Jacob Wrestles with God

Genesis 32:24-32
Transformed
Jacob Wrestles With God
January 6, 2019
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
What’s the number one thing?
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1 Corinthians 10:31 NASB
31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
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January Memory Verse
John 1:1 NASB
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.
Wrestling with God
E-mail from Al:
I was a senior at MC and had been going with a girl that had graduated.
My parents asked to come over to the house on Sunday afternoon and my Mom
shared their concerns that she wasn’t God’s best for me.
I listened, prayed about it and decided to break it off.
I always thought that was a gutsy thing they did because if I hadn’t broken it off
and married her it could have caused a riff.
Two months later I had my first date with Mary Lee and all of our prayers were
answered.

Jacob wasn’t laying hold of God to gain something from Him; God was laying
hold of Jacob to gain something from him, namely, to bring Jacob to the end of
his self-dependence.
Jacob was his own adversary; but God had to wrestle him into submission to
reveal this to him.
Obviously, God could have crippled Jacob in the first minute of this contest so
why did He allow the match to go on all night long?
God wanted to show Jacob the power of his self-will.
If he didn’t know before, Jacob knew as soon as the Lord crippled him that he
was not wrestling with a mere man.
But the Lord didn’t use that power until He saw that Jacob would not yield
(Genesis 32:25).
The flesh dies hard!
Only God can crucify our flesh and until God crippled him, Jacob wouldn’t give
in.
God let him wrestle all night so that Jacob could see how strong his self-will
really was.
God wanted Jacob to confess not just his name, but his character.
He had to say, “My name is Jacob--the supplanter, the conniver, the schemer”
and only after Jacob acknowledged his character could the Lord bless him.

As Paul said, “nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:18).
Until the Lord reveals that to us (and He often has to do it through an all-night
wrestling match!) we depend more on ourselves than on Him.
God’s breaking process reveals to us the power of our flesh.
Until God breaks us, so that we walk with a limp, we have a tendency to view
Him as a benign old grandfather, nice to have around, but not very strong.
Until that time, we view obedience to God as an option available to us.
Then the lion roars and in one easy swipe, He cripples us.
We learn His awesome power, we learn that obedience is not an option; it’s our
only reasonable course of action.
Genesis 32:2
Transformed
Genesis 32:24-32 NASB
Jacob Wrestles
24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a Man (Jesus) wrestled with him until
daybreak. 25 When He saw that He had not prevailed against him, He touched
the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he
wrestled with Him. 26 Then He said, “Let Me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he
said, “I will not let you go unless You bless me.” 27 So He said to him, “What is
your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 He said, “Your name shall no longer be
Jacob, but Israel (He who struggles with God -- is God-controlled); for you have
striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked Him
and said, “Please tell me Your name.” But He said, “Why is it that you ask My
name?” And He blessed him there. 30 So Jacob named the place Peniel
(PENyul), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been
preserved.” 31 Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he
was limping on his thigh. 32 Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the
sinew (muscle) of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because He
touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.

Here at Peniel, Jacob will leave not with a spring in his step as he did when he
left Bethel, but with a limp for the rest of his life.
It was the dawning of a new day for Israel/Jacob (v. 31):
He had a new name; he had a new walk (he was limping); he had a new
relationship with God that would help him face and solve any problem.
"Okay, Lord," we say. "I understand I have to be broken that I might learn to lean
on You. But once I'm broken, can't You heal me? Once I've wrestled with You
about a certain issue, can't You make me like new again?"
We are reminded of the story of another man who was lame.
In John 5:1-18 we see that this man had laid on the deck of a pool called
Bethesda in Jerusalem, day after day for thirty-eight years, hoping against hope
that somehow, when an angel stirred the waters, he would be the first one in the
pool and would be healed.
Then, one day a young Rabbi (Jesus) came his way and asked him, "Wilt thou
be made whole?"
"I can't," he answered, "because I don't have anyone to help me into the water."
And then something amazing happened—for when the Rabbi told him to take
up his bed and walk, the once-lame man was able to do it!
"Whee!" he said. "I can walk! I can run! I can leap!"
"Hold on," said some Pharisees who had observed the scene. "It's the Sabbath
Day. You're not supposed to carry your bed on the Sabbath Day. Who told you
to do this? Who is this One Who healed you?"
"Hmm," said the newly-healed man. "I don't know. I'm just so happy to be
walking. I don't know who it was" (John 5:13).

