And let me read at this time verse 27. And he said, that's Eliezer said, blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left my master destitute of his mercy and his truth. I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren. Well, dear friends, in our study of different characters in the Bible, we come now to a most remarkable man. A man whose portrait we perhaps miss among that of the patriarchs, Abraham, and Sarah, and Isaac, and Rebecca, and Jacob, and Leah, and Rachel. But besides Joseph, perhaps, later on in this book, there is no more faithful man in the book of Genesis, at least from what is recorded, than Eleazar, a man whose name means, God is my help. There's a few things that we can learn from Eliezer, about Eliezer in chapter 15. He is brought up and he's mentioned there as Eliezer of Damascus. So he was a man who was born probably in Damascus. Maybe he grew up there, maybe he was educated there. But at some or other time, he came into contact with Abram and he went with Abram. And no doubt he was a God-fearing man, for Abram would not have wanted to give the charge of his whole house into the hand of anyone except someone who would be God-fearing. And when the promise delayed, And when they didn't receive a child from the hand of the Lord, Abram went to the Lord and said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? In other words, make this godly man, this good man, the heir. May what thou hast promised, may that be true through Eliezer. And Eliezer was bypassed in terms of the Lord's dealing. No, the Lord would give a child. He would make Sarah to rejoice and Abram to rejoice with new life. But Eliezer must have been a remarkable man. By the time of our chapter 24, he is, scholars think, between 70 and 80. Now those of you here who are about that age, imagine going on a journey 600 miles by camel through desert region and 600 miles back, a dry, a desolate, a dangerous region at that age. Eliezer does it, and he does it with the help of the Lord. When I read this chapter and think about Eliezer and what we might learn from the Spirit's mouth regarding Eliezer, I think of A man who's all in. A man who's all in. I looked up that idiom in the dictionary. What does it mean to be all in? And this is what I found. To be fully committed to a task or endeavor. To give or be prepared to give all of one's energies or resources towards something. To spare no expense. to fulfill the charge that you've been given. Now isn't that a liaison? A man all in, fully committed, sparing no expense. And there's three things we want to see with the Lord's help from this passage. We'll just draw. Many things could be said. I give this to your further meditations to see many more lessons. But the first thing we want to see about Eliezer is that he is a man all in for the rising generation. He's a man all in for the rising generation. We read here in the opening of our chapter that Abram calls this eldest servant of his house. No doubt the man he trusted most. And he trusted with this charge of finding A wife for his son. Sarah had passed away. Sarah's tent was empty, we would say. And this was sad for both Abram and also for Isaac. They had buried Sarah in the cave in Machpelah, and they had mourned her loss. There she went. And she had died in faith, as we know from the scriptures. These all died in faith. but still the empty place was there. But after they had been somewhat comforted, the time came when Sarah's tent needed to be filled again, and Abraham sends Eliezer for a wife for Isaac. And he puts this charge so solemnly to Eliezer, go back to my home country, and I make you swear that you will take no wife from anywhere save from my kindred. in order that the fear of God might be in her. And so this 70 to 80-year-old man goes on a charge. You'd think he's far too old for this. And he traverses this wilderness of 1,200 miles, all for the sake of Isaac. Yes, for Abram in a certain sense, but it's all with an eye to the rising generation. And dear friends, isn't this already something that claims our mind and our heart and our affection? The Lord Jesus Christ said, it is not the children who should lay up for the parents, but the parents who should lay up for the children. And of course, that doesn't mean that parents ought not to respect their parents and honor their parents and help their parents where they are able to. But the Lord has designed things in such a way that parents and grandparents and the older generation ought to make it one of their chief focuses, and that is to see the next generation, the rising generation, that they would be raised in the fear and admonition of the Lord, that they would not depart from the ways of the Lord. that they would be trained in the fear of the Lord. Now, obviously, we can't give conversion, we can't give a new heart to our church, to our children, I mean, and to the rising generation. But we ought to pray for it, and we ought to make it one of our chief delights, and see it as one of our chief duties, and that is to see the rising generation be kept from wayward paths, be raised in the truth and that