These things that I've been teaching
you about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are all allegories and
metaphors and types and pictures. That is, these things are an
earthly story, some of them Well, actually, all of them, if we
take them at face value, they're actually the historical record
of what actually took place. They're not stories in the sense
that they were made up, but their history tells more than just
what took place. It tells more than that. It stands
for more than that. And we're told that in the New
Testament. And I don't want to just wear you out with repetition
by going over and over and over these things. But you know in
the book of Galatians where Sarah and Hagar and Ishmael and Isaac
and all these, Abraham, they're all told what that point in their
life, what that story in their life was all about. What their
birth in some cases was all about. These pictures and times. And
though they're clearly referred to in the New Testament in association with being an
allegory, still, when you tell these things to unbelievers,
they're just some foolish attempt on your part to make the Bible
say something they don't really say. Well, if you do that, you
can just make the Bible say anything you want it to. Well, no, not
really. The Bible says what it says. You know, Holy Scripture, I was
thinking about this this afternoon when I prepared this message.
Holy Scripture is revealed to us in a lot of different ways. We want to say, and rightfully
so, that revelation is of the Holy Spirit of God who takes
the things of God and shows them unto us. That's true. That's
true. But he does it in many ways.
He does it in many ways. It's revealed to us plainly,
first of all, through the Scriptures. Now, I don't care who the speaker
is or what he's saying or how true it is. If what he says is
not founded in the scriptures, how do I know that what he's
saying is of God? It must be founded on, you're
going to have to draw a line from what you're saying to the
scriptures. I've got several scriptures for you tonight. I'm
going to make some statements and do some referencing here
as I've been doing in these pictures and types. But I'm going to draw
a line from what I'm saying to the scriptures. To the scriptures. Reveal to us plainly. You know,
Lois was Timothy's grandmother. Taught him the scriptures when
he was little. She didn't try to catechize him
in any kind of doctrine. Read to him the Scriptures. Read
to him the Scriptures over and over and over. He was familiar
with the Scriptures. And Paul told Timothy, he said,
you preach the Word of God. You preach what's in this book.
Because from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which
are able to make thee wise unto salvation. The Holy Scriptures. This is the foundation for faith. Peter said this, he said, I stood
on the mount and I watched the Lord transfigure before my eyes. I'm not preaching hearsay. I
stood there. I saw what took place. I saw
Elijah and Moses and Christ on that mount. But he said, we have
a more sure word of prophecy whereunto we do well to take
heed is unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day
dawn and the day star arise in our hearts. And then secondly,
revelation comes through preaching, through preaching. Preaching
is what takes these things of Christ, this testimony of Christ,
and puts it together. You know, I've read the Bible
most of my life. Most of you all did. You were
raised that way in a church, and you read the scriptures,
and you read from them, and read from them, and read from them.
You never saw the gospel. All of a sudden, a man stands
up and he begins to arrange these things in an order to where they
make sense. And he begins to go here, and
he'll make a statement, and then he'll go over here to Ephesians
1 and say, it says here, and Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures over here, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And
then he starts down, and these things begin to arrange. They begin to say something.
They begin to uncover. These mysteries of God, they
begin to reveal these things. It's revealed through the preaching
of the Gospel. It's the means by which men and
women are called out of darkness and translated. And I tell you this, preaching
is not only the means by which men and women are called, but
it's the same means by which they're maintained and which
they grow and which they're perfected. Over and over, he tells us in
here, faith cometh by hearing. and hearing by the Word of God.
Do you know where that statement is? Anybody in here know where
that statement is recorded? Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. That comes immediately after
those questions that Paul asked in Romans chapter 10. How shall
you call on Him in whom you have not believed? How shall you believe
in Him of whom you have not heard? How shall you hear without a
preacher? And how shall he preach except he be sent? And then he
tells us, so then, he said, faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. And then thirdly, revelation
comes by an experience of grace. And I'm not talking here about
some feeling of depression or even the feeling of an opposite,
some feeling of exhilaration. That's not what I'm talking about
when I talk about an experience of grace. I'm talking about how
grace came. Grace is grace. And when grace
comes, it's a gift. That's what it is. It's a gift.
