Would you turn to Genesis 46?
I'd like to read the second verse
of Genesis chapter 46. And Gov spake. unto Israel in
the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I." I have entitled this message,
Israel is Jacob. Israel is Jacob. Israel and Jacob, as you know,
are the same person. Israel is the grandson of Abraham. He's the son of Isaac. He's the brother of Esau. And
when God speaks to him, sometimes he calls him Israel. And sometimes
he calls him Jacob. But he sees him first as Israel. He couldn't speak to him. If
he did not see him first as Israel. He would not speak to him if
he saw him only as Jacob. Now, I love the first two words
of this second verse of Genesis 46. Let's make it the first three
words and God spake. I'm so thankful for that. God
spake. I'm so thankful that God is not
a silent God. But that he speaks and he speaks
in order to make himself known, God spake. And the Lord God speaks
even now through his word. Now, when I hear a sermon, here's
what I want. I want to hear the Lord speak to me. Isn't that
what you want when you come here to hear a message? You have this
purpose. You want to hear the Lord speak
to you. You don't want to just hear Todd
speak. That's a waste of time. You want
to hear the Lord speak. And here he speaks to Israel.
And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night. God
does not speak to all men. There is such a thing as the
silence of God. And you know, that's something
that I dread more than anything else. I don't want to deal with
the silence of God. He does speak, but not to all
men. He speaks to Israel. Israel means. As a prince. You have power with God. Is that your name? As a prince, as a mighty prince
of God, you have power with God. Now, that's the only person he
speaks to, someone who has power with him. And every believer
is an Israel of God, and if I'm not an Israel of God, he will
remain silent until Judgment Day. Every believer, though,
is an Israel of God. And when he spoke to Israel,
what did he say? Look at our text, Genesis 46,
2. And God spake unto Israel, this
mighty prince with God, this one who had power with God, this
one who prevailed with God. And what a statement that is.
To say regarding a man, you have power with God. God responds
to you. God pays attention to what you
have to say. That's incredible, isn't it? He says that to Israel.
He says you're a mighty prince with God. You have power with
God. And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night,
and he said, Jacob, Jacob. Now, I think this is interesting
at this time, he doesn't say Israel, Israel. He says Jacob,
Jacob. Now, the repetition of his name
means several things. Jacob. Jacob. The term of endearment. That's
what's meant by the repetition of this name, Jacob, Jacob. You know, when you love somebody,
you like to repeat their name, don't you? Jacob, Jacob. But not only is this a term of
endearment, this is an attention getter. Jacob, Jacob. Saul, Saul. Why persecutest thou me? The repetition of his name is
an attention getter. Jacob, Jacob, also when you're
disappointed in somebody. Jacob, Jacob, my, my. Now, I realize that God is God
is never disappointed, I realize that, but I also realize that
the Lord is grieved with his people. Jacob, Jacob, my, my,
Jacob, Jacob. Now, we know This man first,
not as Israel, but as Jacob, would you turn with me to Genesis
25? What name does the Lord God go
by more than any other name in the scripture? The God of Jacob,
actually evidently favorite name, the God of Jacob. Now look here in Genesis 25,
beginning in verse 20. And Isaac was 40 years old when
he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bekunah, the Syrian,
of Paddan-Anaram, the sister to Laban, the Syrian. And Isaac
entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the
Lord was entreated of him. And Rebekah, his wife, conceived.
And the children struggled together within her. And she said, if
it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the
Lord, and the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb,
and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels,
and the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the
elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to be delivered
were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb, and the
first came out red, all over like a hairy garment. And they
called his name Esau. And after that came his brother
out. And his brother took hold on
Esau's heel. And his name was called Jacob.
And Isaac was three score years old when she bare him. And do
you know what the name Jacob means? It means heel. He took his brother by the heel,
and Jacob means literally heel. Now, you know what a heel is.
