Well, as I often do, taking a Thursday evening midweek meeting, I would read one of the sermons of the late pastor, Mr. Matronola. And tonight I'm going to read a sermon entitled, I Will Not Let Thee Go. It was a sermon preached on Lord's Day morning, 6th of June, 1993. and the text is Genesis 32 the last part of verse 26 I will not let thee go except thou bless me and the last part of verse 29 and he blessed him there here is the remarkable record of a contest which took place upon the earth a wrestling match History is full of contests. There have been many wrestling matches, some of them for amusement, others deadly serious, matters of life and death. But the record of this contest is different from all secular history, for this is sacred history. This is not two men wrestling together as equals. in a contest to see which is the stronger, nor is this a wrestling match merely for some earthly prize. This is altogether different. This is the sacred history of the man Jacob wrestling with the angel of the covenant and wrestling for a spiritual blessing. Let us think a little more about the unusual nature of this contest. And firstly, consider Jacob as one of the two contestants. In Isaiah, he is referred to as Thou Worm, Jacob. Thou Worm, Jacob. And although Isaiah is referring to the whole seed, the remnant of Jacob, nevertheless, it would be also true of Jacob himself, that he appears before the Most High God as Thou Worm, Jacob. In the language of our hymns we are often referred to as worms and some take great offence at this. But, my dear friends, we should not take offence because I feel that in and of ourselves we are but worms before God. We may be made in the image and likeness of God but we are, so to speak, so vile and so full of sin that we are less than worms. The worms have less to contend with than we have. When a worm perishes, and what an inconsequential thing that is, it will never go to an undone eternity. A worm will never be in hell, although it is described as the place where their worm dieth not. No mere creature will ever be in hell. There is no soul concern in a worm. or in any member of the animal kingdom, but every man is made answerable to God. And when death comes, he will go either to heaven or to hell. And when he goes to either of these places, it will be irreversible, for there is no passage from the one to the other. None would ever want to leave heaven, and although multitudes would want to leave hell, there is a gulf between which will never be bridged to all eternity. Jacob was called Thou Worm Jacob. But the dear Son of God is similarly described. He says, I am a worm and no man. Men saw no beauty in him, but they should desire him. he was brought to the place of utter contempt for our sakes William Carey went to India not only as a gospel preacher but as one who sought to learn the many different local dialects in order that he might translate the scriptures but when he came to die he ordered that upon his tomb there should be written the lines of Isaac Watts a guilty, weak and helpless worm on thy kind arms I fall The other contestant is the Angel of the Covenant, and that is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. No created angel, but the uncreated Angel of the Covenant, the messenger of the Covenant in his appearance before his incarnation. He was as a man, There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. It was not that he had yet taken, as he would in a future day, our nature upon him. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. But he came and took the semblance of a man, and it was as a man that he wrestled with Jacob. This is the mighty God, this is the creator of the ends of the earth, this is the one who upholds all things by the word of his power. Yet he came in the form of a man that he might engage in a contest, that he might wrestle with worm Jacob. But even more marvellous is the result of the contest. Who prevailed in this contest? It was Jacob who prevailed. When he saw that he, that is the angel, prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh and he said, let me go for the day breaketh. And he, Jacob, said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. The result of the contest was that Jacob had the victory. That is an astounding thing. Here is worm Jacob wrestling with the mighty God and Jacob prevails. He had power over the angel and prevailed. Hosea 12 verse 4. Of course, Jacob was permitted to prevail because God was in this thing. God was putting his faith to the test. Nevertheless, the record states that Jacob prevailed and got the blessing which he sought. This was a real incident. It was a literal event. There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. The liberal and the modernist would say that it was a spiritual encounter, that it was merely in Jacob's imagination. Was the halting upon his thigh to the end of his days just in his mind? There is an element of mystery about it, but it was nonetheless a real event. It is the actual record of a strange wrestling contest which continued until the break of day, and of Jacob prevailing over the messenger of the covenant. That then is a description of the incident itself. so lessons which can be drawn from this incident firstly Jacob was chosen of God Jacob was chosen of God in his epistle to the Romans in the epistle to the Romans we learn that Jacob was chosen of God, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Romans 9.13. These words were originally written by the prophet Malachi. I loved Jacob and I hated Esau. And Paul uses them subsequently to stress the sovereignty of grace. Jacob was chosen of God and every real Christian, likewise, is chosen of God. We may be brought to the place where we sing in the words of the paraphrase, and thou shalt be our chosen God and portion for