If you are visiting this morning, we are currently in the Escondido URC working through the book of Genesis, and this morning we come to chapter 33. We've made it a long way in our study in Genesis. Only five more years to finish, but that's okay. Chapter 33 this morning, first book of the Bible, and we will consider the entirety of the chapter. Let's give our attention this morning to the word of the Lord. And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel, and the two female servants. And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother. but Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him and they wept and when Esau lifted up his eyes he saw the women and children he said who are these with you Jacob said the children whom God has graciously given your servant then the servants drew near they and their children and bowed down Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last, Joseph and Rachel drew near and they bowed down. Esau said, what do you mean by all this company that I met? Jacob answered, to find favor in the sight of my Lord. But Esau said, I have enough, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself. Jacob said, no, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God and you have accepted me. Please accept my blessings, my blessing that is brought to you because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have enough. Thus he urged him and he took it. Then Esau said, let us journey on our way and I will go ahead of you. But Jacob said to him, my Lord knows that the children are frail and the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me if they are driven hard for one day all the flocks will die let my lord pass on ahead of his servant and i will lead on slowly at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children until i come to my lord and sarah esau said let me leave with you some of the people who are with me but he said what need is there let me find favor in the sight of my lord so esau returned that day on his way to Ser. But Jacob journeyed to Succoth and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore, the name of the place is called Succoth. And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan Aram. And he camped before the city. And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent there he erected an altar and called it el elohi israel may the lord bless the hearing of his word the biblical authors were completely honest incredibly honest not to paint the christian life in progress of holiness too bright lest they should cover over the real experience of believers we have to remember that in all this discussion of sanctification today i worry about it that we're going to paint it too bright i've often thought about what jesus said to peter remember what jesus asked peter when he said peter do you love me and i've never quite known what to do with the different use of words there but it is something it is something that different words of love are used and there's a play on that and i believe that what's essentially peter is describing there is something very real that he does love his lord that he loves him deeply but he cannot use the same word that jesus uses of love because he knows he hasn't demonstrated it remember he said i'm not going to deny you lord and soon he found himself with no strength denying him three times he wanted to love christ he wanted to follow christ and yet so shortly after he found himself cursing and in denial of his lord it's actually the phenomenon of romans 7 that the things that i want to do i don't find myself performing it's your struggle well this morning you're shown you're shown this in genesis chapter 33 we're shown what the life of sanctification is like and what we face with all of the ups and downs of it and there are major ups and there are major downs oftentimes you're going to feel that it's way more down than up and the passage here is given for many different reasons but one of those is that we would not lose heart in the struggle in the stumble the lord is showing us he's with us he's he's helping us understand the christian life he's he's putting on display servant to show what this is like the mystery of what we call sanctification and it is a mystery when we experience the joys of it and the next moment stumble in those low moments the lord is saying i want you to look at these figures they had the same experience they had the same life they had the same struggle and christ wants you to know that he's with you to the close of the age and that he encourages you not to lose heart when the wilderness journey is incredibly difficult difficult and that's what you see with jacob and shockingly that even when jacob massively fails in this chapter nothing changes the lord's still with him the lord's still bringing him home the lord's still completing the work that he started so this is what we have this morning jacob is is being brought home jacob is being brought back he's being brought back to the land and that's why we sang in that psalm that the Lord's going to bless us he's going to bring us to the land and there was this need though in the life of Jacob that needed to be dealt with that's what we see here in Genesis chapter 23 all of you have something that needs to be dealt with and you might not like it you might be troubled by it it's easy to pick at everyone else and not realize what you have going on in your heart well that's this the wilderness journey of sanctification the lord gives you a window into it to see how he's working in you to see how he's working in his people and what he desires and you should ask as you look through this so you look through the lens of these people like you how does my life what does my life say with regard to the life of jacob what does it show are these things happening what do i learn from this life and how much do i value what god is plainly inspired this is his will your sanctification what was the issue that needed to be dealt with you all know it what did jacob do remember boys and girls what did jacob do well you heard it in esau's cry years ago years ago he had done something terrible to his brother remember what esau said is he not rightly named jacob schemer deceitful for he has cheated me these