Jacob the Broken - Jacob Part 3

Chapter 32. We have been looking at the lives of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob as particularly it corresponds to faith. Romans it says, the just shall live by what? Faith. Does that just start in the New Testament?

Or has that been the case all along? Well, that has been the case all along. Go back to Genesis. What does it say there concerning Abraham? It says, he believed God and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Abraham did not have a right relationship with God because he did all the right things because if you notice, when we went through Abraham's life, he did not do all the right things. He failed on several occasions recorded in scripture and those are just a few of the areas in which he failed in life as we sometimes do as children of God as well but he was righteous in the sight of God because he put his faith in the Lord and the Lord counted that to him for righteousness. He does the same thing for us today. When we put our faith and trust in who? The Lord Jesus Christ who gave his life on Calvary's Cross for us that we might be saved by grace through faith in his shed blood sacrifice and resurrect ion for us.

So, we see these things in the lives evident in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not only that you're saved by faith but that we are to grow in our faith and indeed all of us need to be growing in our faith and we see this particularly portrayed in the life of Jacob. Over the last couple weeks, we've learned that the name Jacob means supplanter or schemer or deceiver and how well it sadly fits him. Jacob scheme to get the birthright of his brother Esau and then he deceived his father to get the blessing. So, where did he find himself?

Well, he found himself in the desert running for his life from his brother. It always works out very well when we scheme to get our own way and deceive others. No, it doesn't, does it? No, it doesn't. Indeed, it does not.

We see that here in the life of Jacob. Even after the Lord appeared to him in Bethel and promised to be with him, to return him to Canaan and bless him there. He continued to plow forward with little regard or concern for the will of God in his life and so predictably, he found himself suffering from the result of compounding errors. Jacob had a relative going back. He didn't know this relative but his name was Lot.

Remember Lot? Well, Lot and Jacob have a lot in common, okay? And it's not just one error that gets you in trouble. It's making error after error after error and not realizing the sin and not confessing and repenting of that sin that gets you in a predicament. So, here we go.

Jacob, compounding errors results in more suffering and as Paul so profoundly put it in the book of Galatians, he reaped what he sowed. He reaped what he sowed. He reaped deception, guess, I mean, sowed reception and he reaped deception. So, Jacob met his earthly match and his uncle Laban. His uncle Laban was this upstanding man of great character, faith, and integrity.

No. He was anything but he was Jacob times two. Laban deceived Jacob into marrying the wrong woman. The woman he did not choose who he woke up with the next morning and then realized it a bit too late. He deceived him and thus kept him in servitude for fourteen years in order to marry the woman he wanted to marry in the first place.

Now, giving him two wives which is always a bad idea. His uncle Laban changed his wages again and again over the next six years and he did everything in his power to keep Jacob under his thumb and on his property. But Laban was no match for God not for Jacob but he was no match for God and in the end, God won out and finally, God convinced Jacob to leave with his family though a bit dysfunctional to head back to the land that God had promised to give him and promised to give his father and his grandfather. The way of the obstinate is hard as God would later tell Paul on the road to Damascus. When he said in Acts nine, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Well, kick against the pricks. What does that mean? Well, when they're moving cattle, they sometimes use these long prods, pointed rods, or goads they called them to urge the cattle on to go and to go in the direction they wanted them to. Well, sometimes the cattle would get angry and they would kick back at the pricks, at the prods that were being trying to be used to force them to go the right direction and when they kicked back at those prods, it only hurt a whole lot more and so, Paul God was working in Paul's life long before Paul realized it and being stubborn as he was until God stopped him his in his tracks on the road to Damascus. He was kicking against the pricks and it wasn't a lot of fun.

So was the case with Jacob. Life was very hard for Jacob. Much harder than it had to be and such as the life of the stubborn who refused to surrender to the will of the Lord, those who must learn their lessons the hard way. But finally, today, Jacob will turn the corner. The last two weeks, we've learned that everything Jacob did wrong.

Today, we're going to look at what God did right. You see, our salvation, our our blessing, our reward in Jesus Christ, is not the result of us getting it right. It's the result of who getting it right, of Jesus getting it right, of God always getting it right because it is only by the grace of God that we are saved. We didn't earn it. We can't work for it.

Jesus Christ, he did it for us on the cross of Calvary. We see this here in the life of Jacob as he struggled against the Lord. Finally, in our story today, Jacob will meet his maker. In reality, his maker and be changed both physically and spiritually for the rest of his life. Jacob will be changed physically but more importantly, I had to say that about three times now but anyway, physically and spiritually for the rest of his life.

