THROUGH THE BIBLE - Genesis..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Good evening, everyone. It is really a joy to be in this place and to worship our great God together as we have done this evening.

Now we trust our Lord will bless the reading of his word and the preaching of his word also. So if you have your Bibles, we're up to our corporate reading as we always do every week. And we're in the book of Genesis Steel in Genesis chapter 32. So Genesis chapter 32. If you've grabbed one of the Bibles from outside, the new Pew Bibles, I can tell you what page number in a moment.

Page 32, because that's one of the advantages of having a Pew Bible, isn't it? You get to know the page number straight away. So page 32, Genesis chapter 32 on page 32 in our Pew Bibles. Now I'm reading from the ESV. 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 the place, Mahanaim. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, instructing them, thus shall say to, my apologies, 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 your brother Esau and he is coming to meet you and there are 400 men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two camps, thinking if Esau comes at the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that he's left will escape. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, return to your country and to your kindred that I may do you good. 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 this Jordan and now I have become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, and 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 a 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 the 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 a present sent to my Lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us. He likewise instructed the second and the third, 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 presence that goes ahead of me, and afterwards 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 eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream and everything else that he had.

And Jacob was left alone. And the 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. And 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. And then he said, your name shall no longer be 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 then he blessed him. So Jacob called the name, the place Piniel, saying, for I have seen God face to face and yet my life has been delivered. The sun rose up, the sun rose upon him as he passed Pinuel, 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 on the thigh.

Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Well, we've been journeying through the book of origins together, the book of Genesis for many months now, and I'm hoping by now that we've all really come to see and become aware of what the overarching message of this book is thus far. I think it's fair to say that we could say the message is that our God is a faithful God and he's able to keep his covenant promises and accomplish his plans no matter what. No matter how bleak the circumstances are, God is able to keep his promises.

Because as we've seen in the book of Genesis, those whom God has chosen to accomplish his plans are far from perfect. but our God is gracious. And despite his covenant people and his covenant people's lack of faith and sometimes lack of morality, he achieves his goals perfectly whilst patiently and lovingly transforming their lives to reflect his own character over time. In other words, when the journey begins for God's covenant people, as we've read throughout the book of Genesis, they seem to be no different than the pagans that surround them. But as the journey develops, we come to see that that is nothing further, or there is nothing further from the truth.

Jacob has become the focus of our attention for the last couple of weeks. Jacob was a deceitful and a dishonest Man, none of us can doubt this. And in chapter 32, he'll be faced with the consequences of his previous deceitful decisions and actions that he's made. You see, when he cheated Esau by tricking his father Isaac to give him the blessing, Esau was enraged. So in his anger, he vowed to kill his brother Jacob for the treachery he had done.

Rebecca catches wind of the situation and Esau's intentions and so she plans to send her favorite little boy Jacob to her brother Laban. Of course he had that point he wasn't a little boy but so to speak and that Laban was about 800 kilometers to the north in a place called Padan Aram and she said she's sending him under the guise of finding him a suitable wife. So she sells the idea to her husband Isaac expressing her displeasure with the Canaanite women. And Isaac, well, Isaac can't refuse his wife's request. So he blesses Jacob and sends him on his way.

So a frightened Jacob, not knowing what his future holds, makes the journey to Paddan Aram. But on the way, the Lord reassures him of these words. He says to him, I am with you. and I 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."

So Jacob goes on his way with the promise from God and he takes heart in these words and he continues and settles in the land of Paddan Aram with his uncle Laban. He spends 20 years in Paddan Aram. He marries two wives, Leah and Rachel, and he's blessed immensely by God with many children and many possessions, as we've just seen in this passage. But then the Lord says to him, he says, it's time to come home, Jacob. It's time to return to Canaan, the land of promise.

You see, the original plan for Jacob was only to leave for a short time until Esau's anger had abated. Months were in view, not years. Rachel would then send for her son to return, but no word came from Rachel over the years. So now the 97-year-old Jacob receives a call back from God himself. And again, it comes with another gracious reminder of the promise of God.

I will be with you, he says. Jacob trusts and obeys. And so he begins his journey home, but it's not an easy trip. 20 years ago, his departure was filled with fear and anxiety because of what he left behind. And now the journey back is no different, but it's what lies ahead that is the cause of his anxiety.

He doesn't know what Esau's disposition is towards him. Is Esau still angry? Does he still seek his life? Sure, it's said that enough time heals all wounds. 20 years is a long time.

But was Esau one of those people who harbored anger in his heart? Was Esau one of those people who would say that time only resolved and strengthened his resolve to kill his brother? Jacob doesn't know. His fate is out of his hands. So he sends a small delegate ahead of time to Esau to tell him of his brother's noble intention of returning home.

He addresses Esau as my lord and he calls himself a servant of Esau. He even resolved to offer Esau a very generous gift of 550 animals in order to win his favor and to prove his genuineness and his genuine desire for forgiveness. All these were well-meaning by Jacob, but he'll come to realize it's grace, not gifts, that brings forgiveness. But even still, it's clear that God was working on the heart of Jacob. Jacob now is a changed man.

