I am Pastor Nathan, and today we're gonna be
in Genesis chapter 32, looking at the lengths
that God will go to shower his grace upon his
people. You know, growing up, some of you may
know this, some of you may not, but I was a very
don't tell me what to do type of person. I know,
shocking, right? Very rebellious. In seventh
grade, I remember I wore these multicolored Converse.
simply because everybody else said they were
ugly. You know, the word don't meant do it with
all your energy. And, you know, I was just, I
was a very contrary person. I used to argue the
opposite side of a topic with people, even if
I didn't agree with the opposite side. just to
be contrary. As I grew up through high school,
I rejected higher education, largely because
everybody said that's what you're supposed to
do when you graduate high school. And I was like,
well, then I'm going to do the opposite. And
then in my early 20s, I started a whole bunch
of small tech businesses because everybody said,
don't do that because you're going to fail. It's
too hard. So as you guys can imagine, I was a
peach to be around growing up. But when I got
saved, I knew Jesus Christ. I had given him my
life. I knew he was God. I believed just in a
moment. It was just boom, he's God and the truth
of God is real and the word of God is real. He
died for me on the cross. And so I gave my life
to him or at least I thought I gave my life to
him because what I really did upon my salvation
is I gave him the guilty part of my life. I gave
him that part of my life that needed forgiveness
and salvation, but the rest of my life, was still
mine to control. It was still mine to decide
upon. And so I entered into Christianity much
the same way I had lived my prior life. The first
year or so of my faith, I never went to church
because, well, that's what you were supposed
to do and no one's going to tell me what to do.
And after all, it wasn't church that saved me.
It was Jesus. I had the same attitude towards
reading the Bible. You know, oh, you're supposed
to read the Bible. So I don't want to do that.
I don't have to do that. The Bible didn't save
me. Jesus did. Obviously, these are very immature
ideas. But I was saved. I was going to heaven.
I knew my sins had been washed away. Thank you,
God, so much for that. And hey, bro, I'll check
in when it's time to come home. And that was
kind of my early, early, early Christianity.
My spirit had been born again. My morality had
shifted greatly as the Holy Spirit was now indwelling
me. I was definitely changed, but I was not fully
yielded to his control in my life. And over the
years, there have been so many things in my life
that God has had to knock out of socket to form
the submission and the yielding to him that he's
wanted in my life. And over my long life with
the Lord and still continuing today, I've learned
that God doesn't just want to be part of my life.
He wants to be my life. He wants to be my everything.
And so, you know, I'm just so thankful that God
has never given up on me, that God has never
ceased his work, and yeah, he still has an infinite
amount of work to do. But, you know, the same
principle, the same idea applies to every single
person here in this room, online, and in the
world that believes in Jesus Christ as their
Lord and Savior, that he's never going to give
up on you. That he's never going to stop working
on you and molding you and sanctifying you into
his image. And, you know, the reality is God
can and does save us even from ourselves at times
in our lives. There are times in our lives where
he has to... Wrestle with us so that we can come
to the place of fully surrendering those areas
of our lives that are causing us to be separated
from him. And this morning, we're going to see
God do exactly that in the life of Jacob, teaching
us that success in life, success in our spiritual
walk, our faith life, all of that, the victory
really comes from weakness, and victory comes
from surrender. But before that, we're going
to spend time worshiping God because he's worth
it. And I say that every single week and I'll
never stop saying that. This morning I got up
and, you know, for those of you that don't know
what EDM is, it's electronic music, you know,
right? And there's some cool Christian EDM on
Spotify and I was listening to that on the way
in. And man, I was just jazzed. I was so excited.
Now, you know, I just like the music. But I'm
excited to praise the Lord. I'm excited to sing
to him. Any kind of music. It doesn't matter
because when we worship God, it's saying, God,
what do you want us to sing to you today? Because
we just want to declare to you how awesome you
are and how amazing you are and how much we love
you. And so that's what we have the opportunity
to do right now. And I just encourage you guys
to just sing with everything you got. I don't
care if you sing off key. Sing with everything
you got, all right? Now, if you can't clap on
time, you know, it's hard to play when people
are, no, just kidding. It really is hard to play
though. But anyways. Worship God. Don't let anything
get in the way of that. Just praise the Lord
because he loves you so much. And he's working
in your life today. And so we're going to be
seeing that today. But let's pray. Father, we
love you so much. And we're so grateful for the
opportunity to know you. Lord, you are amazing.
You are almighty. You are beyond ultimate understanding,
Lord. And yet you know us. You love us. You died
for us, God. You paid the price, Lord, that we
would be able to have a relationship with you.
And then, Lord, you do this work throughout our
entire life here on earth of molding us and shaping
us, God, and we don't deserve any of it. And
yet, Lord, you do it. You're so faithful to your
promises. And, God, I'm just so grateful, Lord,
that even though that we constantly are wrestling
against you and the things you want to do in
our lives, that you are so patient, God. But
Lord, today I just pray, God, that you would
encourage us, Lord, in the extents that you will
go, that your grace would just shower upon us.
Lord, that we would understand that there's even
times in the life of your children where you
might knock something out of socket, where you
might in a way cripple us, that we would be more
victorious, Lord, in our life with you. And God,
help us to listen and help us to learn, God,
and help us to be aware of what you're saying
to us this morning, God, about those things in
our lives, Lord, that we're not letting go of.
