Genesis 32, beginning in verse
24. And Jacob was left alone, and
there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the
hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out
of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go,
for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee
go except thou bless me. And he said unto him, what is
thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said,
thy name should be called no more Jacob, but Israel. For as
a prince has thou power with God and with men and has prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said,
tell me, I pray thee thy name. And he said, wherefore is it
that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And
Jacob called the name of the place, Peniel, for I have seen
God face to face and my life is preserved. And as he passed
over Peniel, the sun rose up upon him and he halted upon his
thigh. Therefore, the children of Israel
eat not of the sinew, which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the
thigh unto this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's
thigh in the sinew that shrank. Now, it begins here with this
word, and Jacob was left alone. The first thing we see is God
is going to bring all whom he's purposed to save to see their
wretched helplessness before God. Jacob's own wisdom had brought
him to this place. He had experienced nothing but
tribulation all his life. He was not born the firstborn
son, he was the second son. And he was different from his
brother Esau. Esau was a courageous man. He
was a hunter and he was a man's man. And Jacob hung out in the
house with his mama and his daddy liked Esau. He preferred Esau
over Jacob. And Jacob's mother counseled
him to deceive his blind father and go in and lie to him, tell
him he was Esau so that he could steal the birthright from his
brother Esau. And when Esau threatened to kill
Jacob for doing it, Jacob had to flee from his own country.
He had to leave. And he went to his Uncle Laban's
house and he stayed with his Uncle Laban. And Uncle Laban
was a mean old Uncle Laban. And Uncle Laban deceived him,
deceived Jacob just like Jacob had deceived his father. He served
all those many years for the woman that he desired and Laban
tricked him and Jacob ends up marrying a woman that he didn't
even want to have. So God told him to go back home,
and on the way, Jacob gets word that his brother Esau is coming
to meet him with 400 men. And Jacob's terrified. He's terrified. So he divides his men, and Jacob's
divided into two camps now, and he sent those nearest him with
a large song as a gift to Esau to make reconciliation with his
brother who was pursuing him. And so now the host of the men
are gone out to meet Esau. And Jacob has sent the women
across the brook. And so now we come to this first
and Jacob was left alone. Alone, he's absolutely totally
alone. The goodness and mercy of God
effectually makes sinners to abhor themselves. It makes them
to cry out for mercy. But this affliction is goodness
and it's mercy. It's goodness and it's mercy.
Turn over to Psalm 107. Just a minute. Hold your place
here. Let me show you that in Psalm 107. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for He is good. For His mercy endureth forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed
from the hand of the enemy, and gathered them out of the lands
from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from
the south. Now here's how He did it. They wandered in the
wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in.
Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then, then they
cried unto the Lord in their trouble. That's when you cry
unto the Lord in your trouble, when he brings you to that place
where you're alone. And the Lord, he delivered them
out of their distresses and he led them forth by the right way
that they might go to a city of habitation. Oh, that men would
praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to
the children of men. For he satisfied the longing
soul and filleth the hungry soul with his goodness. And that's
how he does it. That's how he does it. Jacob's
been crying out to God to save him now because he's all alone
and he's terrified. And it's probably one of the
first times, among the first times, that Jacob has truly been
made to ask God for anything. Truly. Now, here's the second
thing. Christ Jesus must come to his
children in sovereign power. He must. Verse 24 says, and there
wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. Jacob, or who was this man? That's what I want to ask. Who
was this man? Well, Jacob is about to come
to God the father. He's about to behold the triune
God and no man comes to the Father but by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
man here, the angel of the Lord that's wrestling with Jacob. He manifests himself many times
in human form prior to his incarnation and it was a token, a pledge
of the fact that he was coming in human flesh just as He has. You look down at verse 30 and
you see who it is. Jacob bears witness of who this
was. He says, Jacob called the name
of the place, Peniel, for I have seen God face to face. Now the
Lord laid hold of Jacob. We read here that it says, Jacob
was left alone and there rested a man with him until the breaking
of the day. He was an object of God's mercy
and he was an object of God's electing grace. We know that
from back in Genesis 25. Look back there with me just
real quickly. Genesis 25 verse 21. Isaac entreated the Lord for
his wife because she was barren, and the Lord was entreated of
him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived, and the children struggled together
within her. And she said, If it be so, why
am I thus? And she went to inquire of the
Lord, and the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb,
two manner of people." There's only two manner of people in
this whole world. You know that. Two manner of people. And he
says, two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels,
and the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the
elder shall serve the younger. Paul, speaking to the Romans,
he said of that, he said, the children being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God, according to election, might stand. Not of works, but of him
that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it's written, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated. The question's not how could
God hate Esau, the question's how could God love Jacob. Now,
is there unrighteousness with God because of that? God forbid. He said to Moses, I'll have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Now were it not for God coming
to you in Christ, brethren, You'd be right there where Jacob
was. You wouldn't have any hope. You wouldn't have any any hope
whatsoever. Nothing Jacob had done had profited
him. Absolutely nothing he had done
had been of any profit to him whatsoever. God emptied Jacob. God brought him to the end of
himself. And then he cried out. Here's the third thing we see.