Anything contrary to that's not grace, is it? If I had my finger
in it, then it's not grace. It works. But my finger wasn't
in it. It come by grace and my experience. This whole experience of grace
as it comes and this convincing of the Holy Spirit of sin and
righteousness and judgment, all of those things when they come
help to reveal. It reveals my own experience
of grace if it's a true experience. Helps me to understand the Scriptures. Didn't Paul say this? He said,
I can't give you the chapter and verse, but he said, the grace
of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto us, teaching
us. It teaches us. So when I read and teach these
Old Testament types and allegories, I'm not appealing to natural
understanding. I'm comparing spiritual things
with spiritual. And I commit what I've said at
the end of this time into the hands of the Holy Spirit to make
it known or leave it hidden. What Christ said, He preached,
and a bunch of them didn't believe. He said, thank you, Father. Thank
you, Father. These things are hidden from
the wise and prudent and revealed unto babes. I want us to look
tonight at Jacob as he leaves this old father of lies and he
begins to turn. In his journey now, he has to
go and face his angry brother Esau. And I've got three things
here that I want to call your attention to. The first is the
way of reconciliation is becoming clear to Jacob through his experience,
this way of reconciliation. That's how God makes the ministry
of reconciliation. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and
has committed unto us this ministry of reconciliation. Only a reconciled
man can reconcile. Did you know that? He's the only
one that can. He's the only one that knows
how. Who else? His neighbor doesn't know how.
He don't know how. He goes over here and, well,
what's this got to do with that? Well, I don't know. I don't know.
Disreconciled man knows. He knows. He knows what he heard. He knows where to take him. Nobody
else was bringing folks to Christ, only those that he healed. He'd
heal one and he'd say, now don't tell this to anybody. Well, the
next day he had a multitude of people he was bringing down to
it. His fame just went that much more abroad. Take somebody that's
been reconciled and this way of reconciliation is becoming
clear to Jacob so that all the goodwill and all the giving and
all the work is going to be of God in him when he comes to Esau. He's not expecting anything from
Esau. He's not expecting Esau to come
out and he'll say, well, you take the first step and I'll
take the rest. No. He ain't expecting anything out
of Esau except danger. He fears Esau. All the goodwill,
all the giving is going to be on his part. Friends, if you
think this neighborhood around here is going to run down here
because we're working and everybody chip in, you're off your rocker. It ain't going to happen. It's
all going to be of you. Every bit of it. And that's how
you received it, didn't you? What did you contribute? Nothing. His brother isn't coming to him
with wives and children and cattle and shepherds. He's got 400 men
and he's coming to stop his brother in his tracks. That's why he's
coming. He's thundering down on him with
400 men. And he's convinced that Jacob's coming to take over and
take away from him that which he has and force his rule over
him because he has the birthright and the Father's blessing. And
he thinks that's what Jacob's going to do. Jacob's going to
come down and force him. He's going to force him to do
that. Isn't that what you want to do sometimes? Huh? You want
to go over there and just take a hold of him and say, can't
you hear what I'm saying? Look at this right here. Can
you read? Read this. What does that say? Yeah, I don't
care what that says. You just want to shake them,
don't you? It can't come that way. It's
got to come the way you received it. All of grace. All of grace. Kind. Kinder hearted. Jacob's whole experience was
an experience of grace. He'd experienced the free, undeserved
grace of God. Delivered him out of ignorance,
deceit, and treachery of his father-in-law. Separated him
and his wives from the old father of lies and established a place
where neither could cross, a place of grace. A line God drawn in
the sand. And everything that Jacob had,
he had by the promise and grace of God. It was by God's direction
and God's hand he now stood a vessel of mercy in his own eyes. And
so Jacob arranged his coming. And then when he arranged it,
I want you to see this, he didn't arrange it in battle formation.
That ain't what he did, is it? He sat down and he purposed what
he could give. How much could I give? Well,
it's all given to me. None of it's mine. So I can freely
give. And he does. And he gives bountifully,
don't he? And he arranges it so that when
Esau comes, every step Esau took, just every so many steps, he
was running into a token of grace. I mean, he'd go a half a mile
and here's a big drove of sheep. Well, who are you? Well, I'm
work for thy servant, Jacob. And he's coming to meet his master
Esau. And he sent these as a gift to
you. And he'd take them. Well, he ain't getting off at
it. And he'd go down the road. And here's another. Here's a
whole herd of goats. And then a herd of cattle. And
then a herd of camels. I mean, just one right there.