two times he took away my birthright and behold now he has taken away my blessing father if you not reserved a blessing for me what an awful thing to do to your brother i mean this is just dog eat dog it's amazing we look at this and say you know what a sad thing when brothers don't get along and i i've been um pastoring now for long enough to see that this is this is we often hear brothers and we think of of spiritual brothers brothers in the lord but i'm amazed at how common this is with physical brothers almost to illustrate the problem it is so real it is so alive i remember having to break up a fight at the funeral of a of their mother of two brothers i had to stand in the middle break it up they were ready at 65 years old to duke it out i remember two brothers in business with each other and the one had greater ownership in the business and the other simply to have the best interest for his sons, simply fired his other brother. Left him cold and with no job. This stuff happens all the time. And the phenomenon is constantly at play in the life of real people. People here. This stuff goes on. And the imagery we have here is that as God is bringing His servants home, as God is bringing them back to the land, as God is delivering them, first things first, right? What do you see here? Well, this path home tells us a lot about Christian life. Brotherly conflict, unresolved, is indicative of another conflict that's not resolved. What do I mean? The text wants you to think about the order of everything that has happened here the scripture here that something else needed to happen but what was it god had told him to come home god had said come home jacob remember what happened something was burdening jacob on the way home it was his brother esau you're starting to see that this righteous life that god desires the things of of esau or jacob are really now becoming what the lord desires He's experiencing this. But Mount Seir was way out of the way. Mount Seir was way off the beaten path toward home. I mean, it would have been nice to take that road and not have to go there. But you know, it's fascinating. There's a spiritual necessity here in the life of Jacob that he knows he has to go there. He has to restore the relationship. He has to reconcile. well he pursues this remember last time he pursues this and the first thing that comes out in this text is what the text is is is building to let you step into this and to feel this feel this as soon as jacob had sent the messengers and they return what is the message that comes back esau's coming 400 men are coming with him that's an army the text wants you to think This is not a casual ride to come meet him. Esau is coming on the warpath. Now Jacob falls into absolute despair. I mean, this is a big moment in the life of Jacob. And remember what he did last time. He began to put everyone else in front of him. Remember? He puts all these flocks, and even his wives were sent off, but they were put in front of him. he's at the very rear of this whole entourage that's going to meet esau all of these flocks and the hope was in all of this is that you know hopefully esau will see all of this and he'll see that these gifts that i'm going to give him and he'll be pacified hopefully that will seal the deal hopefully that will make it right if i just give him something i admire that because you know the man is really trying to make what was wrong right but something else was still wrong i want you to think of the two scenes that are together here in genesis 32 and 33 he cries out to the lord for deliverance in prayer and what do you expect the deliverance to be remember he says oh lord deliver me from the hand of esau that's back in chapter 23 it was this power 32 this powerful prayer and he's asking the lord to intervene in this situation he's asking the lord to deal with this situation he's asking the lord to intervene and to deal with something he can't deal with he can't face it so what happens lord deliver me from esau he's in the wilderness it's black it's the middle of the night he's alone there's no one with him he's absolutely terrified he can't see a thing and all of a sudden someone grabs him remember and this person takes him down and seven hours this is a seven hour knockdown drag out fight they are rolling around in the wilderness in the middle of the night a wrestling battle that lasted seven hours and in the course of this battle this man takes his hand and he grabs his hip socket and immediately it dislocates and shrinks and by the time it's done this man assaults his name and his name is completely changed from Jacob to Israel this is fascinating isn't it he then makes Jacob confess remember his name as he changes it but I believe the text is wanting you to see something before Jacob meets his brother Esau. We focused on, in our lives, we constantly focus on as pastors reconciliation with brothers. We focus on reconciliation with those who you are in conflict with. And I think about how big a theme this is in the scriptures and how much I've had to address it in my time as a minister. It's over and over and over. It's all over the place. But isn't it fascinating here? Jacob is crying out in fear of his brother. We think, oh, what terrible things this man has done to his brother. But where has been the reconciliation with his God? That's what I want you to think about. Where has been the reconciliation with his God? He needed deliverance from somebody else first. Oh, that's such an important point. How do I emphasize it this morning? He never asked for it. Save me from Esau. What about save me from you, O Lord? We don't think like that. We don't have any kind of fear of God that way. Jacob had been running his entire life from the Lord and God took him down in the wilderness and God comes and this is grace. Oh, it's crippling grace. It's not the kind of grace we would ever want or we would ever ask for, but it's a salting, crippling grace so that Jacob could do nothing and by the end of it, what is the imagery you have? The man can only cling. His hips are out. When your hips are out, all you can do is hold on and that's the imagery. He locks up to this man and he won't let go. And that's where the Lord wants us. lower and lower and lower, humble and a death to your old self. You see, that's Christianity. That our Lord's desire for you, everyone talks about the will of God for your life. Let me tell you what the will of God is for your life. That you would be killed. That your old man would be put away with. and that you'd be raised up brand new. And that's Christianity. Christianity says when you become a Christian, you're no longer, I mean, think about Heidelberg 1. What is the first thing Heidelberg 1 says about us, which is right out of the scriptures? You are no longer your own. You're bought. He put an end to you. And now you're to honor God with your body. Jacob, you're no longer Jacob. Your name is Israel. You think about something like 2 Corinthians 5 and look at how much the Scriptures, I mean, you know the Holy Spirit's the author of this. Who could put all this together like this? Listen to this. If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. Think of Jacob. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now, all things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ. That's who took Jacob down in the wilderness. Now, applying this can get a little tough. In my time as a pastor, let me just use an example. And there are so many I could use. But I've heard many tell me about young people in the church who party and drink. And I've heard about this and I hear about it and I've heard it over my years. You know, when I was a teacher at Central Valley Christian, you know, all that was going on and, you know, there were even drugs involved and, you know, you can't be just put your head in the sand on this stuff. It goes on. And, you know, parents would often come to me, if it's a parent who cares and doesn't just say, oh, it's just the wild oats kind of thing. If it's a parent who really cares and is godly, the parent falls into despair over this stuff. And inevitably, they plea with their children. They say, listen, you're not living the way that you should be living. And you know, I've seen, and I know that it's easy to do as a pastor, you pull out the rod and you hit hard. And you call out and you say, you know, if you ever hear this stuff at the Christian school, you say, you young people, you knock it off. How do they respond to that? They get ticked. Well, what if I said this morning a different approach may be necessary? That's not their greatest need to knock off the behavior. A hardened life of young people in those kind of things tells you they need something much more drastic. They need life. What do they need? Something you can never do. Something you can never produce. Something they can never overcome. Because let's face it, we'll look at this tonight with worldly wisdom. You can't tell somebody who has no value for spiritual things to value those things when you got the allure, especially of Southern California. You have to ask the Lord to take them down. You see, that's what happened to Jacob. you have to ask the Lord to bring an end to their old man. You have to ask the Lord to intervene and raise them brand new so that now what begins to happen? Well, this is the life of the Christian. He may still try to flirt with those things and do those things, but the born-again man is never happy in him. He's immensely troubled in his soul, in his conscience, when he's out doing those things and he knows, I'm offending the Lord. The Lord's spirit is in that man. The Lord's spirit is in that young person. And they're just great conviction. The dead one doesn't care. And you're asking the Lord, Lord, intervene. Raise them brand new. Take them down and give them a new name. Give them the desire that you desire so that when that desire then comes out, they're not defined by their own old self-desires. That's what old self-desires define people today. they're pushing that on us you don't define yourselves that way you lose that as a christian i'm now just defined by every thought being brought in the captivity to the obedience of christ that's new life now here's the power of this jacob may see he needs to be reconciled with his brother but he didn't see first how much he needed to be reconciled with his god he may cry out in fear of esau but there's been no cry out in fear that his life has been seriously offensive to god and here's what amazes me the whole time god's been with him what is our thought of god angry tyrannical god's been with them the whole time god has led him the whole time god has not departed with him from him the whole time and this is the beauty of this is that in this passage god lays hold of him think of the imagery he grabs him jacob never reached up for god and they met in the air that is what what word do i give it hogwash he grabbed him have we been taken down there really will be no interest in the things of christ until you're taken down and that he kills the old and raises up new i have no idea the exact moment jacob was justified but the passage is making something clear for us as we study the life of somebody once somebody is justified you notice here what's happened there's a reconciliation that has to occur at some moment in life and then the righteous life that he desires springs out You can't get there until that. That's what Jesus said to Nicodemus. You've got to be born again. Jacob had to see that his greatest opponent was who? The Lord. It was his God that he had been rebelling against all his life. It was his God that he sat dead to. That's always the message of Scripture. You're running around. You're doing your own will. You're a self-made man. You're angry. You're in conflict with everyone. You're bitter at everyone. You don't like people. everything under the sun, that means you've got a bigger problem. Your ultimate conflict is not with the one who can kill the body. Your ultimate conflict is with one who can kill the body and soul in hell. And the beauty of Genesis 32 is God has the power to do that, to raise you up. He descends upon us. He drops a ladder to us and he overcomes us that we might enjoy now reconciliation and that we might know that he is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then you don't go forth anymore in your power. You go forward in the Christian life with a what? A limp. You're limping the rest of the way. And you think, well, that's tough. I don't want to limp. I don't want to have a thorn in the flesh. I don't want to suffer. And the Lord says, no, but that's where strength is. That's where my power's resting on you. I cripple you with grace. And then your life begins to root away from you so that your greatest struggle now is over with. With you and God, there's peace. And then as you begin to lose yourself, the righteous life that He desires begins to follow. Of losing of all that used to be what you valued. 