We may have been walking with you, God, for a
very short time or a very, very long time. But
Lord, all of us struggle with different things
in our lives. And I believe today, Lord, God,
is the day that you're calling every single one
of us to let it go. God, that the victory over
the issue or the sin or the struggle that we've
been longing for has not come because we're still
the ones trying to do the fighting. And Lord,
when we surrender to you, to your control and
your spirit and your way, God, we will truly
find victory. So God, we want to worship you
for everything. Everything that you've done,
everything that you are. Lord, every blessing
you've brought into our lives, God, we don't
deserve any of it, but we receive it and we're
so... grateful to you for loving us. God, thank
you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We are
in Genesis chapter 32 this morning, and to give
a quick recap of where we're at in the story,
Jacob has just departed or parted ways with Laban,
his scheming uncle. He's the man that he had
been laboring for for over 20 years to, one,
pay the wedding cost or the bride cost, the dowry
for his first wife. And it was supposed to be
Rachel. He got tricked. He got... Laban's other
daughter Leah. And so he had to work another
seven years to actually pay the cost to be able
to marry Rachel. And then after that, he worked
another six years or so trying to build up his
own flocks, his own herds in preparation of the
day that God would call him to leave Laban's
household in that land and head back to the promised
land. And so Jacob had fled from there with his
family and all his possessions. Laban had pursued
him and they had this very kind of tense standoff
there. That ended up with Laban leaving, not
on good terms with Jacob. He had kissed his daughters
goodbye. He had kissed his grandkids goodbye.
But Jacob, I just think that Laban looked at
him and scoffed and left. And so it wasn't a
very good... goodbye. In fact, their separation
was very hostile such that they made a covenant
with each other, a vow with one another, where
they essentially drew a line in the sand and
said, you stay on your side and I'll stay on
my side. And Laban was so upset with Jacob, he
said, and since I can't keep my eye on you, I'm
going to pray that your God keeps his eye on
you. And if you treat my daughters badly, you
treat my grandkids badly, then God's going to
get you. And a little bit ironic considering
that Laban was the larger schemer and deceiver
there, but Jacob, it was music to his ears. I'm
finally free. I'm finally free to go about my
life. I'm finally free to go back and to be the
head of my own family, go back to the promised
land, see God and his promises prosper. And so
it was after this 20 years of being manipulated
and taken advantage of by his scheming uncle,
he was now victoriously going home. He was a
very, very wealthy man with camels and herds
and flocks and all this stuff. And he was also
very wealthy as a father and a family man because
he had 11 sons. That is an incredible blessing
in those days because sons were the ones who
carried on the family name and legacy. And so
a very blessed man as he goes. And so we pick
it up here in Genesis 32, verse 1. It says, Jacob
went on his way and God's angels met him. When
he saw them, Jacob said, this is God's camp.
And so he called that place Mahanaim. Earlier
in Jacob's life, he had a major turning point
that involved angels. When he had fled his homeland
after he had cheated his brother Esau, he came
to this place that he named Bethel. And it was
a place where he saw the angels going up and
down on the stairway between earth and heaven.
And it was a moment where he learned something
very valuable as a crossroads of his life. He
learned that God was with him. That God was going
to be with him no matter where he went in his
life. And that because God had made promises
to him, God was going to keep Jacob. Meaning
that he was going to be with him, to protect
him, bring him through the difficult situations.
But it was the very beginning of God trying to
teach Jacob that I'm God. Let me be in control
of your life. A lesson that Jacob would struggle
with for his entire life. But here he is now
going back to the promised land and angels meet
him again. Angels in the beginning, angels at
the end. And he's very excited. Of course, because
the first time it was like, whoa, I saw God and
God made promises himself to me and reiterated
it. And now he's seeing these angels again. And
so he gets all excited and he proclaims this
place God's camp. Now, this word Mahanaim is
a very interesting term because it's what's called
a dual form word in the Hebrew. What that means
is it's a word that can mean multiple things,
right? But there are multiple things that look
kind of contradictory. What I mean by that is
this word Mahanaim can mean two camps or it can
mean camp. Pretty contradictory, right? Is it
one camp or two camps? Depends on what's being
said here, right? But it's the idea of that Jacob's
had just come from two camps that were in opposition,
right? His family's camp and Laban's camp when
he caught up to him. And these two camps were...
two camps of fighting, two camps of fear. And
now what Jacob is saying is, as I've finally
gotten away from that, now it's my camp and God's
camp. And what I see here is two camps that are
actually one camp. That I'm actually finally
on the same page with God and God is on the same
page with me. That he is here with me, blessing
me and my family. We're united. He's truly still
working on my behalf. How amazing. And you can
imagine. Jacob's seeing these angels again, how
encouraging that would have been to him, how
encouraging for his faith and all this. So he's
just so excited. These two camps are actually
one camp. It's God's camp, my family and his
angels together at last. But you gotta say, hold
up, Jacob, because you still got a lot of work
to do. There's a lot of work that needs to happen
in your life. Yes, in Jacob's life, he had begun
to acknowledge God's protection. and God's provision.
You remember before he fled Laban's area with
the family, he had to gather his wives up in
secret and go, hey, I need to convince you that
it's time to leave your father's household and
your homeland because God said so. And so in
that moment, we saw that Jacob had finally begun
to say, God did all of this. God is the one who
made us a rich and wealthy family. God is the
one who's preserved and protecting me through
all of this. And so we have to go because God
said so. And so yes, Jacob was acknowledging
God's protection and God's provision. He was
starting to give God all the credit for all the
blessings in his life. But as he was returning
home with this joy and this peace with God and
this unity and we're together and we're one and
we're united, he was remembering that when it
came to him and his brother Esau, there was disunity.
That there wasn't peace there with his brother.
He and his brother were not united at all. In
fact, the last that Jacob had known about his
brother Esau was that he wanted to kill him.
And so this is coming to Jacob's mind as we're
going to see in verse 3. But there is something
about getting right with God that highlights
in our hearts that we need to get right with
some other people. There's something about coming
to that place where, God, we're good, and I'm
just praising you and worshiping you and reading,
you're speaking to me, and I hear you, and God,
this is great, and I'm stepping into your promises,
and then God might say, yeah, but that friend,
that family member, that spouse, that child,
that coworker, there's a radical disunity there.
