The Face of God

Q: What does the Bible say about God's sovereign grace?

The Bible teaches that God's sovereign grace is foundational for salvation, demonstrating that salvation is not based on human merit but solely on God's divine will and purpose. God's sovereign grace is underscored throughout Scripture, particularly in the story of Jacob, who is described as an object of God's choosing and love even before his birth. Romans 9:11-13 highlights this sovereign choice, showing that God's love for Jacob was not based on his actions but on God's own purpose. This doctrine solidifies the understanding that salvation cannot be earned or deserved; it is a gift given by God's grace, as seen in Ephesians 2:8-9, which tells us that we are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves—it is the gift of God.

Q: How do we know God's love is unconditional?

The unconditional love of God is evident in His choosing of Jacob over Esau before either had done good or evil, exemplifying that divine love is not based on human actions. God’s unconditional love is a hallmark of His sovereign grace, as illustrated in the lives of biblical figures like Jacob and Esau. Before their births, God declared His love for Jacob and His disfavor towards Esau (Romans 9:11-13). This choice demonstrates that God's love does not stem from the merits of individuals but from His own divine will. Malachi 1:2-3 reinforces this, where God states His love for Jacob and His rejection of Esau. Such a demonstration of grace emphasizes that God’s affection is rooted in His own purposes rather than human action, illustrating the nature of true grace which is wholly one-sided and unconditional.

Q: Why is suffering important for Christians?

Suffering is important for Christians as it refines their faith, draws them closer to God, and helps them experience God's grace in profound ways. The suffering experienced by Christians is a key aspect of their spiritual growth and relationship with God. As Hebrews 12:5-8 indicates, God disciplines those He loves, shaping their character and faith through trials. Jacob's life was filled with hardships that taught him reliance on God's grace and mercy. The trials he faced were ordained for his spiritual development, revealing that suffering is not merely punitive but transformative. Romans 5:3-5 further explains that tribulation produces perseverance, character, and hope, highlighting the importance of suffering in demonstrating God's faithfulness and refining believers' trust in Him. Ultimately, this process fosters spiritual maturity, making believers more like Christ.

Q: How does God reveal Himself to us today?

God reveals Himself through Scripture, the person of Jesus Christ, and the workings of His Spirit in the lives of believers. God's revelation is multifaceted, primarily through His Word, Scripture, which is the ultimate source of truth and guidance for believers. As seen in the narrative of Jacob, God revealed Himself personally and powerfully, showing that He engages with His people directly. Additionally, through Christ, who is the embodiment of God's character (John 14:9), believers understand the nature of God in a relational context. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit works within believers, guiding, teaching, and convicting, allowing for a personal and profound experience of God's presence in their lives. This continuous revelation encourages believers to trust, grow, and engage in deeper fellowship with God.