And he had this space in between. Space in between. Tokens of grass. Tokens of grass. Tokens of grass.
Isn't that how God dealt with us? Huh? Took a while to see
it. Took a while for him to, you
know, he, I don't know how he does it. I think this wrestling
that we're going to get into here in a minute is what it is.
If this man, Christ Jesus, come by the Spirit of God, he wrestles
with us. And then after a while, we wrestle
him with him. Not to take him down, but for
him to bless us. We don't want him to let us go. everything he had. And he arranged
his coming, not in battle formation, but in droves of gifts and tokens
of grace. He took of that, watch this now,
he took of that which came into his hand, which God put in his
hand. He didn't have anything. Nothing. He went over there and on his
own, he didn't gain one thing in 20 years. Nothing. Nothing. And so God gave him direction.
And right after that, he had a herd of cattle, and a herd
of camels, and a herd of goats. God just raised him up. Raised him up. He took that which
came into his hand, a present for Esau, his brother. And he
delivered them into the hands of his servants, and he spaced
them out. Now this much I know. And I'm going to let you apply
it how you will. You cannot reconcile anyone to
God until you're prepared to give yourself to the task. Are
you willing to do that? That's what it takes. You have
to give yourself. If you give yourself, you've
given everything you have. Everything else comes with it.
Isn't that what he said? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give? When he didn't spare his son,
he didn't spare anything. Everything else was in his son's
hands. You put yourself in a place where
none but God can preserve you, and none but God can make it
affect you, and none but God can sustain you, and you'll be
successful in reconciliation. You give yourself. Reconciliation
is a work of love, and love gives itself, and it doesn't expect
anything in return. In Jacob's mind, he wasn't going
to give all these things and then get up there and he'd say,
well, Esau, when I gave him all these things, I'll give them
back. That wasn't what he was thinking at all. In fact, when
Esau offered to give them back, he said, no, I insist. You keep
them. All right, here's the second
thing. Jacob came to the edge of Jordan. Now, I'm going by what the historians
tell me. I can't find anything in the
scriptures that will give me an exact location on this, but
it was within three or four miles, they said, of where this little
river, Jabbok, emptied into the Jordan River. And he sent across
his wives and his children and herds and servants and they all
crossed at the ford of the river Jaybok. Now Jaybok, what that
means, what that name means is empty out. Empty out. It was a little river that emptied
out into the Jordan. It came from the mountains. I
think it was the border of the Amorites if I'm not mistaken.
And it flowed from those mountains and it went It went east over
there just above the great sea of the plain and right in there
somewhere it emptied into the Jordan River. But it means emptied
out. Jaybok means to make utterly
void. It means to depopulate, to cease
to be. That's what its name means. You
see, when a small stream empties into a large stream, everything
about that stream is made void, isn't it? You're a fisherman.
You all fish. From this point of emptying out,
it loses its name. This little creek spot, it's
called Jaybok, and it's running over here, and it runs out all
of a sudden into Jordan. You look on your map and see
if you can find Jaybok traced down through Jordan. When it
hits Jordan, it's called Jordan. Jaybok ceases to be. It loses
its direction. It's headed east. And I'm not
sure which way, whether Jordan flowed north or south. But whichever
way it flowed, that's the way Jaybok went when it went in it.
It lost its direction. It loses its power. It had a
little bit of power. He called it a brook in the scriptures,
this little brook. Well, this little brook, when
it flowed out into Jordan, took on the power of Jordan, didn't
it? It lost its little power. It went out there. It became
one with that great body it emptied into. Now that's what's about
to happen to Jacob. He's going to meet a man. He's
putting his wives and his children, and he's sent all these gifts
ahead, and he's done all these things. And he was there, Jacob
was left alone, and a man came and wrestled with him. God hath predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself. This little
river had a goal. It had a place where it was headed.
