Turn back to Genesis chapter
33, the title of the message. It should be obvious. I have enough. Both of them said it. One was
lost and one was saved, but they both said it. They both said
so. Now Jacob, back in chapter 32,
it says in verse 24, "...have been
left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking
of the day." And I have no doubt, but that is the Lord Jesus Christ
he's wrestling with. And he wrestles with him all
night over this situation of meeting Esau. He remembers what Esau said. I'm going to kill you. I'm going
to take your life. After our father dies, I'm going
to take your life. So Jacob remembered that. And
he wrestled with this man, our Lord, all night and would not
let him go until the Lord blessed him, until the Lord gave him
I believe, reassured him of the promises and that he would bring
him into the land, just as he said. And he blessed him there,
it says. And after this, Jacob goes over
the brook or river, whatever that is there, Jebek, to meet
his family, to meet up with his wife, Rachel and Leah and the
others and his children. And once he gets over there,
it says he lifts up his eyes and he sees Esau coming. And
Esau is coming with 400 men. Now this tells me that Esau,
when he left to meet Jacob, had something different in mind.
You don't bring 400 men just to make an impression. He brought
400 men with him. And so Jacob starts preparing
for the worst. He just wrestled with the Lord,
and the Lord blessed him there. And I'm sure the Lord gave him
assurance, gave him His Word. I'll bring you into the land. I'll bring you into your kindred.
I'll fulfill those promises that I gave to Abraham and Isaac,
and I'll fulfill them to you. But when he sees his brother
and those 400 men, I believe his heart is gripped with fear. Jacob says here in verse 3, when
he sees Esau and he comes to Esau, he bows himself to the
ground seven times. Now, it was an Eastern custom
to bow, but seven times is a bit much. This is the heir. This is the one whom God said,
the elder shall serve the younger. This is the one with the blessings.
This is the man who just wrestled with God Almighty. And he's bowing
himself seven times. The Scripture says, and we prove
it day by day, man at his best state is altogether vanity. At our best state, we're nothing.
Nothing. Fear of man is dangerous. Look
what he calls Jacob to do here, bowing and bowing. And he's doing
this in front of his family. And his family will mock him.
They'll do the same thing. This is God's man here. I'm not
saying that there's something wrong with humility. There is
such a thing as true humility. And there is such a thing as
Jacob recognizing Esau as being his elder brother. But to do
it seven times until he gets to him, just like... Have you
ever had a dog crawl up to you? Have you ever had one just kind
of crawl and hunker down and scare to death of you? Well,
that's what's going on here. He's hunkered down. This man
just wrestled with God. Now he's afraid of Esau, his
brother. The fear of man is dangerous
and it's unbecoming to God's children. It will cause a man
to act less than a man. It will cause a man to compromise
the gospel. Do you remember when Peter Over
in the book of Acts, I believe it's written over in Galatians,
he was eating with the Gentiles. And then when his Jewish brethren
came down, what did he do? He separated from the Gentiles
and went over to his Jewish brethren and wouldn't have anything to
do with those Gentile believers. And Paul confronted him about
it to his face. Fear of man. That's what it was,
fear of man. Then it will cause a man to deny
Christ. It will cause a believer. The fear of man will cause a
believer to deny the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, Peter comes to
mind. He denies the Lord three times.
Three times. This maid says, you're one of
them. He even cussed. Says he cursed. No, I don't know him. That's
what the fear of man will cause. And it will cause a man to keep
his mouth shut when he ought to speak. Proverbs 29, 25 says, The fear
of man bringeth a snare. It brings a snare. But whoso putteth his trust in
the Lord shall be safe. It's alright. What can man do
to me? Nothing. Remember this, the King's heart
is in the hand of the Lord. Remember that someday you'll
need it. Like the rivers of water. Is there anything more powerful
than water? You ever see a raging? I know you have on TV and you've
seen it just with your own eyes. Have you seen a raging flood?
Well, you know who turns that flood and directs that flood?
Our God. Our God does that. The King's
heart, who rules the land, who has authority over you, is in
the hand of the Lord like the rivers of water. He turneth it,
whithersoever He will. He turneth it. That's in Proverbs
21.1. God controls the heart of all
men and women. Esau's conduct, now listen, Esau's
conduct is not a credit. It is not a credit to him. It's
not like Esau matured and became this generous person. You notice
he didn't offer Jacob anything. It is a credit. It is a demonstration. of the sovereign constraint of
God's power over his heart. I don't believe he started out
planning on kissing Jacob. I don't believe he's going to do
that. But God took control of that
situation. Somewhere between the time he left and the time
they met and all those things that Jacob had sent earlier,
God did something. He didn't save him. But he turned
his heart. He controlled the situation.
