He's A Contender!

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to Genesis chapter 32 as we again look at certain stories from the Old Testament, the book of Genesis, that might help us today. Before we look into the Word of God, let's pray. Father now we sit here with the book of your words open before us your very thoughts the very revelation of yourself we come to this humbly because we know we can only learn if your spirit engages us we know we can change only as your spirit engages us and so we pray for that today that this people would learn and that they would grow.

Help them, Father, to do that. Give them careful attention to the Word of God, that they might see themselves in the text and then might also grow and change as a result. Thank you for your mercy in giving us your Word that guides us and helps us. So we commit this time to you now, asking you to work in Jesus. name. Amen. Well, wrestling season is upon us.

Now that doesn't mean much to maybe many of you, but to some of us it means a lot. And it's a great sport. You know, when you go to a tournament, the wrestlers walk in and they're looking at the brackets. If they haven't looked at them before they got there, they're looking at the brackets. Who are their opponents going to be? And if they proceed down those brackets who are their potential opponents.

So they'll be looking at the brackets and one will say, oh man, I'm going up against Sam Walters. He qualified for districts last year. Another guy says, oh yeah, that's nothing. I'm going against Sam Killian who went to state last year. Those are my opponents. And those guys are contenders, right?

Those are the guys that have proven themselves. Well, most of the team went to districts last year. Most of these guys sitting here are contenders from last year. But we want to look at a contender this day. In our text this morning, you're going to see a wrestling match unlike any other. Now usually, if you go to a tournament, and I encourage all of you to do that at least once in your life, if you go to a tournament, you know that a match is three periods of three minutes.

Now that doesn't seem like much. You get out on the map though, and that's an eternity. That takes forever. It takes every ounce of strength and brain that you can muster when you're on that mat. And sometimes it goes into overtime. And if you're watching high school, college, or Olympic wrestling, you know, you can tell, it takes every ounce of strength and brain when you're on the mat.

But this wrestling match that we find in Genesis 32 goes all night long. And the opponent is God. And Jacob proves to be a contender. Not a contender in the sports arena, but in the arena of faith. Now before we pick up the story here, I want to quickly review the life of Jacob. You remember that Jacob is a deceiver.

He's one who manipulates to get what he wants. He's a supplanter, a schemer, who stops at nothing to get what he wants. He comes out of the womb in conflict with his brother Esau. He defrauds that brother. He cheats him out of his birthright. And then he goes on to deceive his own father in order to get the blessing.

He leaves home under false pretenses. He says, I'm going to the land of our fathers in order to find a wife. But in reality, it's because his brother wants to kill him and he has to get out of Dodge quick. But as Jacob flees, you remember, we saw this last time, as Jacob flees, God meets him. God meets this devious schemer. And in grace, he tells him that all the promises that he'd made to his grandfather, Abraham, would be his.

He also promises Jacob that he will be with him. He promises him his presence and that he will protect this schemer and bring him back to that land. Jacob ends up in Paddam Aram with his uncle Laban, who proves to be an even better schemer and manipulator than Jacob. I mean, it must run in the family because Laban, his uncle, is incredible at it. He's constantly manipulating Jacob and cheating him here and cutting him short there and taking advantage of him.

And while he's there, Jacob gains four wives and 12 children. Now, finally, God calls him back to the land promised to the descendants of Abraham. And so with his entire family and the great wealth given him by God, he heads for home. But there's a problem. The feud remains with his brother. It's unresolved.

And when he left the country, his brother had every intention of killing him. Surely that threat remains. and so it is that these dangerous and uncertain circumstances reveal Jacob and they reveal him now as a man of faith now God's purpose was to transform Jacob and he has started that process and Jacob has now arrived at the place where he is a man of faith And in this chapter you see the result of God transforming grace He is a man devoid of scheming and manipulating. He's a man who doesn't run.

He's a man who doesn't any longer strive after riches and priority. You see here a man of faith. So let's go through and let's see this. And as we read this chapter, here's what you need to ask yourself. How will you know if God's grace has made you a person of faith? What will you see if you are a man or a woman of faith?

What will you see in your life if that is true? Well, let's look at this chapter. First two verses. Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, this is God's camp. So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

Now, you will see, first of all, the encouragement of faith or that God encourages your faith. As you grow in faith, you will see that God will encourage that faith. Now, it appears that Jacob makes a significant detour. As we read on, he crosses the Jabbok River, which is a tributary to Jordan. He crosses that river instead of going to the Jordan. If he'd gone across at the Jordan, he could have avoided his brother altogether.