early they would set their hope on God. A church that is not concerned, not praying, not laboring, that is not sparing no expense for the sake of the rising generation is not an Eleazar church. and is not a church worthy of that name. And how we ought to pray that the Lord would make this an Eleazar church. I believe it is. But may we continue like that. That our desire would be to see every last child, young person, younger person in this church to be filled with the fear of God. walking in God's ways, not departing to the left or to the right, and especially in the all-important matters of marriage and family and future, that we would instruct and guide and help and give all that we can so that the rising generation would have what is needed to walk in the Lord's ways. And of course that means, first of all, that we would instruct them in what is necessary for marriage. Marriage is not just two people who happen to have many things in common that fall in love and then they design their own future. No, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And to be unequally yoked is a bane. It's something you shouldn't even consider. It needs to be in the Lord. Marriage ought to be in the Lord. And the scriptures lay out what marriage ought to be. And that was Abram's concern. And Eliezer was as concerned with this as well. And so we ought to be. And sometimes as older ones, we can just kind of turn a blind eye to it and think that the younger generation will figure it all out. And we shouldn't. We should cultivate relationships with one another so that there is a unity of mind and of spirit. And there is not this generation gap as we hear so much about today. Yeah, we're all different. But we ought to turn our hearts towards each other. The Bible gives us marvelous promise. It's one of the last verses of the Old Testament. that the Lord will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest he come and smite the earth with a curse. And this congregation is the revival of heart religion in which parents and older ones, so you don't need to be a parent for this. This wasn't Eleazar's own son. a single people as well. They ought to invest in the rising generation. Together there ought to be a family atmosphere, a godly family atmosphere in which it is on everyone's heart to see the next generation rise up and experience the work of God early. and to do everything to that end. And we see here how Eleazar is so diligent in discharging his duty all for this next generation. He doesn't get anything out of it, humanly speaking, not anything we can hear about. But you can sense that in this man's heart there is this desire to see Isaac married to godly seed, to a godly woman, and that there would be a godly seed. And that the covenant of God that's come into this Abrahamic household in which Eliezer saw, he saw those altars. No doubt he gathered around those altars. He saw Abraham. Worshipping God he saw those heavenly visitors that came and and and and told Abraham God's secrets as a man speaks to his friends so so these these ones had spoken to Abraham Shall I hide from Abraham what the Lord will do no? He saw that close communion that Abram had with his God. The secret of the Lord was with Abraham because Abram feared the Lord and he would command his household after him to walk in the ways of the Lord and Eleazar is all in, all in for the next generation. Pray God that you would be all in. for the rising generation, and that if you're part of the rising generation, that you would love those who are following God before you, and that you'd walk in their footsteps insofar as they follow the Lord, and that you'd cultivate a close relationship with those who love the Lord Jesus in truth. that you'd not seek to be wise in your own conceits. There's so much to learn from one another. And that's why the Lord, when he works his reviving work in the church, then he brings the generations together. Then there is not this gap. But then we seek to learn one from another, older ones from younger ones, and younger ones from older ones. And we ask the way to Zion. I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, the Bible says. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. And your old men shall see visions. This is what happens in the Bible. How wonderful it is that a priest like Eli, for all that he did wrong, yet he cultivated this close relationship with Samuel. And with Hannah, he spoken to Hannah. Hannah, a younger woman, and Samuel, her son. So you have Eli, and you have Hannah, and you have Samuel, and together, despite all the wickedness that is all around, there you have. And they that feared the Lord spake often one to another. The Lord made a book of remembrance. That's how the Lord does his work. May we seek one another. May we seek the good of Zion. May we seek the good of those who are growing up, who when we must depart, then they will be here, and then they will be given the charge of the church of Jesus Christ. And may we invest in them. May we be all in for the next generation. But Eliezer was not only all in for the next generation, he