Esau's heart was still as hard as it ever was. He was just as lost as ever.
Now because of Jacob's conduct, bowing seven times, scraping
and carrying on like he did, his family saw that and they
did it. Our family, our children watch
us. I'm telling you, they do imitate us. They do watch us. And I do believe our actions
do speak louder than words. They do. Then he saw in verse
eight, he asked, he says, what is all this? Now he knows what
all this is. He wants to hear it from Jacob
because all those servants who had already gone before told
him. But he says, what is this? And Jacob replies, that I might
find grace in thy sight. I'm telling you this, if I find
grace in a natural man's sight, it's going to be a work of God,
not things I give him. You see, the work had already
been done. God had already worked on Esau's heart. Jacob was trying
to just keep on throwing things on him. But that's not what changed
his heart. God did. God did. He said, what's all this? And
Jacob said, that I might find grace in thy sight. Had he forgotten?
Had Jacob forgotten that he had just found favor in God's sight?
That he had wrestled with the Lord and he received a blessing
there and he blessed Him there? Had he already forgotten that
God had already given him favor? Here he is. begging his brother,
I just want to find grace in your sight. This is unbecoming. I think so. I mean, I think it's
unbecoming for this patriarch to carry on like this. If we find favor in God's sight,
He'll make even our enemies to be at peace with us. Now, when Esau, in verse 9, when
Esau saw all that Jacob wanted to give him, he said, I have
enough. I have enough. But I want you
to notice something. He never, not one time, gave
God the glory or the credit for anything he had. Nothing. Nothing. It says there in verse 9, and
Esau said, I have enough, my brother. Keep that thou hast
unto thyself. I don't need it. Here's a man,
here's a natural man who's saying something that's very rare. Believe
me, this is rare for a natural man to say, I have enough. It's
rare. But it happens. It does happen. And he says, I have enough. And
Jacob said, No, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in
thy sight, then receive my present at my hand. For therefore I have
seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou
wast pleased with me. Jacob urges him to take it because
he wants to ensure his safety. That's what he wants him to take
it for. But then in verse 11, Jacob says, Take, I pray thee,
my blessing. that is brought to thee, because
God hath dealt graciously with me." Both times, two different
times, when Jacob speaks of what he has, he speaks of God's grace. When Esau would ask him who these
people were, and he said, let me find this. In verse 8, and he said, What
meanest thou of all this drove which I met? And he said, These
are to find grace in the sight of my Lord. That's not the verse. Oh, here it is, in verse 5. And
he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children and
said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which
God hath graciously given thy servant. And then in verse 11,
I pray thee, take my blessing. that I brought to thee, because
God hath dealt graciously." God hath dealt graciously with me. And because I have enough, He
urged him and he took it. And then Esau, I'm going to come
back to this in a minute. But Esau tells Jacob in the rest
of these verses, he says, you follow me to Seir. And Jacob says, no, he said,
you know, I'll follow you, but I can't, you know, you guys will
travel faster than I am able to travel. And with these cattle
and these young children, I'll have to go softly, slower. And Esau says, well, I'll leave
some men with you. And he says, no, you don't need to do that.
You just go on and I'll follow you and I'll meet you there. Well, Jacob lies again. He is being deceptive again. He says, Let my Lord, I pray
thee, pass over before his servant, and I'll lead on softly, according
as the cattle that goes before. That's in verse 14. And the children,
as they are able. And Esau said, Okay, let me now
lead with thee some of the folk. And he said, No. And he said,
What needs it? Let me find grace in the sight
of my Lord. And Esau returned that day on
his way to Seir. And Jacob journeyed to Sukkot. When Esau got out of sight, he
went a different direction. He went a different direction.