But here he finds another way, and it looks like he evidently has the purpose of wanting to meet Esau. He wants to meet Esau. but as he enters the land there's another vision of angels now do you remember at Bethel as he was leaving he sees a vision of angels you remember there's this great ladder that goes into heaven and he sees angels ascending and descending on that ladder a vision of angels doing that and he heard the promise there of the presence of God and the protection of God so at this first time when he sees those angels, he is given the promises of God. He is given the promise that God will be present with him and that God would protect him.

Now he sees angels, not as he's leaving the land. Now he sees angels as he enters the land. Now, I don't know what this looked like, but he calls it two camps. So he must have seen a camp, if you will, of angels. maybe Jacob had left his camp and as he walked he encountered the army of God the army of God you remember that when he met the angels the first time he said this is the house of God and in this instance he says this is the camp of God now this is much like what Elisha experienced hundreds of years later.

As you're reading in the books of the kings, you remember the story of Elisha, and you've got these foreign troops surrounding his house, and Elisha's servant is saying, oh man, we're dead meat. And Elisha says, don't worry about it. We have more on our side. And the servant goes, what are you talking about? And God removes the, gives the servant sight so that he sees what elisha sees and that's the whole army of god on the hillsides so elisha's saying yeah nothing to worry about we have the army of god on our side so jacob sees if you will this army and he names this place two camps there are two camps a human one and an angelic one now do you see the message that god gives jacob here Jacob doesn't need to resort to slippery strategies in the face of obstacles, in the face of dangers but should trust the unseen forces of God he's encouraging him to believe, to continue in faith and God repeats his promise made at Bethel behold, I'm with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

Right? He's there. He's present, just like he promised. His army is present. Jacob doesn't have to worry about Esau. He encourages Jacob's face.

He can face Esau and the dangers that lie ahead. Now look, you will have your faith encouraged as you walk in faith. you will have your faith encouraged as you walk in faith God encourages Jacob's faith with a vision of his strength does God encourage your faith it may come as you read the scriptures it may come as you are confronted with the promises of God and you look at those and say yes those are true I can believe those I know that in my own scripture reading I'm reading through the book of Acts and I'm seeing this incredible providence of God in the life of Paul right Paul in my view does a dumb thing he takes this vow and he goes to the temple and he causes a riot and that riot ends up taking him all the way to the capital city of the world to Rome just because he did a dumb thing which caused a riot, which got him arrested by Roman troops, which caused him to appeal his case to Caesar, which caused him to go to Rome. It's amazing to see those things.

Those sorts of things strengthen your faith as you read and as you believe those things. As you see God at work, his whole history of his faithfulness, your faith is encouraged. And you know what? We may appear weak and powerless in the face of obstacles and enemies but we have a God who works behind the scenes He works behind the scenes Remember what the writer to the Hebrews said Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

This time though, he let Jacob see the behind the scenes, what was going on. Now this faith in God's presence will soon be put to the test. and you're going to see what shows up. Let's continue. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau's brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, instructing them, Thus you shall say to my lord Esau, Thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now.

I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord in order that I may find favor in your sight. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to our brother Esau, we came to your brother Esau, and he's coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.

He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, thinking, If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape. And Jacob said, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. But you said, I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him, he took a present for his brother Esau, 200 female goats and 20 male goats, 200 ewes and 20 rams, 30 milking camels and their calves, 40 cows and 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys. These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between drove and drove. He instructed the first, When Esau, my brother, meets you and asks you, To whom do you belong?

Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you? Then you shall say, They belong to your servant Jacob. They are presents sent to my lord Esau. and moreover he is behind us. He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, you shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him and you shall say moreover your servant Jacob is behind us for he thought I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me and afterward I shall see his face perhaps he will accept me.

So the present passed on ahead of him and he himself stayed that night in the camp. The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his 11 children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream and everything else that he had. Here you see the evidence of faith. Here you see the evidence of faith.

The first evidence of faith that you see is humility. Jacob sends out message to Esau with a carefully crafted message. Now, if you think that Jacob is trying to flatter Esau so that it goes well, that he's brown nosing him, you've got the wrong idea. He calls Esau my Lord. You say, sure, he says to Esau, you're my Lord, he's going to butter him up. But notice what he does.