All right, let's open our Bibles
now to Genesis chapter 32. The title of this message is The
Face of God. The Face of God. Genesis 32. I'll begin reading it, verse
6, Genesis 32, 6. And the messengers returned to
Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh
to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly distressed,
greatly afraid and distressed. And he divided the people that
were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels
into two bands. And he said, If Esau comes to
one company and smites it, then the other company which is left
shall escape. And Jacob said, O God of my father
Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, The Lord which said unto
me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will
deal with thee. I am not worthy of the least
of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shown
unto thy servant. For with my staff I passed over
this Jordan." That's all I had, was just my shepherd's staff.
Now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from
the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau. I fear him,
lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children. Thou saidest, I'll surely do
thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which
cannot be numbered for multitude. And he lodged there that same
night, and took of that which came to his hand a present for
Esau his brother, two hundred she-goats, twenty he-goats, two
hundred ewes, twenty rams, thirty milk cows with their coats, forty
kine, ten bulls, twenty she-asses, ten foals,
He delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove
by themselves, and said unto his servants, Pass over before
me, put a space between drove and drove. He commanded the foremost,
saying, Now when he shall my brethren meeteth thee, and asketh
thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose
are these before thee? Then shalt thou then thou shalt
say, They be thy servant Jacob's. It is a present sent unto my
Lord Esau. And behold, also Jacob is behind
us. And so commanded he the second,
and the third, and all that followed the drove, saying, On this manner
shall ye speak unto Esau when ye find him. And say ye moreover,
Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will
appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward
I shall see his face. For adventure he will accept
my face, me. 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 his eleven and passed over the four jabbers. He took them
and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had." Now
let's pause there for a moment. This man Jacob, how can anyone
explain Jacob? The only way I know to explain
this man Jacob is in this way. He's an object of God's sovereign,
discriminating grace. Every blessing and mercy shown
to him, and he summed it up over here, he says, I'm not worthy
of the least of your mercies, and of the truth which you showed
me. There was never anything in Jacob, or about Jacob, or
from Jacob, personally, that would merit God's favor. or man's
admiration. But Jacob was loved of God. Do
you know that? The Scripture tells me these
things about Jacob. God loved him before he was born.
God came to his mother before he was ever born, before the
children were born, neither having done any good or evil. He said,
Jacob, have a love. God chose him by divine God promised
him the birthright. He didn't deserve it, it wasn't
his naturally, God gave it to him. He said, the elder shall
serve the younger, Jacob have a love, Esau have I hated. God
revealed himself to Jacob after he'd stolen the birthright from
his brother, instigated by his mother, fleeing from his brother
Esau and from the wrath of his father too. Lying there on a
pillar of rocks, one night God appeared to him, revealed himself
to him, showed Jacob his glory. He saw the Lord and the ladder
that reached from earth to heaven, and the angels of God ascending
and descending upon that ladder. The way to heaven. He revealed
Christ to him. Christ is the way to heaven. And God dealt with him in great
mercy. He said, I went over this book
with just a rod. I've come back with 11 sons. He had 12. Of course, Joseph
was down in Egypt, pardon me. But he had 12 sons. And he told
and said, I come over the book with these, coming back with
12. God changed his name from Jacob
to Israel, a prince. God never forsook him all the
days of his life. Why are we studying this man
Jacob so carefully and closely? Because throughout the Old Testament,
you and I are called sons of Jacob. Did you know that? Sons
of Jacob. Let me just show you one scripture.
There are several of them, but just look at this one. You can
look up others. Malachi. Malachi chapter chapter 3, Malachi
chapter 3. It says here in Malachi chapter
3, verse 6, For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons
of Jacob are not consumed. We're sons of Jacob. And what I've said about Jacob
is it's not true of us. the people of God. We're loved
with an everlasting love. God loved us before we were born. Here is love, not that we love
God. He loved us and gave his Son
to be a propitiation for our sins. We were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. We're children of the
promise We've been to Bethel. We've seen the Lord in his grace
and mercy. He's revealed Christ to us. He
showed us, like Isaiah of old, I've seen the Lord. I've seen
the Lord. I've seen the way to heaven.
Christ said, he that has seen me has seen my Father. God's given us a new name, sons
of God. A new name, the Lord our righteousness. We know that we shall never be
forsaken, we shall never be forgotten, though I'm with you always even