Yes, just like the rest of us who've been changed by the blood of the lamb, Jacob will wrestle with weakness of this of his flesh but no longer is Jacob the deceiver and schemer but as Israel, the prince with God. A man governed by God and no longer a man solely governed by the lust of his flesh which did not serve him well. A reminder of who we are in Christ Jesus as children of the king and how we can and must learn to conduct our lives hence as children of the king. We're told in John 112, as many as received him, that's Jesus. To them gave you power to become the sons or the children of God even to them that believe on his name.

If you believed and put your faith in the name and the work of Jesus Christ, our risen savior, you are a child of the king. You're a child of God. And as a child of God, you do have privileges. And as a child of God, you also have responsibilities. Tells us in first Peter one, it says, as he which have called you is holy, so be you holy in all manner of conversation.

Every aspect of your life, We are to run from sin. Confess sin. Avoid sin. Hate sin. And run-in the steps of Jesus Christ our sinless savior.

Becoming more like him each and every day to the praise of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Thus is the case with Jacob as well. Three points here as we conclude today. Three points from chapter 32 of Genesis. So, if you look at chapter 32, today, we'll catch up with Jacob.

He's left behind his uncle Laban. Departed in a hurry. Took his family with him. And now he is headed on his way back to Canaan where he came from to the promised land that God said he would bring him back to and prosper him there. So, look in verses one and two and Jacob went his on his way and the angels of God met him and when Jacob saw them, he said, this is God's host and he called the name of the place Mahanaim.

Point number one is this, Jacob the contradiction. Jacob the contradiction. Have you ever met a person who was a contradiction? Particularly in regards to their stated beliefs and faith. They said they believe one thing and they do what?

And they do the other. Ever met that person? Let me ask you another question. Ever been that person? Bible says, be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves.

Sad to say at times, our actions don't match up always with our convictions and that is not God's failing, that's who's failing. That's our failing and it is a failing because our actions should match up with our beliefs. We see a contradiction here particularly in Jacob. Having left behind his old life under the servitude of Laban. A reminder that salvation, repentance is leaving behind the old for the new in Christ Jesus.

Jacob now sets his sights on Canaan. Salvation, repentance is leaving behind the old for the what? For the new. We're told in Romans chapter six, Paul says, may God be thanked that you were the servants of sin but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.

So, now, yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. Paul says, so, you've been saved by grace through faith. Now, having been welcomed into the family of the king, having been forgiven your sins, having been given his spirit, having been regenerated, and and sealed by his spirit. Now, you need to live like a Christian. Now, having turned from your sin, you need to live a life of faith in Christ and holiness unto God.

If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are washed away. Behold, all things are become new and so we see that exemplified in Jacob leaving the servitude of Laban as we when we got saved, left the servitude of what? Of sin. To embrace the Lord Jesus and to look with eyes of eternity for the things of heaven and not just the things of earth. So, Jacob is headed to Canaan, left behind the servitude of Laban.

He's headed in the right direction and now his eyes are open to see the angels. The angels mentioned here in the first two verses. The angels, the messengers of the Lord that were there to protect him. Messengers who had probably been there all the while since Bethel when he first saw them and where God first promised to keep him. But angels he forgot about as he struggled to fight his way rather than God's way.

In recognition, he calls the place Mahanaim, meaning two camps. That is his camp and the camp of the angels. Life is so much easier when we can see or sense with the eyes of faith, the presence, and protection of almighty God in our life. Life gets easier for us when we sense with eyes of faith that he will never what? Leave us nor forsake us.

We take our eyes off of Jesus. We start depending on our circumstances, ourselves, and others. And not upon the Lord, life gets hard. Life had been hard for Jacob Now, he is reminded that he's not alone. That the angels of God are with him as he acknowledges.

Later, the servant of Elisha, the prophet, would have a similar epiphany. In second Kings six seventeen, Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee open his eyes that he may see and the Lord open the eyes of the young man he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Elisha and his servant were under attack. The armies of the enemy had surrounded the city was looking for them. And the servant was scared out of his mind and Elisha, Lord, open his eyes so he can see.

For God's army was bigger than man's army and more powerful. Greater is he that's in us than he that is in the world. If we have faith to see. That brings us to Genesis thirty two three through eight at the contradiction here. Look if you would in verse three and Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, and to the land of Seer, the country of Edom.