And you know, in Matthew chapter five, verse
23, Jesus was teaching his disciples and the
people listening to him, and he said, look, basically
if you're coming to worship God and something
is not right with your brother, go reconcile
with them first. Then come and worship God. And
so Jacob's here in this place of he's stepping
into the promised land, the promised land. Yeah,
me and God are great, but me and my brother.
are in disunity. And so he's starting to think
about that. And really, if you go look at Matthew
chapter five, verses 23 through 35, the principles
of reconciliation that Jesus lays out there really
are kind of like an outline of what this chapter
is. But here in Genesis 32, verse three, it tells
us, and Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to
his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the territory
of Edom. And it was this disquiet within him
that caused him to do this. He commanded them,
you are to say to my Lord Esau, this is what
your servant Jacob says. I've been staying with
Laban and I've been delayed until now. I have
oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female
slaves. I've sent this message to inform my Lord
in order to seek your favor. Now, if you remember
the map, I didn't get one up on the screen, but
the map of Israel, right? Here's Israel. You
guys see it? Okay, great. And you remember, Jacob
is way up here in the north in Haran with Laban's
family. And so he is heading back south down
through the promised land, back to where his
father Isaac had set up the family, which was
in southern Israel in the Negev region, right?
Now, it tells us that Esau had since settled
in Seir Edom because that is an area that is
way over here to the east. And so Esau is not
a direct obstacle to Jacob coming back home to
the land where his family was. And so we might
ask the question, well, then why go? And that's
why I was touching on the fact that he has this
disquiet in his heart that even though there's
peace between Jacob and God right now, there's
not peace between Jacob and his brother. And
so he has to reconcile. And it wasn't just because
Esau was in the way, because he wasn't. For Jacob,
It was a part of the spiritual growth. It was
a spiritual necessity that in order for Jacob
to fully enter into this peace, this peace relationship
with God, he had to have peace within his own
family. yeah, sure, I'm sure Jacob was just practically
tired of living under a tense situation, which
he did for 20 years with Laban. And that had
taught him so much about the wrong he had did
for his brother. And so just practically and
spiritually, Jacob couldn't be at peace completely
until he was reconciled with his brother as well.
And so he sends these messengers ahead basically
to say, hey, brother, I'm coming home. I hope
you're not still mad at me. Now, this plan here,
it was Esau doing everything, or Jacob doing
everything he could to make right with Esau.
Because you'll notice he told his servants, he
goes, go and say to Esau, my Lord. He refers
to Esau as my Lord, and Jacob refers to himself
as your servant. The idea here was that this
was a term of superiority. This was a term of
you're greater than I am. So my Lord Esau, he's
trying to make sure Esau knows, like, I see you
as superior. I respect you. I'm not coming back
just to claim the birthright and take things
from you. I'm just trying to come back home in
peace. The idea of, like, tell him that I have
oxen and donkeys and flocks. The idea there was
Jacob was trying to tell Esau, Esau, I'm willing
to pay back. I'm willing to make restitution
for my wrongs. And that's a very important thing
to do when we're trying to reconcile with people,
is don't just say, oh, I'm sorry. But there's
a genuineness on, I want to make it right, right?
I want to correct the wrong I have done. And
so this is what he's doing with Esau. But you'll
notice at the end there, he goes, I just want
to have favor with him. I'm not trying to come
and plant my flag in the family and this is all
mine. He goes, I just want favor with my brother.
I want peace. I want blessing. And so verse six,
it says, when the messengers returned to Jacob,
they said, we went to your brother Esau and he's
coming to meet you. Yay. And he has 400 men with
him. Boo. Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.
Now, why was Jacob greatly afraid and distressed?
It's because in those days, a 400 -man -sized
force was specifically a militia -sized force,
right? You didn't raise a militia and bring a
militia -sized force with you unless you were
ready to fight. And so Jacob is like, dang it,
last time I heard about my brother Esau, he wanted
to kill me, and now he's coming with a militia,
right? It wasn't 275 men, it wasn't 483, it was
400. This is a militia -sized force. So now Jacob,
right, we just saw that he had come to this place.
He saw these angels. He was so excited. Mahanaim,
right? It's Mahanaim. There's this camp of unity
here. It's two camps, but we are one. This is
so exciting. You know, and so God is with me.
I'm fine. No problem. Esau's coming with this
big force. I'm okay, right? Well, that's not
what Jacob does. Look what he does in the rest
of verse 7. He divided the people with him into
two camps, along with the flocks, herds, and
camels. He thought, if Esau comes to one camp
and attacks it, the remaining one can escape.
And so instead of peace and trust and all is
well and I'm good with God, God will protect
me. I've been learning that. He freaks out. He
panics and he's like, oh my gosh. And he divides
his camp into two. He's forgetting all about
the fact that God's with me here. He's forgetting
all about Mahanaim, one camp, God is with me.
And then he goes, you know what, Mahanaim, I've
got to split everything back out. I've got to
divide again. I mean, that's a logical response
considering the possibilities that Esau is going
to come and wreck everything. But how quick are
we to go from, yay, Lord, everything's great,
to the sky is falling. I'm all alone. God has
abandoned me. It's like in one breath, we can
make that switch sometimes. And this is what's
happening here with Jacob. Now in verse nine,
Jacob actually does a good thing. He prays. He
prays to God and he says, God of my father Abraham
and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said
to me, go back to your land and to your family
and I will cause you to prosper. I am unworthy
of all the kindness and faithfulness you have
shown your servant. Indeed, I crossed over the
Jordan with my staff, and now I've become two
camps. Please rescue me from my brother Esau,
for I am afraid of him. Otherwise, he may come
and attack me, the mothers, and their children.
You have said I will cause you to prosper, and
I will make your offspring like the sand of the
sea, too numerous to be counted. So, good job,
Jacob. You're doing the right thing when faced
with an obstacle. Praying. This is the first
time, incidentally. that we've seen Jacob pray
in Scripture. We've been going over Jacob's story
for a number of chapters now, and chronologically,
that has covered a few decades, maybe four decades
of time at this point. And yet, this is the first
time that we have recorded that Jacob prayed.
Now, good. Growth, right? The content of his
prayer, however, it's just so appropriate and
so good to his situation because he starts out
acknowledging God. And we should always start
prayer that way. A lot of times our prayer gets
right into what I need. God, I need this. God,
I need this. God, I need this. But it's a good
place to start, to always start with God. You
are great. God, you are mighty. You see how he
starts. God of my father Abraham. God of my father
Isaac. The Lord who said to me, it's like, God,
you are amazing. You are the one who goes back
to the beginning. I just want to start there
by putting the right perspective on who you are.
