We turn in the Bible this morning, returning after a few weeks to our study in the book of Genesis. And we come this morning to Genesis chapter 32, a very exciting passage and chapter in the book of Genesis. I think it's important to see the whole picture, so we will be considering the entirety of the chapter, all 32 verses. Let's give our attention this morning to the Word of God, beginning at verse 1. 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. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his 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 your brother Esau and he is coming to meet you, and there are 400 men with him. And 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. 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 cross this Jordan, and now I become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, 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, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 milking camels in their calves, four 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 who are these 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 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 rose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his 11 children and crossed the ford of Jabbok. And he took them and sent them across the stream and everything else that he had. 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 is 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've 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 that 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 may the lord bless the hearing of his word for the first time in the bible we have the name israel it's powerful god here changes jacob's name to israel and that is so important because future generations of israel were to to look back at jacob and see their story they were to identify with the life of jacob they were to look at their beginnings through him and understand it and think about it that's why we've been tracing the whole thing what makes it so powerful is is that it has been a wonderful story a great demonstration of god's grace in this man's life. What have you seen? A man whose name meant deceit or schemer has been running his entire life and he finds himself in bondage to this cruel man Laban outside of the promised land for all of these years. And then in the past weeks, we've been studying God bringing this man home and it's been powerful jacob's deliverance uh seeing god's great power demonstrated and it helps us to understand what salvation looks like that's been that's been the most exciting thing uh to study this is to see that it's telling a greater story it's showing us a greater story it's helping you understand the entire plan of salvation which would later unfold in israel itself when they were brought to egypt and they were put under a hard master in pharaoh and they were in bondage and god would bring them out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and god would would bring them to the sea and he would say stand still and see the salvation of your god And there would come Pharaoh right behind him, Israel, attacking. And God would confront the enemy. He's talking about that. Drown in the midst of the sea. And he would bring out Israel safe to the other side, a great crossing event. The greatest moment of the Old Testament that spoke of the cross, spoke of passing from death to life. but you see then they went out into the wilderness and they had no idea how hard it would be wilderness life's hard wilderness life is difficult wilderness life is weary wilderness life faces all sorts of challenges and that's what the nation of israel demonstrated for us that's what we understand by by israel out in the wilderness heading to the promised land god going before them god bringing them it pictures the whole life of sanctification, the whole struggle after you've come to Christ and where you're going and how he's directing life and providence, ridding every circumstance. Sometimes it's challenging. Sometimes it's very difficult. And that's what you had before you this morning. You never knew how hard it would be, did you? I mean, you really can't believe the prosperity, guys, because it doesn't fit experience, does it? It's hard. But the Lord said all the way he'd be with you. The Lord the whole way made a commitment. The Lord said, I won't leave you. I won't forsake you. What do you think that looks like? What is that lack of, I mean, not forsaking us and being with us, what do you think he's doing? You're not riding to the promised land on sofas, are you? Well, that's what's being shown to you today. What is my frustration with the Christian life? It's that I don't see the growth that I want. It doesn't seem like much is happening at all. In fact, if I looked at it and you looked at your own lives, that's your frustration. It doesn't seem like I'm really moving. You know, that's a long wilderness journey. in Israel did a lot of circling out in the wilderness. I seem to be going nowhere. But when you're able to see the whole picture and you're able to see what God is doing from beginning to the end, we learn that these figures, through these lives of people we know, we see how he is working. It's surprising. It's stunning. It's