When you call somebody a heel, what do you mean by that? You
mean they're low down. You mean they're raw. They're
down. The heel is the lowest extremity
of the body. And when we call someone a heel,
it's not a compliment. The word would accurately describe
Jacob's character, a heel, a supplanter, a deceiver. Turn to Genesis 27. 35 verse 35. Now, this is what Esau has to
say regarding his brother Jacob after his brother has swindled
him. Verse 35 of Genesis 27, and he said. This is Esau speaking
to Isaac. or Isaac speaking to Esau, thy
brother came with subtlety, with deceit, and hath taken away thy
blessing. And he, Esau said, is not he
rightly named Jacob? For he hath supplanted me these
two times. He took away my birthright, and
behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast
thou not reserved a blessing for me? Now he says, He is rightly
named Jacob. He is a supplanter. Now a supplanter
is somebody who takes somebody by deception. He was a conniving,
manipulating, deceiving man. Now that would describe Jacob's
character. You can't read the history of
Jacob and not come up with that. I mean, you look at his first
dealings with his brother. What did he do? He talked his
brother into selling his birthright for a bowl of soup. Now Esau
proved what kind of man he was by selling his birthright, which
indicated all the blessings of God to the firstborn. It was
so valueless to him that he was willing to sell it for a bowl
of soup. But I tell you what, Jacob was just as guilty for
buying it for a bowl of soup. He was wrong in what he did.
Now you think about the way he did his brother later on. Do
you remember when he tripped his dad? His dad was blind. His
dad was going to bless the firstborn. And what did Jacob do under the
inspiration of his mother? His mother says, this is what
you need to do. Kill your ghost. Put the hair on him. Come in.
You're going to smell like Esau. You're going to feel like Esau.
You take Esau's blessing. And he deceived his father. He
came into the presence of his father. His father thought, Are
you Esau or Jacob? And Jacob said, I'm Esau. He
says, well, it sounds like Jacob. Come here, son. He was lying
to him. And he put his hand out there
where he could feel the goat. Oh, that's Harry Esau. It must
be. He smelled him. It smelled like
Esau. He deceived him. Everything he did was deceptive.
He was wrong. Now, I realize that that was
all a part of God's sovereign purpose and plan. It was said
at the very beginning, the elder Esau was going to serve the younger.
That was all part of God's sovereign plan. But that doesn't get him
off the hook in any way for his deceit. What he did was wrong.
What he did was sinful. What about the way he ripped
off Laban? You remember how? Well, Laban
ripped him off too. But he ripped off Laban. He swindled him out
of all of his cattle. He was a very deceitful man. I want us to look at His own
summer of his life. Look in Genesis 47. You know, really, Jacob was the type
of man that you despise. He was a scheming, manipulating,
conniving man. Now, that is the description
of his character. That is how the Bible presents
this man, Jacob. His name is Hill. He was rightly
named Heel. Look at his own summary of his
life in Genesis chapter 47, beginning in verse 8. And Pharaoh said
unto Jacob, How old art thou? And Jacob said unto Pharaoh,
The days of the years of my pilgrimage are in hundred and thirty years, few and evil. at the days of the years of my
life being. Now that's a summary of his own life. Few and evil
at the days of the years of my life being. And I have not attained
unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the
day of their pilgrimage. Now that's Jacob's description
of his own life. But there was something very special
about Jacob. Do you know what it was? What was special about Jacob?
Well, let me answer that question for you. God loved him. That makes him special. God loved
this man. He said, Jacob have I loved. Now, I need to say this. If God
loved everybody the way he loved Jacob, you know what that would
make his love? meaningless. But God's love is his special
love. He said when he said, I love
Jacob, you know what else he said? He said, Esau, have I what? Have I hated? He said that in
Malachi 1 and he said that in Romans 9, 13. Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated? Now, why did God love Jacob? been talking about his character.
You look at this man and there's not one thing, to what we've
seen, there's not one thing that's really commendable about him.
I mean, he was a deceitful man. He ripped people off. I mean, he was continually doing
that. He's the type of person that disgusts you. He got through
this life dishonestly, deceitfully, and every one of us, you wouldn't
want to have him as your buddy. You wouldn't want to be depending
on him for anything, would you? Why, I mean, what would he do
to you as soon as he got a chance? Yet, God said, I love him. Now, would you turn with me to
Romans chapter nine for a moment? Verse 13, as it's written. As
it's written. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. Now look back up in verse 11. He's referring to something.
Look in verse 11. for the children, Jacob and Esau, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. Now, why did God love Jacob? Well, we see from that passage
of Scripture, it had absolutely nothing to do with his works,
good or bad. Now, that's clear from that passage of Scripture,
isn't it? Not yet born, neither having done any good or evil.