400 men now are coming at Jacob. 400 men. What does he do now? I want you to know it's a shift in the text to show you after he'd been taken down that something did happen. Look at verse 1. Look at verse 1 of chapter 33. And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked and behold Esau was coming and 400 men with him. Now being given a new name. Remember what he did the first time he heard Esau was coming? He hid at the back of the ranks. I want you to notice now. He'd even put his wives in front of him. Now what does he do? He divides them. He puts up Rachel and Joseph, who? Last. And in verse 3, he crosses over before all of them. Who's at the front? He is facing his foe in limping confidence. Now, they haven't seen each other in 20 years. 20 years. he had done horrible things to esau esau wants to kill him remember the last thing that that genesis said is that esau consoled himself by saying when i see him i'll put him out i'm killing jacob prays to the lord god deliver me i believe at this point the holy spirit is showing us something here and then the narrative is directly provocative what do i mean by that at first it says 400 men are coming and if you read that right you should say uh-oh jacob not gonna go well god takes him down dislocates him and you read now as soon as esau sees jacob the most surprising response in the world is given to you he comes running now who's running esau and esau embraces him falls on his neck and kisses him and they wept notice the shift well what just happened god turned his heart you ever been in conflict with someone and you think it just can't work he prayed deliver and look at the turn of heart that's what he did with Laban scared him all over the Psalms I cried to my Lord with my voice and he heard me he gave me deliverance here's what gets me Esau's language is the very same sentence almost verbatim as the father of the prodigal son who received back the young prodigal remember look at it esau ran embraced him fell on his neck and kissed him let me quote luke 15 but when he was still a great way off the father saw him had compassion ran fell on his neck and kissed him see how he holds the heart it's almost as if caught is showing us through esau how he receives somebody who comes home limping jacob says to esau and he says this in verse 10 i as i see your face it's as though i see the face of god you say what in the world you don't want to associate those two but the spirit wants you to see something here. He wants you to look at Esau, how Esau's responding, and this is why I believe it should say grace in the translation. It is theological. Jacob's looking at the whole scene with Esau and seeing the grace of God. You have shown grace to me. It's the same word. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. That has to get in your heart. It's not just favor. It's grace. That's what God's done for you. And that's what he sees playing out in life now. He sees God at so control of all of life. That's what he's looking at. God has been so good to him. Jacob bows seven times and he gives back the blessing. It's just beautiful. In fact, it's so powerful, the Jewish rabbis didn't even want to accept that Israel could be reconciled with Edom. You know what they said? How could you reconcile Israel and Edom? They said in some of the Jewish midrashes, they changed the words, And they said this, they said, and he kissed him, they changed the words to, and he bit him. Sounds like a Tyson-Holyfield fight. God gives the real picture of the Christian life, doesn't he? When you're reconciled to God, look what begins to happen. Let me say that again, when you're reconciled to God, look what begins to happen. Reconciliation with God, peace with God, and with men. That's how he's working. The Lord wants you to see this, that this is one of the greatest joys and happinesses that he'll give you in this life. Do you know that? You think you're happy in other things. Let me tell you what is one of the greatest joys and happinesses in life. I've tasted this. I've enjoyed this. I love this. It's reconciling grace with God and with men. people who remain unreconciled to their brethren are miserable because they're unreconciled to God. And they don't like people. And that's the consequence of an unreconciled life. But here the Lord says, I want you to taste and see this. I want you to see real joy in this life. I want you to see the kind of righteous life that I desire. I want you to see and taste what it's like. Here it is. I realize this at Synod, by the way. I had kind of a bitter attitude towards Synod. You get all these ministers together and you think they're just going to fight. And that's all based upon stupid internet disputes. I mean, the internet has really taken us backwards in learning how to interact with people. And the rhetoric on the internet is absolutely wicked. And then you see these people face-to-face and you talk to these people and even reconciliation, which I got to experience with a brother at Synod, You know what I saw? A person with emotions. Notice how when Jacob and Esau finally see each other face to face and they're focused on each other, it all breaks down and your entire perception begins to change. And that's the blessing as you mend that up and you reconcile that up. That's a great joy that he gives you in this life. You leave from there and you're just happy. I mean, you're singing the happy song, whatever that is. And you say, I don't know how to get there with a brother. I love what Anthony Burgess once said. Praying for one another will ease differences, jealousies, and suspicions. It will make the godly of one heart and mind. If you find yourself thinking how poorly a brother has treated you, pray for that man. It will immediately quiet those winds and waves. I have found