Genesis chapter 32. Before time ever was, God had
determined in mercy to show favor to Jacob. And if you belong to
Christ, it was the same for you. The Lord had told Rebekah, before
the two children, two twin boys were ever born, that the elder
should serve the younger. The custom was for the older
to inherit the birthright and the blessing from the father.
But God said, not in this case. The elder is going to serve the
younger. And this was told, Paul says in Romans, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. You see, God loved Jacob and
hated Esau. And folks have real issue with
that. How could God hate anybody? And the child of God says, how
could God love anybody? I'm sure of this, if God looked
ahead in time and dealt with these two boys according to their
own works, he would have loved neither one. Love for any sinner
is by grace alone, no doubt. God's love for his people has
never been according to their will and their work, but always
according to God's will and work by sovereign grace in Christ.
And because of that, Paul asked this question. He said, is there
unrighteousness with God? You know the scripture well.
Never, never unrighteousness with God. God always does what's
right. What God does is right. God doesn't
do it because it's right. God does it, and it's right.
Does the sovereign potter have the right to fashion lumps of
clay, one into a vessel of honor and another into a vessel of
dishonor? Yes, he does. He sure does, certainly
does. God determines one lump to be
fashioned this way and another lump to be fashioned that way,
and who can stay his hand are saying to him, what doest thou?
God has always declared that he has mercy on whom he has mercy,
and he has compassion on whom he has compassion. And what proof,
I'm telling you, the scripture gives great proof that salvation
is not of him that willeth, not of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. And since God loved and chose
Jacob, surely he would live a charmed life. I hear preachers say that,
oh, you give your life to Jesus and everything's going to be
all right. Well, it may be in eternity if you truly give your
heart to Him, if you truly bow to Him as your Lord and King,
but not in this life. No, sir. A child of God learns
by experience that that's not so. Truly all God's children
must, through much tribulation, enter the Kingdom of God. Jacob's
life seemed like never-ending struggles, one after another. Most were the result of his own
sin and ignorance. It's the same with you and I.
We have no one to blame but ourselves for our trouble. And sin within
self is the cause of our trouble and our struggle. David said,
it's good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might learn
thy statues. And you know that word statues
there, it means appointments. I found that very interesting.
In other words, God sends affliction to me and it's good. It's good
for me because it teaches me something of God's sovereign
appointments, God's divine providence. Why is it spiritually profitable
to be afflicted? So that we might learn who God
is and how He does things. And also what we are. In affliction,
a believer is made to see who sins the affliction. In affliction,
a believer is made to see why it's sinned. In affliction, a
believer sees their inability to control anything. Do we have control over anything?
Really? No. Not in the overall scheme
of things. Now I determined tonight to put
this jacket on instead of another one, but that's just about the
extent of my ability to do anything. And if you want to call that
free will, go ahead. But it won't get you into glory. The word afflicted in the Scripture
means to be abased. It means to be humbled. It means
to be weakened. It's good for me that I've been
abased. It's good for me that I've been
humbled. It's good for me that I've been weakened because through
trouble and tribulation, we're weakened, we're afflicted, we're
made to see that we're without strength. Now listen, if God
works all things together for the good of them that love the
Lord, his people, those who that are called according to his purpose,
then he's in control of all things. If God works all things after
the counsel of his own will, then all things that come to
pass are his will. If God works all things according
to his own will and purpose, then our afflictions are sent
by him. It's by reason of deduction that
has to be so. And yet, it's gonna have to be
by divine revelation that you believe that blessed truth. That's
what divine providence teaches us. What does the believer have
to say to that? Well, we say with Paul, therefore
I take pleasure in infirmities. I take pleasure in reproaches
and necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. In our text tonight, we find
Jacob in great affliction. His brother whom he had cheated
and robbed had vowed to kill him. Now Esau comes after Jacob
with 400 men of war. You tell me you wouldn't be afraid
and afflicted. Anxious for his life, Jacob devises
a bribe and he sends a caravan of gifts in hopes of pacifying
his brother Esau. He sent his family and his servants
and all of his possessions, worldly possessions, to the other side
of the river. And we see in verse 24, and Jacob
was left alone. That's where God brings us before
he blesses us. It's become a bit cliche, I'm
afraid, among gospel preachers, but nonetheless true. We often
say things like God has to bring us down before he lifts us up.