Instead of going ahead and going back to his family, back to Isaac,
that's where God told him to go, go back to your father's
house. Instead of doing that, he becomes afraid of Esau. And
he turns and he goes to Sukkot. And what does he do? He buys
land there, sets up a booth, sets his tent up and lives there
for a while. And he stays there. See, in verse 19, he bought a
parcel of field where he had spread his tent and bought some
land off of Hamor, Shechem's father. And there he erected
there an altar and he called it El Elohi Israel. And then he stayed there for
a while. He went off course. God said, you go. back to the
land of your father. But out of fear of Esau, he takes
a detour and stays there. And I'll tell you what, he paid
for that one. In chapter 34, his daughter is
raped, and I mean chapter 34 is a mess. It's a mess. And then God says, now Jacob,
I think it's over here in chapter 35, And God said unto Jacob,
Arise, go to Bethel, and you dwell there, and make there an
altar unto God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest
from the face of Esau thy brother. That's where you're supposed
to be going. But boy, chapter 34 is a mess. Because he just
took off out of fear. Took off in another direction.
But let's go back now. That's that chapter in a nutshell. But both of these men said, I
have enough, showing contentment. Esau and Jacob both said, I have
enough. When Esau said it, he gave no
glory to God whatsoever. When Jacob said it, he gave all
glory to God. When Jacob said that he had enough,
if you'll look over in the margin, It's a stronger word. He's saying
this, I have all things. When Esau said, I have enough,
he means I have enough material things. I have enough sheep. I have enough oxen. I have enough
servants. But when Jacob said it, he said,
I have all things. I not only have all material
blessings, I have all spiritual blessings. I have all I need. I have enough. I have enough. Esau had some things that he
accumulated. Because his father Isaac did
bless him. He said, you'll eat of the fatness
of the earth and the dew of heaven be on you. And he became very
rich. He became very powerful. But
here's what Esau had, and here's what he said, I have enough of.
And he found contentment in these things. He had the world. He had the world. Now listen,
you remember he despised his birthright for a bowl of soup? When that happened, God set the world in Esau's heart. And having that in his heart,
he despised everything that had to do with God, Christ, salvation,
the birthright. Look over in Ecclesiastes chapter
3. Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Look in verse 9. What profit
hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? I have
seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be
exercised in him. He hath made everything beautiful
in his time. Everything that God has made
in providence, in creation, everything that God has made is beautiful.
But also, he hath set the world in their hearts. So that no man
can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to
the end. Now, I read a lot of different translations on that,
but I do believe it has this meaning in it. Take like Esau. The world was
set in his heart. He had no interest in Christ. He had no interest in eternity,
in the eternal things of God. He had no interest in those things.
The world was set in his heart. He went after the world. Esau was nothing more than a
content, lost man. Scripture calls him a profane
person. He was reprobate. And he chose the world over Christ. This is what happened. This is
what happened when he sold that birthright. This is what happened.
He chose the world over Christ when he sold his birthright to
Jacob. He might have been a morally outstanding man, but it still
remains. He despised his birthright. Listen, he despised that covenant
that God made with Abraham in which God said that through you
through your seed the Lord Jesus Christ shall all nations of the
earth be blessed." He despised that. In short, he despised the
Son of God. He despised the way of salvation. He despised it. And the world
was set in his heart. You and I can never be accepted
of God until God removes that. And until he establishes Christ
in you, the hope of glory. That's what was in Jacob. That
was in Jacob. Christ was in Jacob. Because
Jacob said, he said, I have enough. It's far different than what
Esau said. He said, I have all things. Giving those gifts, those
cattle, those sheep, and all that stuff that he sent to Esau.
Giving those things to Esau did not impoverish Jacob. You know,
Paul said, I count what? All things but loss. And so did
Jacob. What do these things mean? He
sent them over to Esau. They don't mean anything to me.
He said, I have all things. I have it all. Listen, John Gill
said this. This was good. Jacob's words here mean, I have
a sufficiency of all good things. That's the reason I read Psalm
103. Forget not all his benefits. He's blessed us with good things.
Or I have all things, all kind of good things, everything that
was necessary for him. Jacob said, I have it. Esau did
not say that. He didn't even mean that. He
just means I have enough. I have enough. The expression, he says here,
is stronger than Esau's. And indeed, Jacob had, besides
a large share of temporal mercies, he had all spiritual mercies.
All of them. God was his covenant God and
Father. Christ was his Redeemer, his
Sanctifier, and he had all grace bestowed upon him, and all glory
was his. I have enough. That's what he
meant. And this is what Esau despised. Jacob's contentment is that of
every believer's contentment, Christ. Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ he was complete and
in Christ we are complete. In Christ we have wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. We have forgiveness of sins.
