I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story. To God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Suffer a sinner. to tell what
he knows, one more time, once more, to tell it. That's really the only one who
can tell this story of the sinner. The story of Jacob is what we're
going to look at this morning. Go back or go to the book of
Genesis, chapter forty-seven. Go there first. seven this will
be a narrative of the life of jacob with a few comments here
and there you know scriptures say that the psalm says we spend
our lives as a tale that is told and i hope this will be your
story this be is our story to god me the glory for saving a
man like Jacob. Genesis 47, look at verse 9 with
me. This is when Joseph brought his
old father to Pharaoh in Egypt. Those of you who know the story,
this is the end of Jacob's life. Verse 9, Jacob said unto Pharaoh, of the years of my pilgrimage
are a hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have the days of
the years of my life been." Few? A hundred and thirty? Well, when they were over, Whether it's three score and
ten. By reason of. God given strength. Or score. Or. Five four six four and ten
hundred thirty. Man is more of one. Is a few. Days in the light of. Time. To make. We have those in here in their
seventies and even eighties. One man in his eighties. Went
like that, didn't he? Old Jacob is recounting his life,
looking back. He's not complaining, mind you.
He did enough of that throughout his days, but he's not complaining,
he's just stating the facts. that my days are now over, and
few, and full of trouble even." Full of trouble. Man, I started
to quote it, didn't finish it, that is born of woman is of few
days and full of trouble. Trouble. Jacob went through a
life of trouble. His whole life, you read it,
I've been reading through Genesis just for my own benefit. And if you want a blessing, just
start reading the life of Jacob. Jacob went through a life of
trials and tribulation. Many of his troubles, if not
most of them, were of his own making. Because of his own sinfulness,
his own foolishness. And so are ours. There's no getting
around that. Some were not. You know, the
Lord sent many troubles and trials just to try Jacob. For whatever
reason, Jacob had troubles all his life. All his life. Troubles
within. That was his biggest trouble.
That was the source of all these troubles. Troubles within, troubles
without. Troubles at home, in his family. You're talking about family troubles.
Read after this, you read the story after this of Jacob blessing
his sons. Boy, he had a bunch of rotten
boys. That gave him nothing but trouble. Troubles abroad, wherever he
went. He had troubles in his family,
troubles with his friends, troubles, like I said, with himself. Because Jacob was a sinful man. He just sang that song. What are we? Sinners. Sinners. That's the
source of our trouble. Sinful man. Jacob was a sinful
man in a sinful world with sinful family, wives, children, brother,
his brother Esau. His father-in-law was a heathen,
Laban. So Jacob had troubles. I told
you this is just an account of the life of Jacob. See if you
can't find yourself. I hope you're a son of Jacob.
But he had nothing but trouble. But here's the good news for
Jacob and for those who just like him. God said, Jacob have I loved. See, you better hope that God
elects a people You better be thankful for sovereign
electing grace. Sovereign love that God chose
whom he would to love. Because this whole human race
is just like Jacob. Some don't know it. And salvation
is for God to make you say your name. This is salvation for God Almighty
to get hold of you and put your face in the dirt and say, admit
it, that you're not worth loving. But here's the good news. God
said, Jacob. Jacob? If you'd have known Jacob
and Esau, you wouldn't have loved Jacob. You'd have loved Esau.
You'd admired Esau. You thought Esau was a good fellow,
a fine fellow. Jacob, but God. You see, you said, Jacob, I don't
know. Here's the good news. He said,
I'm the God of Jacob. Here's the good news. He said,
I'm the Lord. I change not. Therefore, You
sons of Jacob are not concerned. I'm not going to change. If I
set my love on you, it'll never change. If I've purposed all
things concerning you, it doesn't matter what happens to you, what
you go through, this purpose, it's all good. Happy is he. that have the God
of Jacob for his help. I hope you'll realize that after
this. That psalm, commit that to memory,
Psalm 146, 5. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, for his salvation. Because we're going
to see, Jacob is worthless. God calls himself by the name
God of Jacob more than anything else. Because he's going to get
all the glory. Jacob was born a sinner. He was one of two, one of twins,
Jacob and Esau. He had a brother named Esau who
was, who came out first. You know the story. Esau came
out first, but Jacob, it says in the story when they were born,
Esau came out first, but Jacob, incredibly, from the womb, reached
his hand out and grabbed his brother's heel. As if to say, coming forth from
the womb, he's saying, mine, not you, me. I want to be first. That's what
happened. And so they called his name,
Jacob. Which means usurper. That means,
now listen to this. The name usurper. Looked it up in Webster's dictionary. Usurper means one who seizes
illegally on power that doesn't belong to him. One who wants
what doesn't belong to him. one who infringes on the rights
and property of another, a usurper. Now, this is all of us by nature,
by birth. We're born rebels against God. That's right. Usurpers against
God, wanting, demanding. We come out of the womb demanding
things. When it's all about grace, it's
all a gift. We don't, we haven't, we come
out of the womb and everything that's done for
us is going to be a gift. It's not something we deserve.