He says this to his servants. Do you see that? He says this to his servants. Thus you shall say to my Lord Esau. He didn't have to say that to them but he is there recognizing Esau is his Lord and then in the message he acknowledges himself as a servant to Esau's Lord as he asks for favor here is humility understand what's happening here Jacob voluntarily reclaims the position of a subordinate a younger brother he had usurped that when he left.

Now he's reasserting. He is asserting, in fact, his place as the younger brother. It's as if he repudiates his past sin of scheming and manipulation. Although he's a recipient of the blessing, he's not going to act the part. So you've got to see that he is addressing Esau as his Lord. He's taking that subordinate position now, the one that he used to occupy, but that he had usurped this other one.

Now he's saying, he saw you are my Lord. But when the messengers return, it's not with the assurance of a brother who's forgotten the past. When they return, they say, this may be a welcoming party, but it sounds more like the militia called out to do some damage. I mean, he's got 400 men with him. That doesn't look good. Looks like he's assembled the regiment, right? and you see fear and prudence in the face of this adversity in verses 7 and 8 now in distress Jacob divides everything into two camps in the hopes I believe in the hopes that if one is attacked the other will survive does he believe the promise of God yes if one is attacked the other will survive and God will fulfill the promise to them now don't think that faith automatically eliminates fear.

You can have great faith and still be afraid. The question is, what do you do And here what he does He does he responds with prudent planning What you have to see here that even in the face of imminent disaster what does Jacob not do He doesn run away He does not run away like he did before He fearful but he is not controlled by the fear Remember, last time he took off. This time he's not.

He's not running away. Yet he still planned as prudence required you know living by faith doesn't mean you don't do anything i am entirely convinced i remember in a few times one time in particular we believe beck and i have always believed that god will meet our needs that's been something that god's graciously granted us to really believe that promise and there was a time when um boy there was no job on site there was no job anywhere i never forget it and i had a little boy by that time and there was no job but god has promised to provide so you know what i did i spent six to seven hours every day looking for a job this was back in the days when you had to walk into a place and literally sit down and fill out an application not just search the internet i would spend six to seven hours looking for a job i would spend the entire day filling out applications right well doesn't job doesn't god promise to take care of you if you seek his kingdom yeah but it doesn't mean that i don't look for a job you know what god is also god has also promised to bless the preaching of his word so you know what i do every week i open up my bible on sunday morning and say that's a good text i'll just get up and talk about that? You think that's what I do?

You might think that's what I do, but no, no, you know, it takes takes a lot of work to think through and meditate and write things down and all that sort of thing. Planning and prudence is not eliminated with faith, and I believe that Jacob planned in faith. the survivors could fulfill the promises that God had made. But the greatest evidence, the greatest evidence of God's grace making you a man or woman of faith is prayer.

Jacob prays. Now, what's interesting is it doesn't strike you as a man of prayer as you read his story until here. And do you know what? This is the longest prayer recorded in Genesis, and it's Jacob praying this prayer. Before, he had always counted on his strategies, on his wits, on his clever plans to get what he wanted. Here, he makes a plan, but then he prays.

He prays. You can see that he's starting to see, or he's found out, it doesn't depend on my strategy. I have to pray. And here you find a prayer from a heart of faith. Do you notice how it looks like? Verse 9, he recognizes God as the one true God.

When God revealed himself to Jacob at Bethel, he said, I am the Lord, I am Yahuwah, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. And that's exactly how he addresses God. He knows he is the only God. He knows he is the only one who can protect him. and rescue him. He is the one who had promised him that he would do good to him until he returned.

He confesses, do you notice this? He confesses his own unworthiness and God's grace. Now look, thinking about who Jacob is, look at what he says in verse 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant for with only my staff I crossed the Jordan, and now I have become two camels.

He says, God, it's all from you, and I'm not worthy to get one of those camels. But look how you have blessed me, and it's all been you, and it's been you out of your steadfast love and your faithfulness for me. Now look, he's recognizing, it's not my cleverness that has got me this. I left with nothing. I come back with incredible wealth, and it's all because of you.

You've done that. Even though I didn't deserve anything, you've done more than you promised at Bethel. I left with nothing, and everything I possess has come to me by your grace. I'm merely a servant. I'm not a polished achiever. I don't deserve this.

That is incredible when you look at the history of this man. and then verse 11 he asks for god's protection and then we come to the essence of it all in verse 12 but you said i will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude in essence God's Jacob plea is that God would continue to fulfill his promise he's counting on God to fulfill his promise do you pray? do you evidence such dependence on God? what do you do when it seems that everything is going wrong even when you're doing everything right? do you pray when everything is going right do you pray we all pray when everything is going wrong but do you pray when everything is going right Jacob here man he's looking He says, everything I got is from you. And now I'm asking for your protection. You lay out all your fears before the Lord.