That's certainly true. That God has to kill us before
he makes us alive. God's going to make us sick and
show us our sickness before he heals us. God's going to bring
us to the end of ourselves. And then after he does, he blesses
us in Christ. And I'm telling you that if you
belong to God, he's gonna separate you from everything and show
you some things about you and show you some things about him.
And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him. Now last time we saw, and I'll
be brief in this, but the angelic being that he wrestled with was
found in the fashion of a man. We know who that picture is.
As a matter of fact, I'm convinced that this is the Lord that he
wrestled with. This man wrestled with Jacob.
Jacob didn't initiate this wrestling, this struggle, the man did. It
says that there wrestled a man with him. Jacob did not wrestle
with this man in order to receive a blessing, even though he got
one. But this man, who is no doubt
Christ in visible form, wrestled with Jacob to take something
away from him, to afflict him, to humble him, to weaken him,
to strip him of his self-confidence, and to take away all his self-sufficiency
from him. Has God done that to you? If
you're one of His, He has. If you're one of His, He's going
to. Jacob had just sent valuable gifts to appease Esau, his angry
brother, and God is going to show Jacob that he, as God, is
not like man. He can't be bribed. He can't
be appeased by something that the sinner does. And last time
we saw how this wrestling lasted all night until the breaking
of day. And in this, we see something of the long suffering and grace
of God toward the saved sinner. Long, long, long does Christ
bear with our self-righteous ways. The Lord wrestled with
Jacob all night to show us that he's patient and that he's long-suffering
in his dealings with us. And aren't you glad he is? We're
so hard-headed and stiff-necked that if he gave up quickly on
us, my, we'd be in big trouble. Look at verse 25, and when he,
that being the Lord, saw that he prevailed not against him,
that being Jacob, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and
the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with
him. Do you remember when God touched
you and made you conscious of your great need? Oh, I remember
it well. Do you remember how God touched
you and you were all out of joint? Do you recall why you have never
walked the same way since? God touched you. Verse 26, and
he, the Lord said, let me go for the day breaketh. And Jacob
said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. And I love
this. I love this because after the
Lord touched Jacob, he couldn't fight anymore. He's truly, the
touch of the Lord weakened him. But he says this, he may not
be able to fight anymore, but he still can say this, he said,
I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. All he could do
was to hang on to this man for dear life. Oh child of God, hang
on to Christ. Your life depends on it. Jacob
would not let him go. The child of God is going to
hang on to Christ. That's all we can do. The child of God is
going to cling to Christ alone. They're going to trust in Christ
alone. They're going to follow Him alone. They're going to rest
in Him alone. He said, come unto Me. I'll give
you labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. That's where
rest is found. The child of God will put no
confidence in another. The child of God will put no
confidence in themselves. All their confidence will be
put in Christ. And therefore we read in Philippians
3, we worship God in the spirit and we rejoice in Christ Jesus
and have no confidence in the flesh. You better not put any
confidence in your flesh. You better not put any hope in
your decision. You better not put any hope in
your walk down an aisle or your raising of a hand and saying
a prayer. You better put all your hope
and trust in Christ. They'll look to Christ alone.
That's what the child of God will do. And looking unto Jesus,
the author and the finisher of our faith. Oh, let's don't read
over these things. He's the author. He's the initiator
of our faith. He's the finisher of our faith.
He's the one that keeps us until the end. He's the author and
the finisher of our believing, who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross despising the shame and has sat
down at the right hand of the throne of God, Hebrews 12. And I'm telling you that the
resolve of the child of God is just this, Lord, I will not let
you go except you bless me. Remember our recent study on
the word Blessing, it means to be made holy. People don't know
what blessing means. They say, God bless you, bless
they. They don't know what blessing
means. To be blessed means to be made adorable. That'll mean
something to you if you're ugly and unattractive towards God.
It means to be adorned, made beautiful and attractive. Jacob
is saying here, Lord, I will not, I'm not going to let you
go except you make me holy. That's the resolve of the child
of God. Lord, I'm not going to let you go except you adorn me
with your perfect righteousness. Not going to do it. I'm not going
to let go until you make me without spot, without wrinkle, without
blemish, without any such thing. Lord, I'm not going to let you
go until I'm made adorable in the sight of Him in whom I am
forever to wed. But you and I can do nothing
to adorn ourselves. We have to be adorned. Our Lord's
gotta make us beautiful and attractive. And he does when he blesses us
in Christ. That's what it means to be blessed.