It establishes the foundation of what you're
going to be asking for. And so what Jacob is
essentially starting this prayer with is, God,
I'm doing what you told me to do. You're amazing.
You're the God that I'm following. I'm going
home. And then he says, you are the Lord who
said, and he repeats the promise. You see, one
of the great ways to start our prayers is to
start with praying God's promise over your life.
When we come to God and we come to him based
on who he is and all that, there's this great
example in this prayer of Jacob to start with.
God, let me bless you. You are so amazing. You
are the God of glory. I give you all glory. And
I start with, God, this is what you promised.
And you pray God's promises in your life. The
second thing Jacob does, and again, this is a
great example to follow in prayer, is he confesses.
I deserve nothing from you, God. I am unworthy.
I recognize that I deserve nothing from you.
You have done so much in my life already. But
God, like always happens in my life, I'm in the
thick of it again. I have found myself in the
mess again. And so starting with glorifying God
and starting with God, you said this. This is
your promise. This is a promise I am basing this
prayer upon. Confession is the next part. And
then the third part is petition. where he says,
please rescue me from my brother. That's my prayer,
because I'm afraid. You see, it's better to pray
an honest, negative confession than a dishonest,
positive one. What do I mean by that? He's not
saying, God, I've got it together. I made these
cool overtures to my brother. I've really got
this figured out. But God, if you could step
in and just do your thing, that would be great.
He's honest with the Lord. God, I'm scared. I'm
afraid. Be honest when you pray to God. Be honest
when you're coming to him. Be honest of what
your petition is based upon. It's very important.
So he's like, please rescue me for I'm afraid.
And then look how he closes his prayer with God's
word again. You have said, I'm resting on what
you said, God. Your word is the foundation of
this prayer. I'm honest. This is what you said,
but I'm scared. This is what you said, but I'm
afraid. But you know what? You said it. And so,
God, I'm offering this prayer to you, and I'm
resting on your word, and I'm trusting your word.
A great example to follow in prayer, and one
of the things I've learned over the years is,
Pray first. Pray first. Bad situation, pray first.
And pray right. But when we pray first and we
pray right and we're resting on his word and
his promises, there's an expectation that then
we move forward in confidence and trust to take
action on those prayers. But you see, there's
a difference between taking action on, I've prayed,
I know the Lord, I trust him, his promises are
true, boom, I'm bold to walk in those things.
There's a difference between that and praying,
and God, I trust you and everything, and I'm
still afraid, and so then I'm gonna go make my
own plans regardless. And this is what Jacob
is doing here. We've already been told by Jacob
in his honesty that he's afraid. But his actions
moving forward are based on his fear, not on
his trust. You see, Jacob is still trying to
handle his own business. In a sense, what Jacob's
prayer is doing here, although it is a good prayer,
He's saying, Lord, I trust your promises, so
here are my plans, and I want you to bless my
plans. That's often how we do things, and it's
not the right approach. Because although Jacob
has grown in his faith, and he has grown in his
walk with the Lord, and he's grown in his trust
of God, and his protection, and his provision,
all these things, there's still this part of
Jacob that is saying, yeah, but I still want
you to bless my way. I still want you to bless
my plants. And that's where we pick up in verse
13. It says he spent the night there and took
part of what he had brought with him as a gift
for his brother Esau. 200 female goats, 20 male
goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 milk camels with
their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys,
and 10 male donkeys. He entrusted them to his
slaves as separate herds and said to them, go
on ahead of me and leave some distance between
the herds. And he told the first one, when my
brother meets you and asks, who do you belong
to, where are you going, and whose animals are
these ahead of you, tell him, they belong to
your servant Jacob. They are gifts. They are
a gift sent to my Lord Esau. And look, he is
behind us. He also told the second one, the third,
and everyone who is walking behind the animals,
say the same thing to Esau when you find him.
You are also to say, look, your servant Jacob
is right behind us. For he thought. Jacob thought,
I want to appease Esau with the gift that is
going ahead of me. After that, I can face him,
and perhaps he will forgive me. Lord, I trust
you. I believe in you. You are the God who made
these promises. Please rescue me from my brother.
I'm afraid. And then he makes a plan and goes,
maybe he'll forgive me. That's not faith. That's
how we know he's operating out of fear still.
That's how we know this plan is a plan of Jacob's
and not a plan of the Lord's. Jacob's going,
okay, I need to do this. And it's kind of a good
plan, right? Over 550 animals separated in five
herds meant to appease his brother Esau. Esau's
coming in with 400 men, a militia. So what Jacob
says is, okay, if I flatter him enough and I
send enough gifts, maybe he won't be so mad when
he gets here. And so the first group, right?
Who are you? Where are you coming from? Who are
all these animals? Oh, my Lord Esau. Your servant
Jacob sent these as a gift to you. He's coming
behind us. And then the next wave, and the next
wave, and the next wave. You see, the idea here
was to soften Esau's heart and really to flatter
Esau in a positive way. Like, hey, there's respect
here. I don't think you're garbage. I don't think
you're trash. There's this idea that I'm sorry
for what I've done because the size of this gift,
it's a royal -sized gift. The amount of animals
and stuff he's sending to Esau is the type of
gift one would send to a king. And so again,
Jacob is trying to flatter here. Now, for Jacob's
case here, there's actually something good in
Jacob's life here, even though I believe this
is Jacob's plan. And his prayer was, God bless
my plan. We see that for once in Jacob's life,
he's choosing to be last, not first in line.
Now, yeah, there's a big part of that that's
because like, well, we're gonna get to that later
based on his fear. But still, Jacob is saying,
I'm not going to walk in there and go, the birthright's
mine and the blessing's mine. He's just like,
I'm done trying to be in front in that way. Just
here's the gifts. And so verse 21. So the gift
was sent on ahead of him while he remained in
the camp that night. During the night, Jacob
got up and took his two wives, his two slave
women, and his 11 sons and crossed the fort of
Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the
stream along with all his possessions. This is
another piece here that shows us that Jacob is
lacking peace and lacking calm, and there's really
kind of a lack of the trust in the Lord here
because crossing the river Jabbok, even though
it was at a ford here, even though it was at
a safer place, it was still a dangerous thing
to do during the day, and he's doing this at
nighttime. He's sending his wife and kids across
this river, and he's sending all his possessions
across this river at nighttime. That's a move
of a little bit of a panic, of a worry, of a
fear -driven, decision here. And so verse 24,
after he moves his family over, it starts with
this very important phrase, and Jacob was left
alone. Now, some commentators will say that Jacob
stayed on this side of the river, the Esau side
of the river, because he just wanted to have
a time of prayer and deep reflection and meditation.