uncomfortable. In fact, you may not even understand right now, no rhyme or reason why you're stuck in the situation that you are. And yet, we have that very thing in front of us this morning, that the Lord is training this servant by the time he's done in the peaceable fruits of righteousness to those who are being trained by it. This is what we have. In chapter 32, it's a hard path of repentance. And boy, did Jacob need it. And so do you. Notice how he is working to conform him. Jacob goes on his way in verse 1, and we read that the angels of God met him. It's a really glorious opening to this scene. I don't know how much more glorious you get heading in. The angels of God met him and Jacob, as soon as he sees the angels, he yells out, this is God's camp, didn't know it, this is God's camp. And he calls the name of that place Mahanaim, which is double camp, it means double camp. In other words, Jacob is understanding not just that the promised land is guarded by angels. But Jacob has come to a realization that God has been with him. Next to him has been an entire camp. He didn't see it. An entire camp of angels was alongside of his camp. And Jacob is absolutely enthralled and overwhelmed by this truth. This is God's camp. I had no idea. What a realization, isn't it? Remember when Elisha had asked that the Lord would open his servant's eyes when the enemy was coming, and Elisha said, Lord, open his eyes and let him see. And as soon as his eyes were opened, remember what he saw. So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Jacob is getting confident. Confident in what? God's presence. Isn't that the thing? Even in Acts that was announced God's not far but that we all struggle with is God really present with me? Jacob's beginning to believe it. Jacob's seen. God's with me. I know his presence. What a perspective about life. The more that you come and know and believe, the more in confidence you begin to understand this truth. God's with you. What I love about this, as this confidence begins to build, something else begins to build. What else begins to build? build. Well, if God is for him, who can be against him, right? He had just heard Laban say, God told me not to touch you, Jacob. God had put the death fear into Laban in a dream, and they parted peacefully. It was a beautiful scene at the end of chapter 31. Well, it's fascinating here, and I begin with the question then, what is the characteristic of somebody who's walking in darkness. Peace with their neighbor has absolutely no priority. They heap up conflict. They hold grudges. They avoid. People in these situations are used to running all of their lives, aren't they? They run the other way. I mean, how easy is it when you're in conflict with someone just to turn the other way and not have to deal with them, not have to face them. You can avoid your past this way and you can do it for years. Well, something's happening in Jacob. Why do I say that? Who is on his mind? You remember what Jacob did to Esau, his brother? Boys and girls, do you remember this? He lied to his father and he cheated his brother and he hurt him and he stole from him. He took everything from Esau that mattered in life. And here's what I'm seeing as I open up Genesis 32. God's presence has changed his entire outlook on things. Verse three says he's concerned to go to the land of Seir. Why is that important? Esau's there. Esau had become this powerful lord over that entire region, the kingdom of Edom, and everyone feared Esau. I want you to notice what Jacob does here. Look at verse 3. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Sar, 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. I really wish that the translation would have preserved what the old King James had there. I want grace in your sight. Grace. He's learned it. And it's on his mind. Please, Esau, show it to me. I want to make this right. Here's what gets me. Mount Seir was not on the way. Mount Seir was way off the beaten path. Jacob could have avoided this by miles. Jacob could have gone the entire different way, couldn't he? jacob after all these years goes there and he sends all these blessings ahead of him he sends all these blessings when years ago these were the very things these were the very things he had stolen what was promised to remember the right of the firstborn what's he doing He's giving it back Asking for grace He knows what he deserves Jacob has cheated his brother And it's fascinating because In God's election He had chosen Jacob to be the one who would inherit the blessing But notice the reversal here on Jacob's part This is what's always stunned me about this chapter. I thought, how many different ways could you go with this? And I only keep coming back to the single great answer to this. Notice what he says. Say to my Lord Esau. That is a title for somebody in way greater position. He puts himself in subjection. And you stand back from this and you look at this and you say, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You can't do that. This is all yours, Jacob. He doesn't deserve this. Esau's a crazy man. How could you humble yourself like that? I mean this. How could you put yourself and humble yourself like that to that kind of degree before this worthless man? And