We come out demanding, wanting, seizing what we think is ours
by right, mine. And this is one thing like you'll
see in these babies. That makes them so ugly doesn't
matter how pretty these little girls are when you see them start
exhibiting this nature of Jacob. See somebody else have something
they want. And crawling all over and beating
down another child to get what is. That's all. And we cannot remove that. We
cannot remove that nature from them. They're born with it. But
we can sure make it rough enough to where they'll wish they had
never said mine. And you better, because your
sweet, cute little girls or boys are positively ugly when they
exhibit that awful attitude. Break it. That's going to be
their salvation in this world. And for us in the spiritual world,
it's going to be our salvation when God and God and God. Salvation is when somebody gets
you down. And that somebody is going to
be your Lord. Gets you down, shows you what
you are. Jacob grows up. He's born one
of two, one of twins, and he grows up pretty much worthless. Pretty much worthless. He's a
mama's boy. He's mama's favorite. Does that make him a good boy
because mama loves him? You remember that story, don't
you? Genesis 27 said that Isaac loved Esau. He was a man's man. But Rebecca loved Jacob. He was
a mama's boy. Mama loved him. He must be good
and something good. I mean, mama loved him. No, not
so. There are men on death row right now, hardened criminals. Their mothers are still saying,
he's still a good boy. But I love him. He's a mama's
boy, and he grows up pretty much worthless. Throughout his life he lies,
he cheats, he schemes against everybody to get his way. It
doesn't matter who he has to use, he uses abuse. He apparently
doesn't have a conscience. He lied to his brother, he cheated
his own brother, his brother came in, you know the story,
his brother came in, was hungry. And he said, you give me your
birthright, I'll give you some of this food. What kind of person
would do something like that, huh? We know Esau's a profane
man, because he said, I don't want anything to do with that
birthright, that religion, I don't really don't, you know, you can
have it, just give me something to eat. God said that, but what
kind of man, person would, this was, he's a young man by then,
would do that to his flesh and blood? A rotten, no good sinner,
that's it. How could he do such a thing?
You look back on your life in the past few days, no, years,
and think, how could I have done something like that? As I said just hours ago, he
cheated his brother, he lied to his father. His old father
was blind. couldn't see and he lied to his
father to get a blessing out of it. Later on, he schemed against
his father-in-law. His father-in-law had put him
in charge of the sheep and all, said you take what, and he made
sure that he got the best ones and his father-in-law got the
worst ones. How could somebody do something
like that? as Jacob. And later, a whole
lot of things came crashing down on him. It brought him very low. His boys, as we said, his boys
that he had, his children that were born of him, grew up acting
just like him. And they will. That's the reason,
truly, Our example is important. Nothing we can do about the past,
but we can start now, huh, by the grace of God. But anyway,
his boys were born and grew up acting just like him, sons of
Jacob. Now, I hope you're looking at
yourself here. This is every one of us. If you
don't think it is, I hope somebody will grab ahold of you right
now, this morning, and show you. We do preach sin, though. We
do make a lot of sin, though. We do. Why? Because we're sinners. He's the
God of Jacob. Jacob ran away from home. His
brother Esau, after he cheated him, he said, I'm going to get him.
Esau said, I'm going to get that rotten, no good brother of mine.