to the end of the earth. Is that not true? Sons of Jacob,
everything that I've said about Jacob can be said about you and
me. And yet Jacob's life was anything but easy. It was a life
of triumph, that's right, but a life of trouble. great trouble. It was a life of blessings. Yes,
he talked about, I'm not worthy of the least of your mercies
and favors and blessings, and he loatheth us with benefits
daily. But it was a life of disappointment,
heartache. It was a life of revelation.
God revealed himself to him. Jacob's life was a life of revelation. God spoke to dealt with him.
But it was a life of tribulation, great tribulation. And I'll tell
you why. Because by divine appointment
and divine ordination, the Lord God is forming his grace in himself
in the life of this man. Now, Esau's life was easy, Jacob's
was hard. But God wasn't forming his grace
and love and mercy and self in Esau's heart and life. He was
in Jacob's. And don't be taken in by the
religionists of today who think that if you accept Jesus as your
personal Savior and join the church and clean up your life
and learn some doctrine and read your Bible daily and pay your
tithes and go to church, that life will be easy and all will
be well and there will be no sorrow and heartache and trouble
and trial and tribulation until they send a chariot to get you
and take you to your great mansion in the sky where you'll be covered
with personal reward. That's not so. That's not so. Now, Esau experienced
life on earth about like that. Go back to Psalm 73. But Jacob didn't. Esau experienced
a life like that. Every Esau, he's coming after
Jacob with 400 men. He's a great leader, a power,
an influence, a man of great wealth. You know all these things
I read that Jacob sent him and all these 200 she-goats, 20 he-goats,
200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 milk camels with their coats, 40 cows, 10
bulls, 20 sheds. That's a pretty good herd of
cows and goats. You know what Esau said when
they brought all that stuff to him? I don't need that. He said, I got enough. I wouldn't
turn down one good milk cow, let alone that many. He said,
I don't need that stuff. And God describes him and all
his kind in Psalm 73. I read it a while ago to you.
And David, David was almost taken in by this. He was the great man of God, David. coping with his trials. He had
one son that raped his sister, and another son killed that one,
killed him. And this other son tried to take
the kingdom away from his father, sat at the gate and won the hearts
of the people away from David. His best friends left him, and
he was just on the bottom. And he said, I took a look at
all these folks around me that hate God and hate the gospel. In verse 3 of Psalm 73, he said,
I was envious of them. I saw their prosperity. No bans
in their death. Their strength is firm. They're
not in trouble. They're not plagued. Verse 6,
they're proud. Pride compasses them about as
a chain. Violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes stand out with fatness. Everything they touch prospers. They have more than their heart
could want. They're corrupt. They speak wickedly concerning
oppression. They speak proudly. They set
their mouths against heaven itself. Their tongue walketh throughout
the earth destroying other people. Therefore his people returned
hither, and waters of a full cup were wrung out to them."
That's Jacob! Trouble and sorrow, yes. A life
of triumph, but a life of trouble. A life of blessing, but a life
of disappointment. A life of great revelation. A
life of great tribulation. You see, Hebrews 12, let's turn
over there a minute, Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12, reading verses
5 through 8. Now listen to this. Hebrews 12, 5 through 8. And you have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not
thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." He's
going to discipline, he's going to chasten, he's going to deprive. us of what we think we ought
to have, what we think we need. He's going to do these things,
going to hedge us about. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. He has
a purpose in this. He's going to make us like Christ. He's going to form Christ in
us. Paul said, I travail to Christ be formed in you. He's going to teach us what faith
means, what love means, what forgiveness means, what grace
means, what these things are. They're not just doctrines, they're
experiences, and you have to experience them by trial, trouble. Tribulation worketh patience. Now verse 7 says, if you endure
chastening and trouble and trial, God dealeth with you as a son.
For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? A father doesn't chasten other
people's sons. No, he doesn't. He chastens his
sons. He chastens those whom he loves, because he wants them
to be what they ought to be. Now verse 8, if you be without
chastisement, whereof all are partakers, if you be without
trouble and trial and tribulation and sorrow and heartache and
experiencing this chastening of God, if you don't have that,
like Esau didn't have that, then you're, all are partakers. Every child of God is a partaker
of trouble and sorrow and triumph. If you don't have that, you're
a bastard. You're not a son. You don't belong to him. That's
just so. We need to realize that. And
I want us to look back now. Jacob, look back at Genesis 32. Now, Jacob was born second to Esau. He was inferior to Esau. His
father preferred Esau. He was pushed by his mother to
deceive his old blind father. He was afraid of his brother
Esau and fled to another country. God met him at Bethel. I told
you about that. He worked for his uncle Laban.