That's the issue.
We all would like to be healed, to have the pain go away, to have the hurt be
gone, to be limp-free.
But the fact is, if that were to happen, like the lame man, we would say, "Whee!"
and we wouldn’t know Who healed us.
Therefore, the limp continues, day after day, year after year that we might lean
on Him, talk to Him, and draw strength and insight from Him which we would
never have received if we were just saying, "Whee!"
That's why Jacob's descendants would say, "To this day, we honor the fact that
our dad was a broken man. He limped through life. He leaned on God. He
wasn't Mr. Whee! But there was a richness and a depth of character that we will
honor for all our generations throughout our nation’s history."

Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, the degree to which your kids and
grandchildren see you limp through life, leaning on God and drawing from Him
strength and character and depth is the degree to which they will value your
legacy.
They won't remember how successful you were in climbing the corporate
ladder, how big your bank account was, how skilled you were mechanically, or
how gifted you were musically.
What they will remember is what they learned as they watched you limp.
"I know I have to lean on Him," you might be saying. "But sometimes I lose my
way. Sometimes I forget. What do I do then?"
"Do this in remembrance of Me," Jesus would say to you. "It wasn't just My hip
that was dislocated. My entire body was broken for you."
Thus, it is at the Cross that I am reminded that in light of what Jesus did for me,
the pain He's allowing in my life is because He wants the very best for me.
Communion is essential because we can get mixed up; we can get confused by
pain and sadness and sorrow.
But when we come to the Lord's Table and are reminded once again of His
inexpressible love for us, we gladly exchange the leap of the lame man for the
limp of Jacob because it is in limping that we remain close to Him all the days of
our life.

Warren Wiersbe BE Series – OT – The Bible Exposition Commentary – Pentateuch.
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Jon Courson's Application Commentary Old Testament Volume 1.
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Genesis 32:24 NASB
Jacob Wrestles
24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a Man (Jesus) wrestled with him until
daybreak.

Wrestling with God and Man:
• Jacob never fought in a war, yet God called him a fighter.
• Jacob never fought against:
‒ Foreign enemies.
‒ Never defended a country.
‒ Never lifted up a weapon.
• Jacob’s battles:
‒ Were with his brother, Esau.
‒ His uncle, Laban.
‒ His four wives.
‒ But mostly Jacob fought God.
• Are we fighting God?
• God wrestled Jacob.
• God wrestles with us:
‒ He may wrestle with us before our salvation.
‒ He wrestles with us after our salvation.
‒ We wrestle with Him now over life decisions.
‒ We wrestle with Him in prayer.
‒ We wrestle with those He sends into our lives to instruct us.
Genesis 32:25-26 NASB
25 When He saw that He had not prevailed against him, He touched the socket of
his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with
Him. 26 Then He said, “Let Me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not
let you go unless You bless me.”
God could never be forced to yield to Jacob so the only hope for Jacob was to
hold desperately to Him and beg for a blessing.

In Luke 18 Jesus spoke of an unwilling judge who nevertheless aided an
importunate widow because she would not let him rest (“lest she wear me out”).
God is certainly not unwilling to bless us, but His help awaits our humble pleas –
in such a desperate condition we realize both who we are and how much we
need Him.
Jacob had wrestled and clung to everyone else for blessing: – Esau – Isaac –
Laban.
Now crippled, Jacob acknowledged his dependency for blessing was from
God.
What are we clinging to?
• The blessing to come from other people?
• Do we have an Esau or Isaac?
• Do we think our blessing will come in a relationship?
• Boyfriend?
• Girlfriend?
• Husband?
• Wife?
• Children?
• Boss?
• Do we cling to our possessions?
• Do we get our blessings from popularity?
• Do we depend on our own talents for blessing?