It was just a little stream. It didn't amount to much. It
wasn't all that much benefit to anybody until it hit Jordan. When it hit Jordan, it become
Jordan. And it took on the direction
and the power and all those things that Jordan had. And there comes
a time in the lives of God's elect when they swallow it up
in God. They cease to be that little
stream. And they come to know something about the majesty,
something about the infinite holy God. They come to understand
something about God's not this little God that they had in their
imagination. He's not this little God that
they've been told about all their life. He's God. In Him we live
and move and have our be. There was a time in my life when
God was just comprehended as a part of it. He was just a part
of my life. I had a social life, and I had
a family life, and I had this religious life. He was just a
part of it until he opened my eyes. Once you enter into Jordan,
it takes over. I don't care how strong that
little stream is. It don't last long when it pulls out into Jordan.
It just swept away. It becomes one with it, don't
it? One with it. That's what's going on in Jacob's
life. From the time when that little
stream was emptied out, lost its direction and lost its strength
and lost its name, lost its purpose. Jacob lost his name here. Did
you know that? Huh? He said, what's your name? He said, my name's Jacob. He
said, not anymore. Not anymore. Now your name's
Israel. You're a prince. You didn't have
much power before. You'd run from old Laban, shaking
in your boots from Laban. It's not anymore. You got power
with God. Think about that. Swallowed up.
Swallowed up. That's what happens when a man
meets God. Emptied out of all into all His eternal purpose
of grace. Do you know anything about that
before God saved you? Do you know anything at all about
it? Do you have any comprehension of God's eternal purpose of grace? I never even heard it talked
about. I never even heard it discussed. I never even knew
such a thing existed. He declares the end from the
beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.
I never heard that. I never even heard a man even
mention it, not even against it. Wallowed up, emptied out
into his predestinated end. My soul. First time I used the
word predestination, I thought they were going to stick a bag
over my head. Oh, don't say that. Don't say that word. Why not? It's in the Bible. What's it
mean? If it means something else, let's take it out and put the
other word in. What's it mean? It means God's God. That's what
it means. emptied out into His strength
and power, His will overcoming mine, His current overcoming
mine, His immensity. Like John the Baptist, he said,
He must increase, I must decrease. His immensity. It swallows you
up, don't it? Utterly made void. I'll tell
you everything that I ever planned and plotted in my life. I found
myself just absolutely swallowed up of God. Nothing meant anything
to me. All of a sudden, everything that
I had to do with was void. It just didn't amount to a hill
of me. Even my children, I know they're going to die in just
a short time. I mean, if I live as long as my daddy did, that's
just 20-something years. That's a drop in the bucket.
None of these things mean anything in the light of eternity. Just
swallowed up. Wallowed up, utterly made void,
and whatever impurities in that little string, it takes on the
nature of the big string when it gets in there, don't it? I've
seen little muddy feeds come into a big river, and they flow
down there about 20 feet, and all of a sudden they just clear
out. Take on the nature of that big string. Paul said, He saved us by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed
on us abundantly, abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.
The old Nebuchadnezzar learned that. Isn't that what happened
to him? Standing up there all proud, just like that river flowing
down through there, just proud all by itself, nothing else around
him. All of a sudden, boom, he runs
headlong into God. He finds himself out there eating
grass like an ox. And he said, when my understanding
returned unto me, he said, my eyes looked up toward heaven.
They don't look at babbling anymore. They looked up to heaven. That's
where the king's at. He said his, God took his little
kingdom away from him. He ceased to be. He'd become
void. Emptied him out. He said, I lifted
up my eyes to heaven. My understanding returned unto
me, and I blessed the Most High and praised Him that liveth forever
and ever, whose dominion is from everlasting, and His kingdom
from generation to generation. And He doeth according to His
will in armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, what doest
thou? Paul learned that lesson. He told those folks on Mars Hill,
he said, God made the world and all things therein, seeing He
is Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn't dwell in temples made
with hands. You can't worship, you can't
stand here and do this and worship God. He's not worshipped with
your hands. He's God. He's God. He doesn't dwell in temples made
with hands. He's not worshipped with men's
hands. He's the source. He's the giver of all things.