was more importantly, and this was the key for the first thing we've looked at, he was all in with God. He was so deeply committed to his God. Indeed, the God of Abram. but also His God. And He prays to Him. There are four ways in which we see Him all in with the Lord. First of all, He perseveres in His journey and in His charge. I don't know about you, but 600 miles by foot or by camel at a high age like that, no doubt there were trials, no doubt there were difficult days about a month's journey. If things went well, And of course, it would be another month's journey back. So a long time. And yet he perseveres. From his vow he will not waver. He has sworn an oath and he won't go back. And he perseveres. And how does he persevere? Well, how do you persevere, child of God? How do you persevere? You hold on to your God, don't you? You need him every day. Lord, hold up my steps, lest I fall. He persevered. But secondly, and remarkably, and we wanna focus on this, he prayed this beautiful prayer. He goes to the well. He knows that the women will come out. He's not going to judge from the outward appearance. He's not going to have some kind of beauty contest or anything of that sort. He's not just gonna watch from afar and just pick out maybe one of these, no. He doesn't start with any of that. And that's also not what marriage is all about, young people, is that you just watch and look and whoever strikes you as handsome or beautiful or a pleasant personality or something like that, and that's what you go for. No, you need prayer, like this man. And he said, oh Lord God of my master Abram, I pray thee send me good speed this day and show kindness unto my master Abram. Behold I stand here by the well. And he goes on to describe this thing. But notice first of all that he is so dependent in his prayer. He doesn't trust his own imagination. He does what the book of Proverbs says. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Do you do that? Do you pray every day? At the beginning of the day, before any big decision, even in the middle of the day when you're faced with something. What Nehemiah did is he sent up a prayer to God. No doubt a one word or a one line prayer right in the middle of his daily work. Then prayed I unto my God. We need that spirit of prayer, don't we? We need it when we walk by the way, when we lie down in our house, when we speak with one another, to have that spirit of prayer, have that communion with God. I know that we don't have that of ourselves and even God's people find this ebb and flow and yet to seek for that, to walk in close communion with the Lord. Every need that comes into your life is an invitation of the Almighty to pray. Have you thought of that? Every difficulty, every crossroads, every problem, every struggle, every sin in your life, call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me. Be careful for nothing but in everything with prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God. Every care, everything that we feel to be a care that presses us down is truly an invitation of the Almighty to look to him and to cast all our care upon the Lord. Casting, Peter says, all our care upon the Lord. And that's not just for a select group of people. That's not only if you've attained to this or you've gone thus far. Young people, it's not just for older people. You have cares, and if you have cares, there is one who says, casting all your care upon me. And that word cast, just to give you here a picture, and hopefully this will stay in your mind, but when Peter uses this word casting all your care upon him, he actually uses the language of a horse that casts its rider from off of him. So you've seen this before, right? These horses that someone's riding the horse and then the horse just rises up or whatever, some other way, casts the rider off of it. And of course, when we see that, that's a rebellious horse, maybe, or whatever. But when you think about your cares, they're riding you, they're driving you along, and often they're whipping you. Don't you ever have that? The cares of your mind, the cares of your life, there they are, they're riding you, and you just wish that you could just kick them off. That's what the Bible says, casting. all your cares upon me, the Lord says. He can take the cares. He can carry the cares. He can bear them all on his almighty back, so to speak. Well, that's what Eliezer does here. He prays, he lays his need, he lays his dilemma, he lays his crossroads before the Lord. But he's also all in with God in terms of discernment. So persevering, praying, and discerning. He needs discernment. And so he lays it out before the Lord here, sort of like Gideon does with the fleece. And it's a particular way in which he's seeking to discern. But it's not just something random. It's something that he lays here before the Lord that will truly show the character of this person. And so he doesn't say, you know, let this girl come in purple. Or let her, you know, look dazzlingly beautiful or something like that. Nothing like that. When I ask her for a drink, let her have this spirit of sacrifice that