Our Lord's people shall be willing in the day of his power. Now
the elect child will be wrestled with by our Lord so that the
sinner is made willing to hang on and plead for a blessing from
Christ. That's how you're going to be
made willing. It says here in verse 25, and when he saw that
he prevailed not against him, you see, the first verse says,
there wrestled a man with Jacob. This afternoon on the way over
here, I called my good friend, my brother Don Fortner, and I
was wanting to find out how you pronounce this word, pineal.
And I said, how do you pronounce the word pineal to that place
where Jacob wrestled with the Lord? And he said, well, I think
that's pineal. He said, but Jacob didn't wrestle
with the Lord. He said the Lord wrestled with
Jacob. The Lord wrestled with Jacob. And the purpose of wrestling
with somebody is to pin them, is to pin them down, to pin them
to the mat. And the Lord wrestled with Jacob,
and it says, And when he saw that he prevailed not against
him, Jacob was pushing back. He touched the hollow of his
thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as the
Lord wrestled with him. In other words, the Lord pinned
him. The Lord pinned him. The Lord
could have prevailed at any moment with Jacob, but he's performing
his operation of grace upon this sinner. That's what he's doing.
And he laid hold of Jacob in a way that no one had ever touched
Jacob ever in his life. When God saves you. He's going
to make you willing to confess Christ is Lord of Lords and King
of Kings. That's the first thing that has
to be done. The first thing that has to be done is you have to
be made to see that he's going to have his way, that he is Lord. You're going to be made to see
this before you're made to know he's your savior. You're going
to be made to know he's Lord. You don't make him Lord. Some
people tried to take him one time when he walked this earth
and make him a king. And it said he departed from
out of their midst. Now he comes to this worthless
supplanter and he touches him and he'll never walk the same
again. So that now he makes Jacob to lay hold of him because his
people shall be willing in the day of his power. What he's done
to Jacob is he's made Jacob to realize This one is unlike anyone
else. This one has power. This one
has power to save. This one is one I must not let
go of. This one is one that I must hold
on to for dear life. I want you to see something over
at Hosea. I can just read this to you,
you can turn there, but over at Hosea chapter 12. And in a
minute the Lord is going to say, He's going to call Jacob a prince
and say that Jacob prevailed with the Lord, over the Lord.
And it says here in Hosea 12.4 of Jacob, it said he had power
with God. It says, yes, he had power over
the angel, over the Lord. He had power over the Lord and
prevailed. Jacob did. How is that? How did he have power over the
Lord? He wept. he wept and made supplication
unto him. That's how he did. He didn't
have power to prevail in that he usurped any kind of power
or authority over the Lord. The Lord came and pinned him
and touched the hollow of his thigh and made himself known
as King and Lord unto him and it caused Jacob to weep and make
supplication to the Lord. Now the Lord proves here that
he's given willingness, this sincere desire, by withdrawing
himself from Jacob. Now that he's pinned him, now
that he's touched him, now that he's manifest his kingly power
to Jacob, he starts to withdraw from Jacob. And watch this willingness
in Jacob, verse 26. We're in Genesis 32, 26. And he said, the Lord said, let
me go, for the day breaketh. And Jacob said, I will not let
thee go except thou bless me. Now the Lord has ceased to wrestle
with Jacob, and he's made Jacob willing to hold on to the Lord,
to cling to the Lord for dear life. for the blessing. I need
a blessing. I need assurance that you're
my salvation. He needed righteousness in Christ
is what he needed. He needed sanctification in Christ
is what he needed. He needed to be redeemed from
this awful curse he was under, from this awful trial and tribulation
and bondage of sin and death and hell that he was under. That's
what he needed. And he knew this man was the one who is the wisdom
and the power to go to God Almighty for him on his behalf and be
his power and his wisdom with God. And he said, don't leave
me. He clung to him, he held on to
him forcefully saying, don't leave me, I need you. You know
the Lord said, from the days of John the Baptist until now,
the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take
it by force." What's that mean? I asked the people the other
day over at our place, I said, how do I know I'm a chosen child
of God? How do I know Christ redeemed
me? How do I know that He's put away my sin and made me righteous
and holy in Himself? How do I know that? And I made
the statement that this, can you come to Christ? Have you
been made willing to come to Christ? But here's the better
question. Here's the better question. Can
you keep yourself from coming to Him? Can you do anything but
hold on to Him for dear life? He makes His people so that all
they can do is cling to Him and say, I will not let you go. until