that to be so true. Pray for him. Now, the first scene is beautiful and I'm going to close with this today. Jacob said, No, if I found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God and you're pleased with me. See it? Verse 11, Please take my blessing. It's complete reversal. He had stolen. He gives it back. He makes restitution. he gives back everything he should have. That's the hard part of repentance, by the way. What happens at this point? Esau looks at all this blessing and he says, what is all this? It's for you. Please take it. And I pause at this point and I think, boy, Jacob has really arrived in holiness, hasn't he? This man is really sanctified, isn't he? Victorious Christian life, isn't it? And now I'm going to turn around the other way and say the exact opposite thing. And you're going to say, what? What you just said makes no sense. You're going to say that. I don't know how else to preach it. What did the Lord say to him in the last chapter? Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel. By inspiration of the Spirit, what name does he still have? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're supposed to be Israel, and the narrative keeps using Jacob. Sometimes it'll use Israel, and sometimes it'll use Jacob. It's going to do it in the strangest places. And you're going to say, I don't understand that. You will, I hope, in a minute. Verse 12. Esau says, let us take our journey. Let us go, and I will go before you. What does Jacob do? He starts lying. I don't know how else to read this. He starts scheming again, and he knew he was called back to the land. Esau's trying to pull him to Seir. Jacob's not forthcoming. In fact, what does he say? We're just too tired. You know, the animals, they're going to get hot and die. Verse 14, but then I'll tell you what, then I'll come to my Lord in Seir. No, you won't. He has no intention of going there. Esau returns to Seir, but where does he go? Verse 17, and Jacob journeyed to Succoth, built himself a house, and made booths for his livestock. Therefore, the name of the place is called Succoth, Then Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, which he came from Paddan Aram, and he pitched his tent before the city. And he bought the parcel of land, which he had pitched his tent, from the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for 100 pieces of money. And there he erected an altar and called it El Elohi Israel. Everything's wrong with this. Everything's wrong with that. God said, I'm the God of Bethel. Well, then go back to Bethel. That's the house of God. There God put the ladder back. Jacob even made a promise, I'm going to return here. And he goes and he sets up a house in Shechem or in Succoth. He just reconciles with God and then he just reconciles with his brother and in the next scene, he offends God and he offends his brother and he goes back to his old ways. I mean, you say, what in the world is going on with that? How do you preach that? It's mind-boggling. What gives? How do you feel reading that? I'll tell you. Why is that here? Because it's your life. What is your experience in the wilderness heading home? For the good that I will to do, I do not do. But the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now, what I will not to do, it's no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. You're never happy in it. You know in the next scene, you have the worst incident in Jacob's life with the Dinah incident because he stayed there. You're never happy in it. That's a true believer. but God put this here for you to show you in closing this morning that this same struggle was alive in the life of Jacob and it's the one you're all going through right now I know it I go through it when you feel like your life's up immediately the next day it's down and you do something stupid and you fall and incredible guilt comes over you and your progress and holiness I mean you just agree with the Heidelberg even the holiest in this life only make a small step in this sanctification. If that's true, you're going to go through this in life. You're going to feel like it's a giant step forward and then you're going to feel like, man, the next week it's a giant step backwards. That's the Christian life until we're home. And this is where your theology matters. This is why we've got to be people who understand theology. The beauty in all of this is this. From the beginning, God said what? I'll bring you back to Bethel. I'm not going to let you stay anywhere else. He's going to bring him back to Bethel. He's going to complete the work. And when you are reconciled to God by the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ, when you are justified by faith alone in the perfect righteousness of Christ, you are freely forgiven once and for all. It's done. You're forgiven. It's done. And you have peace with God. And I want you to know that peace is never taken from you. It's done. And when he's done that and wrestled you down and gives you a new name, and then you go on living, know this, your heart's going to waver at times. I pray it's not long. You're weak. But Psalm 103 wants you to know the Lord remembers that you are what? Dust. He knows your frame. He knows how weak you are. God never needed us in the first place. Do you realize that? If he was looking for something that he really needed, you guys wouldn't be the choice, you know. If it weren't for the commitment to his own promises, if it weren't for the commitment to his beloved son in the covenant of redemption, if it weren't for that, the commitment to his spoken word and gospel, you'd never come home. You'd stay in Succoth. You might even try to stay in Escondido, God forbid. but his eye the whole time is on his beloved son the true israel so that you might have hope and confidence today hope and confidence don't fear little flock it's my good pleasure to give you the kingdom so come to me do you believe do you trust in the lord jesus christ i want you to No, he'll take you down. He'll raise you up. He'll give you a new name. That love is unbreakable. He'll see it through to the end. But why not head home today? Why not stop running today? He is able to do all that we ask or imagine. He is able to give you peace with God and with man. Let's pray.