And Jacob ran, left, home, scared. Scared of his brother. But he
went out into the world, went far away from his father's house,
his mother, and looking for a life. And he fell in love with a girl
named Rachel. Who was Rachel? A heathen, unbelieving
girl, living in an idolatrous home. We're going to see, well,
I'll just go ahead and tell you. Later on when they were leaving,
Rachel stole her dad's idols, wanted to keep them. We tend to look at these women,
the Lord doesn't say much about them, but they're a bunch of
no good sinners too. Rachel, she was an idol worshipper. Didn't want to part with her
daddy's gods. Rachel and Leah both were idol
worshippers, unbelievers. The Lord's been telling his people
all along, don't marry, don't join yourself to them. He had trouble. Jacob married.
He found the girl of his dreams. Ended up marrying her sister.
Remember that? Leah. He fooled others. Now he was the fool. Yeah, he
ended up marrying both of them. My, my. And Jacob lived in that heathen
land for years. He lived there with his two wives
and that concubines and had children, child after child after child,
and he lived in that heathen land for years. He was not under
the sound of the word God. He was out from under. It wasn't
worshiping God. Laban, where he lived, was an
idol worshiper. All right, how many in here have
already told your story? Out in the world, heathen. Bad
marriage. Just nothing but trouble. Not
knowing God, not worshiping God, not caring for God out in the
world. Huh? How many? But God. He said. What's this fellow's hope? God said, Jacob have I loved. I have loved thee before I formed
thee in the belly. I knew you. I have loved thee
with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
by sovereign grace and providence, I am going to bring you home. You and your wife. You and your heathen woman. Well, after several years of
hard labor with a large family. After several years of hard labor
out in the world with a large family Many children, nothing
but constant troubles, battles, struggles, troubles, labor. Jacob decides to go home. God makes him restless. I'm leaving. I want to go somewhere. I think I'll go home. Back to
Bethel. Anybody know that story? See,
this is not going to be the first time the Lord confronts Jacob. He was confronted years ago in
a place called Bethel. Years ago, he heard from God.
So did many of us as youth. I could tell the story of old
Jacob Wesley. Wesley, didn't you come here
and hear this gospel when you were young? We're gone. went out and married you a heathen
woman. That's right. Right, Rachel? Mellie? I could tell a story of old Jacob
Stephen Parks. Right? Grew up here? Samuel? Huh? Went out, lickety-split,
went and found him a heathen woman down in Tennessee. Anybody
from Tennessee born heathen? Or Louisiana? Tennessee. I could tell that. Is this your
story, Jacob, or whatever your name is? Jacob Torrance? Lord, he decided to go home. Who decided? See, the lot is
cast into the lap, but the whole disposing there is of the Lord. That old Jacob. Oh Jacob Davis. My, my. The whole disposing is
of the Lord. God is bringing him back to Bethel
again, this time to stay. Chapter 32 now is our story.
Chapter 32. He decides to go home, go back
to his hometown where his father and mother are. All right? Genesis
32. And his leaving to go home was
a horrible, horrible story, a bad departure. His father-in-law
Laban, it was a bitter struggle for him to, for Jacob to take
Rachel and Leah and leave. There's just everything I'm saying
is a story within a story. Don't take my baby. That's what
she said. That's what he said, Mary. Don't
take my daughter away from me. Mary, you better be glad that God sent
a boy down there to get you and bring you here. Are you? Oh my. Lord's going to save Rachel too,
I believe. Isn't he merciful? And So it was a horrible departure,
a terrible struggle with his in-laws. God always intervened,
always resolved things, every trouble Jacob got into. Go back
with me. Chapter 28, real quickly. Chapter
28. Everything Jacob got into, the
Lord got him out of it. Amazing. Worked in spite of him. Everything. Chapter 28. Well, write it down. No. Chapter 30 chapter 30, but
the Lord, you see. Was working in Jacob's life,
not though Jacob didn't know it. God's marvelous providence,
mercy and grace. In spite of him. And can you
now look back any of you sons of Jacob? Can look back on your
life and see what all God spared you from and what all God did
in spite of you and for you and look at it says in Genesis thirty
verse twenty seven Laban his father-in-law said on the hill
I pray thee if I found favor in thine eyes stay a little bit.