I received the blessing." Blind Bartimaeus, he was sitting there
on the side of the road, and he heard that it was Jesus of
Nazareth that was coming. And he started to cry out. He
said, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And the folks
that was around there, around there with him, they charged
him. And they said, you need to keep the peace. Shut your
mouth. Quit yelling. You're making a
scene. And the scripture says, but he
cried the more a great deal. Thou son of David have mercy
on me. He said what Jacob said. I won't
let you go. I won't let you go. I need blessing. I need blessings that only you
can give. I won't let you go. And you know
what? Jesus stood still and commanded
him to be called. Bring him to me. Bring him to
me. That's what it is to take the kingdom of heaven by force,
to lay hold of Christ and not let Him go. It's when, and you
won't do this now until He's come and wrestled you down and
touched the hollow of your thigh and made you to know He's King
of kings and Lord of lords. And when He does, you know that
this is the wisdom and power of God. And that's when you'll
say, Lord, I won't let you go. I won't let you go. I need blessing. This is how the Hebrew writer
said it. Christ is a son over his own house, whose house are
we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope
firm until the end. That's what Jacob's doing. He's
saying, I'm persuaded you're able. I'm confident you're able. I'm committing everything to
you and I'm going to hold on to you till you prove your faithfulness
and show me by bringing me into the land of rest that you indeed
are my Savior, my Lord and my King. Well, here's the fourth
thing we see. This willingness will be manifest
in your confession about yourself. This is always the case. Genesis
32, 27, it says, And the Lord said unto him, What is thy name? What is thy name? Now before,
when he was using deception, when he was trying to get the
birthright, to get the blessing by his will and his way, he came
to his blind father deceiving his blind father and he lied
and his father said, what's your name? And he said, Esau, Esau. But now the Lord said, what is
that name? And he said, Jacob. My name's
Jacob. I'm a cheat. My name is deceiver. I've been worshiping my own will,
trying to obtain the blessing of God by my own craftiness,
and I've had enough of that. I'm a liar. I'm a liar. Only you can be merciful to me,
Lord, the sinner. You see, the Pharisee will stand
with himself and he will thank God that he's not like other
men. He'll thank God that he's not
like other men. And he's thanking God that he's
not like them. Or at least he's saying he's thanking God he's
not like them. But he's praying with himself. But he says, other men are extortioners,
unjust, adulterers. I'm thankful I'm not like them.
I'm thankful I'm not even like this Republican right here. Thank
you, Lord, for making me not like him. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
an unjust like this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. I go to church every time the
doors open. I've memorized the catechism.
I've learned a system of doctrine inside and out. I can rehearse to you the five
points of Calvinism and the Ten Commandments. I can tell you all these things
I've learned. I'm thankful I'm not like other
men. But is your life in those things?
Where's your life? Where's your life? Republican
standing afar off. won't even lift up his eyes to
God and says, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. You ever been
to that spot? Ever been to that place? That's
where he brings you to confess, I'm Jacob. What's your name? Jacob. You know, in the parable
of the lost sheep of the house of the lost sheep, you know,
the only thing that sheep did was be lost. That's it. You know, in the parable of the
coin, the only thing that that coin did was to be lost and unable
to do anything whatsoever. You know, in the parable of the
prodigal son, he was content to sit there and eat husks and
feed on those husks and say, this is my life, until the Lord
made him come to himself. And then he said, I'm Jacob. I'm lost. I'm helpless to help
myself. It would be better for me to
go and just be a servant in my Father's house and be where I
am. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. Well, fifthly,
when the Lord brings a sinner to this place, makes them willing
to hold on to Him, makes them willing to see Him as He is,
King of kings and Lord of lords, He blesses those. that lay hold
of him and him alone. Verse 28, And he said, Thy name
shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince hast
thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. Now
I showed you in Hosea 3 how he prevailed. He wept, and he made
supplication to God, Have mercy on me, the sinner. That's how
he prevailed. You know, you name your children
on the day they're born, don't you? You name your children on the
day they're born. Jacob was named many years before when he was
born of his father, Isaac. Born as a son of Adam, he was
named Jacob, a fitting name for him. But this is his birthday. And the Lord said, I'm gonna
name you today. And your name now is Israel.
