Well, let us turn to God's Word
in the book of Hosea, the prophecy of Hosea. Amongst the minor prophets,
of course, but I remind you that these are not minor in that they're
less inspired than those major writings that we're familiar
with, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and so forth. These men also
were the Lord's servants, holy men of God, who spake as they
were moved by the Spirit of God. Turning then to Hosea, in chapter
12, and for a text I want us to turn
to verses 3, 4, and 5. Hosea 12, 3, we read, He took
his brother by the heel in the womb, And by his strength he
had power with God. Yea, he had power over the angel
and prevailed. He wept and made supplication
unto him. He found him in Bethel. And there he spake with us, even
the Lord God of hosts. The Lord is his memorial. Here then we come to consider
something of the experience of Jacob. We have his history there
in the book of Genesis and we just read portions of course
from chapter 28 there in Genesis and Jacob's experience at Bethel
as he departs from that land of promise after he had treated
his brother so cruelly and also deceived his father Isaac is
fleeing and then we read also how he returns and in chapter
22 of Genesis we have the account of him as he meets the wrestling
angel as he is so fearful as to the reception he's going to
receive from his brother And here we are told really something
of what he experienced there in the place which he called
Peniel. In verse 3, we're told, by his strength he had power
with God, yea, he had power over the angel and prevailed. And the subject I really want
to address is that of the power of prayer, because that's surely
what was his experience at that time. He is in prayer with his
God. And here at the end of verse
3, we're told he had power with God, or as the margin says, he
was a prince with God. He was a prince with God. And
so his name is changed, no more Jacob, he becomes Israel, which
means a prince with God. Well, as we come to consider
this passage here in Hosea, I divide what I'm going to say into two
parts. First of all, to say something with regards to Jacob as the
supplanter. And then, secondly, to consider
Israel as the supplicator. That's the basic division that
I want to set before you as we consider this passage of Scripture.
First of all, we see Jacob the supplant. When The angel asks after him, asks
his name, there in Genesis 32, 27. What is thy name? He answers
by saying, Jacob. And so at Penial he is really
confessing what he is. We're told here in verse 3, he
took his brother by the heel in the womb. He was the supplanter
because of those twins, of course, Esau was the was the firstborn
Esau was the one who had the birthright that even there as
he came forth from his mother's womb he has taken hold of his
brothers here he's going to supplant him and that's why that's why
he is given the name of Jacob the supplant we have the history
back in that Book of Genesis, if we'd have gone a few chapters
previous to where we were reading, for example there in Genesis
25, verse 24, we're told how Rebekah,
when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, there were twins
in her womb, the first came out red all over like a hairy garment,
they called his name Esau, and after that came his brother And
his hand took hold on Esau's heel, and his name was called
Jacob, the supplanter, as I said. And then, a little later on in
chapter 27 of Genesis, we have the detailed account of how he
comes to supplant Esau and to steal the birthrights. And in that 27th chapter, we
see him as a rather unsavory character, really his deceit,
his lies, his cheating, his stealing. And so when he acknowledges that
his name is Jacob, there at Pena, when he confesses that name to
the angel, is he not really making confession of his sinnership,
what he is? And how he had really discovered
what the fruit of his sin was. when he fled from his own home
and goes to his uncle Laban, God says quite clearly in Scripture,
Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap. And what was it that Jacob reaped
there when he was with Laban, his toiling, and He's willing to toil because
of his great love towards Rachel, the daughter of Laban, but Laban
deceived him, you remember. And instead of receiving as his
wife initially, Rachel, it's Leah. And then he serves a game
because of that great love. And now he has to acknowledge
in Genesis chapter 32, speaking to those two women, he is brought
to confess, your father hath deceived me, he says, and changed
my wages ten times. That's the confession he makes
there in Genesis chapter 31. And yet, in spite of all his
sins, in spite of all his deceivings, and all that he ultimately suffers
as the consequence of his wicked ways, yet God has a purpose of
grace towards him. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. And when he comes to Peniel,
there in that 32nd chapter of Genesis, he acknowledges God's
goodness. He says, I am not worthy of the
least of all thy mercies and of all thy truth which thou hast
showed unto me thy servants for with my staff went I over this
Jordan and I am become as two bands how God in spite of all
his reverses had favoured him and blessed him as he returns
now home as it were and yet full of fear because of his brother. But remember, even as he was
fleeing, God dealt with him so graciously. We're told how God
found him in Bethel. As he leaves, we read that portion
in Genesis 28, God finding him and God's dealing so graciously
with him. here at the end of verse 40,
found him in Bethel. And there he spake with us, even
the Lord God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial. And we have
that record of course of the dream in Genesis 28, the The
ladder that he sees set up on the earth that reaches to heaven
with the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. And when he awakes, he realizes
how sacred the place is, that this is the house of God, this
is the gate of heaven. And there he makes his vow. And he takes the stone that had
served for his pillow, and he sets it up as a pillar, and it
makes his solemn vow and promise to God. And that's what we're
told here. The one who he dealt with there was the Lord God of
hosts. And the Lord, it says, is his memorial. There's no doubting. It's quite clear there then who
it was that met with with Jacob at Bethel, it was indeed Jehovah,
it was the God of the covenant, the covenant God of his father
Abraham and his father Isaac. And the man had been nothing
but a supplanter. But then he becomes Israel. And
as Israel, we see him as that one who is very much the supplicator. those words that we read in chapter
32 thy name shall be no more called Jacob but Israel for as
a prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed
oh he prevails in his prayers what supplications and I want
us to observe that the God who had dealt with him there at Bethel
in chapter 28 of Genesis is identified with the angel who comes to him
and wrestles with him at Penia. The two are one and the same. And we see it here really in
the language that Hosea is using. He had power over the angel,
it says, and prevailed. He wept and made supplication
unto him. Speaking of the angel, he found
him in Bethel. The angel found him in Bethel,
and there he spoke with us, even the Lord God of hosts. There
we have the name of God. He is Jehovah, He is Elohim,
He is the Lord God of Sabaoth, the Lord God of hosts. And it
says the Lord or Jehovah is his memorial. We can identify then
the angel, of course it is really an appearance of the Lord Jesus
Christ as the angel of the Lord. He who is going to be the angel
of the covenant, the mediator of the covenant, who meets with
him there. And what do we see with regards
to his experience as Israel? Well, we have the record of his
strugglings in his prayer. It says here in verse 4, Yea,
he had power over the angel and prevailed. He wept and made supplication
unto him. He made supplication. Now, it's
an interesting word that we have here, this word supplication.