Look at verse 27. And he, the Lord, said unto him,
that being Jacob, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob. Now why did the Lord ask Jacob
his name? Did he not know who Jacob was?
Well of course he did. Did he not know Jacob's name?
What? He gave Jacob that name. Why
then did he ask him his name? This is why. God is going to
remind Jacob of who and what he is. God is going to reveal
to every saved sinner their condition, their sin, their sickness, their
need of him. Only those who are sick have
need of a physician. And God is going to cause all
His elect people to confess what they are, sin. Who they are,
what they are, nothing but sin. They're going to answer to Him
as to what they are. My name's Jacob. They're going
to be made to acknowledge their sin. My name is deceiver. They're
going to be made to take sides with God against themselves.
And there's more to this question than meets the eye. God asked
Jacob, what is thy name? And the word name there in the
original Hebrew language means position. What is your position? What's our position? Well, we're
fallen and dead in sin, aren't we? That name in the original
language means honor. What is our honor? We have no
honor outside of Christ. It means character. What is our
character? Carnal and fleshly. Our hearts
are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. That
word name in the original language means authority. What is our
authority? We have no authority. What is
thy name? And he said, Jacob. My name is
Deceiver. We not only deceive others, but
we deceive ourselves in thinking that we're righteous, in thinking
that we can do something to pacify God, like Jacob did Esau. My name is Supplanter. In self-righteous
works, I have endeavored to steal the blessing that belongs to
Christ alone. by trying and thinking that I
can somehow appease God myself by a work of righteousness that
I do. My name is offender. Why? Because I've offended God. I've offended His law. I've offended
His holy justice. And my name is wrongdoer. That's
what Jacob, the name Jacob means. Sin is all I am and all that
I do. Oh, wretched man that I am. Our
name's Jacob. And God rightly calls us in the
Scriptures the sons of Jacob. God is going to reveal to His
people who they are. God is going to make us confess
that we are a Jacob. What's your name? Oh, and the
child of God says, sinner, evildoer, deceiver, supplanter. My name's Jacob. And when God
reveals to us and we confess our name to Him, then He changes
our name. Oh my, He changes our position. We're now alive in Christ. We
were dead in trespasses and sin, now we're alive in Christ. He
changes our honor. We have the honor of Christ.
When God looks at us now, He sees His beloved Son and He says,
enter now into My kingdom. Honor and glory. He changes our
character. He makes us holy and without
blame before Him in love. Does He not? He changes our authority. We can do all things in Christ
who strengthens us. He changes our name. In verse
28, and He said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob. Oh,
I love that. No more Jacob. Jacob's what I
am. No, no more Jacob. The sin is
all I am. Sin is all I do. No more Jacob. No more. But Israel. But Israel. For as a prince hast
thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And
I'm telling you, that's the gospel. That's the good news. And what
a gospel it is. In Christ we are no more Jacob. No longer dead. No longer condemned. No longer guilty. No more Jacob
but Israel. Israel means Prince of God. Israel means one who prevails.
One who conquers with God. That's what God's made you in
Christ. The Lord says here in this same
verse, he says, for as a prince hast thou power with God and
with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob's new name shows us
his new position in Christ. His new name, his new position
in Christ. Only Christ prevails with God
and with man. Christ is that one mediator between
God and man. You know what a mediator is,
it's a go-between. He's one who mediates between
one party and another. And between a holy God and sinful
man, there's only one mediator that can stand between and mediate
this mess that we're in. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
has prevailed over sin. Christ has prevailed over Satan.
Christ has prevailed over death. Christ has prevailed over hell. Christ has fulfilled the law.