He worked seven years for the woman he loved, and when the
seven years were completed and he was to marry her, his uncle
gave him the wrong woman. He had to work another seven
years. His uncle deceived him, but he deceived his father, too.
And he had to work another seven years for Rachel. And then the
Lord was going to send him home, and here he is on his journey
home, running into his brother Esau, and he's afraid and distressed
and depressed. Esau's coming to meet him. So he divided his household,
sent a group of them this way and a group that way, and now
watch verse 24. And Jacob was left alone. He was left alone. Was there
ever a man more alone, more frightened, more troubled, more confused? I try to visualize this experience
of Jacob. He's just alone. He's already
sent this group that way and that group that way. Here he
is alone. afraid, distressed, and troubled. The word for him is helpless.
He's shut up to divine mercy. He's all alone. But you know,
this is the place for us to be if we would learn to depend upon
our Lord, upon his grace. If God brings you and me to this
place, happy is the day. This is where he brought Moses.
This is where he brought Israel at the Red Sea. They stood there
with no escape, no way out. And Moses said, you just stand
still now. You stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. This is where he brought Jonah
in the belly of the whale. He said, the bars were closed
about me forever, the seaweed wrapped around my head, darkness
up, imagine how dark it was, alone. He said, I'll look towards the mercy
seat, salvations of the Lord. This is where Peter was. I don't imagine there's a man
ever been in a situation like Peter was that day. when he sat by that fire and
denied his Lord, and got up, and Christ looked at him, and
he went out wept bitterly. He denied his Lord. He boasted
that he would stand with Christ though all the other disciples
failed. He said, I'll stand with you. so ashamed, so alone, so grief-stricken. Peter, that's where God brought
him. I know these are difficult experiences,
they're painful experiences, they're very real experiences. But I know this, Jacob later
thanked God for this experience. He thanked God for this experience.
I know that he did. Or else, look, he was alone. Verse 24, he was all alone. He's not alone either, is he? No, he's not alone. He thought
he was. He thought he was. He thought
he was deserted. David said that once in a while.
He said, Lord, are you clean gone? The heavens, he said, are like
brass. My voice comes back at me. Will you never hear me again?" Jacob thought he was alone, but
he wasn't. There was a man there. And there
wrestled a man with him until the breaking of day. Who was this man? Do you know
who this man was? I know who this man was. I don't
have any doubt. This man was Christ Jesus the
Lord. This is a pre-incarnation appearance
of our Lord Jesus Christ, just like he appeared to Abraham as
Melchizedek. He appeared to Jacob here. And
the reason I know it's Christ is, let me show you, verse 26.
He said, And Jacob said, I won't let you
go except you bless me. Only one can bless a man, and
that's Christ. He's the only one. Whenever I
say so, he's the only one blessing me. I can't bless you. I can pray for blessings for
you, but I can't bless you. You can't bless me. He blesses
me. All right. Look at verse 28. And he said, Thy name shall
be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast
thou power with God, with men hast prevailed. Only one who
can change a man's name, and nature is God, Christ. Verse 30, And Jacob called the
name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face. Yeah, Jacob knew who it was after
he left. I think he knew a lot about it
while he was there. He said, I've seen God. But anyway, go back to verse
24. And Jacob was left alone to wrestle
the man with him. You know, the Lord didn't wrestle
with Esau. He came to Jacob. Jacob didn't
go to this man. This man came to him. And Almighty God came to you
and he came to me. He came to us before the world
began in his grace and the sure mercies of David and covenant
love. He came to us when he awakened us by his Spirit and called us.
He came to us when he revealed himself to us at Bethel. And
he'll come to you in your hour of great distress and trial.
He'll come to you. He'll come to you. He came to
Jacob. And this was a spiritual conflict,
a spiritual battle which had to be resolved. God will have, listen to me,
God will have our hearts and our souls, and we'll have our
God. That's what this is about. It's
about submission. It's about trials and troubles
and submission. The trials and troubles are there,
and God comes to Jacob, and he wrestles with him. There's a
battle. God's going to conquer, but we're
going to submit. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh, I'll in no wise cast
out. Other sheep I have which are
not of this foal, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my
voice, and be one foal, one shepherd. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. He will conquer, but we will
submit. We'll wrestle and we'll fight,
we'll complain and we'll quarrel and we'll argue, but we'll submit. That's what this is all about. You see, Jacob had said to him
back there, he said, You promised to bless me, now look where I
am. You know what he said back there? He's back in verse 12. He said,
you said I'll do you good. He said that. And here he wrestles
with him. And he says here, he wrestled
to the breaking of day. This, my friends, this is no
brief encounter. I'm 67 years old. And this war ain't over yet. It's no brief encounter. It's