Terry I've learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me
for your sake. Oh my. He said I gave Ethiopia
and Sabah for thy ransom. Go back to Genesis thirty-two. Now here he is. He's going home.
God was always looking out for Jacob, protecting him, blessing
him in spite of him. Now he's bringing him back home
to stay. Verse one and two. Jacob went
on his way. He's in the way now. And the angels of God met him. Now this is a mystery here. But
you have to take it. As you read it, Jacob saw. He
said, this is God's hope. He's coming home and who met
him. God sent some angels. Angels
of mercy, harbingers, messengers to prepare the way to remove
the stumbling blocks, to bring him home. Angels of mercy. Are you reading this? Are you
getting there? Oh, I think back on see some
of entertained angels unaware. Think back on some of the angels
that God Almighty placed in my path. Bring me home. What that first time that Jacob
was in Bethel back in Chapter 28 is he said, surely the Lord
was in this place. And I knew it not. When I was
you, Wesley, when you were sitting here as a young man, the Lord
was in this place. You didn't know it. He left. There's better things. No, there's
not, is there, buddy? You know now, don't you? There's
nothing better. Nothing better. But he's confronted. He's confronted
by these angels Oh, my. All of God's people are spoken
to, hedged about. They're angels who behold the
Heavenly Father's face. Your way has been guarded, guided,
and you've been brought. You're one of the Lord's own.
He brought you to himself and sent his angels to give charge
over you, lest you dash your foot against a stone. Well, if you're a son of Jacob,
the Lord Jesus Christ himself is going to find you and wrestle
with you through the preaching of the gospel. Christ does not come in a bodily
presence, but he's God, he pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. This right here. Christ said,
my sheep hear my voice, but it's not an audible voice, but it's
going to be through the preaching of the gospel. And you're going
to feel like you've been wrestled with. You're going to feel like
somebody has literally got a hold of you. Did you read with brother Jacob
Wesley, where he kept reading, now hear this, now hear this. So many times he said, you've
got ears to hear, but you're not hearing. But he's going to
have to go. Like me. That was me. I was a
young man. Finally. It was finally a time
when I felt like, you know, I hear message after
message after message after message. The prodigal son finally bring
me and then grab ahold of me and say, now hear this. He's talking to me. I'm not talking to him. He's
talking to me. Well, Christ is going to have to do
that. I can't do it. As much as I'd like to, I would
love to grab your children, literally, and say, Wake up! That won't
do it, though. It won't do it. This bell won't
do anything. It makes me feel better. Thank
you. Jesus Christ is going to have
to grab hold of. Prayer is not a. Thing prayer
is not there's no power in prayer. That is simply calling on him
who has all the power. You said. It's not a magical
thing. He can't do it, no. He's calling
on him who has all power to exert that power. Lord, we're powerless
to do anything. Would you exert your sovereign
power on him or her like you did me? That's what prayer is. Jacob's heading home. He remembers
Esau. Remembers what he did. All of
a sudden, he's filled with guilt and fear and He's heading home,
he's got to go home. He's coming home. In spite of
himself, in spite of his sins, in spite of his fears, in spite
of his guilt, he realizes, he remembers what all he did to
Esau. And he begins to think, he's
still going to get mad. And for all he knows, he is.
Esau. And you know, God begins to bring
us to himself, and we begin to feel guilt and shame over ourselves,
our lives, and so forth. Well, old Jacob began to send
gifts ahead of him to Esau, trying to appease Esau. Here's the whole
message in itself. He began to send things to Esau
to try to appease his wrath and his anger. He's trying to undo
what he did. Trying to bribe his love. He's
trying to undo all his rotten past. Here, I'll do this. Here, I'll do that. Here, would
you take this? Would you take that? Are you with me? Any son of Jacob there? I'm going
to undo everything. Old Zacchaeus said, If I've defrauded
anybody, I'm going to repay it. Well, that's a good thing, but
that's not why the Lord is going to save you. He did it for the
good pleasure of his own will, that's why. You can't undo it. Go ahead, try, but that's not
it. We're not accepted by God by
appeasing his wrath and his anger and trying to do this, try to
undo it. You can't undo it. been done, against thee and thee
only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight." Verse six, he's headed home and
the messengers return to Jacob. They came back from bearing these
gifts and said, we came to your brother Esau and he's coming
to meet you with four hundred men on horses. Now he's really scared. You know, the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. Did you teach that this morning,
men and our young people? The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. It's a false messenger that goes
out telling men and women that God loves you. And I don't tell our young people
that it'll be all right. God loves you. That's a liar,
isn't it? It's a true messenger says God
is angry with the wicked every day. They will be of the Lord's mercies
that you're not concerned. True preacher, their sons of
Jacob's himself, he said of Jacob's greatly verse seven, he's greatly
afraid and distressed. He's greatly afraid and distressed. Over what? Himself. Who's he blaming? Who's he got
to blame but himself? All my troubles, all my life
are because of me. You know, God's going to have
to bring you to yourself. Like the prodigal son. People, it's not a one-time thing.