Christ has prevailed over the sinner and his wrestlings with
the sinner. And our union is such with Christ
Oh, believe me when I tell you this. Our union is such with
Christ that we too are given the position, the character,
the honor, and the authority which belongs to Israel, the
true people of God. Not all that are Israel are Israel,
spiritual Israel. But those to whom God has changed
their name, they're Israel. He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust, and he lifteth up the beggar. Are you a beggar? Are you a mercy beggar? Well,
he lifteth up the beggar out of the dunghill. You know what
a dunghill is? To set them among princes, and
to make them to inherit the throne of glory, 1 Samuel 2.8. Believers
are set among princes. You know why? Because they've
been made princes. We're made to inherit the throne
of glory in Christ. I used to hate broccoli, and
my mother made me eat it. And though I put it in my mouth
and chewed on it, I was rebelling the whole time. But you know
what? When Christ makes us willing
in the day of His power, oh my, there ain't no kicking and screaming,
is there? No, sir. He makes us. Will it? He makes us to inherit the kingdom
of God, and we're so glad that he does. Look at verse 29, and
Jacob asked him and said, tell me, I pray thee thy name. The
Lord asked Jacob his name, and now Jacob asked the Lord. He said, tell me, I pray thee
thy name. And he, the Lord, said, wherefore is it that thou dost
ask after my name? Now as I said, there's no doubt
in my mind that Jacob knew that this was God who he was wrestling
with. This is God the Son. He, the
one that wrestled with him, that's who this is. You see, if you
ever wrestle with the man Christ Jesus, you'll know that you wrestled
with God. Jacob knew this was God by his
great desire to be blessed by Him. I'm not going to let go
of you until you bless me, until you make me holy, until you make
me and adorn me in Christ's riches. And notice what the Lord asks
Jacob here. He says, Wherefore is it that
thou dost ask after my name? Now that's a reproof of Jacob's
curiosity. And there are many, I'm telling
you many today. who are curious about God and
are curious about Christ, who never bow and submit to Him.
Their interest is nothing more than just curiosity. Men and
women want to figure God out. You can't do it. Men and women
want to understand God. It can't be done. Oh, the depth
of the riches, both the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable
are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor?
Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto
him again. For of him, and through him,
and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Romans
11. 33 through 36. Now there are many who know Christ's
name. They'll tell you that they and
Jesus have a good thing going. There are many who claim to know
Him. Oh yeah, I know Jesus. There are many who profess to
love Him. Many call Him Lord, but then
they follow with these words, Lord, Lord, haven't we? Haven't
we? They don't know him. Better said,
he doesn't know them. He said, I never knew you. I
don't know who you are. You're not mine. And their words
prove that they don't know him at all. But God has blessed Jacob
with a new name, a new position, a new character. God has blessed
us with a new nature. And that's all we should be concerned
about, concerned with. His judgments are unsearchable.
His ways pass by me now. And God just ignores Jacob's
request. He doesn't even give him the
satisfaction of his curiosity. But I tell you what He does do.
Look at the end, the last part of verse 29. And He blessed him
there. Right there He made him holy,
without blame, adorned in the righteousness of Christ. And
He blessed him there. That's all that matters. There
are many, many things that we would like to know when we read
the Bible. But if we read it and find salvation,
wouldn't that be much better than just having our curiosity
gratified? I was thinking about that today.
After the Lord's resurrection, the disciples wanted to know
some things about what lied ahead. And in Acts chapter 1 verse 6,
they asked of Christ, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time
restore again the kingdom of Israel? You see, Israel had been
under bondage of the Romans. And they said, Now, Lord, are
you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And He said unto them,
It's not for you to know. It's not for you to know the
times of the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power. What's that to you? But you shall
receive power. after that the Holy Ghost has
come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me both in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and into the
uttermost parts of the earth." You see, that was the true blessing,
not having their curiosity gratified. Three times the Lord asked Peter.
He said, Peter, lovest thou me? Peter said, Lord, you know all
things. You know that I love you. And the Lord followed that
by saying, feed my sheep, feed my lambs. Then the Lord spoke
concerning what death Peter should die. And the scriptures say what
death he should die to glorify God. And Peter turned around
and he saw John and he said, what shall this man do? How shall
he die? And our Lord said, if I will
that he tarry, that he live until I come, what's that to thee?
You follow me. You know, all I really need to
know is if the Lord will bless me here. That's it. Lord, will you bless me here?