Now, when I read that, you know what
it does for me? It rejoices my heart. I love this. What if it said
that his love to him was somehow caused by something Jacob did
or didn't do? That'd be bad news for me. As a matter of fact, it'd be
bad news for Jacob, too, because you can't find anything about
Jacob's character that would draw out God's love, can you?
I mean, he was a deceitful, scheming man, but thank God, God's love
It doesn't have anything to do with our works, good or bad.
Now that's what the Scripture says. And you know the only thing
that would prevent somebody from rejoicing in this is self-righteousness. That's it. That's the only thing
that would prevent somebody from rejoicing in this. When I read
this verse of Scripture, this isn't some hard, harsh thing
to me. This is good news. This gives
me some hope. If He can love Jacob, He can
love me. He didn't have to find a reason
in Jacob to love him. He did so because he would. Turn to Deuteronomy 7. God is speaking through Moses
to Israel. Verse 6. Deuteronomy chapter
7. For thou art an holy people unto
the Lord thy God, The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a
special people unto himself above all people that are upon the
face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love
upon you, nor choose you because you're more in number than any
people, for you are the fewest of all, but because the Lord
loves you. That's why I love you. Because
he loves you. Here's the answer. Why does the
Lord love you? That's the answer the Bible gives.
And if you are somebody like Jacob, if you really don't believe
there's anything in you that could draw out God's love, if
you really believe that, this is good news to you. You rejoice
in this. Jacob, Jacob. Yes, God loved Jacob as he loves
all of his people, but he loved him as Israel. When he speaks, he speaks to
Israel in visions of the night, saying, Jacob, Jacob. Now understand this regarding
God's love. God does not, did not, and never will love anybody
unconditionally. That's a misnomer. There's no
such thing as unconditional love. God can't love somebody unconditionally. I mean, he's not going to violate
his character. He's not going to violate his justice. He's
not going to violate his holiness. God doesn't love anybody unconditionally.
And let me say this, if he could love you unconditionally, he
could cease to love you unconditionally, too. God doesn't love anybody
unconditionally. He loves Jacob as he is Israel,
as he is a mighty prince with God and has power with God. Now, where does the name Israel
come from? Would you turn with me to Genesis
32? I love this passage of scripture. Now, Jacob, some 20 years before
this passage of scripture, had left town. You know why? Esau said, I'm going to kill
him. And he had every reason to kill him. He stole his birthright.
That deceitful act that we have already talked about in Genesis
chapter 27, Esau said, I'm going to kill him. So Jacob leaves
town. Now, 20 years later, 20 years
have passed. This is when he's got Rachel. He's got Leah. He's got several
kids, 12 kids by this time. And so he's coming back 20 years
later. And he's going to try to butter up Esau. Look in verse
13. He's trying to he's trying to
manipulate the situation or rather look in. Yeah, verse 13. And he lodged there that same
night and took that which came to his hand, a present for Esau's
brother. So he's going to try to butter him up. He's always
trying to manipulate the situation. 200 she-goats and 20 he-goats,
200 ewes and 20 rams, 30 milk camels with their colts, 40 kine
and 10 bulls, 20 she-asses and 10 foals. And he delivered them
into the hands of his servants, every drove by themselves, and
said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space
betwixt drove and drove. And he commanded the foremost,
saying, When he saw my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee,
saying, Whose art thou? And whither goest thou? And whose
are these before thee? Thou shalt say, They be thy servant
Jacob's. It's a present sent unto my Lord
Esau, and behold, also he's behind us. And so commanded he, the
second, and the third, and all that followed the drove, saying,
On this manner shall you speak unto Esau, when you find him,
and say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us.
For he said, I'll appease him. This is what he thought he could
do. He wasn't depending on the Lord to take care of this, was
he? He said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before
me, and afterwards I'll see his faith. Peradventure he will accept
of me. Now he does all this planning and scheming. You ever done that?
You plan, you scheme, you try to figure out exactly how you're
going to do this, how it's going to work. Well, Jacob was doing
that. Now, look in verse 21. So he, so went the present over
before him and himself lodged that night in the company. And
he rose up that night and took his two wives. and his two women
servants, and eleven sons, and passed over the fort of Jabbok.