Of one blood made He all nations of men, for to dwell on all the
face of the earth, determined the times before appointed, and
set the bounds of their habitations. And it said in Him we live and
move and have our being. Wallowed up. That's what I wait
to see. I love to stand and preach and
just watch. Just watch. After a while, The
Lord begins to speak to a man in his heart and starts showing
up. He starts going way out of his way to show up. And then
he sits and after a while he begins to smile. And you can
see that truth going down. You can see him rejoicing, rejoicing
in that truth. And then all of a sudden he just
finds himself swallowed up of God. Just swallowed up. And then thirdly, I want you
to see this. This spiritual work of being emptied out and swallowed
up was accomplished through a man, the man, the God-man. Jacob was left alone and there
wrestled with him a man, a man. He separated Jacob from everybody
else, all of his wives and all of his servants and all of his
cattle, all of those things. And then if you'll turn with
me to Colossians chapter 2, He sent over that brook, all
that he had, and this man took hold of him and wrestled with
him all night long. You reckon it took all night
for Christ to wrestle him? No, I think he took all night.
That's the grace of God. He could have put him down. He
could have just winked his eyes or wiggled his nose or whatever
he saw fit to do, and Jacob would have bit the dust just like he
did Paul off that horse. But he didn't. He come down and
he wrestled with him. He wrestled. He didn't knock
him out. He wrestled with him. He wrestled with him. Thank God
he doesn't come that way. That's the way we come, and it's
the wrong way. Don't come knock folks out. He
wrestles with them. He wrestles with them. He wrestled
with Him over the eternal decrees of God and wrestled with Him
over the purpose and will of God and wrestled with Him over
His own place. And in His place, in those eternal... Yeah, I know God. I believe in
election, but what about me? Where do I fit into that? You
ever wrestle with that? Huh? I know God's sovereign. I know God can do these things,
but where do I fit into that? I know God predestinated the
end, Where do I come in? You don't think Jacob wrestled
over these things? Wrestled over these eternal matters
and His place in them. Wrestled with Him over what lay
behind Him and what lay before Him. Wrestled with God over all
that He was and all that God is and over His angry brother
and all those things that lay ahead and His wives and His promise
to Abraham. He wrestled all night long. He wrestled. Now to me this night,
pictures the whole life of the believer. He wrestles and wrestles
and wrestles. He just keeps on wrestling. If
you're not wrestling, you've never been saved. That's just
plain enough. We still wrestle. Lord, you ever
walk out here one night and just know, just know in your soul
how you rejoiced and how God made His presence known to you
and you You're just so full of it, you just can't hardly stand
it. You just want to go out there and shout. Shout. The next day, you find yourself
over there. Lord, do I really know you? Am I really saved? Why do I feel so cold? Huh? We wrestle, don't we? All through
this life, we wrestle. We wrestle. Why do we wrestle? We wrestle
because of the depravity of our souls. There must be a wrestling
with God. There must be. There's nothing in God. Now,
I want you to hear me. There's nothing in God to disbelieve. You can't find anything about
Him. There's nothing in Him that's
not right and just. There's nothing in him that's
not altogether good. There is no change in his person,
no wavering in his promises, not even so much as a shadow
attorney in his purpose. There's no weakness to accomplish
his will. He said, I'll do all my pleasure.
No weakness in him. No lack of wisdom. He decrees
the end from the beginning. There's no lack of wisdom. There's
no surprises to him. He's not surprised at you when
you fall. You think he didn't know David
was going to fall? You think he didn't know Adam
was going to fall? Sure he did. He appointed a substitute
for whoever created the first man. He knows our weaknesses. There's no lack of wisdom in
God. There's no lack of power. to
perform what he says he'll do. What a gift of God's sovereign
grace that God should appear as the seed of Abraham and intervene
in the lives of sinners. And I know you say, well, Christ
is in the heavens now, but he's not by the Spirit of God. The
Spirit of God takes that person and makes him as real as he was
when he walked those roads. And it comes down with that person,
and that's how we know who God is, through Him. And He just
makes that as real to you. I love this old hymn. Hail, sovereign
love that first began. The scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail, matchless, free, eternal
grace that gave my soul a hiding place. Against the God who rules
the sky, I fought with hand uplifted high. despised the mention of
his grace, too proud to seek a hiding place. But thus the eternal counsel
ran. Almighty love, arrest that man. I felt the arrows of distress
and found I had no hiding place. Indignant justice stood in view.
To Sinai's fiery mount I flew, but justice cried with frowning
face. This mountain is no hiding place.