When the messengers returned, they informed him of his brother Esau's coming, and Esau coming with 400 of his own men. Despite having the sure word of God promising protection on several occasions, even seeing with his very eyes the company of angels on his journey, as we saw in verse 1, he's still terrified of what his brother may do. So Jacob divides all that he has, the people, the flock, all his possessions, the camels, everything, into two camps. And you heard the plan. The plan is if his brother Esau attacks one of those camps, The other has time to escape.

Possible reading of the text could suggest that Jacob was acting out of a lack of faith. And that's very possible. God had promised to bless all the nations of the world through Abraham, through Isaac, and through now, Jacob. And he wasn't about to jeopardize that promise from being fulfilled. Does that mean that Jacob's plans were rooted in unbelief?

possibly, but not necessarily. He may have been acting wisely with the variables at play and the limited information that he had at his disposal. Trusting God doesn't mean we sit on our hands and turn off our brains. Planning is not necessarily a lack of faith. But we do know, we do know that whatever plans we have, they must not be a substitute for our trust in God.

Ultimately, God promised that he will protect Jacob and Jacob is expected to trust the will of God and the promise of God and walk in that trust wisely. And it seems to me from Jacob's prayer that we have in our passage this morning that he was indeed trusting God. He comes to the Lord and he supplicates his needs. He confesses his fears to the one who is able to protect him. Not only is he showing dependence upon God, but the content of his prayer is also telling of his spiritual condition.

Formerly known for his deceit and selfish scheming to get what doesn't belong to him, thus his name, Jacob, he now acknowledges that all he has he is unworthy of, crossing the Jordan with only the shirt on his back and the staff in his hand. And yet the abundant blessings that he sees before him, he says, are all a result of God's love and God's faithfulness. If you keep reading this prayer, you'll realize that God is transforming this man. He's giving him a true humility. and is giving him a concern, not for only himself, which we've come so used to seeing, but indeed, he's actually giving him a concern for others, the mothers and the children that he prays for.

God is concerned to make his people holy. Finally, he recalls in his prayer God's covenant promise towards him. Not because God needs to be reminded of the promises that he gives, not at all, but I think it's an act of faith. to declare that Jacob is still holding to that covenant promise. And because of this, because of this, he's able to summon the courage to make the journey back home despite what may lie ahead.

If God has promised, beloved, God will fulfill. So now after committing all things to the Lord, he sends ahead all the people, his possessions, including including the gifts of animals that he's giving to Esau, and he's done this just like he's planned. But later that night we're told his immediate family, his wives and his children, are also sent across the stream so that Jacob would stay alone. Then we come across a strange event, an event really shrouded in mystery. The text tells us that in the cloak of darkness, a man appears from nowhere and begins to wrestle Jacob.

And they wrestled all night until daybreak. Now, Jacob was a strong man, but if you've done any wrestling, even 15 minutes of wrestling, you would know that even the strongest of men would be completely exhausted. Now, wrestling all night? Jacob must have been completely exhausted, probably near death. The reader comes to know this, that his wrestle is in fact with God himself.

God appeared in human form as he's done previously in Old Testament, sometimes called the angel of the Lord. But the point here is that Jacob would not let go until he gets what he wants. And more than anything else, what he desires was that God would bless him. He puts his body on the line for that blessing. See, Hosea chapter 12 sheds some light on the situation, saying of Jacob, he strove with the angel and prevailed.

Hear this, he wept and sought his favor. You see, the all night struggle was for Jacob's benefit, not the Lord's. See, Jacob came to realize that there's nothing more valuable than to be in the favor of God and to receive the blessing from His hand. So with tears and all the strength he could muster, he would desperately seek that blessing. We are not to read this passage to assume that God wasn't strong enough.

to prevail or to overcome Jacob. Not at all. Because the text tells us upon daybreak God simply touched Jacob's side. And what happens? His socket was put out of joint.

God could have crushed Jacob in an instant. Jacob knows this. In verse 30 he calls the place Piniel because he was face to face with God and yet, what does he say? His life was spared. See, God had a purpose in his altercation and he allowed Jacob to prevail in the wrestle, not in the sense of overpowering God, not at all, but in receiving what he desired and what God had already planned to give.

His blessing. You see, Jacob's desire was what God desired first. God had already planned to bless Jacob because from his offspring, from his children, from the offspring that was from his loins, he would bring the savior of the world. The seed that would crush the head of the serpent would be born through Jacob's loins. So God had already promised to bless his offspring.

And now Jacob is seen to align his desires with that promise of God. And he becomes all so desperate. to see that promise fulfilled. So God changes his name from Jacob to Israel, from supplantor or grabber as the name means, one who uses his own ability and strength to take what doesn't belong to him. And he changes his name to Israel, meaning he strives with God.

No more will he rely on his own ability and take what does not belong to him. but rather he will be a man who strives with God, acknowledging that the only things worth having are the things that God is pleased to give. Not by coercion, not by force, this disabled man would never be able to wrestle with God again. In fact, he would never be able to wrestle with anyone in the same way again. He would come to believe as a covenant member, along with all God's people, despite his physical inability, he will continue to receive the blessings of God, but not by his own strength, because he never was by his own strength, but by grace alone.

Amen.