Why do we stop holding to God?
• Crisis?
• Broken relationships?
• Church people let you down?
• Unanswered or inadequately answered questions?
• Doubt?
• Unanswered prayer?
• We don’t feel God has come through for us?
These cause some to let go of God, but cause others to cling tighter to Him.
Prevailing in Prayer
A Topical Study of
Genesis 32:26
Many things could be said about Jacob—some good, some bad.
But one thing must be said about him, and that is this: Jacob was a man who
was able to prevail in prayer.
Of that there can be no question.
Like you, I want to see my prayer life develop and deepen.
I want to see my prayers be more effective and more impacting.
I want to be a man of prayer.
To that end, I join with the disciples who came to our Master, saying, "Lord, teach
us to pray."
They didn't say, "Lord teach us to preach."
They didn't say, "Lord, teach us to heal the sick."
They didn't say, "Lord, teach us to cast out demons."

They said, “Lord, teach us to pray” because they rightly understood that the key
to His ministry, indeed the key to His entire life was His communion with His
Father.
I'm glad the Lord doesn't simply give us theories about prayer or theological
treatises on prayer, but that He gives us stories which depict prayer, for I can
understand stories much more easily than I can theory or theology.
And here in our text is just such a story—one I have found exceedingly helpful to
see what it means to prevail in prayer.
Here's the situation: After being gone for twenty years, Jacob is headed back
home.
With two wives, eleven sons, one daughter, numerous servants, and abundant
cattle in tow, this should have been a triumphant return.
But there was a difficulty ahead, for Jacob's brother, Esau—the one he had
cheated, the one who had vowed to kill him—was on his way to meet Jacob,
accompanied by four hundred men.

Once again, fearing for his life, Jacob does a wise thing: he prays.
Notice four qualities that are essential for anyone who wants to prevail in prayer.
Four essential qualities to prevail in prayer:
1) Jacob Was Insistent in Prayer.
2) Jacob Was Persistent in Prayer.
3) Jacob Found Intimacy in Prayer.
4) Jacob Made Discovery Through Prayer.
Genesis 32:9 KJV
9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the
Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will
deal well with thee:
Genesis 32:12 KJV
And Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of
the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
Both at the beginning and at the conclusion of his prayer, Jacob is insistent in
that he says, "Lord, You are the One Who told me to go back home. You are the
One Who promised You would save my life."
In so doing, Jacob takes the promises given to him and lifts them back to the
Lord in prayer.
This is a great, great key to praying effectively.
Isaiah 45:11 KJV
11 Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to
come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye
me.

"Command Him?" you say. "That sounds an awful lot like the 'Name It and Claim
It' mentality."
No, for contextually you will see God is talking about the promises and
prophecies He had already made to the people.
Malachi 3:10 NASB
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My
house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you
the windows of Heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.
Listen to what Jesus said along the same line:
John 15:7 KJV
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it
shall be done unto you.
In other words, "If you're abiding in Me, hanging around Me, clinging to Me, you
can ask anything of Me because within you will be My Word."
What word?
2 Peter 1:4 KJV
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by
these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust.
It has been said that there are more than 3573 promises given to us in the Word.
Therefore, it is as if God says, "I want you to take these exceedingly great and
precious promises—and I want you to command Me."
George Mueller, the great prayer warrior, who founded scores of orphanages
and funded them solely through prayer said this: "I take the promises of the Word
and I argue with the Lord—not in order to convince God, but to convince
myself.”

You see, as we repeat the promises God has so graciously given to us
regarding, health, peace, salvation, understanding, guidance, direction, and
provision we are reminded of them ourselves.
Provision = pro (before) + vision (to see).
God sees what we need before we even know that we need it.
He has it in the storehouse and is just waiting for us to ask for it!
Genesis 22:14 JUB
14 And Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Shall See (YHWH-jireh).
Therefore it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
That's why we come to Bible study.
That's why we take in the Scriptures.
The Word is our storehouse inventory journal, our bank account—and we're far,
far richer than we think.
Too often, we live like spiritual paupers and we don't see blessings in our family,
for our friends, or throughout our country.
Why?
We have not because we ask not (James 4:2).
Why don't we ask?
Because we don't know what's in the Word.
We have time to study the Wall Street Journal to figure out how we should invest;
we have time to study Good Housekeeping to learn how to create a warm
home; we have time to study Parents Magazine to enhance our parenting skills
— but we fail to study the one book that contains promises concerning all of
these.