goes the extra mile, that helps, and that goes beyond. And so he's discerning. He prays in such a way that the character of this woman would be opened and that the Lord would be in it. So he's not simply praying here, may she have a good character, may she be a generous person, may she be someone who's truly helpful. No, but he does use that and he asks the Lord to guide through that. And that the Lord in this way would give discernment to him. Now do you crave discernment from the Lord? You know, Eleazar did not have the Bible like we have it. He had the revelation that the Lord had given in Abram's household, and no doubt that was sufficient for that time, that was beautiful, that was glorious, that was enough. But we have the whole scriptures. And we ought to all be praying for a spirit of discernment for ourselves and for those near to us and dear to us. That the Lord would give them that spirit of discernment. Paul prays for the Philippians. He says in Philippians chapter one that the Lord would give them a spirit that would be able to discern the best things. the best things. Now there's a lesson for us. Sometimes people are very satisfied with, well, that's an easy job. I can do that. I can make a living that way. Sometimes people are looking for good things. But Paul prays that the Philippians would discern the best things. And the best things are the things that come from the best hands. And from the best God, if I may so say. That we be given light, understanding to discern. Just for those of you who are struggling just now about discernment in your own life, you need to pray. You need to search the scriptures. What does the Bible teach about different things? And ask God to speak through his word to you, through the truth of his word. Speaking of the generations, it's also good to seek wisdom. from people who are more experienced than you, people who can see a bit more into the distance, people who have had life experience, who know the traps over here and the snares over there and the dangers over there, and even if they haven't experienced it themselves, if they have a true concern for your soul, they can help you, and God can use that. And that's why Timothy works with Paul, and that's why Younger women speak to older women, and together the Lord gives people a long life's journey that can help us. And in guidance, we also ought to look for doors of providence to open up. So as we're praying, as we're seeking to discern, as we're getting good counsel, that it could very well, we're getting all those things, but the door stays closed. You know, that happened to the Apostle Paul, a great man. But there he was in Asia Minor and he was seeking to go into Bithynia and the door was closed. The Lord suffered him not to go. Providence said no. The door was shut. When the Lord shuts a door, he's making you ready to go through another door that he will open in his time. Wait. Pray. Enter not into temptation. Seek not to go your own way. Don't go a shortcut. Don't seek to help providence like Abraham even did in the matter of Hagar and other things. To get impatient. To run ahead of the Lord. To think that the Lord needs our help. No, wait, I say, on the Lord. Eleazar was all in with the Lord, persevering in his journey, praying for the Lord's blessing, also praying for discernment. And then, when the Lord does give him this opportunity and this clear providence that directs him, he acts, he acts. He steps forward and speaks to this woman and he goes into this house, he lays it all before Laban and Bethuel and the whole family. He acts and we need that spirit of courage that acts. Later on we read about Gideon who needed to be brought a long way. He was a timid man as many of us have been and we still have that spirit, don't we? And the Lord needs to bring us. And he had his two fleeces. And it's almost as if he wanted the Lord to just kind of jumble things so that he could not act. But in the end, he had to act. And may the Lord give us that grace as well. As we lean on him, as we go upon him. The Lord has not given us, the Bible says, a spirit of fear. but of a sound mind and of courage. We need to go forward. May the Lord give each of us, according to our responsibility, that spirit as well, to follow the Lord, to not lag behind him as well. Eliezer was a man all in. for the next generation, he was all in with his God. And he was thirdly and lastly, he was all in with the gospel. He was all in with the gospel. What do I mean by that? Well, Eliezer knew the gospel. The gospel had been preached before time to Abram. You can read of that in Galatians 3 verse 8. The scripture preached the gospel before to Abram, saying, in thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. And the Lord revealed this gospel to Abram and to his household. And they believed, and Eliezer believed, and he saw these things, didn't he, as they unfolded. He, together with Abram and Sarah and Isaac, they looked for a city that had foundations. But they also knew and believed that there was coming a seed. out of absolute impossibility. Sarah was barren. Abram was too old. And yet