here's what gets me. God will not let this child rest and come home until he's reconciled with his brother. He doesn't enter, he doesn't come home until he reconciles with his brother. You know God even calls you to do that and love your enemy. the more I consider this and I see it so much on the pages of Scripture all over the place. This is the great test of wilderness life. This is the great test of sanctification. You can talk all you want about being sanctified. This is it. This is where the rubber meets the road. It's fascinating. As we look at this and we consider all that is happening here, what is motivating Jacob to this? God dropped a ladder to him years ago. Remember that? God drops this ladder to him and blesses him when Jacob had never asked for it and Jacob had been running and Jacob had been a schemer ultimately to his God And God didn't treat him in response as he should have. God dropped the ladder in grace to him and said, I'll be with you and I'm bringing you home. And it's that kind of gospel. It's that kind of understanding when it really penetrates the heart that begins to bear fruit in somebody's life. The response first is, why do you love a worm like me? And you'll see that in his prayer. Your life no longer becomes about you. It no longer becomes about rights. It no longer comes about pushing your agenda. It no longer comes about even your name. We'll look at that here in a minute. Something has taken hold of you. When you've known forgiveness, some kind of fruit's coming out. Your outlook on people. Your outlook on your past. You're not looking at people the same way. Your values change. And then you have to make right what's wrong. That's what you have here. That's what you have in Genesis chapter 32. He goes far out of his way to restore and to seek reconciliation. And you asked the question this morning, initially, do you have anyone who you need to go and do this with, just to be very plain and direct? The Lord says, go. Go out of your way. do it. Anyone who has hurt you or you have hurt, anyone whom you have sinned against, this is your path. Now, Jacob does everything he can next to compensate for the wrong. Notice this, he's restoring the blessing, and 550 animals are then given 550 animals are given and and who does this sound like lord the half of my goods i give to the poor and if i've defrauded anyone of anything i restore it for full Zacchaeus so what happens well in verse six this is what we read and the messengers returned to jacob saying we came to your brother Esau and he's coming to you to meet you and there are 400 men with him and Jacob falls into just panic I mean just panic the very last words we ever heard from Esau in this section was I will kill him at the right time I will kill him 400 men was an army now how's that for doing what's right whole thing's backfiring and isn't that just what you fear in going to make right with somebody who you've been in major conflict with you fear there's no way it's going to work damage has been done pride is too great past is not forgotten people always say it we don't forget we don't forget now what was jacob used to doing in these kind of moments running running the other way that's been his whole life his whole life has been running the other way when the going gets hard what does he do now i think what moves me as we continue to study this path and what's beginning to happen in him What have you been missing the entire time in a study of the life of Jacob? Prayer. Completely absent. It would be interesting to think about how much is prayer integral to you in your life. On the way home, we have the first recorded prayer of Jacob in the whole Bible. Jacob has been confronted with the situation he has no way out of I mean there is no way out of the situation behind him was Laban this has not been easy behind him came Laban that was resolved by God's great intervention and now Esau's coming with a 400-man army and you see what the Lord is showing you the Lord is showing you here Jacob had no idea how present God was he had struck fear into Laban Laban doesn't touch him and what had Jacob just observed at the beginning of this chapter angels are surrounding him they're encamped around him I often think that if I live that way and actually believe that how much more boldness would I actually have how much more would I pursue satan this was the great complaint of against god when satan referenced job remember that have you not put a hedge around him you keep hedging your people you keep putting hedges around him and his house all around the house he has on every side and you keep blessing the work of his hands. You keep encamping around your people. Pull it away. Pull it away. You'll see what happens. You know, he does that. The angel of the Lord, Psalm 34, encamps around those who fear him. The Jews were so mesmerized by this. I went back and looked at one of their old writings, And it's fascinating what they regarded as history, what they believed happened when Esau came with his 400-man army, what the Jews believed had actually happened. Let me read this to you. And the Lord sent three angels of the angels of heaven, and they went before Esau and came to him. And these angels appeared unto Esau and his people as 2,000 men, riding