We are justified. We have all spiritual blessings.
In Christ I have enough. Really. Now boy, I'll tell you
what, that'll really mean something in a few years or days or whenever
when we lay down to die. When we lay down to die and all
this stuff we've accumulated stays behind, Oh, we'll look at Him and say,
I have enough. I have enough. Are you ready
to die? If you have Christ, you have
enough. You have enough. If I have Christ, I have all
things. Listen to this scripture. 1 Corinthians
3, verses 21 through 23. I'm going to read them to you.
Therefore, let no man glory in men. For all things are yours,
whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, the world's
yours, or life, or death, or things present, or things to
come. All are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's. That's real. That's real. Jacob said, I have all things.
I have enough. Brother, take it. He saw take. Take those cattle. Take those sheep. Take these
things. I have all things. I have the
blessing. I have the covenant promises.
I have the Messiah. I have God. He saw I had none
of those things. He just had a lot of material
stuff and 400 men to feed. Let me close with these questions.
I thought about these today as I was writing this out. Is Christ
enough to appease God's justice? Is His death? Is His righteousness? Is His sufferings? Is His person?
Is it enough to appease God's justice? Yes. Yes. Then if I have Him, I have
enough. Romans 4.25, it says, who was
delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. I have enough. Is Christ's blood
enough to wash away all my sins? Yes. Then I have enough. 1 John 1 says, But if we walk in
the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all
sin. That's enough. Is Christ's power
to break the power of Satan and sin and raise me from the grave
and present me faultless before the presence of his glory? Is
it enough? Yes. Then if I have Him, I have
enough. I need no more. I need no more. Here's the question. Is Christ
enough to God? Is He all that God can require?
Can God require any more than what Christ has provided? No. He is enough to God. Then He is enough to me. In Christ, I have all things
temporal and eternal. If I have Christ, I have enough.
What was it? Mephibosheth. I've got it marked
here. Mephibosheth said this. You remember
when David, he was trying to overthrow him and he had to run.
I'll make a long story. Ziba lied on Mephibosheth. In 2 Samuel 19, let me read you
something here. This is good. In 19, verse 25,
And it came to pass when he was come to Jerusalem, David, to
meet the king, or Mephibosheth, to meet the king, that the king
said unto him, Wherefore wittest not thou with me, Mephibosheth?
And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For thy
servant said, I will saddle me, that I may ride thereon and go
to the king, because thy servant is lame, and he hath slandered
thy servant unto my lord the king. But my lord the king is
as an angel of God. Do therefore what is good in
thine eyes. For all of my father's house were but dead men before
my lord the king. Yet didst thou send thy servant
among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore
have I yet to cry any more unto the king? And the king said unto
him, Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said,
Thou and Ziba, you divide the land. And Mephibosheth said unto the
king, Yea, let him have it all. Let him have it all. Let him
just take it all for as much as my lord the king is come again
in peace under his own house. That's all I want. I have enough.
The king is here. That's enough. Abraham told Lot, he said, Lot,
lift up your eyes, wherever you want to go, you take it, I don't
care where you go, what you take, you just do it, and I'll take
what's left. Because why? I have enough. I have enough. Listen, God is enough, Christ
is enough, His Spirit is enough, His promises are enough, His
omnipotent power is enough, His grace is enough. I have Him, I have enough. Let
me read this to you. And I'll close this poem. I found
this today on reading a message. I am so weak, dear Lord, I cannot
stand one moment without you. But oh, the tenderness of your
unfolding and oh, the faithfulness of your upholding and oh, the
strength of your right hand. That strength is enough for me.
I am so needy, Lord, and yet I know all fullness dwells in
You. And hour by hour that never-failing treasure supplies and fills in
overflowing measure my least and greatest need, and so Your
grace is enough for me. It is so sweet to trust Your
word alone I do not ask to see the unveiling of Your purpose
or the shining of future light on mysteries untwined. Your promise,
role, is all my own. Your word is enough for me. The
human heart asks love, but now I know that my heart has from
you. All real and full and marvelous
affection, so near, so human, yet divine perfection, thrills
gloriously the mighty globe. Your love is enough for me. There
were strange soul depths, restless, vast and broad, and phantom as
the sea. An infinite craving for some
infinite stealing, but now your perfect love is perfect feeling.
Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord, my God, You, You are enough for
me.