Ere long a heavenly voice I heard, and mercy's angel's form appeared. She led me on with placid pace
to Jesus Christ, my hiding place." Have you ever wrestled with a
man? That's what we do. Can this be
God? Has God, has the eternal Word
become flesh and dwelt among men? Can that be? Can that be? Was he made of a woman? Made
under the law for me? A representative man? Walking in my place? Under the
law in my place? Repenting in my place? Loving
God in my place? Can that be? Oh, I love having a man. Can it be?
Huh? Can it be? Can that be my substitute on
that cross bearing my sins away? Can that be my high priest ascending
with those angels into glory? Can that be that man that I began
wrestling with seated at the right hand of God? Do you know
anything about that? Jacob did. He wrestled all night
long. Finally, God got a hold of him. And took that hip and just swung
it around until it popped. Changed his walk. Crippled him. Crippled him. You know what Jacob did? God
blessed him after that. He blessed him. Changed his name.
Sent him on to meet his brother. And it said he halted upon his
staff. And old Jacob, he walked in there proud. We used to have
a fellow working for us, big old high-heeled cowboy boots.
And when he walked, I said, why you walk that way? He said, I
guess I'm just proud. That's how I pictured Jacob when
he walked up that river, proud. But boys, when he crossed it,
he was doing this. He was leaning on that thing,
limping. And that's how he come to meet his brother. And I tell
you, we'd have a lot more success with our brother if we'd limp
up to him. Just take your cowboy boots off.
Get ahold of your staff and limp up to Him. Be His humble servant. Ain't that what God said? Ah,
He wrestled with the man. In Colossians chapter 2, Paul
tells us that all of the riches of the full assurance of understanding
and all that has to do with the acknowledgement of God the Spirit
and God the Father And Christ, all these hidden treasures of
wisdom and knowledge is revealed to us in Christ. And He's been
preached to us and we've received Him. And as we've received Him,
He said, now walk in Him. Walk in Him. I guarantee you,
when you walk in Christ, you'll walk like this. I guarantee it. I guarantee it. Humbly. Rooted, he said, and built up,
verse 7, in him, established in the faith. Verse 9, for in
him is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That's that big
string. We swallowed up in him. We're
complete in him who's the head of all principality and power.
Verse 11, circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands and putting
off the sins of the flesh. buried with Him in baptism wherein
you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of
God who has raised Him from the dead. And I tell you, when the
Spirit of the living God presses the gospel of Christ upon the
heart, there is a man, a new man created in you. And that
new man comes in and wrestles that old man down and takes his
kingdom away from him. Oh, he is still there. He is
still roaring, but he is on a chain. He don't run things anymore.
He just roars. He just roars. One stronger than
him comes upon him and takes his kingdom away from him and
spoils his good and establishes his own rule. When Christ comes
in, and comes in the Gospel in the power of His Spirit, and
begins to wrestle with God's elect, all of a sudden they find
themselves wrestling with Him. You read through that passage
when you get back home. That man came down and wrestled
with Jacob. Before night was over, Jacob
was wrestling with him. He was wrestling with him. And he said, let me go. He said,
it's breaking day. He said, I ain't going to let
you go until you bless me. Anybody here know anything about
that? He didn't wrestle to break him.
He wrestled to hang on and embrace him. Not to bring him down, but
to receive his blessing. Oh, let me go, said the man to
Jacob, and Jacob wouldn't turn him loose. He cried, hanging
on for dear life. He said, I ain't going to let
you go until you bless me. Bless me. I want you to listen to this over
in John chapter 1, and I'll close with these verses. Verses 12
and 13. He said, To as many as received
Him, to them gave He power. Isn't that what He told Jacob?
He said, You have power with God. You prevail. Can you imagine a man prevailing
with the Lord? But he did. And it's in the purpose
of God for him to do it. He said, Your name is Israel.
You're a prince, for thou hast power with God. To as many as
received Him, to them gave He power. to become sons of God,
even to them that believe on His name, who were born, not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God." And I don't know exactly where it is. It's
over here in Hebrews. Let me see if I can find it.
In Hebrews chapter 11, it says down in verse 20, Verse 21, By faith Jacob, when
he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, and worshiped,
how did he worship? Leaning on his staff. Wrestling with God. May God make
that real to you in your experience for Christ's sake.