But that's not really the person Jacob is yet,
right? After 20 plus years of life, we just read
of his first prayer. So he's not really a man
of prayer yet. Jacob is, and what we've learned
from his life, he's a very practical man. He's
a very self -reliant man. And he's a guy who
has and still is trusting in his own plans a
little bit more than he's trusting in God himself.
And again, yeah, he's considered God. He had
the presence of mind to go pray and ask God for
help. But it's still his planning. It's still
his plan that he's trusting in. And to be quite
honest, I think he's just more tired and worried
and upset based upon just leaving Laban and all
this stuff going on that he just wants peace
for a moment. I mean, for goodness sake, he has
11 boys, right? He doesn't sleep. He hasn't slept
in, you know, no, I don't know that that's the
case, right? But for those of you that have had
boys in your household, right, one of them's
a lot. He's got 11 and four wives who don't necessarily
like each other. It's just a really, so I think
in many cases he was just like, I'm afraid, go
over there. And then he's like, okay, tomorrow
I'm going to meet Esau. I just want some peace,
just some rest, right? Well, either way, he found
himself alone. And that is often the very place
that God comes in to speak to us. When we're
in the quiet, when we're in our head, right?
We're thinking and planning and scheming and
worrying and, you know, I need to do this. And
we're praying, God, bless my plan. Bless my way.
You know, I came up with this and we're just
worried and we're just, what we're seeking is
peace. and calm. We're seeking, you know, to
resolve the situation, but we're all tied up
in knots over it. And this is where God meets
Jacob. So verse 24 tells us, Jacob was left alone,
and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When
the man saw that he could not defeat him, he
struck Jacob's hip socket as they wrestled and
dislocated his hip. Now, Jacob has been struggling
his whole life. In one way or another, and this
is the main event for Jacob's long life of WrestleMania.
This is it. This is the title card, right? Jacob
knew who God was. Jacob believed in God, believed
in God's promises so much he tried to steal them.
He knew the stories of his father Isaac and all
that Isaac had experienced. He knew the stories
of his grandfather Abraham. He knew the promises,
right? This was who Jacob was. But Jacob had
always had a life of trying to do things his
own way. God, I believe in you, and that's great.
Thanks for loving me, but I'll handle the business.
I'll do it my way. From the very beginning of
his life, when he was born, it tells us he was
born grasping the heel of his brother. That's
what his name means, heel catcher. It means supplant
or deceiver. The idea is that he was like, no,
no, no. I want to dictate my own destiny. I will
be first from the very point of the womb. And
then he lied and cheated to steal the birthright
from his brother. He believed the birthright
was valuable. He believed the promise of God
in it, but he was going to get it his way. He
deceived his dad to steal the family blessing.
His whole life. had been struggling against those
who had what he wanted. Most recently in his
life, 20 years. Because Laban had the woman he
wanted to marry as his wife. He had been cheated.
And so he had been struggling. And what we find
now in Jacob's life as he's going, look, I want
to send all these herds and stuff to my brother.
I just want favor. I just want acceptance. I
just want blessing. I just want to know that
I'm good and everything's good. And then here,
I just want one night of rest and peace and quiet.
And yet he finds himself wrestling again with
another man. Now we ask the question, who is
the man? Right? Hulk Hogan is no longer with
us. He's passed, gone to be with the Lord, and
so it's not Hulk Hogan. It's not any other famous
wrestler, right? Who is he wrestling with? Well,
there's all kinds of crazy ideas out there, even
today. And I love how God anticipates the questions
that we have, especially people who think they're
smart and want to, you know, read between the
lines on everything. Hosea chapter 12 verse 3
tells us exactly who this is Jacob's wrestling
with. It says there, in the womb he grasped his
brother's heel, and as an adult he wrestled with
God. The man wrestling with Jacob here in Genesis
is none other than God himself. Whether this
is a Christophany or a Theophany or all those
types of things, it doesn't matter. He's wrestling
with God. He's having this physical altercation
with God himself. And so you have Jacob who is
here on this side of the river sitting alone
in his fear. sitting alone in his anxiety, hoping
his plan works, hoping God blesses his plan,
trying to figure things out. And as he's just
sitting there out of the darkness, a pair of
strong hands grab him and start grappling with
him, and this cosmic wrestling match ensues.
And so, you know, instead of an anxious night
of rest that Jacob was hoping for, it was another
night of struggle. Why? Why was God wrestling
with Jacob here? Why was this what Jacob was
faced with instead of his semi -peaceful night
of fearful sleep? It's because he didn't yet
understand that his fear, his anxiety, his worry
is what has driven his entire life. Just about
every decision he ever made was driven by fear.
Driven by anxiety and driven by worry, he was
always afraid that he was gonna lose out on what
was most important to him if he didn't intervene
himself, if he didn't get involved, if he didn't
run the show, he was gonna miss out. And really,
he thought that way because at the end of the
day, at this point in Jacob's life, one of, if
not the last major stronghold in his life, was
even though he believed in God and professed
God, Jacob was the only one Jacob could fully
trust. He never had rest. He never had peace.
He always struggled and fought and schemed and
learned very slowly over the years that his own
self -reliance was why he never had rest. That
the only one he fully trusted in was the only
one who kept letting him down over and over and
over. His stubbornness, his defiance, his pride
was the very thing keeping him from favor and
full acceptance and experiencing the full blessing.