And he took them and sent them over the brook, and he sent over
that he had, and Jacob was left alone. Now he's all by himself,
all of his plans, he's already got all of his bases covered,
and he's left alone. And the best place Jacob could
ever be is to be left alone with the Lord. Look what it says, and there
wrestled a man with him. Now, notice what it doesn't say.
It doesn't say he wrestled a man. That man initiated this wrestling
match with Jacob. Jacob didn't initiate this. This
man initiated this wrestling match. And when you initiate
a wrestling match, it's because you want to put your opponent
down. You want to get him down. You want to have the victory
over him. And his opponent was going to
get him down. Now, who was his opponent? Well, look what he
says himself in verse 30. This is after the wrestling match
is over. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. For
I have seen God face to face, and my life is spared. Now, this
one who wrestled him was nobody less than the Lord Jesus Christ.
What must that have been? Well, let's go on reading. And
Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until
the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed
not against him, this man, he touched the hollow of his thigh. He dislocated his hip. Now, I can't imagine how painful
that would have been. I mean, that's the biggest ball
and socket joint. I mean, he was pulled all the
way out. And can you imagine how painful that was? And all
he had to do was touch it and there it was. You see, in this
fight, it's not like Jacob could have whipped him. You know that.
The Lord Jesus was in complete control of this, but he touched
the hollow of his thigh and brought it out of joint as he wrestled
with him. And he said, let me go for the
day breaketh. And he said, now, and Jacob didn't
say it until after he was disabled, until his his joint was, however
you say, ball and socket joint, whatever it was, was just taken
away. He said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. I don't have anything else. I
don't have anywhere to turn. I don't have any hope. If you
don't bless me, I'm gone. I'll go to hell. I will not let
you go, except you bless me. I'm so weak. Obviously, I can't
win. I can't whip you. I can't beat you, but I'm hanging
on. I will not let go of you until you bless me. Have you
ever been there? To where you must, you must have His blessing. You can't walk away. You're not
going to move until I won't let you go, except you bless me. Oh, would the God that everybody
in here right now will say to the Lord, hang on to his feet
and say, I will not let you go, except you bless me. Verse 27, and he said unto him,
What's your name? Now, didn't he know what his
name was? Of course he did. He has a purpose for asking this.
What's your name? Jacob? Heel? Deceiver? Supplanter? That's who I am.
I'm Jacob. That's who I am. sinner, Jacob,
at me. When our Lord said, What's your
name? It was to cause him to confess
who he was. What's your name? Jacob. Verse 28. And he said, Thy name
shall be called no more Jacob. But Israel, here's the first
time this name is mentioned. No longer are you Jacob, you
are Israel, for as a prince has thou power with God and with
men and has prevailed. Now, I don't know of a more amazing
verse of scripture than that. He says to this weak sinful man,
this deceptive man, and that's how he made it in his life up
to this point. The Lord hadn't made himself
known to him yet. He was with his dislocated hip in pain. You're not Jacob anymore. You're Israel. You're a prince
with God as a prince. You have power with God. God hears what you've got to
say. God responds to what you say. You have Power with God. Now that's amazing, isn't it?
And this is said of every believer. This is not just Jacob. This
is said of every believer. This is the heritage of every
single believer. As a prince, you have power with
God. God hears what you've got to
say. God responds to what you have to say. That's a big power
with God. Power? I've got power with God?
Yeah, that's what it says. Y'all wouldn't believe that if
it did say it, would you? That's hard to get hold of. But it's
true regarding every believer. As a prince, they have power
with God. Now, how can that be? There's
only one way this can be understood. How a man like Jacob can actually
be Israel. A prince with God. That can only
be understood in light of one of the great mysteries of the
scripture. Union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Does Christ have
power with God? You know the answer to that question.