You ask Him to do what He has committed Himself to do in His Word. And you press on in faith. You press on believing that He'll do what He says. Now, I think there's one last evidence of faith here. And it's a changed outlook. Verses 13-23. here he sends out all these droves right Jacob planned to spend the night alone in camp so he sent everyone and everything else on ahead of him and he sent drove after drove of animals ahead of his family and himself gifts to his brother in order to appease him if he still harbored his murderous intent but again don't think that Jacob sent these on ahead in order to shield him from danger as if here's my shield he made it clear to the servants to make sure they communicated to Esau your servant Jacob is coming he will meet you all right he's not counting on these he's not counting on these so that I can get away from meeting Esau he says I'm still coming no matter what happens with this I'm still going to show up and if Esau wanted to deal with Jacob he would have ample opportunity to do it because Jacob says I'm coming I'm coming now these actions instead you know what they show a real change in him he's got a different outlook on everything for one he sends a present to Esau now I want you to notice and and I think it's a little unfortunate but when you see in verse 11 that word present you see in verse 18 the word present you see in verse 20 the word present you see the word present in verse 21 this is the Hebrew word and I don't know why they didn't do it this time this is the Hebrew word that's normally translated tribute and so we could read this so he stayed there that night and from what he had with him he took a tribute for his brother.

He presented tribute. That is, what is tribute? What am I saying when I give tribute? I'm offering, it signifies offerings made from an inferior to a superior. He even says, use, he says, this is to be tribute to Esau. And by these gifts, he says to Esau, you are my Lord and I am your servant.

Here's changed outlook. Faith that says that the desperate desire to be the top dog does not rule him any longer. He is not afraid to send tribute to Esau. The gifts also say to Esau, I no longer desire all the wealth that comes with the birthright and so I repay you. Here's his changed outlook. I don't need to pursue possessions because God will remain true to his promise and he will bless me in fulfillment of his covenant.

He makes it clear that he's going to meet Esau face to face and will not run away like the last time. What's his changed outlook? I don't fear what you're going to do to me because God has covenanted with me his presence and his protection. I'm not afraid of what you can do to me and even if he does something even if he kills him he knows God is still going to remain true to his covenant when you operate by faith you're going to start seeing things differently you'll start seeing things differently I was reminded of this as oh I was reminded of this as I was helping someone counsel someone else and And the person that she counseling is terribly bitter because of the way the church leadership has treated her and her husband And she just says they treated us so badly so I said to my person that I helping counsel that person I said you need to help her see this differently who else was treated unjustly and was not bitter you know his name by the way Jesus right and you need to tell her listen this is hard injustice has been perpetrated let's just assume for sake of argument that you're right that all the things you say are true you now have an opportunity to become like Jesus God has given you now an opportunity to look like Jesus, to handle injustice without bitterness.

You see, the eyes of faith change the way you look at everything. Finally, the last scene, the clock starts ticking. A wrestling match. Let's look at that. Verse 24. And Jacob was left alone.

And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, Let me go, for the day has broken. But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. And he said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob.

Then he said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel. for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. Then Jacob asked him, please tell me your name. But he said, why is it that you ask my name? And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel saying, for I have seen God face to face and yet my life has been delivered.

The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh Jacob maybe stayed alone in the camp in order to pray maybe to prepare himself for what he had to face the next day and suddenly as Jacob was praying a man charges out of the darkness and knocks him over now for Jacob this is a life and death struggle what's going on here and he starts wrestling because he cannot lose. He must not lose. And so they wrestle through the night.

Now that is, guys, that is one long wrestling match. All night long. Right? Can you imagine that? They wrestle all night long. And with his incredible strength, Jacob puts up the fight of his life and he goes the distance.

But he cannot win because he's wrestling with God. Now don't ask this question that I'm going to ask because it's all in your minds. How in the world can God show up and wrestle? How does that happen? And I'm going to say I'm not going to answer that question. You know why?

Because it just throws us off the track. You know you come to commentaries they'll spend two and a half pages talking about how God could be a wrestler there and miss the whole point of the passage. So I'm not sure. I'm not sure how God can show up and wrestle. I'm not sure. But don't lose the idea.