The very thing he kept trusting in to say, no,
only I can figure this out in my plans, in my
way. And he's seeking peace and he's seeking
all the things. He was the one keeping himself
from the blessing. And so God steps in. And that's
the beautiful story so often in the Bible. But
God. But grace. Right? That stubbornness, that
defiance, that pride. That which was the very
source of his latest plan. Oh, let me flatter.
Let me send money and gifts. was the very thing
that was preventing him from fully yielding and
submitting to God's complete control in his life.
And so God is showing up to deal with that. And
it says they wrestled all night. And then it
says this man, who we've already identified as
God, says he could not defeat him. And you think,
well, if it's God, how could God not defeat him?
This wasn't about God's inability to defeat Jacob.
This was about God seeing that Jacob's stubbornness,
Jacob's pride is what prevented Jacob from putting
God on the throne of his life to making God the
preeminent number one. That at this point in
Jacob's life, God was part of his life. But God
wanted to be his life in total. See, it's like
this. The other day, my grandson James, He got
mad at me because I told him no on something.
And I was sitting in the recliner and he does
this thing when he gets mad, he does the eyebrows.
He looks down at you like that and he came up
and he hits me on the leg. And I went, really?
And he backed up with the eyebrows. Then he came
back and he hit me again. I said, is that how
we deal with our emotions? Is that how we deal
with our problems? And then he stepped back even
further and he came like kind of flying in like
a gorilla. And boom, hit me with both his arms
right on my stomach. This went on for about five
minutes. And I looked at him and I said, you
can't hurt me. He'd hit me again. I said, are
you done? He hit me again. I said, you can't
hurt me. He hit me again. I still love you. Hit
me again. You can't make me stop loving you.
I'm always going to love you. This went on for
five minutes. And finally he got tired. I said,
are you done? That's kind of how I see this with
Jacob and God here, right? It's not that God
was like, dang, he's so strong. It's just like,
are you done, Jacob? Are you going to let go
of that last stronghold in your life? And Jacob
just wrestle, wrestle, wrestle, wrestle. And
so it says he could not defeat him. That God
saw that Jacob couldn't let go of that stubbornness,
that pride. That although Jacob believed in him
and his promises, that Jacob was still ultimately
the one Jacob could, Jacob was the only one that
Jacob could trust. And so what does God do? God's
going to intervene in Jacob's life for Jacob's
benefit. It says he struck Jacob's hip socket
as they wrestled and dislocated his hip. And
you might think, well, that's cheating. Again,
here's a supernatural God going, are you done?
Are you done? Why do you trust yourself? Why
can't you fully trust me? That's what I want
you to do. No, I'll do it my way. And then, This
is how I see this. God saw that the stronghold
was so strong in Jacob's life that God steps
in and deliberately cripples him to break this
stronghold out of his life. Now, why the hip
socket, right? First service, this just came
to me out of the blue. Like, why did he touch
the hip socket? Best dad joke ever, because this
was the birth of hip -hop. Great, I got the dad
joke. Ha, ha, ha. There, see? No. Why the hip
socket? Jacob's thought throughout his entire
life was always, if my plans don't work out,
I could always run. That was Jacob's... Early
life, steal the birthright, steal the blessing.
Oh no, things didn't go my way, gotta flee. While
he's fleeing, God shows up at Bethel and says,
I want you to know something, Jacob, that's gonna
be a foundation of your entire life. I'm with
you no matter where you go. You cannot run from
me. And my promises are gonna hold true because
I'm God and I made those promises. And Jacob's
like, cool, okay. He goes, and he has his 20
years of difficulty with Laban. And at the end
of those 20 years, Laban and his countenance
is changing. Jacob's like, oh, no, things are
getting bad. I got to run again. Gathers his
wives. Hey, honeys, we got to go. Right? Multiple
lies. Okay. And they say, yeah, sure. Our dad's
a punk. He's not a nice man. Let's go. So they
flee. And that was the very basis of Laban's
upset. You fled in secret. What was up with that?
Here Jacob is here, and he's growing. He's growing
in the Lord. We see that. But now he comes to
this place. He's like, God, I'm scared. Please
rescue me. Okay, I have this great plan to flatter
my brother, to do all this, instead of just like,
I trust God. I don't need to do anything other
than just let God go before me. But I'm going
to send the animals and all this stuff. My plans,
my plans. And then God shows up here and says,
look. Do you think you're going to be able to
run again if this plan doesn't work out too?
I don't think so. So God steps in and takes away
Jacob's last possible way of self -reliance.
The last possible method of retreat. Jacob literally
could not run away now. Not fast enough to get
away from Esau and his army. God closed that
door. God took care of it. There was no escaping
now. There was nothing else Jacob could do. In
verse 26, then the man said to Jacob, let me
go for it's daybreak. Jacob, you want to cling
to your stubbornness? You want to rely on your
plan? You know you can't run this time. How do
you think that's going to work out? But hey,
I'll honor your free will. Let me go. Just let
go of me. You could go deal with this on your
own. And then it tells us that Jacob said, I
will not let you go unless you bless me. Now,
we read those words, and some people read those
words, and it sounds like Jacob is coming from
a position of domination, right? Like, no, I've
got you, God. I ain't going to let you go until
you bless me. But that's not what's taking place
here. You see, again, in Hosea 12, verse 4, it
says, Jacob struggled with the angel. We already
know that it's called God, so we know it's God,
and prevailed. It says he wept and sought his
favor. You see, Jacob wanted favor. He wanted
acceptance. He wanted to be blessed, and he wanted
that not just from Esau, but he wanted that from
God. He believed in God. He wanted all that from
the Lord, but he was still trying to get it through
his own efforts. And when God removed the last
possible out, and Jacob says, I will not let
you go unless you bless me. It wasn't from a
position of domination. It was Jacob finally
surrendering. It was Jacob finally coming to
the place of saying, look, I can't run. All I
can do is cling to you, Lord. You are the only
way. And so when he says, I will not let you
go unless you bless me, it wasn't from... domination.
It was a crying, pleading desperation. It was
Jacob saying, look, I've had it. I'm destroyed.
I'm done. I can't run. I have no way out. I have
no confidence in my plan. That's why I wanted
a way out. And you took that away, God. I can't
do anything without you. There is no way I could
win. There is no way I could find favor. There
is no way I could be blessed. There is no way
unless you bless me. So he's crying. He's weeping.