It's a lifetime thing. Jacob, by now, is about fifty-some
years old. It's not a one-time thing. Well,
God showed me years ago what a sinner I was. No, today, this
gospel, I'm talking about mercy to a son of Jacob. Who's it going
to be sweet to? You read the article? Those that
have a bitter belly. That's who this gospel is. God,
we need to pray constantly, Lord, show me myself so that I realize
I'm not presumed to deliver me from presumptuous and. Presume
that you know I'm OK. Well, Jacob. He's scared. He's scared to death. He's distressed. He's troubled. He sends his family
away. It sends all of them away. And
Jacob, it says in verse 24, is left. Alone. Verse 24, Jacob was left
alone. You read it with me? Genesis
32, 24, and Jacob was left alone. Why do, why is it that people
don't like to be alone? They don't. More prevalent now than ever
in this generation is TVs and computers and radios and stereos.
You've got to have something because you've got this thing
called conscience. It's a law of God written on
the heart. You don't want to hear it. You don't want to hear
it. You're left alone with your thoughts. It's a good place to be. I mean,
for God to bring you. If you're a son of Jacob, If
we're sons of Jacob, the Lord is going to bring us to a place
where we are all alone. Alone with our own sin, our own
troubles, our own worries and fears, no one with you, no one
to help you, no one to get you out of this jam that you're in.
No one to relieve you, alleviate you of your fears and so forth,
for you to think it all over. And it says, and there, and there, wrestled a man with him. Somebody came. Somebody came to his rescue. He's all alone. And somebody came. and wrestled
with it. Wrestled with it. Bless the Lord.
He sent a man. Huh? The God-man. Christ Jesus. God Almighty said this, and in
our language, He said, there He is. Old Jacob. Old Jacob. Look at it. Like Adam. Remember Adam? Where are you?
Look at you. Look what you've done to yourself. There he is, old Jacob, down
low, scared, helpless, alone. God says, Go, my son. Go, my son. Go down there and
lay hold of him. Lay hold of him. Wrestle him
down. Break his hard heart. Break him
of his sins. That old wild ass's coat needs
broke, dead broke. Wrestle him down, bring him to
himself to see what he is. And so this man, who was this
man? Do you know who he is? The Lord
Jesus Christ, the God-man who was made flesh and dwelt among
us, who came, God of Jacob, came, was made flesh. came down here
to wrestle with the likes of us. And it says in verse 24,
he wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. Who came
to who? Who grabbed hold of who first? The Lord did. Thank God he lays
hold of us. Paul said, I'm not yet apprehended. I mean, I've not yet apprehended
that for which I have been apprehended. But this I do, he said, I'm wrestling
because he laid hold of me, laid hold of me. And wrestled
a man with Jacob. You don't need notes for the
rest of it. It says, wrestled a man when he saw that he prevailed
not against Jacob. What does that mean? I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't do
anything with him. I can't save him. I can't get.
No, that's not what that's. We're going to see. He just.