Israel. You got a new name. For as a
prince hast thou power with God in men and hast prevailed. He
had Christ the Prince of Peace. That's how he prevailed. Who
makes us kings and priests unto our God. He had Christ the power
and wisdom of God. And before God and men, he had
acceptance in Christ, union in Christ, and sonship in Christ. He prevailed. And here's one
of God's chosen nothings, one of his chosen nothings, who has
been made a prince with God for the purpose of God bringing to
nothing them that think they are really something. that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. That's why it's
done this way. That's why the Lord works this way. Well, here's
the sixth thing we see. We see something of what faith
is. We see something of what faith
is, this gift of God, what it is. Faith is being satisfied
with Christ alone. Look at Jacob's request here,
verse 29. And Jacob asked him and said,
Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. Tell me, I pray thee, thy name.
Those who have been blessed of God want to know all they can
know about their master. They want to know all they know
about their Savior. But we learn a good lesson here. Verse 29,
And the Lord said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after
my name? And he blessed him there. He
didn't tell him his name. He didn't tell him his name.
He blessed him there. The Lord would reveal Himself
to him in the fullness of light that we have now because of the
time in which Jacob lived. The fullness of time hadn't come
that he would say, I'm the Son of God, the Angel of the Lord,
the Redeemer, the Captain of your salvation, the Lord of heaven
and earth to whom all power has been given, because He hadn't
yet come incarnate flesh and redeemed His people. And the
fullness of light hadn't been shed forth yet so that all would
know because God had a purpose in what He was doing and carrying
things out until the fullness of time when His Son came. But, faith is trusting God in Christ
as He has been pleased to reveal Himself to us, demanding nothing
more. demanded nothing more. He had
Christ. He had Christ. Multitudes question
themselves out of faith. Multitudes are a hindrance to
themselves because of all their questions. It's our natural tendency,
the natural pride of our nature to think, if I can study and
learn the doctrine of who Christ is and what he's done and what
he's accomplished, then I can know Christ. I will have Christ
by that. And I have no doubt in my mind
that that's exactly who Paul was talking about when he wrote
to Timothy and he said, men are ever learning and never able
to come to the knowledge of the truth. Men like to dissect doctrine. I guess it comes from the nature
of us being dividers by nature. We like to divide it. I've read
men that divide the everlasting covenant, the new covenant, 15,
20 different ways. I mean, just to dissect it down
to where all the fragrance of the flowers gone. All the fragrance
of the grace is gone. And it becomes just a dead, dissected,
pieced apart thing. But when God makes you to see
Christ, Then he teaches you doctrine and everything gets to be real
simple. You're either saved by grace or you're under the law.
You're either in your flesh or you're in Christ, perfect, complete,
holy to be accepted of God. You're either trying to come
to Him by your own knowledge or you come to Him in the wisdom
of God. You're either born of God or you're dead in trespassing,
sin and Adam. It gets real simple. It gets
real simple. But I want you to note this,
the will of God is that you believe on His Son. that you walk in
the Spirit, not leaning to your own understanding, not leaning
to your own wisdom, not leaning to your own searching. I'm not
saying here that you shouldn't read the Scriptures and listen
to the Word of God preached and seek the Lord. I'm not saying
that at all. The point I'm making to you is believing Him, having
Him, trusting Him to teach you and to guide you and to direct
you is all faith. It's all faith. And when you
have Him, you shall be taught and shall know the doctrine.
You shall. John 7.14, if you want to turn
there, John 7.14 illustrates this point. And what our Lord taught these
men who questioned, John 7 14 says now about the midst of the
feast of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and talked
and the Jews marveled saying, here comes a question. How knoweth
this man letters having never learned? That's going to keep
them from him. That's going to keep them from
him because they're doubting him. They don't see any form
of comeliness about Him that they should desire Him. He don't
have the letters, He don't have the learning, He don't have the
degree from Dr. Gamaliel. He hasn't said a defeat
of Gamaliel. He hasn't been to the school
of divinity under Dr. Gamaliel. How then does He know
anything? Listen to how our Lord answers.
Jesus answered them and said, my doctrine is not mine, but
his that sent me. He's saying, I am doing the will
of the father. And therefore I have this doctrine.