Jacob is wrestling with God and he wrestles all night long. And Jacob realizes who his opponent is after his opponent merely touches his hip and it goes out of joint. so when his adversary tells him to let go jacob replies he knows this is god now he replies i'm not going to let go until you bless me i going to cling to you until you bless me i am not going to let go And God says what your name Now God knows his name He trying to make a point here What your name And he says, Jacob, which means what? Schemer, manipulator.

My name's Jacob. And admission that he's a devious usurper. And God says, well, from now on, you are Israel because you have striven with God and with men and you have prevailed. But what is your name? Jacob asks and God refuses to give his name. It's like Manoah.

Centuries later, a few hundred years later, the father of Samson meets a heavenly messenger and he asked that messenger his name and God replies, why do you ask my name? Seeing it is wonderful beyond understanding. instead God blesses Jacob now Jacob knows he's encountered God because he names the place Peniel or Penuel it's used later a little variation which means the face of God Peniel means the face of God Jacob knows he's encountered God I have seen the face of God and my life has been spared if he has been face to face with God he can go face to face with his brother Esau if his life is spared looking at God he can go face to face with Esau now the whole point of this scene is to show you the nature of faith what is the nature of faith the nature of faith is dogged dependence on God it's I'd put it that way it is dogged dependence on God Jeremy read to us from the prophet Hosea and Hosea says something about this scene when he writes he strove with the angel and prevailed he wept and sought his favor faith does not here's the important thing to see from this if you walk away forgetting everything don't forget this faith does not prevail in strength faith prevails in weakness faith prevails in weakness jacob prevailed with god when his strength failed he prevailed when he had no strength, not even the strength to walk right. He prevailed when he wept and begged God for his blessing.

He prevailed when the only thing left to do was hang on. Do you see that? He prevailed with God at his weakest moment. He would prevail with men by the same dogged dependence on God. Scheming words and physical strength would no longer overcome his adversaries, but by faith he would overcome. By faith he's going to meet Esau.

He will prevail against Esau by his dependence on God. His limp and the custom of all his descendants after that is a perpetual reminder. when Jacob became weak in his struggle with God, Israel, the victor, emerged. Are you a victor through dogged dependence on God? Are you a victor through dogged dependence on God? Would you say that your life is characterized by this kind of faith?

And being the victor does not mean you emerge as the victor as everyone understands that. Jacob was victorious, and he emerges limping. Right? Recognizing that God will strengthen him. You may suffer, but if you endure in faith you are victorious Those brothers and sisters across the world are suffering persecution Look at the believers in China They suffering persecution And guess what Victory may not mean that they get religious freedom.

That may never happen. But they are the victors. Why? Because no one has conquered them. They remain faithful to the Lord Jesus. Right?

If you endure in faith, you are victorious. You may die for your faith, but in your death, you are the victor. You see? Victory comes with dogged dependence on God. but you know Jacob's not the only Israel of God for another comes to prevail with God and men God the son endured the agonizing assault of God his father so that grace and blessing might flow to his people you ever thought that having wrestled with men his entire earthly life Jesus wrestled with God on our behalf in the garden of Gethsemane in agony what did he say Lord if there's any other way let's go that way he wrestled with God on the cross when he cried out my God my God why have you forsaken me the outcome of that wrestling was not merely a hip injury he was wounded he was flawed he was crucified and he was burdened down with the whole weight of all our transgressions but Jesus clung to God and he wouldn't let go until the blessing came to you and through his faithful clinging to the father he prevailed over sin and death and as a result he's been given a name that's higher than any other name in all the universe we also become the Israel of God as we're united to Christ we participate in his struggles and suffering as well as his victory Jesus struggled on the cross not that you would escape suffering but that you would emerge from your suffering in victory in victory so that that suffering proves fruitful so that through suffering we become more like Christ and in our suffering God teaches us to abandon our self-reliance so that your faith is in Him and it grows.

Looking to the cross, we cling to God in order to prevail. So, has the grace of God made you a man or a woman of faith? Father, thank you. Thank you for these narratives that teach us so much. Father we pray that like Jacob we would become people of faith we pray Father we would be like Jesus in our faith who went to the cross clinging to the promise of God that there was something there was kingship on the other side of that cross there was a crown that waited him.

Help us to be people of faith so that we are victorious in our dependence on you. God, help us to remember that in our weakness is when we are the victors. Grow in us, grow in this congregation, Lord God, a dogged dependence on you. that will cling to you and never let go. God help us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.