a wrestling to the break of day. It's a wrestling to the day of
our Lord. It's a wrestling till he takes us home. It's a wrestling
to the break of day. It's no brief encounter. Great
issues are at stake. This is no easy decision. There's
going to be one will, one life, one Lord to emerge from this
conflict. One will, one Lord, one way. emerge from this conflict. Are
you understanding what I'm talking about? I know you are. I know
you are. Wrestle with him under the break
of day. This is not, this is not something that's
easy. It's not a decision. Rededication, something like
that, you know. Let's go on. And when he saw
that he prevailed not against him, when he saw he prevailed
not against him, the Lord could have easily subdued Jacob. Don't
you know that? The outcome of this conflict
is not in doubt. But God's people are not robots.
God's people are not puppets. They must, through God's dealings
with them and through God's trials, they must see the emptiness of
this world and the glory of God and submit and surrender. And he kept wrestling. He kept
wrestling. He saw that he prevailed not
against him. He wasn't surrendering. He wasn't submitting. And then
he, listen, he touched the hollow of his thigh. He reached out
the Think about the hand of God. The hand of God touched his thigh,
and it was out of joint. That's like the socket ball coming
out of the socket, just coming out of, evidently, the hollow
of his thigh that was out of joint as he wrestled with him.
You know what happened then, don't you? Jacob fell to the
ground. He's not going to stand any longer.
He's down. He falls down. What will God do to bring me
down, whatever is necessary? What will God do to bring me
into submission, whatever is necessary? I don't know about Jacob. I don't
know what he needed. I don't know what God is doing
here, but I do know that God is bringing Jacob down. And finally,
they went on for a long time. The day was breaking, and he
reached down and touched his thigh, and down he went, down
he went. In verse 26, and Jacob, and the
Lord says, Let me go now, the day breaking. And Jacob said,
I'll not let you go, except you bless me. Jacob was down on the
ground. Think of the pain. I read about
a basketball player the other day whose knee went out of socket. and then snapped back in. And
he made this statement. He said, I can't describe to
you the pain, the pain I endured when that knee popped out and
then went back in. And Jacob's thigh was out of
joint and the pain, he was down on the ground. He was clinging,
though, to the Lord. He was clinging to the one that
broke him. He was clinging to the one who smote him. He was
clinging to the one who caused his pain. He was kissing the hand that
afflicted him. And he said, I'm not going to
let you go, you bless me. Jacob had fought, he had wrestled,
he protested, he held his ground, and finally that all-powerful
hand touched him, brought him to the ground, crippled him.
Jacob's not angry, he's not resentful, he's not moody. He says, Lord
bless me. Don't just leave me broken, bless
me. Don't just empty me, fill me. Don't just humble me, but
teach me. Bless me. Bless me." In other
words, he knew he was no better off from this experience unless
he profited by it. He was no better off from this
experience unless he profited by it. And so he said to him, I'm defeated. I'm crippled. I can't fight anymore. And you're
leaving. But don't leave me until you
bless me. Bless me and use me. I don't want to just be broken.
You know, I don't want to just go around moping and sad. I just
want to go around living. I want to be a blessing. Take
this experience. Take this experience and bless
me. All right, verse 28. All right,
the Lord said, what's your name? I guess when He blesses us, He's
going to always remind us we don't deserve it. We don't deserve
it. What's your name? What are you?
Who are you? You haven't forgotten, have you?
You said Jacob. What does Jacob mean? Cheap, supplanter. That's right. Came out of the
womb. His brother was born first, he came out holding on to the
heel of his brother. That's right, what scripture
says? The supplanter. He said, my name's Jacob. Now
here's the blessing. My name is supplanter, holder
of the stolen treasure. And he said, thy name shall be
called no more, no more, Jacob. cheap supplater, deceiver. You're not going to be called
that anymore. You're going to be called Israel. I tell you,
that's a name, Israel. We're not just talking about
the nation. We're talking about spiritual Israel, Israel, Prince,
Prince, Son of God. You're going to be called Prince.
This is what the Lord's doing. And it's marvelous in our eyes. The world has this thing down
to where you raise your hand or you come down an aisle, you
shake hands with a preacher, you accept Jesus as your personal
Savior, and you join the fellowship of Christian athletes or campus
crusade or something like that. wear a badge and get a bumper
sticker and wave a flag. But salvation, let me tell you
something, when God deals with a son of man, when God Almighty
sets his love and affection on a man, a woman, he's going to
have that person lock, stock and barrel. Everything in him,
of him, about him and from him. He's going to slay him and raise
him. He's going to strip him and clothe
him. He's going to cripple him and
heal him. He's going to send him through
the deep waters, and he's going to rescue him. He's going to
work in him and about him and through him, and he's going to
chasten him. He's going to speak with him.
He's going to withdraw his presence from him. He's going to be silent
from him. He's going to bless him. He's
going to break Keep on doing that till that man, till that