He commanded them saying, this shall you speak to my Lord Esau, thy servant, say thy servant Jacob, saith thus, I have journeyed with Laban and stayed there until now. Now, this Esau is his brother that he had run from twenty years previous because he thought his brother was going to kill him for stealing the blessing. So, that's that's who Esau is. So, back to verse five or verse four. And he commanded them saying, thus shall you speak on the Lord Esau, thy servant Jacob, saith us, I have journeyed with Laban and stayed there until now and I have ox and asses and flocks and man service and woman's servants and I've sent to tell my Lord that I may find grace in thy sight and the messengers returned to Jacob saying, we came to thy brother Esau and also he cometh to meet thee and 400 men with him.

Then, Jacob was excited and so, Esau was coming to see him. He was so happy. Is that what we read there? No. Verse seven, then Jacob was greatly wide, afraid, and distressed and he divided the people that was with him, the flocks and the herds and the camels into two bands and said, if Esau come to the one company and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.

He had just seen the angels of the Lord were camped with him but in a just a moment when he hears, Esau's coming with 400 men, he flies into this this fear and anxiety and immediately, we see the scheming present again. Because of Jacob's weak faith. And so he he begins to plot and plan. How am I going to get out of this one? I gotta do something.

I something. Always Jacob that's got to do something. Always, is it always you who has to do something? When I first started in the ministry, I thought it was me that always had to do something. You know what I find out?

Found out in the ministry? If it's you that's always gotta do something, you know what you're going to do? You're going to make people mad. That's what you're going to do. You're going to make a bigger mess.

You're going to stir up a hornet's nest and you're not going to fix it. Because I can't fix people. Only God does that. Only God does that. And to learn young in the ministry sometimes at the hard way We we need to trust in the Lord.

We can't always fix everything. You cannot always fix everything. Trust in the Lord. A lot of times you'll find out as Jacob did, it didn't need fixing. It wasn't broken but he didn't know that.

He didn't know that. So, here he goes. Thankfully, verse nine, he does something out of place for Jacob. Look in verse nine. And Jacob said, oh God of my father, Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac, the Lord which said to me, return unto thy country and to thy kindred and I will dwell with thee.

I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant. For with my staff, I passed over this Jordan that was on the way to Laban's and now I am become two bands on the way back. Deliver me, I pray thee from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children, and thou saidst, I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude. This is the first time since Bethel that we read about Jacob doing what? Going to the Lord in prayer.

Appealing to God. So, he did the right thing. He went to God in prayer and his prayer does seem to be genuine but I hope that your prayers don't come as few and far between as it would seem Jacob's did. I hope that it's not only when we feel our life is on the line that we decide to talk to our God. God wants to hear from us every day.

Not just when times are desperate. But when times do get desperate. If you know the Lord, he's there. Call unto me and I will what? Answer thee but you gotta call.

Praise the Lord. This time, Jacob did call and the three elements of his prayer that that do seem genuine. A spoken reliance upon the Lord's promises. He tells to God, repeats the promises God had made to him. We see that often in prayers in the Bible.

Those who are praying, declaring the promises of God back to him. It shows a reliance upon those promises. I miss miss Marilyn being here for our prayer meeting before Sunday school and here's one of the reasons. When Marilyn prays, she always claims the promises of God. It brings glory to his name.

It shows reliance upon him. We see Thanksgiving for God's mercy that had so far been demonstrated. Jacob didn't take all the credit. He gave the credit to who? He gave the credit to God.

We need to do the same. Don't worry, don't be anxious for anything but by prayer and supplication with what? Thanksgiving, let your request be made known and the God Jacob did that here and then a humility of heart before the God of heaven. As he asked not for what he deserved but he asked for what? He asked for mercy.

You can't go to God and say, God, here, I've done this for you. Now, it's your turn. Do this for me. Doesn't work that way. That's not the kind of prayer God answers.

Because you see, we have nothing really to offer him. It's he who has everything to offer us and when we go to the Lord, we go crying for mercy and we see that here in Jacob's prayer. However, what did we say about Philippians four when we've been studying it on Sunday nights? If you take your burdens to the Lord, you need to what? Leave them there.

If you don't leave them there, if you pick them back up and you take them with you, is it going to help you? The answer is no because if you pick them up and take them with you, then it's showing that maybe your reliance on God is not what you seem to declare that it was because if you take them, pick them back up and take them with you, it is not going to cure the worry that you have and it's not going to give you peace that passes what? All understanding. So, what happened to Jacob? So, he prayed and then verse 13.