He cripples him. This is the one who has power
over all flesh. Able to subdue everything. But it said what it means here
is Jacob start wrestling back. You know. Hard share of hyper
Calvinists. Believe you know you're going
to be one of the elect you're going to be on the elect to be
say that's right. That's exactly right. I believe
that you didn't have a choice and God Almighty chose you and
you didn't have a choice and that's right. They believe that you didn't
call on him that he called you. He called you for that's exactly
right. They believe you are seeking
the Lord and know the Lord you are seeking the Lord he seeking
you found you that's exactly right. And he said. you read the thirty-six
the whole chapter says I'm going to do the I shall give you a
new heart I sure what I'll do that and at the end it says and
I'll be inquired of this you want to ask me to do in the sovereign
providence he said. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. If someone doesn't call on the
name of the Lord, they'll not be saved. If someone doesn't
seek the Lord seeking me, you shall find me when you search
for me with all your heart. Anybody that doesn't seek the
Lord is not going to find the Lord. Anyone that doesn't ask
for mercy is not going to get mercy. Now, that doesn't mean that the
Lord's saved them because they call.
It's that is his right to make them call. See, we love him. Yes, we do, because he first
loved it. We call on him. Why? Because
he first called us. It's just proof of the fact somebody
not seeking the Lord. I don't know if they're one of
the Lord's own or not. How do you know? Seeking the Lord. He's
calling on the Lord. How do you know one of the elect. He believes. He confesses. That's how you know. And dies
in that faith. Now Jacob was wrestling back. That's what I quoted from Philippians
2, what? 3. Philippians 3 said, This one
thing I do, Paul said, I press. toward the mark for
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ. I don't believe
I believe I am one of the leg that doesn't keep me from pressing.
Our Lord said from John the prophets preached until John. He said
the kingdom of heaven suffered violence and the violent take
it by force. This is what Jacob's doing. And
he said in verse, look at verse 26, Jacob said, the angel said,
let me go the daybreak. And Jacob said, I will not let
thee go except you bless me. That's the definition of. I've forgotten the word importunity. There it is. I will not let you
go. Until the day we die. My God give us the grace. To
keep Russia. If you do. More than. Well he said verse
twenty seven angel said on him what is your name. You didn't know him. Sure he
did. For whom he did foreknow. He
knew him. This is his Lord. This is Jacob's
creator. He came to Jacob here. He knows
his name. He knows everything about him.
Thou, Lord, seest me. You know me. Jacob's got to know
who he is. Jacob's got to know who he is.
What's your name? What's your name? Confess. You
know, when we were kids, I have two older brothers. We wrestled.
I didn't. I never won. I was a baby. They liked to wrestle with me,
all right. Get me down, you know. Even my sister did it for a while. Talk about humiliating. But they
used to say, say uncle. You remember that? Get you down. Chinese torture. Cry uncle. What's uncle? What's that mean? I don't know
where that came from. Cry uncle. What that means is
give up. You can't win, can you? You can't
get up, can you? I guess it means cry your uncle.
Maybe he'll come help you. Back and before Esau said his
name Jacob and that's what he is. complaining to his dad. He's a usurper, that's exactly
what he is. Jacob didn't think so at the time. Now the Lord has
him down. Now, who are you? Who are you? What are you? Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob is
my name and Jacob is what I am. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob.
Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob.
Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob.
Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob.
Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob.
Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob.
Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob.
Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob.
I'm just a sinner. Rotten sinner. No good sinner.
Lord, I'm nothing but sin. In my quest for no good thing. Oh, wretched man that I am. Sinner. God be merciful to me. Thief.
Sinner. Publican. A harlot. A cheat.