And he says here, if any man will do his will, he shall know
of the doctrine. What's his will? What's God's
will? Believe on his son and walk after
the spirit, not after the flesh. That is, trust yourself, lock,
stock, and barrel, all your ignorance, all your sin, all your depravity,
everything you are in yourself, lay it all into the hands of
Christ and hold on to Him and trust Him to teach you. And He
says, He shall. And you will know. You will know.
I gave the illustration the other few weeks ago with our folks
at home with Melinda, I married Melinda, and when I married her,
there was a lot of things that I didn't know about her that
I know about her now. I knew her though, and I loved
her, and I had her, and I clung to her. I've had people tell
me things about her that she's done or different things about
her before I ever even met her. Things that she had done that
took place before I ever even came along. And that's what everything
is that you're going to learn about Christ. It's everything
he did before you ever came along. And when somebody tells me a
lie, something that's wrong, I know it's wrong immediately
when they tell me. And the way I know it would be
wrong when somebody would tell me something that something wasn't
true about her, the reason I know it's not true is I know her. I know her. But the one who has always told
me the truth about her and always told me things that I could say,
yep, that's her. That's her, is her father. Her
father has always told me good things about her. And hearing
them, I know immediately, that's true, because I know her, because
I know her." That's the point. He, Jacob, had the Lord. And he started asking questions,
going beyond what he had been given. He'd been given everything.
And before he took another step on his own to learn anything,
the Lord said, Why do you ask me my name? Why are you asking
questions of me? I'm the teacher here. You just
pipe down and I'll teach you. And by doing that, everything
he did, the scripture said, he blessed him. He blessed him. He blessed him. Well, here's
the seventh thing. Faith is rejoicing in the face
of God. It's rejoicing in the face of
God. Verse 30, And Jacob called the
name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face. And this is what he knew. Just
by simply beholding Christ Jesus, this is what he knew. My life
is preserved. My life is preserved. Well, how's
that gonna happen, Jacob? Now you need to divide all that
out. Tell us how all that's gonna come about. I don't know. I don't
know how it's gonna come about. I don't know what's gonna happen
tomorrow, but I know this. I've seen the face of God. What
do you see when you see Christ Jesus? You see the glory of God
in the face of Christ Jesus. That's what he saw. And you know
what he knew? I don't have to try to be my
own wisdom anymore. I don't have to try to be my
own provider anymore. I don't have to try to be conniving
and deceiving and learning and searching and coming to these
knowledge of these things myself anymore and worrying and fretting
over about what's going to happen on tomorrow because I've seen
the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus and seeing Him,
I know this, my life's preserved. I'm going to be kept by Him.
And you know what that'll make a man do? That'll make him get
up and go to work. That'll make him get up and serve
God. That'll make him walk like he
never walked before. You want to see that? It says
here, verse 31, and as he passed over Penuel, the sun rose upon
him and he halted upon his thigh. It was a new day that had dawned
and Jacob would never walk the same again. Never walk the same
again. Grace makes a new creature from
the inside, and it has a sure and lasting effect on the outside. Well, here's the conclusion,
and in conclusion, I want to add something here that was blessed
in my heart. What about Esau, who he was so
worried about? That was coming, and he knew
he was coming. He was coming with 400 men, and
he knew he was no match for Esau. What about Esau now? Well, in
this, we get a type of what it is to come to Christ, our elder
brother. Just as Jacob came to Esau, who
was his elder brother. We get a picture of this when
God has, when He's brought this grace in us, and He's worked
this work of grace, where He's made you one in Him, by coming into you and making
you one in Him. This is what happens. Genesis
33 verse 1. Jacob lifted up his eyes and
looked, and behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men.
Look down at verse 3. And he passed over before them,
and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near
to his brother. And look at what that brother
did. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on
his neck, and kissed him, and they wept. That's what it is to find out
God is satisfied. He's at peace. And to go out
meeting Christ, who is the elder brother of his people, one with
his people, and to find him falling on your neck and kissing you
and weeping over you with joy. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? As Christ said, die. God to justify
them is Christ that died, that's risen again, who's ever at the
right hand of God to make intercession for us. You and me are like defenseless,
helpless sheep killed every day. But not tribulation, not distress,
not persecution, not famine, not nakedness, not peril, not
sword, not anything will separate us from the love of God, from
the love of God in Christ. You know why? Because you who
have laid hold of him have this blessing from him by his person
and his work. You are more than conquerors
through him that loved you. Amen.