Look at verse 13 and he lodged there the same night and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau, his brother. So, he said, okay, I'm going to prepare in case he attacks me. I'll be ready for the attack and some of us will escape with our ideas not even thinking everybody will escape but maybe some will and so second thing he does is he says, oh I'll bribe him. That's it. I will give send presents ahead so that when he gets here, he'll feel bad about attacking me.

So, verse 13 and he lodged there the same night. He took that which came to his hand, a present for Esau, his brother. 200 she goats, 20 goats, two two hundred ewes, 20 rams, 30 milch camels. I don't know what kind of camel that is but a camel is a camel with their colts. 40 kind and 10 bulls, 20 she asses, and 10 folds and he delivered them into the hand 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 Esau, my brother, meeteth thee and asketh thee saying, whose art thou and whether goest thou and whose are these before you, then, thou shalt say, they be thy servant Jacobs. It is a present sent unto you unto my Lord Esau and behold also he is behind us and so commanded he the second and the third and all that followed the droves saying on this manner shall you speak unto Esau when you find him and say you 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 will set his face per adventure, he will accept me. So, we so went the present over before him and himself lodged that night in the company and he rose up that night, took his two wives, two woman servants, his 11 sons, and passed over the Ford Jabbok and he took them and sent them over the brook and he sent over that he had. So, what does Jacob do?

Well, he he divides the company into two companies to make sure one can escape. He sends drove after drunk. In other words, he divided this present up into several different waves and so they came in waves to Esau, okay? Just to kind of you know, sweeten the sweeten the thing a little more and a little more and a little more and then, he took this immediate family and he took them and he separated them apart from everybody else in hopes that they would survive. You see the contradiction?

Here, he sees the angels and he says, this is the place of what? Two camps. The angels are here and then he praised the Lord and he claims his promises and then he goes about doing exactly what he did before. He has to take care of it himself. He is not learned to trust God as he should.

Proverbs three, five, and six, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lean on into thine own understanding, all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Before we conclude this morning, I want us to see the bright spot at the end, okay? Look if you would in verse 24. 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, he touched the hollow of his thigh and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him and he said, let me go for the day breaketh and Jacob said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me and he said unto him, what is thy name?

And he said, Jacob and he said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel. For as a prince, hast thou power with God and with man and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said, tell me, I pray thee thy name and he said, wherefore is that that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

And as he passed over Penuel or Peniel, the sun rose upon him and he halted upon his thigh. He limped. Therefore, the children of Israel eat not the sinner which shrank, which spawn the hollow of the thigh into this day because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh and the sinner that shrank. So, the last two points are these, Jacob the contradiction, Jacob the wrestler, and then Jacob the broken. Jacob the wrestler.

So, that night after he made all his preparations, he isolated himself from the rest of his family at which time God met him in human form. Not the first time that happened. God met Abraham in human form and God met Joshua as the captain of Lord's host, probably Jesus Christ before he went to Jericho. So, Job, God met him in human form as a man with whom Jacob wrestled much of the night. It was not Jacob who came to God.

It was God who came to Jacob. Notice that. It's always Jesus that comes to us. It's God that comes to us to to help us to grow, to to draw us some to himself, to grow our faith, and God came to Jacob once more. He'd come to him several times already.

This isn't the first time. He comes to God to Jacob once more to wrestle with him as God often does with us to teach us a lesson. We need to learn to tear us down so he can build us up in his image, in his way rather than ours. But Jacob did as he had been doing all his life. He tried to prevail.

He wrestled with his brother Esau. He wrestled with his dad. He wrestled with Laban. He wrestled with his wives but really all the time he was wrestling with who? He was wrestling with God.

He was wrestling with God. Refusing to yield unto the Lord his will. All night he battled with God more in a spiritual sense as much as a physical one. What have you been battling with? Battling God about.

You say, I'm not battling God. Well, I know I can look back in my life and see sometimes I was battling God. It might appear to be your spouse. It might appear to be your sibling, might appear to be your employer, might appear to as a struggle over God's call to ministry or service in some area, might appear as a struggle with depression or addiction or anxiety, might appear as a struggle over wealth, or other idolatrous possessions but your struggles really with who? God.

Our battle is not with what? Flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and often times, we are fighting the wrong foe. We should be fighting the enemies of God. We're fighting God and it's no wonder we're not making progress because we're fighting the wrong person. We're fighting the one who loves us.