It's a reflexive verb. It has a basic meaning to to
show favor, to be gracious. And the fact that it's reflexive
means that the action here reflects back upon the person who is making
the action. Literally, it means to seek,
to implore for mercy, to plead for God's favor for oneself. That's the force of the Word.
What is he doing there in his restings with the angel? All
he is He is determined to obtain the blessing. It says he wept,
he is pleading to the point of tears. And then he says, I will
not let thee go, except thou bless me. He is so determined
to obtain the blessing of the Lord. And this is why he becomes
Israel, because he prevails. Here we see something of the
power of real prayer. And of course we have other examples
in scripture. We have the prayer of that man
Jabez, that remarkable character spoken of there in 1 Chronicles
4 verse 10. That lovely prayer, and it begins,
O that thou wouldest bless me indeed. He wants to be blessed. Does Jabez? He wants to be blessed
indeed. And that was also the case with
Jacob. He wanted an indeed blessing. There is such struggling in the
way in which this man comes to his God in his prayers. The Lord
Jesus reminds us how the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,
and the violent take it by force. Is there not a lesson then for
us here? with regards to Jacob. If we
are those who are true believers, if we are the spiritual Israel
of God, surely we should know something of what it is to pray
as Father Jacob also prayed. There is struggling in his prayer,
and as there is struggling in his prayer, so also we see here
there is strength in his praying, because it says as much in verse
3. by his strength, he had power
with God. Yea, he had power over the angel
and prevailed. Remarkable words, really. If
that angel is none other than the second person in the ever-blessed
Triniton, the eternal Son of God, that's the one who he has
power with in his prayers. We can think of the language
of Job, There in Job 23.6, he says, will he plead against me
with his great power? No, but he will put strength
in me. Well, that's the experience of
the godly. God puts strength in his people, enabling them,
therefore, to plead with him, to pray to him. And God does
this with Jacob, there at Pena. And how does God do it with Jacob? He does it by making him feel
his own weakness. And that is true of all Jacob's. By whom shall Jacob now arise? For he is small, says the prophet
Amos. That's what Jacob is. He feels
himself. He realizes what he is. He's
a planter. He's a sinner. He's all weakness. He has no strength. He's small.
But this is how God makes him strong, by causing him to feel
his innate weakness. What happens, as we have it recorded
there in that 32nd chapter of Genesis, at Peniel, in the wrestling,
he is disabled. he's disabled he's left alone
but remember what we're told how the angel wrestles with him
there at verse 24 they 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 then the
day breaks, and eventually Jacob is able to go on his way. But oh, Jacob is now lame. As he passed over Penua, the
sun rose upon him, it says, and he halted upon his thigh. It has been well observed concerning
Jacob's experience there, unable to wrestle, he had to resort
to cleaving. Oh, he could no more wrestle,
but he could cleave, in that he says to the angel, I will
not let thee go. He is made to feel His great
weakness. And isn't that the experience
of those who are the Lord's people? He'll make us feel what we are.