upon horses furnished with all sorts of war instruments. And they appeared in the sight of Esau and his men to be divided into four camps with four chiefs to them. And the camp ran towards Esau and his people and terrified them. And Esau fell off the horse in alarm. And the whole camp cried out and said, Surely we are servants of Jacob, who is the servant of God, and who can stand against us. And when Esau beheld the evil which the four angels had done to him and to his men, he became greatly afraid of his brother Jacob, and he went to meet him in peace. Now, I have no idea if that's true, but I'd love for it to be true. But I believe the spirit of that is right. Verse 9, Jacob prays, O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said, 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 of all the faithfulness that you've shown to your servant. For with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I've become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, 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. Lord, I'm not worthy of any of this. But you made a promise. And you said you would deliver me. And you said you'd bring me in and it would be like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. You said you would do that. You know those same promises the New Testament says are for you? I'm always amazed that in Galatians and Ephesians, they're making the great point that the same promises that were ultimately made to Father Abraham are yours. And do you see what you do in times of distress? You go to him and you pray to him and you explain the distress and you tell him, you tell him, Lord, you made a promise to me that you would keep me and provide for me and bring me home. Answer me. Jacob sets all of this present for Esau, these animals in these droves to come and appease him, first one and then the second one and he's gonna make all the reparation he needs to make. So he arises in the night and he even sends his wives and female servants and his sons away from him. Everyone is away from him And here's the picture that you have at this moment. He is completely alone. Total blackness. Everything's taken. All he knows is this fear that is in front of him. He's asked God for help. You ever felt alone? Of course you have. You have no control over you, the situation. But at least now, in this kind of situation, and you realize that if the what if happened, the thing that you fear the most, which is what drives us in fear, all the what ifs. If this happens, if this happens, if this happens, then it will, if the worst possibility plays out, it will absolutely ruin me. He's just prayed. If your son was out there in the wilderness and he was alone and you knew you had a son that was a rebel and you were praying to God and you knew people were in his life hurting him, what's the last thing you'd want for him? More problems. More conflict. Why make it harder than it already is for the rebel son? What do you think you'd need from God at this moment? Well, I think I'd need some help, right? I think I'd need some help. I think I'd need a rescue plan. Everything's gone wrong. You're alone. You're terrified. You're in the wilderness in the middle of the night. Verse 24. Then Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. He's all alone, blackness of the night, scared. Somebody lays hold of him and physically assaults him. Have you ever been grabbed in a back alley in the middle of the night? Well, neither have I, but I don't want to be. If a spider jumps on me, I fall apart. Can you imagine this? Somebody's trying to kill him. And I'm sure it's crossing his mind. This is Esau. It's got to be Esau. He found me. He broke through the camps and he got to me. Well, then it's on. I'm no pushover. This is no playground squabble, by the way. They are duking it. They are hitting. They're shoving. This is a seven-hour fight. You ever been in a seven-hour fight? I haven't either. imagine the thirst imagine the pain after seven hours of this knock down drag out rolling fight in the middle of the black wilderness with somebody he has no idea of who it is the guy reaches out his hands and touches his hip socket and dislocates it just a touch and the imagery you have is all he can do I haven't had my hip socket dislocated, but I hear that's awful. All he can do is cling. Look at the imagery. All he can do is hold on to this man, whoever it is. This is a battle for his life. At this point, he knows it's not Esau because no man has the ability with a mere touch to dislocate a socket. I'm not letting you go unless you bless me. Whoever this is, he's not breaking the embrace. What's your name? In the biblical world, when somebody asks you your name, everyone knew this. It's a character definition. In other words, you're saying something about yourself. Don't forget the scene. He has nothing. Everything's gone. All of his valuables, all of his children, all of his wives should be one. Stripped of everything. And now this man attacks his name. Assaults his name. I remember my grandmother when she was on her deathbed. She was a great example to me all of her life. she had never been through any kind of hardship. And she loved things, and she would say that. At the end of her life, everything had been stripped. No money. She'd been healthy her entire life. She's in her deathbed. She has no health, no money. It was all out of control of family now. Moved out of her home. She lived in all of her life. Everything was gone. And I remember her saying to me, I'm sick with how I'm handling this, but it's all been ripped away from me. I had a carefree life. I had a smooth life. And at the end, I'm getting taken down. Best place she could have been. I'm Jacob. I'm a schemer. I'm deceitful. My whole life's been a lie. And right then and there, he gives them a new name. Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel. For you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed. That is grace. There's irony in this. It's kind of confusing. At the lowest point of his life, you're Israel. Taken down, boxed down, wrestled down, all enemies coming at him. No strength, no wealth, no hips even to walk. All he can do is cling. There's a lot of debate over the name Israel. It can be that God here is the subject of the verb. And if that's the case, what it means is God prevailed. what does the name mean? Israel means God contends or God prevails. Isn't that the story of his life? Isn't that the struggle of a life with a sinner that he's committed to the whole way through? If he ever started the project and stopped, be over. Be over. Be over. Took everything from him, changes his name, whoever walked up to you and changed your name you know this is no mere man at this point no one does that if i walked up and said hey mr de young pete de young i'm giving you a new name today you'd think i'm a wacko christ changes his name do you see what it tells you if you're a child of god he's prevailing to bring an end to you You know, you have to die. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be what? Done away with. So that we should no longer be enslaved to sin, no longer mastered by it, dominated by it. He's shattering that. He's killing you. For the one who has died has been set free from sin. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe we shall also live with him. God prevails in changing and transforming sinners' lives so that they come to an end of themselves and are brought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ. All he can do is cling. Jacob's whole life has been struggle with men, struggle with brother, struggle with deceiving father, struggle with deceiving Laban, conflict, conflict, conflict, conflict, and all of this running had only brought him in self-sufficiency, misery, and finally now, no strength in himself, he's clinging to Christ, and God gives him a new name. The nations, Isaiah 62, shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give you. I close with this. When he does this, you know what he's assaulting in you? The area of your pride. Jacob had walked whatever he wanted. Sounds like Peter. You walked and you did this, and you walked and you did that. He assaulted Jacob's socket so that now he walks with a what? A big limp. Wouldn't have been pretty. You ever seen people with big limps? Tough. The rest of his life, he's walking with a limp. And that is to show to everyone around you that you're no longer going in your own strength. The only thing you have left when you've been brought to an end of yourself is to cling to Jesus Christ. And when you're weak like that, when you're limping like that, when the source of your pride has been attacked and assaulted and been dislocated, guess what begins to happen? The power of Christ shines in you. Remember he said that, Paul? I have this thorn in the flesh I've asked the Lord to take it away but he didn't but he said my power sufficient Paul for then when you're weak you are strong as one pastor said the posture of a Christian is a limping one not walking in your own strength but Christ's do you need to reconcile with someone today? God has called you to go through Sarah In the next scene, he will talk to Esau with that limp. Let the world see it. They may mock you and think you're weak. It's okay. You are going in Christ's strength. And remember, the weaker you are in that kind of position, there the power of Christ rests upon you. What a glorious message today for us to take and to think about this new life and to think about what he's doing and what the whole picture looks like. Let's give him glory in prayer. Heavenly Father, we bow the head and we give you praise that the work you begin, you will see the completion. And we fully recognize that in our hard, stubborn hearts that are often very, very, very deceitful, we don't want to walk this path. we want to run and do whatever we want to do in a far off land and we think we'll find happiness there but we're so thankful that when you started this journey with Jacob you said you would bring him home and we see what that looks like without you we cannot do anything we are so thankful that Christ comes and dislocates our lives and gives us a new name and as we receive that today oh Lord and we hear that truth, may we be thankful that we, your people, are called the Israel of God. We are Israel. And that all by your grace. Thank you for prevailing over our lives. Give us the faith to believe this to see that you will complete the work that you started. In Jesus' name, amen.