We're fighting the one who died for us. We're fighting the one who only wants to give us good things. Ask and it shall be given. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be open unto you.

But it is really God you're fighting. Just stop for a minute and let it sink in. Is that really the problem that you've been having? What will God have you to do that you are resisting? When will you learn to?

Trust him more. Trust in the, you're going to have this memorized by Tom Dunn with the series. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lean not into thine own understanding, and all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. It's time to surrender. And if you don't surrender the easy way, you may have to surrender the what?

The hard way and of course, Jacob always has to take what? Always has to choose the hard way. Always. At least up till now. But what happened that night?

Well, now we see Jacob the broken. Nearing daybreak as Jacob still refused to be beaten, refused to surrender. God touched his hip and made him partially lame. You may think you're a match for God but of course, you're not and the sooner you surrender to him in faith and you and with humility, the easier life will be. As a reminder of Jacob's stubborn refusal, he would bear a limp for the rest of his days.

A disability which would certainly change his outlook on his self sufficiency. Many of us like Jacob bear scars from our battles with God. Scars which we will take to our grave. But not to our home in heaven. Scars which remind us here of our frailty and folly.

And our need to rely on Jesus and surrender to his will for us. Paul, if you remember, had one of those, he called it the thorn in the flesh. He pleaded with God to take it away but God would not. Instead, God said, my grace is sufficient. For my strength is made perfect in your weakness.

It's when we realize we're weak that we come to God and he makes us what? He makes us strong. It's when we put on the armor of God and we take off the reliance on the flesh and self. God defends us and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Thus, Paul learned to glory in his disability that the power of Christ and the will of God would direct his path and conquer his foes.

As Ron Hamilton, gloried in the disability of a patch over a lost eye. God used him. As Paul gloried in the weakness of his flesh that God would not take away. God used him as Jacob in future days will glory in the loss and the disability in this limb. God would use him and glorify himself.

God wants to be glorified in you. Will you surrender? Will you stop fighting him? Will you let him have his way with you? You'll never regret it and Jacob that night was changed.

He met the Lord. He met himself. He met a vulnerable man, a sinner, a fearful man. Who in the end could only cling to God desperately and plead, oh please bless me. And when you come to God with that attitude, when it comes to that point, God says, yes.

If that's what you want. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just one. Forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all. Unrighteousness. Do you know?

Are are you still trying to go it alone, still trying it your way, still unyielding to the Lord and his will? Surrender Trust him. Let him change you. God changed Jacob that night. Now, he wasn't perfect.

No. Read the rest of the story. But everywhere Jacob went, you know the first thing he did? He built an altar to the Lord. Built an altar in the place he went from here.

He called it God, the God of Israel. For that was what his name was changed to. As God said, signifying he was now a prince with God and not merely a deceiver. When you came to Christ, you got a new name. Christian, child of God.

No longer just a deceiver. No longer just a sinner. No, a redeemed saint in Jesus Christ. You have a new name. Wherever you go, let God know.

Every day of your life, worship him as Jacob learned to do. Quit kicking against the what? Against the pricks. Let the Lord have his way with you. As David said in Psalm 5,117, the sacrifices of God are broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, oh God, thou will not despise.

Have you received Christ as your Lord and savior? Are you trying to live life and get to heaven on your terms by your way? You'll never get there. You're fighting a losing battle and if you don't surrender in faith to God now, you'll lose and you don't want to lose in eternity. As many as received him.

To them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them believe on his name. Will you do that today? If you never have, if you'll do that today, he'll save you. He'll change you. He will.

Christians, have you surrendered to do his will? Are you wrestling with God today over something that you have not yielded to him? Don't continue, surrender, repent, and trust him. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you Lord.

For Jesus, our savior, thank you that you won the battle for us on the cross of Calvary and Lord, if we will learn to trust in you, if we will put our faith and trust in you, you will change our eternity and you will change our present too. Lord, every spiritual blessing comes from you and indeed, without you, we can't do nothing. Lord, I pray if there's one here today that's trying to get to heaven, trying to please you, trying to find happiness in life through any other avenue but Jesus Christ who died for them and rose again. I pray as we give this hymn of invitation, they'll come and I'll meet them Lord and share with them the good news and Lord, I pray for your children that are here today. Lord, if there's something we're struggling with with you, you put your on it.

Lord, I pray. We'll deal with it right now in this invitation time. Come up here and pray or pray where we are but Lord, let us not leave this place without dealing with that and surrendering and giving it to you. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.