man or that woman knows that God. That's right. And submits and
surrenders. What will God do to break me?
Whatever's necessary. What will God do to have me?
Whatever's necessary. You better pray He does. I don't
care how difficult it is, how stripping it is, how hurtful
it is, how hard it is, it's better to lose the whole world and gain
your soul than to gain the world and lose your soul. That's what
is happening here. This man's up in years. This
man's got a big crowd, big family. Don't matter. And God'll do it
when he pleases. And he's dealt with him all along.
He's been his all along. I'm not questioning God's elective
grace. I'm preaching it. I'm not questioning
instantaneous salvation. I'm saying God made him at Bethel
and said, I'll never leave you. I'll bless you. Jacob knew that. He said that. But it takes time and trial and
experience. It takes the hand of God to accomplish
the purpose of God and the will of God in a life That's right. You're not going to be called
Jacob anymore. You're going to be a prince.
You're going to have power with God, power with God, and power
with men, and you're going to prevail. That word is overcome. Jacob was his all along, but
there wasn't a time before this day that could have been said
to him. Wasn't a time, Jim, before this
day right here, that that could have been said. But it can now. Why? I'll tell you, listen. Verse
30, And Jacob called the name of the place Pineal. I've seen
God face to face. I've seen God face to face. This
is no emotional experience. This is a fact. He met the Lord. This is no encounter with a soul
winner. He said, I've seen God. I've
seen the Lord face to face. He'd seen the glory of God, and
he said, I've seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. My life is eternal. My life will
never end. My life will never, never end. I've seen the glory of God in
the face of Christ Jesus. Now then, if a person has met
God, what a small matter now to meet Esau. See that, Bob? I'm not worried
about Esau anymore. Bring him on with his 400 men. John, I met God. I've seen God
face to face. Who cares about Esau? If a person has seen the glory
of God, the glory of this world has very little importance. Very
little. I don't imagine Jacob after that
cared whether he lived in a tent or a mansion. He'd seen God. If a person has been embraced
by God, God hugged God Almighty touched him. The rejection of me was of no
consequence. I don't like you. God does. I just don't care for you. God
does. I've seen God. I don't imagine
that bothered Jacob anymore. If a person has been touched
by God, the approval of men goes unsolved. Whether men touch you
or not, who cares? If a person is a prince of God, he's not interested in reigning
in the kingdoms of this world. Let others have those distinctions. But I notice one other thing
here in verse 31, and I'll let you go And as he passed over Penuel,
the sun rose upon him. I could dwell there a little
while, couldn't you? The sun rose. The sun is shining now. I've seen the Lord. The sun is
shining. The dark clouds have rolled away.
The rain has gone away. I've seen the Lord and the sun
shining. But here's what I want you to see. He halted upon his
thigh. He was crippled, wasn't he? In
other words, any time you saw Jacob, you saw the results of
God touching him, because he was crippled the rest
of his life. And I'll tell you, when a man
has met God face to face, and I'm saying this, and I'll keep
saying it, because I've experienced it. When will you say, oh, I
don't know. I don't know. I say for the foundation
of the world, God loved me in Christ. I say when Christ died
for me on the cross. gave his life a ransom for me. I saved when he called me in
1950. I heard the gospel when he called
me, and I believed it. But he's been saving me ever
since. I've been meeting him every time I go through a valley,
I see him face to face. Do you know what I'm saying? all the way through this life, God is revealing himself to his
people. And he's cutting off everything
that don't look like a hound dog. That's what he's doing.
He's meeting us face to face. And we wrestle, don't we? We wrestle. Ain't that silly,
wrestling with God? But we do it. Yeah, you do and
I do, we wrestle. We resist! And then he does what he has
to do. He touch you. He touch you. You better be glad
he did. And cripple you. Cripple you.
And the rest of your days, you walk the way you walk because he touched
you. It has to be done in his way, and don't, don't come to
any believer and ask him the secret of anything. It has to
be revealed. These secrets of God aren't ever
told. Can't be told. You can't put
them in words. You can't put the dealings of God with you
in words for somebody. Can't do it. Don't, an imitation
is always inferior to the original. God will deal with you. What
will God do to bring me to himself and I'm his? Whatever is necessary. And when it's all over, you'll
be glad. Jacob didn't mind that affliction
because God gave it to him. All right. I hope that's a blessing. I hope if we can learn what I'm
trying to teach, I'm trying to teach us, salvation is of the
Lord.

The Face of God

What does the Bible say about God's sovereign grace?

How do we know God's love is unconditional?

Why is suffering important for Christians?

How does God reveal Himself to us today?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

The Face of God

What does the Bible say about God's sovereign grace?

How do we know God's love is unconditional?

Why is suffering important for Christians?

How does God reveal Himself to us today?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book