He's pleading. God, it's not my plans that are
going to save me. It's not my own way that's
going to save me. I can't earn it. I can't figure
out a way to get it. I'm spent. I'm done. Please,
God, finally, I'm clinging to you for everything.
I cannot be blessed unless you bless me. And
then in verse 27, God responds, what is your
name, the man asked. Jacob, he replied. Your
name will no longer be Jacob, he said. It will
be Israel because you have struggled with God
and with men and have prevailed. So this question
from God was the moment of confession. Jacob,
who are you? And Jacob says, I'm heel catcher.
I'm supplanter. I'm deceiver. I do rely on myself
and my own plans more than you, Lord. I am everything
my name implies. It's a confession. I am a sinner.
But bless me, please. And God says, well, you
finally surrendered and yielded to me. And because
you've done so, You have a different name. And
in these times, names were intrinsically tied
to the nature, the character of somebody, right?
So what God is saying is, great, because you
finally surrendered and yielded everything to
me. You're clinging to me the way I've always
wanted you to. Even though I had to cripple you
to do it, your nature is now different. And he
names him Israel. The word Israel, it can mean
God fights. It could mean God strives. It could
mean God rules. This is why we often hear it
as Israel means governed by God. But you dig
down into the roots of the name, there's even
a deeper meaning because the name Israel is Yisrael
or Yisrael in Hebrew. Yisrael means to prevail.
El is God, right? So if you break Israel into
its root words, what it means is God wins. God
wins. Your name, Jacob, is no longer supplanter.
Your nature is no longer that. Your name, your
nature now is God wins. You've struggled with
God. You've struggled with man. And he says,
you won. You're going, wait a second. How did
Jacob win when he lost? He won through surrender.
God says, I want to bless you. I want to give
you favor. I want to just use your life. And
this is at the moment of salvation struggle,
and it's a struggle we go through in our entire
life. When Jacob finally surrendered all of his
struggles and all of his plans and all of his
self -reliance, he won. He got the blessing.
He got the favor. He got everything he'd been
searching for his whole life because it's all
found in Christ. It's all found in God. And he
got it by giving up on his self -reliance, his
own plans, his ways, his stubbornness, his pride.
Jesus said, lay down your life and you will find
it, but try and hang on to it and you'll lose
it. That's what Jesus said. Jacob went from a
man who is self -ruled to a guy who is now God
-ruled. And that's one of the meanings of Israel,
God rules. His victory was found in submission
to God, to doing it God's way, to fully trusting
in him and him alone, saying, I'm crippled. I
could do nothing. I just have to cling to you,
and this is the only way I will be blessed. How
would you like your name to be God wins? You're
still hanging on to your addictions. You're still
hanging on to past sins. You're still hanging
on to pride or stubbornness or self -reliance.
You're still hanging on to whatever it is. And
you're saved. You've confessed faith in God.
And God said, it's based on your faith that I
consider you righteous. And you're like, woohoo,
I'm saved. I'm going to heaven. I'm good. But
there's still some aspect of your life where
you're saying, God, this is mine. I will have
control of this. You keep trying and it keeps
failing and you keep trying and it keeps failing.
How would you like God to step in and say, you
know that old nature? You finally yielded it
to me. You finally surrender it. So guess what?
Your name is God wins. You've let me win in your
life. I have prevailed in your life. I am the
one that you finally are seeing. You're everything.
You're not just part of my life. You are my life,
Jesus. Jacob found that when he fully surrendered
for the Lord, he found that it indeed was God
who fought for him and won the battles. Especially
the battles with himself and his own nature.
And because of that, God ruled. That's all the
meanings of that name. God fights, God strives,
God rules. But ultimately all that means is that
God wins. I want my life to be God wins. That's
what I want people to see when they see my life.
God wins. In my own life, in my own struggles,
with my own nature, I want to be God wins. It
was in weakness that Jacob found victory. It
was in surrender he found success. Yisrael. What
a beautiful word, right? Verse 29, that Jacob
asked him, please tell me your name. But he answered,
why do you ask my name? And he blessed him there.
Jacob then named the place Peniel, for I have
seen God face to face, he said, yet my life has
been spared. The sun shone on him as he passed
by Penuel, another name for the same place, limping
because of his hip. That is why still today the
Israelites don't eat the thigh muscle that is
at the hip socket, because he struck Jacob's
hip socket at the thigh muscle. What's your name,
Jacob? I'm a sinner. That's who I am. Okay. But
because you're yielding to me and you trust me,
I'm going to give you a new nature. Your new
nature is God wins, God rules, God fights. You
trust me for the battles. You trust me for the
plans. You trust me for the way. That is who
I want you to be because I'm going to do great
things in your life. And then Jacob goes, yeah,
what's your name? And God's like, come on, dude.
You know who I am. Stop doubting, Jacob. Stop
finding a reason to rely on yourself. Stop trying
to find a crack in the plan so that you can truly
go back to trusting yourself more than God. You
know who I am. I'm not going to tell you. And
he blessed him there. Jacob named the place Peniel.
For I have seen God face to face. Guess what
Peniel means? Face of God. Very fitting, right?
The second major turning point in God's life.
The first time he goes to Bethel. He meets God.
God is with you. I'm here. My presence is with
you. It'll never leave. The next time, Peniel.
I've seen God face to face. I've wrestled with
him. I've struggled. And it's interesting. God
says, I'm going to name you God wins because
you struggled with God and men and won. And you
go, what? We already talked about that, right?