He has all power with God. Turn to Ephesians chapter five. Verse 31. Now, Paul has been
speaking of marriage beginning in verse 22. And he's concluding
what he says regarding marriage in verse 31, he says, For this
cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined
unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. One, the two shall
be one. Now, this is a great mystery. Now, by mystery, he doesn't mean
something you can't understand. He means something you would
have never known unless he was pleased to reveal it. Now, this
is a great mystery, this whole thing of marriage. He says this
is what it's all about. Christ and the church union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'm very new to anything
that thrills me more than thinking about this thing of union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. What is union with Christ? Well,
the two. Christ and every believer. Christ
and this individual believer, I like thinking of it that way,
Christ and this individual believer, but it's also Christ and every
believer, Christ and his people, Christ and his church, the two
become one. Jesus Christ became and I say
this carefully, I say this Reverently, I say this fearfully, I say this
in awe, I say this, I don't know how else to put it. Christ became
what I am, that I might be who He is. Christ became What I am. Would you turn to Psalm 22? This is the psalm of the cross,
you know, this Psalm 22. Verse one, my God, my God, why
has thou forsaken me now who is speaking here? Those are the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, look at this psalm. He
says in verse 18, they part my garments among them and cast
lots upon my vesture. Now, isn't that speaking of the
Lord Jesus Christ? Look up at verse 16, for dogs
have encompassed me about the assembly of the wicked have enclosed
me. They pierced my hands and my feet. Is that not speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ? This is Christ Jesus himself
speaking. There's no question about this.
This is the psalm of the cross. Now, look what he says, this
is looking for six and this is Jesus Christ, the Lord speaking,
and look at what he says regarding himself. But I am. A word. And not even fit to be called
the man. Now, those are the words of our
Lord. I am, he said. He didn't say
it's as if I were a worm. He didn't say it's like I was
a worm or I'm taking the punishment of a worm. He said, I am a worm
and not even fit to be called a man. Now, would that describe
you? Remember when he said, fear not thou worm, Jacob. The reason he could say that
is because he said, for I am a worm and no man. Now, he became what I am on the
cross. Do I understand all? No, there's
no way we can understand this. As a matter of fact, you know
what my response to this is? Just shut up and worship. Bow
down. Bow. He's to be adored. Do I understand all the implications
behind this? Of course I don't. You know,
the Lord made it dark while it was going on in the cross, didn't
He? He made the sun stop shining. It became dark. And that lets
us know. We know. This was a great transaction
between the Father and between the Son. And we know and understand
so little of it. But He said, I am alone. But because He became what I
am on the cross, I'm made to be what He is, a true Israel
with God. Is He a prince with God? Does He have power with God? Must God respond to Him? Does the Father always hear him? Is he lovely to the Father? Is
he a mighty prince with God? You know he is. And so is everybody
he's united to. I'm looking at a bunch of Israels.
Israel, that's your name. Israel. A mighty prince with
God. As a mighty prince you have power
and you've prevailed. I John 4. Verse 17, Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Now, that's a remarkable statement,
to have boldness in the day of judgment. I mean, to look forward
to standing before God, the holy God of glory, the one who's with
two pure eyes to behold iniquity and have boldness. I mean, confidence,
not even being afraid. How could that be? How could
a Jacob have boldness on the Day of Judgment? Well, here's
the answer to that. Because as He is. How is He? Is He holy before God right now? Is He perfect? Is He righteous?
Is He altogether lovely? As he is. So are. Not so will we be. So are we. In this world, you know what
that means? Right back. And that's in Israel. Look back at John 17. Verse 22, And the glory which thou gavest
me. Now, this is the Lord speaking
to his father in that great high priestly prayer for his people.
And what kind of glory did the father give him? We can only
read this and be amazed by it. And the glory which thou gavest
me. I have given them. Whatever glory Christ has, clothing
him as the gift of the Father, that's what every Israel has. That they may be one, even as
we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect and one, that the world may know that thou hast sent
me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Christ is the
Israel of God. Every believer is the Israel
of God. The glory of the gospel is that
God can take a Jacob and make him in Israel. But you
know why he makes him in Israel? He already was in Israel. Jacob came after that, Jacob
was kind of during time, but in the mind and purpose of God,
he always was in Israel. Back to our text in Genesis 46,
I'll close a couple of statements. And God spake unto Israel. in
the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, President, here am I. Here am
I. Now, although Israel is still
Jacob, the Lord is still the Lord. He said in Malachi chapter
3, verse 6, I am the Lord. I've changed not. Therefore,
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Psalm 146, 5 says, Happy is he
that hath the God of Jacob for his help. Doesn't that make you
happy? Whose hope is in the Lord. He is God. Israel is Jacob, and Jacob is
Israel. Let's pray together.