evermore. But if he is our chosen God, it can only be because God has chosen us first. To the disciples in the upper room, Christ said, ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. Secondly, Jacob was not chosen because of his good works. Jacob was not chosen because of his eminent gifts and graces. Far from it. Rather, he comes over as none too pleasant a character. He was in fact apprehensive on this very night because he had tricked his brother Esau many years before. His very name Jacob means supplanter or trickster. He, as you remember, pretended to be Esau. He had covered himself with skins, pretending to be a rough man, a hunter, as his brother was. His aged father, thinking he was Esau, his firstborn, pronounced the blessing over Jacob. When Esau returned and learnt what had happened, he was full of wrath. And as a result, Jacob had to flee from his brother's presence. And now, all these years later, he is terrified that his brother is coming against him with 400 men to get his revenge. Jacob is not too worthy a man. But none of us is worthy. None of us is worthy. God has not chosen us because we are worthy. J.C. Philpott says, our worthiness, the worthiness of every one of the elect, fell in Adam. When we were constituted sinners. Even when we have got our best robe on, we have to remember that it was Christ who paid for it. As Robert Murray McShane says in the hymn, Chosen not for good in me, wakened up from wrath to flee. It is certainly not that we are better than others, for if the truth be told, we are worse than many others. Even as Christians, sadly, we often do not live as well as some who are not Christians. Oftentimes we are treated better by the world than by some who profess to be our brethren and sisters in Christ. We are never all that we desire to be or all that we should be. we are chosen. But because we are all vile sinners deserving only of hell, we should be very understanding and compassionate towards each other. If we have come to the place where we have begun to forget how it was with us once, it is time we made a pilgrimage back to consider the rock whence you were hewn and the pit whence you were digged. like the psalmist, we were all once in an horrible pit and in miry clay. We could not get ourselves out, the mire was about us, but we were drawn forth. If we had not been drawn forth, we would have remained there. Jacob was chosen. Every one of his seed is chosen also. And thirdly, Jacob knew that he must have a blessing. This is what differentiates the chosen from those who are not chosen. For even when you are in a place when you've lost your assurance, your concern is that you might get it back. The ungodly do not seek assurance. They do not feel the slightest concern about spiritual things. But the true child of God is unhappy when he feels the withdrawing of his Saviour's face. If he knows anything of the hidings of God from him it vexes him, it crushes him, and that is a great indicator to us that there is something different about us. There is nothing to suggest that Esau was concerned with spiritual blessings. We read of him becoming the head of a house which became a nation in its own right, the Edomites, but we never find him depicted as one who sought for a blessing. In the multitudes, which today throng the places of pleasure in our land, you will find very few which are seeking any blessing. If they were seeking the blessing of God, they would not be found in those places, but would instead be thronging to the places where God's people meet and where God's word is proclaimed. We are living in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation. But the difference which God has made, if it is true of us as it was true of Jacob, means that we cannot live without a blessing. A blessing from our God. We cannot do without it. Jacob is so expressive of this. For he wrestles with the angel, and he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. The true child of God cannot be content merely by coming. He has got to be blessed in coming. It's not enough to come to the Lord's house week after week in a mechanical way and never get any blessing. If you do not get a blessing then cry to God that you might get one. It is a matter of great concern if you feel you do not get a blessing from the ministry. Pray all the more for the minister because you must have a blessing. If you are not blessed by the ministry, then it will do you no good, and it will be a testimony against you in the day of judgment. For unto whosoever much is given of him shall much be required. Desire a blessing from it. Come in the frame of Jacob. I will not let thee go except thou bless me. You may have been blessed in the past, and thank God if you were, but past blessings are not enough for today. You need a blessing this day. You need to come with the earnestness of Jacob and cry to God that he will not let you go this day except he bless you. Fourthly, Jacob was humbled. Jacob prevailed against the angel and yet there is no pride with him. Jacob knows with whom he has been wrestling. He asks his name, but only that he might have a greater revelation granted to him concerning the one with whom he has been wrestling. He knows who it is. For he says, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. Jacob knew that he had been allowed to prevail, and he knew that it was God who had allowed it. He is not puffed up by it. I fear our few spiritual successes often inflate us, but when we have had real dealings with God, we are always humbled under his mighty hand. And those humbled under his mighty hand are those whom he exalts in due season, and those to whom he gives the rights in the meantime to cast all their care upon him, for he careth for them. Jacob is humbled. He knows that the mere touch of the angel was enough to make him halt upon