've
made it through now with cancer in my
body.
And don't tell me now that I don't
believe in faith healing.
I do.
But I want to say this, when somebody
comes along and says that you can force
God and that God has to do it,
God will heal you and demand it, I'm
not in that position yet.
I don't know what his will is.
But whatever his will is, I want that
done.
But I want to make very sure that
we pray and ask God to do something.
But God will have to be the one
to determine whether it's his will or not.
Abraham's got something to rest upon.
He's not demanding anything of God.
He says, well, if this doesn't work out,
then God has another way to work it
out.
And we can always be sure of that.
Verse 9, And the servant put his hand
unto the thigh of Abraham his master, swearing
to him concerning that matter.