And the Lord blessed him there. The Lord didn't answer Jacob,
but he blessed him there. And I'll take that result over
an answer to that foolish and unlearned question any day. Lord,
what about this? What about that? But he blessed
me there. He didn't answer, he just blessed
me. All that really matters is will God make me holy? It's the
only way I'll see God. All that really matters is will
God conform me to the image of His Son. That's all that really
matters. Will God make me adorable? Will
God cause me to be unblameable and unreprovable in His sight?
That's all I need to know. How about you? Jacob knew who
this was that blessed him. Do you and I know who blesses?
who makes holy sinners such as we are? Do you know who blesses
you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ?
Well, the last two words answer the question, Christ, in whom
we are found. That's who does. Where did the
Lord bless Jacob? Right where he was. Right where
he was in the midst of his affliction. That's where God blesses you,
in the midst of your affliction. And I'm so glad that's where
God blesses sinners, because that's where I'm always at, in
constant affliction, willing rather to be absent from this
body, this body of sin that's so afflicted, and to be present
with the Lord. We're in constant affliction
as long as we're in this body of death, aren't we? Jacob knew who it was that blessed
him. Look at verse 30. And Jacob called
the name of the place Peniel. And Peniel means the face of
God. He knew who this was. Jacob said, for I have seen God
face to face and my life is preserved. Have you seen God face to face?
You have if you've seen Christ. Christ said, he that has seen
me has seen the Father. Me and my Father are one. If
you see Christ, you see God. And the result is always the
same. My life is preserved. Oh, isn't
this the gospel? It's the gospel according to
Moses. Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them
to the end. I'm not fretting about my salvation. Not if Christ loves me, not if
I'm one of His, because having loved me before the foundation
of the world, He's gonna love me to the end. But let me show
you a couple quick three things and I'll finish. Verse 31. And
as He passed over Pineal, the sun rose upon Him. And he halted
upon his thigh. Now here we see the goodwill
and the favor of God shining upon Jacob. Truly this refers
to Christ who is the son of righteousness with healing in his wings that
Malachi talks about. He wrestled with God and God
blessed him there and then the sun shined upon him. Oh, hasn't
he shined upon you? The sun of righteousness shined
on Jacob, and what did it expose? Well, it exposed something we're
told right here, that Jacob halted upon his thigh. Now that word
halted means limped. Jacob limped. That's what the
sun exposed. And when the sun came up and
shined upon Jacob, it exposed that he limped. Jacob walked
differently. Being out of joint, Jacob unequally
walked. That's what the word halted means,
unequally. That's what the word halted means.
When God touches a sinner, they won't walk the same as they used
to. Now, they won't walk perfectly, far from it. They'll walk with
a limp. They'll take uneven steps. But
they'll walk with God. Look at verse 32, 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, the
Lord, touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank. Now, this wasn't part of the
law of Moses or anything, this was just something that the Jewish
people did out of respect and tradition for what happened to
Jacob on this day. But there are some things worth
noting here. The word sinew, it's a muscle,
it's a tendon, it's a ligament that unites bone to bone. When there's nothing left but
bones, they're not attached. Bones can be laying everywhere
if they're not attached with the sinew, with the ligaments
and the muscles. That's what holds the bones together. Sinew is that muscle representing
strength. which holds bones together. You
and I are made one with Christ. We're bone of His bone and flesh
of His flesh. Matter of fact, the Lord said
concerning man and woman, and this is a picture of the believer
in Christ, they shall be one flesh. What holds us bone to
bone with Christ? Well, I'll tell you this much,
it's not our strength. It's not our sin who's, but He
is. And as I said, sinew represents
strength. What happened to the sinew of
Jacob's thigh? It shrank. Why did it shrink? Because God touched the hollow
of Jacob's thigh. And when God touches a sinner,
they will decrease. Christ will increase. I must
decrease. He must increase. Isn't that
what John said? Well, John, what's happened to
your ministry? You used to baptize all these
people and now they're all going to the Lord Jesus Christ that
He might baptize them. And he said, I've got to decrease. He must increase. Oh, I'm telling
you friends, when Christ wrestles with us, He shrinks our strength. The sinner decreases and Christ
increases. Have you seen I leave you with
this question. Have you seen that in your weakness
Christ is made strong? Well, that's the gospel. That's
the gospel. For when ye were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. May God
teach us, give us life, give us strength, give us Christ. Amen.