his thigh and make him lame for the rest of his life. He knows if God had wanted, he would have been utterly crushed and annihilated. Therefore, the prevailing which his God has granted him is that which he receives with humility of spirit. None will ever get a blessing unless they have a humble spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Fifthly, Jacob was very conscious that God must bless him. That God must bless him. Jacob knew that the blessing is always given by the greater to the less. As Melchizedek, who appeared to Abraham when he was returning from the slaughter of the kings, and to whom Abraham gave tithes, blessed Abraham in the name of the Most High God, Possessor of heaven and earth, in the Epistle to the Hebrews the principle is stated, He, Melchizedek, whose descent is not counted from them, received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. and without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better Hebrews 7, 6 and 7 and in that he blessed Jacob there it was the better blessing the less you see again the humility which was in Jacob's heart he did not feel that he had earned the blessing that he had prevailed even against God. There is nothing which he can present of his own merits. Look at my attainments and all the service which I have rendered in thy name. Look and bless me. He knows that the blessing is the blessing of the better and it is not given on the grounds of merit. It is not on the grounds of works at all. although we might learn this also and humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. Sincerely, Jacob was blessed by the Son of God. All blessings come to us through the Son of God. They are all through Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as he has chosen us in him. He could say all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. He is the one to whom the Father has entrusted the keys. He that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth. He has got the key of the treasuries of heaven. He's like Joseph, entrusted with the key to the granaries of Egypt. If anyone would buy corn, they must deal with Joseph. If anyone would receive a blessing this day, they must receive it through Christ. He will not come through the Father, nor by the Spirit of God, because the Father has committed all to His Son's care. And the Spirit of God likewise has made it His business to show that it is through Christ that all blessings come, and through Him alone. Be sure, then, that you honour the Son. He that honoureth the Son the same hath the Father. But he that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. All God's dealings with us are through his Son. These, then, are some of the important lessons which can be drawn from this passage. Let us also consider the character of the blessing which Jacob sought. Firstly, it was a confirmation of the former blessings which he had received. Although he was a supplanter, he had received the blessing from his father. and in getting it, his father, from whom he got it, was as God to him. It was a prophetic word, a solemn word. Perhaps you've wondered why Isaac, when he found out that he'd blessed Jacob instead of Esau, could not just have reversed the blessing. Esau certainly expected that he could do so, but it could not be. The blessing was prophetic. it could not be undone. This solemn blessing of Isaac was therefore given to Jacob. God give thee of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve thee and nations bow down to thee. Be lord over thy brethren and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be everyone that curseth thee and blessed be he that blesseth thee. Shortly afterwards, when in fear and terror he fled from the face of his angry brother, Jacob got a better blessing even than that of his father. Having left his home and his loving mother, he went out alone and solitary, and came and lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there. And he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep, and he dreamed. And behold, a ladder set up on earth, and atop of it reach to heaven and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south, and in thee, and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land. For I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. Genesis chapter 28. He had been blessed of his father, and he had been blessed of his God. Now, these many years later, he wanted to have these blessings confirmed to him. I will not let thee go except thou bless me. Jacob is seeking therefore a confirmation, a renewal of the blessings and promises which have been made to him. It is good for us to seek a renewal. I want to have the renewal today of blessings I have known in the past, particularly of the time when the Lord said to me that I was his, and that I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Oh, to be those who are concerned that we might have old blessings confirmed to us again, and that the Lord might make the promises sweet and fresh to us. All the promises of God in him, Jesus Christ, are yea, and in him, Amen. And secondly, it was vital that Jacob had this blessing. In the circumstances in which he found himself, it was vital that Jacob had this blessing. He had had these promises of blessing in the past, but he was in very difficult circumstances, or so he thought. Although it seems that much of the anxiety and fear which was pressing upon his soul was more in his mind than in reality, for there is nothing to suggest that Esau was coming against him to get revenge upon him, but he thought he was. A guilty conscience will always make us tremble and see adversaries in every shadow. When we have sinned, when we have a guilty conscience, we do not get off scot-free. Although we have been forgiven by God, these past sins may well come and vex us in