I'm no good. I'm adulterous. Sinner. A thief. A robber. A thief. Sinner. That's where the Lord is going
to have to bring everybody. Yes, he does. The center is a
sacred thing. God said, verse 28, the Lord
said as he sat on his chest, thy name shall be no more Jacob. You surfer cheap rebel no good
worthless useless vain dead dying worthless center. Prince of God. The child of God a son of the
king. What Jacob do. Right there the Lord God frankly
freely, sovereignly, completely, wholly changed his name. He didn't do anything. He was
passive. He was being held down. He wasn't
passive, he was wrestling, but the Lord held him down and said,
now here's what I have done. I've changed your name. A sinner saved by grace. You're
now a prince with God. You now have power with God and
with men and has prevailed. Do you understand the irony here
of what the Lord is saying? Huh? Like he says, well done
thou good and faithful servant. About like you say to your children,
you know, when they've done something, they made a mess of the whole
thing. You say that you've done a good job. Power with God, oh, he exerted
his power on you. Grace is yet not I. Paul said,
I labored more abundantly than them all, yet not I, but Christ
in me. The life I now live, I live by
the faith of the Son of God. Christ in you is a hope of glory. Now you have power with God and
with men. and has prevailed. The Lord made
his way smoother anyway, a little smoother. See, the way of the
transgressor is hard. Out from under the sound of the
word, running around out in the world, seeking this, seeking
that, seeking, seek the Lord. Seek ye first, Christ said, the
kingdom of heaven. All these things be added to
you. If you seek first the world and all these things, it's a
hard road to hoe. A hard road to hoe. Jacob asked, said, Tell me, I
pray thee, thy name. He said, Why, yes, my name. And
he blessed him right there. He blessed him right there. Oh
my, my Lord, my God, would you grab hold of some son of Jacob
in this place? And bless him right there, right
there. Meet him, change him. Jacob called the name of the
place Pineum, face of God. He said, I've seen God face to
face. My life is preserved. I've seen
God. Jacob said, I never was really
looking for him. And he came and found me and
wrestled me down. He said, now I've seen him face
to face, the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he didn't kill me. I see this holy and righteous
God against whom I've sinned all my life, never given a thought
to, never cared for, fed me, clothed me, watered me, did all
these things, provided wives and children and all this for
me all the days of my life. Jacob, that's what I am, Jacob.
I've sinned against thee and thee only, and now mine eyes
see thee, and you didn't kill me. Stand amazed at the mercy of
God to us. Jacob, you didn't kill me, but
you spoke of your servant for a time to come. You changed my
name. Do you think Jacob went out there
saying, I'm not born again, Jacob? Don't call me Jacob anymore,
call me Israel. Look at me, I'm a fine... Somebody asked him his name,
he'd say Jacob. Like old Simon Peter. But God
changed him. He really did. Not only changed
his name, but look at this. It's said in verse thirty-two,
or verse thirty-one, sun rose upon the sun. Are you looking
at it? You've got to see this. As he
passed over the place of God, the sun rose on him. Would you
give me one more hour to preach that verse? as he passed over
where the face of God was, the sun rose on him. Oh, my people. Well, how do clouds
make you feel? How does rain make you feel?
How do the dark days make you feel? It makes you feel dark
and cloudy and dreary and so forth. But what happened? A whole
night long, David said, my soul waited for thee more than they
that watch for the morning. When the sun comes up, Peter
wrote, until the day star rise in your heart. That's what we need every day,
the sun to rise upon us. Go out of there, joyful, rejoicing,
but halting on your thigh. Verse 31, he left with a limp. During this wrestling match,
the Lord, who's much stronger than he altogether, not only changed his name, but
changed his walk. He's not going to be the same
man, not in name only, you see. He's not changed in name only,
Jeanette. His walk is changed. The rest
of his life, he's going to limp. What's that a reminder of. Somebody wrestled with. It you'll
remember. Never forget this. Is something
that reminds him of someone. We have this thorn in the flesh
and we have this lamp we you know so we're running a race
if you run a race how much progress we make. How fast can a crippled
man run, would you tell me? You know, he calls us, Johnny
says, you worm, Jacob. Tell me, how fast do worms move? Worm is of the earth, isn't it? Just crawling along. Jacob, he's
going to walk. He's got years more to walk.
He's going to walk with God like Enoch. He's going to walk by
faith. He's going to walk change, not
so high and mighty. He's a changed man. Picture regeneration. He's going to realize that he's
not as strong as he thought he was, not the man he thought he
was. He's walking with a limp, but he's walking. He's walking. And so now his troubles are over. All. They really just. The next chapter. The next chapter
is just wonderful you got to read it I'm not going to read. The rest of the story. But he
has trouble. You remember what we read in
the beginning. Chapter 47, Jacob comes to the end of his life
and says, The days of my life. They bring him in to Pharaoh. Old man. Tell me about yourself. What's
your name, Jacob? The days of my life have been
few and evil. but God. God did it all. Thank God. Inspired of me. Inspired of me.
Happy. Where is that? Happy, you see,
that the God of... I told you to commit it to memory.
Happy, you see, that the God of Jacob could wrestle with it. Okay. Brother Gabe, come up.