And that really should move us to prayer. Remember what the
Lord says to His servant the Apostle Paul there in 2 Corinthians
12, My strength is made perfect in weakness. God's strength is
perfected in the weakness of his children. And so Paul responds,
when I am weak, then am I strong. All his strength must come from
the Lord God and that's the man who is a pattern to them who
should hereafter believe. And so we find God speaking time
and again to poor weak, fearful Jacob. Or fear not, thou worm
Jacob, and ye few men of Israel, I will help thee. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. The Lord is the one
who must appear for his people. He does not say to the seed of
Jacob, Seek him, I face in vain. And so he is given strength He
is given strength to prevail, to overcome the angel. By his
strength he had power with God. Yea! Now it's emphasized with
a little word, yea, he had power over the angel and prevailed. And how did he prevail? By his
weepings and his pleadings, his supplications. Oh, it was the
Lord who had found him, and the Lord who dealt so graciously
with him. And these things, all written,
of course, for our learning that we, through patience and comfort
of the Scriptures, might have hope, says Paul. Patience, endurance,
and comfort of the Scriptures. As we come together like this,
week by week, do we not find that we need power from God in
order to pray? All that must come from God,
all that must come from the Word of God. Why do we turn first
to the Word of God? Because we want God to first
come to us and speak with us and deal with us by His Spirit
in His Word. And we're told where the words
of a king is, there is power. Well, we obtain the power from
the Word of God, every encouragement we find here in Holy Scripture. When Paul preached to the Thessalonians,
he told them how the Gospel came. Not in word only, he says, but
in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. And this
is how we need it. God's Word should come to us
time and time again. God must deal with us, and God
has to deal with us as we are. And what of our hearts? Well,
what of our hearts? Well, God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the
thought of his heart was evil continually. You know how the
scripture speaks of what we are by nature, the natural condition
of our hearts. The heart deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked, who can know it? I, the Lord,
search the heart. I try the reins to give to every
man according to his ways and according to the fruits of his
doing. God will let us know something
about ourselves and what we are by nature. Paul says, Take heed,
brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief
to depart from the living God. And so often when we have to
pray, We have no heart to pray. I remember being asked, what
would you say is the most difficult part of the ministry, the public
ministry of the Word of God? What's the most difficult part
of being a minister of the Word of God? When you have to stand
before the congregation, it's not so much the preaching, it's
the praying. It's seeking to be a voice to the people and
to pray. and to plead and to pray in faith
because whatsoever is not of faith is sin and how the Lord
has to deal with us just as he dealt with Jacob of old all we have to see are great
needs we come and we often grieve over a hard heart when we want
to pray But God has said that His word is like a hammer to
break the rocks in pieces and God has to come as it were with
the hammer of His word and to break our hearts or to pierce
our hearts. Remember again how we're told
God's word is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword,
piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints
and marrows, a discerner. of the thoughts and intents of
the heart how God's word has to come then and the hard heart
has to be has to be broken up there has to be that piercing
work as God comes by by his spirit in his words and when we feel
our heart sometimes to be so shut up oh we shut up because we have
such a non-believing heart we shut up to ourselves And we need
God to come and, as it were, enlarge our hearts. Think of
the language that we have there in 2 Thessalonians 1.11. Paul's
prayer that God would fulfill all the good pleasure of his
goodness and the work of faith with power. Oh, we want that
work of faith with power to come into our heart. We want that
faith that is of the operation of God. We need the Holy Spirit
to come. and to work faith in our unbelieving
hearts and then also as we need faith so we need hope in prayer
and sometimes we sink all seems so hopeless to us and our hearts
feel it but again look at the way in which Paul addresses the
church at Rome there in Romans 15.13 he says now the God of
peace fill you with all joy and peace in believing that she may
abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Ought to be
those who abound in hope in our prayers by that blessed ministry
of the Spirit, causing us to see that the situation isn't
as hopeless as we imagine it is. Nothing is impossible with
God. He is able. He is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think says Paul. And yet so often we
feel that our heart is so hopeless. And then maybe when we come our
fear is that we are we're so insincere and we wonder sometimes
is our heart the heart of a hypocrite. We don't want to be those who
draw near with the lip and honor God with the mouth when our hearts
are far from Him. all we want God to come to us
in with that gracious power the way he came to his servant Jacob
and humbled him made him feel his weakness we want to know
that power of God we're told concerning the ministry of Christ,
as many as received him, to them gave he power or authority to
be the sons of God. And that's what we want, that
spirit of adoption to be shed abroad that we might come and
truly address God as our Father. Or Paul says again to the Romans,
you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. Isn't that the blessing that
we need as we come tonight to address God, that we might truly
call upon Him even as Christ instructs us and address Him
as our Father. He is a good, He is a gracious
God. Like as a father pitieth his children, we're told, so
the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. Why? He created us. He made us. Now did he make man out of the
dust of the earth, yet he breathed into his nostrils that breath
of life and he became a living soul. We want God to come and
have gracious dealings with our souls that we might be those
who are truly the seed of this man Jacob. We are those who are
the true Israel. He took his brother by the heel
in the womb And by his strength he had power with God, yea, he
had power over the angel and prevailed. He wept and made supplication
unto him. He found him in Bethel, and there
he spake with us, even the Lord God of hosts. The Lord is his
memorial. Therefore he says, Turn thou
to thy God, keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually. O the Lord, help us then to heed
his words. Might he bless it to us tonight.
Amen. Let us, as we come to pray, sing
God's praise in the hymn 1088. The tune is Sorely 231. Shepherd divine, I once relieved,
in this our evil day, to all thy tempted followers give the
power to trust and pray. I will not let thee go unless
thou tell thy name to me, with all thy great salvation bless,
and say, Christ died for thee." 1088.