future days. We know so many of this in our own experience, as David did in his. Jacob's was largely an imaginary fear, and yet an imaginary fear can be a very real fear, and often becomes magnified out of all proportion. As the hymn writer says, creatures of fear we drag along and fear where no fear is. Jacob was brought into a felt anxiety. He felt the 400 men were the trained servants of Esau who were coming to rout him and get revenge for his supplanting of the blessing these many years before. Jacob therefore makes some provision for his family, but he himself is left in great concern of Saul. to pray through the night when there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. Jacob's situation speaks to us in the trials, difficulties, and darkness which we are in. If the trials are very real, we can understand the concern to our souls, but even if they're not substantial, they may be no less vexing But whatever we are experiencing today, those things which are as a great weight upon our hearts and which bring us down, so that from the depths we cry to God for a blessing, He is able to destroy them, for He blessed him there. He blessed him there. The scripture does not say that He left him there, or that He passed him by there, but rather that He blessed him there. The man, Jacob, worm Jacob, felt that he needed that blessing. I will not let thee go except thou bless me. And he blessed him there. If you have an urgent need for a blessing this day, then God will meet you, God will bless you. I like the words of John Newton, Lord, I cannot let thee go till a blessing thou bestow. Do not turn away thy face, mine's an urgent, pressing case. That brings me then to trace out how we obtain the blessing which we need. It is out of that pressing sense of need, mine's an urgent case. That is how we come before God. We are never going to be filled until we hunger and thirst. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. If we are filled already, we shall never feel any need for blessing. People around us do not seek after God because they do not feel themselves to be in need or in danger. God is not in all their thoughts. They have got to be brought to a pressing sense of their need. Indeed, this is the only thing which we have got to be brought to, for as Hart says, all the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him. No one will ever be saved who does not feel a need to be saved. Much of so-called evangelism today emphasizes only what people can receive. God will bless us, God will be near to us, God will provide for us. In so much of contemporary preaching, there is never anything of need. There's no preaching of the law, or of judgment, or of the condemnation which is upon those who are outside of Christ. There is nothing which speaks to the sinner of his condition. It would be better, rather, if they placed their emphasis on the commandments which have been broken by their hearers, and the state which this brings man into. that the wrath of God is upon all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men. But they are as those walking across the very pit of hell, and are only preserved by a hair's breadth from eternal ruin. Then, having spoken of the awful need of the soul, it would only take a moment to stress the wonderful provision which God has made in His dear Son for those who feel their need of Him. All the fitness he requireth is to fill your need of him. Art says in another hymn, what comfort can a saviour bring to those who never felt their woe? If you feel your need of a blessing, then you are halfway to that blessing. But if you have come here today and you do not feel you need a blessing, but rather that you are doing God some favour by your being here, then you will leave as unblessed as you came. There must be a coming to Christ for the blessing because, as we have already seen, all blessings are through Christ. You will not get a blessing without Him. Despite what all these other world religions claim, these religions which seem to get so much attention today and which some of our benighted religious leaders claim are all sure ways to the same God, There is no way to the true God save through Jesus Christ. There is no blessing save He bestow it. How important it is then that we are looking to Christ for the blessing. We must look to the Son of God for all blessings are through Him. As John Newton says, Christ has blessings to impart. Christ has blessings to impart. Then there is the place of earnest prayer. Are you praying for your blessing? My friends, why should you expect God to give you a blessing if you do not even ask Him for it? Why should God bless you if you are not prepared to come before Him and with words address Him and tell Him what your needs and desires are? God has put prayer within the covenant. This is a portion of scripture which speaks to prayer. There is prayer in this place. Peniel. We have already referred to Hosea's words. Yea, he had power over the angel and prevailed. But it continues. He wept and made supplication unto him. He wept and made supplication unto him. Hosea 12 verse 4. Jacob was praying in this matter. There was the wrestling with the angel but the whole atmosphere was one of prayer. Prayer that he might be blessed, that he might have a renewal of the old blessing and that he might be kept in the dire circumstances which he felt to be in. We are told in the epistles of the Hebrews that the Son of God He who is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save from death, and was heard in that he feared, though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. If our dear Saviour prayed earnestly, then how do we expect to be blessed if we never pray at all? It is a word to us to be diligent in prayer. Pray for the blessing. As Jabez prayed, O that thou wouldest bless me