It is only as we pray the promises of God that we are able to make withdraws
from the inexhaustible resources the Lord has provided.
Jacob understood this.
That is why he was insistent in prayer.
Genesis 32:24-26 KJV
24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man (Jesus) with him until the
breaking of the day.
25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of
his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with
him.
26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee
go, except thou bless me.
From Hosea's commentary on this wrestling match, we gain further insight.
Hosea 12:3-4 KJV
3 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power
with God:
4 Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made
supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us;

When did Jacob have power and prevail?
When he "wept and made supplication."
In other words, although Jacob was the one who said, "I will not let thee go
except Thou bless me," Jacob was the one who was weeping; Jacob was the
one who was pinned.
Even though he was weeping, even though he was "losing" the match, even
though he was pinned to the ground in pain, nonetheless Jacob didn't give up.
Jacob prayed with persistence.

• Why did God wrestle Jacob?
• Why does He want to wrestle with you and me?
• For the same reason I like to wrestle with my grandsons.
It's called intimacy.
God likes to wrestle things through with me and you because He enjoys us.
It's as if He says to us, "Let's wrestle this thing through hour after hour, day after
day, even month after month because not only will you find that I'll come
through eventually—but in the process, we will develop a wonderful intimacy."
That's why the original Greek text makes it clear that we are to "keep asking,
keep seeking, keep knocking" (Matthew 7:7), for that is how intimacy is
developed; that is how prayer is answered.
• Wrestling provides unique opportunities for discovery.
• As you measure your strength against that of your opponent, as you
assume various positions and are held in numerous holds, you discover
things about yourself and your opponent you couldn’t have known
otherwise.

God invites us to wrestle with Him in order that we might discover things about
Him and ourselves we could learn in no other way.
As you wrestle in prayer, you might find that what God gives to you and does for
you is entirely different than what you expected.

Jacob asked to be blessed, instead he was broken—but the answer was better,
because our Father knows best.
This was found in the breast pocket of a Civil War soldier shot at Gettysburg:
I asked for strength that I might achieve.
He made me weak that I might obey.
I asked for health that I might do great things.
He gave me grace that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy.
He gave me poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.
He gave me weakness that I might feel a need for God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.
He gave me life that I might enjoy all things.
I received nothing I asked for.
He gave me everything I hoped for.
Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered; I am, among all
men, most richly blessed.
Keep on wrestling -- you'll have intimacy with the Lord, you'll make discoveries
about the Lord and you'll be changed radically by the Lord in the very process
of praying.

Conclusion - Two concluding applications:
1) Take time to get alone with God. It was when Jacob was left alone that
the Lord came to wrestle with him (Genesis 32:24).
The way to bring down the pride of the flesh is to draw near to God.
When you get alone with the Lord, ask Him to break you of your sinful
self-dependence, and then cling to Him in your brokenness until He
blesses you.
When He breaks us and prevails over us, then He will allow us to prevail
over our problems.
2) Use your victories which come out of God’s breaking you, to teach others.
When Jacob’s family asked him why he was limping, he could have
concealed the lesson to save face: “Just a little arthritis, I guess.”
But he was willing to let us in on what he learned.
In verse 32, Moses explains a Hebrew custom which even continues to this
day among orthodox Jews.
They do not eat the sinew of the hip of animals because that is where God
touched Jacob.
That custom should serve as an object lesson to God’s people of the truth
Jacob learned, that God breaks us of our self-dependence so that He can
bless us.
As the Lord teaches that to you, pass it on to others.
Your greatest problems can become your greatest victories if, when God
breaks you, you cling to Him.

Sunday
http://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.YeZK4m9R0ZovA7PRca4vag&pid=15.1
Genesis 33:1-15
Reconciled
Jacob Meets Esau
January 13, 2018
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16 NASB
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 14:6 NASB
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father but through me.”
Romans 3:23 NASB
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a NASB
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to pay the
penalty for our sins.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death explained in
Revelation 21:8.
Revelation 21:8 NASB
8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and
immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the
lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Romans 6:23b NASB
23b but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 5:8 NASB
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us.
Revelation 21:7 NASB
7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be
My son.”
• Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be overcomers.
Romans 10:9-10 NASB
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that
God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person
believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in
salvation.
Romans 10:13 NASB
13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Have questions?
Would you like to know more?
Please, contact First Baptist Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or
http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/

Jacob Wrestles with God

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