How does that mean he won? The word actually
in the CSB here is you've struggled with God
and man and have prevailed. That word prevailed
in the original language means to continue to
exist. I'm going to name you God wins because
you've struggled with God and man and you're
still alive. What? How does me being alive mean
God wins? Jacob understood the magnitude of his
encounter with God, being the sinner that he
was, having stood before God. because he yielded
and he said, God, you are everything. I trust
you. I'm done. I can't. You even crippled me
and I have to cling to you. That's all I can
do. God finally said, you're going to receive
the greatest blessing of all. You're going to
receive God's ultimate grace, the ultimate fulfillment
of God's promises. You're going to receive life
and life eternal. Your name is God wins because
you struggle with God and men and you're still
alive. Why are you still alive? Because you trust
me. Me and me alone. And so at the dawn, it's
kind of like the end of a movie, right? This
limping man comes limping over the hill with
the sun behind him. But he's a man now touched
by crippling grace, changed forever. See, absolute
surrender is not a passive thing. It's an intentional,
yielded dependence. It's something necessary
to come to the Lord, and then it's necessary
for the rest of our lives. Paul learned this
in 2 Corinthians 12, where he said, God taught
me that his grace is sufficient for me, that
it's in weakness that God's power is made perfect.
So Jacob's life, it's one long story of the relentless
and tenacious and contending and intrusive and
renovating grace of God. It's a grace that wouldn't
let Jacob go even though he had all these rough
edges and even though Jacob was still trying
to do his own plans, God never let him go. It
was also a grace that would lovingly break him
so that he could reform him. That's the scary
part, but that's the greatest part. If you're
God's child, God will cripple you if he has to,
to break you free of those things that you're
holding before him. Now, the preference is give
it up before he has to. But God loves you enough
and he will never give up on you. He will keep
going and he will even cripple you if he has
to. To knock that dependency out of your life.
It was when Jacob came to the end of himself,
realized he can't do anything without God. That
end was actually his new beginning. Have you
ever come to the end of yourself? Maybe you're
here this morning or watching online. You've
never come to the place of salvation. You're
like, I'm thinking about God and this and that,
but you've never come to the end of yourself.
Maybe God has closed every escape route. Maybe
that's why you're here today or watching today
because God has done something where there's
no escape anymore. There's no alternative. There's
no option. Every out has been taken away that
you're at that place of like, my only option
is absolute total reliance on God. Or maybe you're
here saved today, and you've been walking with
the Lord for a while, but there's something in
your life, something in your life that you keep
going, yeah, well, God, I'm going to trust me
with this before I trust you. You've tried every
possible plan you could think of. You have even
been praying, God bless my plan. God bless my
method. Are you tired of struggling? Are you
tired of the fight? Are you tired of struggling
with this world? Are you tired of struggling
with your own sin nature? Then surrender and
you will find victory. Maybe God's asking you
this morning right now. He's going, who are you?
What's your name? What's your nature? Is your
nature a deceiver, supplanter? Is your nature
a... angry man, angry woman, is your nature liar?
What is it? Just be honest with me. Because once
you're honest with me, once that confession takes
place, once that reality that, yeah, I am a sinner,
I'm everything that your word says I am without
you, that's when God says, great. I can work
with that. Maybe you're a Christian, you've been
walking with the Lord for a long time, and God's
going, You're saved, but who are you? Wow, I'm
doubter, Lord. I'm panicker. And God's going,
if you surrender, I'll change that. And the promise
is God for his children. If you're his child
this morning, I believe God will even say, look,
I will cripple something in your life if that's
what it takes. I'll cripple that relationship.
I'll cripple that business, that job. I'll cripple
that hobby, that entertainment. I'll cripple
that thing that you trust in more than me. Maybe
God is asking you what it is. Maybe God has already
knocked something out of socket in your life,
crippled you in a way that is causing you this
morning to finally fully surrender to him, his
way, his control, and his will. And you've been
mad at God because he crippled that part of your
life, but God is trying to say to you today,
I'm saving your life. Listen, yield. Because
true victory, true freedom, true success, true
peace, true joy, true favor and blessing comes
when we stop wrestling against God and instead
desperately cling to him with everything we have.
God will never give up on you. He loves you that
much. I believe he's calling you this morning.
Let's pray. Father, we love you. We thank you
that in your infinite grace you would look upon
us. God, your word tells us that prior to salvation
we were enemies with you. That we considered
you an enemy and we lived in opposition and defiance
to you. And yet, Lord, you sent your son to this
earth to live and die a perfect life, to be brutally
tortured and crucified for us. But then he rose
on the third day, defeating the power of sin,
defeating the power of death, the hold, the control.
You gave us the opportunity to be set free. And
Lord, I pray for those in this room that don't
know you and they realize they need to be set
free. That God, they've been wrestling against
you and fighting against you. And Lord, you've
been so graciously standing there and just saying,
are you done? You can't hurt me. You can't make
me not love you. And God, this morning, they're
finally crippled from their pride and crippled
in their self -reliance. Crippled in their unbelief.
And they're ready to know you, God. To cling
to you, Lord, and God, rightfully, to learn that
you are the only source of blessing, the only
source of life, the only source of salvation.
And that, God, this morning, their faith in you,
their trust in you, Lord, even praying out loud
or in their own heart, just, God, I believe in
you. Please save me. I trust you. I realize now
that you are the only means of salvation, the
only means of forgiveness, the only means of
grace and mercy. And I know if I let you go,
there is no blessing, and so I cling to you.
God, for those in this room that know you, they
are your children, and yet, God, they have something,
some stubbornness, some pride, something that
they keep turning to and relying on instead of
you. God, it's not that we're not supposed to
make plans. We're just not supposed to trust
in our plans more than we trust in you. And so,
God, if there's those that are here today, Lord,
your children. But throughout this message today,
God, you've been reminding them of that thing
you've been speaking to them about. I pray, God,
this morning that they would stop wrestling.
That God, if they have not yet been crippled
in this area, that they would surrender today.
But Lord, I pray that of crippling them to get
them to give this thing up, Lord, is the necessary
grace that they would be free from its control
and free to pursue and serve you. That God, you
would do that. Because Lord, you are our life.
Not part of it. You're all of it. We want your
name to be glorified. We want you to be lifted
up. We want you to truly be the Lord of our life.
That God, we would live lives recognizing that
if we dare let you go, if we dare stop clinging
to you, we simply invite disaster into our lives.
Let us not be like Peter on the water, Lord,
before he clung to you. Let us be like Peter
after. God, we thank you. We love you. It's in
Jesus' name we pray. Amen.