indeed. Come with words and address God and seek the blessing and say, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. And you will prevail as Jacob prevailed and he blessed him there. come with earnest prayer to Christ for the blessing, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Perhaps you say, if only I could get a glimpse of how this man prayed. You can see the burden of his prayer in the earlier part of the chapter. where Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which said unto me, Return unto thy country, and unto thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant. For with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. deliver me I pray thee from the hand of my brother from the hand of Esau for I fear him lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children and thou says I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude he's praying along these lines he's praying with tears He is praying with supplication and earnestness that if God will be true to his promises and that God will hear his petition and he blessed him there. God heard him. God heard him in spite of all the discouragements. There was a discouragement in that he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh as he wrestled with him and it became out of joint. the ball and socket of the thigh was somehow affected so that from then onwards, although he did not seem to have any pain, he halted. It was a reminder to him of the encounter which he had had with the angel. That might have put him off. We are so easily hindered from praying, but man ought always to pray and not to faint. When you pray for a thing, it may seem as though everything is going contrary to the thing which you're seeking. Instead, perhaps, of a person for whom you're praying becoming softer, they seem to be getting harder and more opposed than ever. But do not let that stop you praying. If the burden of prayer is put upon your heart, do not let that stop you praying. If you're praying for assurance, and all the while you seem to be losing what little assurance you do have do not stop praying God is dealing with us and we are to say I will not let thee go except thou bless me sometimes in our seeking the heavens seem to be as brass to us but it is not for us to give up and he blessed him there Jacob got the blessing he sought the Syrophoenician woman came desiring a blessing for her daughter. The Lord seemed to be so off-putting to her. He answered her not a word and yet she worshipped him. Would you worship him if he did not even speak a word to you? Are you only worshipping God because of the things which he has been prepared to do for you? And when he's seemingly silent to you, you're not prepared to worship him. That is not the frame which obtains a blessing. That was not the case with the Syrophoenician woman. And then when he did speak, it would have perhaps been better for her if he had not spoken at all. His silence was better than what he said. I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I've got nothing for you, the Gentile woman. Then he was seemingly even more scathing when he said it is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to docks. I will not let thee go except thou bless me was in her heart and she replied as one of the true spiritual seed of Jacob in her day and generation. Truth Lord, yet the docks And the word is literally the very little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. She got the blessing. She got the blessing and you will get your blessing. Persistence. And he blessed him there. Oh that this word might be made a blessing to us. Ask and it shall be given you. Seek as you shall find. knock and it shall be opened unto you. God loves to answer prayer. One of Martin Luther's choice sayings is prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance to bless, it is laying hold upon his willingness. He is willing. Although he deals with us and draws us out, God is however not only willing to bless us, he is able to bless us. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. The word comes to us through the prophet Isaiah, I said not unto the seed of Jacob seek ye me in vain. The seed of Jacob have got the right to Jacob's blessing. Then come and plead for it. And do not let God go until he bless you. Let it be your experience that he blessed me there. What a mercy that these things were written of old for our admonition. Even the very seeking, the earnest being cast upon God for the blessing is good for us. As the psalmist says, I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Even the very exercise, even the most menial part of this work is well worthwhile. Have you been in a backslidden place? as I have been in times past. And when you are brought out of it, when you begin to go down on your knees and pray again, it is better than all that seemed attractive in the thing which you sought after against the will of God. The coming back to God was worth all the previous experience. It was better even to be in the attitude of seeking forgiveness than to be in the place of rebellion and disobedience. This is real religion. And he blessed him there. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Let us never be those who wonder when some dear saint of God is under an exercise of soul, desiring a blessing and not prepared to put up with anything short of that blessing. To such all I can say, in conclusion, is that it is Christ who is the one through whom God has dealings with us, the mediator of the covenant. Go to him, cry to him, and the one who wrestled with Jacob through the night until the breaking of the day, he blessed Jacob. He will also bless you. He is the same yesterday and today and forever. You shall not seek him in vain, and he blessed him there. May we prove it to be so. Indeed. Amen.