in the way of impossibility, God had showed that he brings life in death. And that had been a picture of the gospel. And Abram believed against hope. He believed in hope that he would be a father of many nations. And he knew somehow, somewhere he knew that the day was coming when from his loins would be born one who would do everything for his soul. for the soul of Sarah and for the soul of countless people in this world. In thee, that is in thy seed, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. And that it captured the heart of Eleazar. and he realized that Isaac needed to have a wife, and that through that seed, there would come seed down through the generations, and then there would be that seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would crush the head of the serpent. We read in John chapter eight that Abram saw my day and rejoiced. Don't you think that Eliezer too knew something of this? That all this was going to one place and the gospel would be fulfilled. There would be the transaction that the Lord Jesus Christ would make. that transaction on the cross of Calvary. Maybe even Eliezer had a picture of it on Moriah when he heard about it, how Isaac had been laid upon that altar, but how he had been able to come off that altar. And that a ram was sacrificed in the stead of Isaac. A picture of what would happen in the fullness of time. And here congregation is a man who's obsessed with the gospel of free grace, of a God who works life through death, who raises the dead, and who fulfills the hope of his people. And he stayed upon that God. And what that meant practically speaking is that this man wouldn't rest until Rebecca and he were on their way back home. Until Isaac and Rebecca were married because this was God's way. And so every step this man took, every word this man spoke was all because of the gospel. All because of what God would do in the fullness of time through the seed of Abraham. And it meant this, too, that when the family wanted to wait 10 more days and said, give us 10 more days, that's social custom here. He said, I'm not gonna delay. No delay with the God who's ordered everything aright. That is a man who is obsessed with the gospel. He wants to see this gospel cause prosper. And I ask you as we close tonight, are you, like Eliezer, all in with the gospel? You know, we have so much more than Eliezer did. In a certain sense, I could forgive, if it means anything, I could forgive Eliezer if he couldn't make sense of all this. You want me to find a wife for Isaac. He believed even in those days now about you and me in our day when we have such a glorious revelation of the truth of Jesus Christ born of the seed of Abraham in the fullness of time laying down his life for people like you for sinners like you and like me Why are some of you delaying? Why ten more days? The question comes to us tonight. Will thou go with this man? And not Eliezer. Or will you go with the Lord Jesus Christ? And congregation, if Eliezer was an amazing servant who was all in for the next generation and for his God and for the gospel, my friends, he is but this small compared to one who was all in. Like no one else has ever been the Lord Jesus Christ. No 600 miles, no 1,200 miles. He traveled in eternity. He didn't just go to Mesopotamia. He went into the bowels of hell. All to obtain a bride for himself. And not such a willing bride. Not a Rebecca. who was so eager to help, so generous, so beautiful. No, the bride for which the Lord Jesus Christ came all this way was a bride who rejected Him, who scorned Him, who turned away from Him, who nailed Him to a cross and said, away with Him, away with Him. That's what He came for, for sinners. And He would not rest until He had not only gone the distance, but he had paid the price and bought his bride with his own life's blood. Do you understand, congregation, while I say that the Lord Jesus Christ was all in for his people in all generations, the world over, a sinful, a degenerate, a lost, a miserable, a bad people. And he was all in with God. I do all things whatsoever that please my Father. He did it all perfectly, without hesitation. And the gospel, well he is the gospel, friends. His heart is the gospel. And it's beating with love, even today, from the heights of heaven for sinners today. And I ask you, then why are you delaying? What is 10 more days going to do for you? What's one more day going to do for you? Wilt thou go with this man, with this God-man today? O God, please draw sinners, draw a bride unto thyself, and may they be all in with Jesus Christ. For me to live is Christ. He's everything. He's the chief of 10,000. He's so far greater than Eleazar. I said at the beginning, to be all in means you spare no expense. Did the Lord Jesus Christ spare any expense when He laid down His life, a ransom for many, when He poured out His soul unto death, made intercession for transgressors to bring a bride? that will always be with him in this life and in the next. And that bride is his church the world over. Oh, dear friends, may we be all in with Jesus Christ and to his glory. Amen. Shall we pray?