Life is a Journey: A Battle You Can’t Win
Notes
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The Journey of Faith has been quite a journey. We started with Abraham and a call to Faith where Abraham had his ups and downs.
Then we encountered his son of promise: Isaac which shows our journey is generational.
Now, we have been surveying the life of Isaac’s Son, Jacob.
After acquiring his older brothers birth right, Jacob fled back to the land of Abraham to find a wife and let his brother cool down a bit.
Shortly after he left he came to a place called Bethel in Genesis 28.
At Bethel, Jacob dreamed a dreamed where he saw a ladder.
At Bethel, Jacob became a son of God.
At Bethel, Jacob died to his sins.
At Bethel, Jacob left with a spring in his step.
Now, this morning we will see Jacob some 20 years later after leaving Abraham’s Family and Uncle Laban and heading back to his family, Isaac and Rebekah and Esau. Jacob has divided up his family and possessions and sent them ahead to meet and appease Esau, Jacob’s older brother. Jacob is
7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;
He prays to God.
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:
10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.
11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.
12 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.
Jacob comes to a place called Jabbock, a river that flows from Amman to join the Jordan River about 15 miles of the Dead Sea and makes camp for the night.
21 So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.
22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.
At Jabbok, Jacob will not see a ladder but will see the Lord.
At Jabbok, Jacob will become a saint of God.
At Jabbok, Jacob will die to his self.
At Jabbok, Jacob will leave limping but with a forever changed heart.
Everyone body that ever lives, needs a Bethel experience. You need a place where you met God personally and received Him as Savior and become his child.
I praise God for my Bethel, at Central MBC in Bastrop LA, at the age of nine. That sanctuary on the front pew on the left of the pulpit became my Bethel.
Unfortunately, there are many people that get saved in their journey of Faith begins but that is all there is. You know who they are. Those they are saved and are going to heaven but never become useful to God. The start with a spring in their step, forgiven of their sins, becoming a son or daughter of God, and just head out into the world. While the Bethel Experience gets you to heaven, in order to be useful for God, God needs people with a Jabbok experience.
Every believer needs a Jabbok experience. We need a place where we experience the fellowship and presence of God that changes our lives forever.
Let’s now look at this event in the Journey of Jacob’s life of Faith and see what transpired to make this type of change and difference in Jacob’s life and his relationship with God.
Jacob was All Alone.
Jacob was All Alone.
24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
add to that that he was “greatly afraid and distressed”. He has left Haran where he promised and made a covenant to never return heading back to his family and an angry brother who wanted him dead.
I would say there was a little stress in his life.
What do you do when you are afraid, stressed, and alone?
Jacob couldn’t sleep so he prayed and he prayed and he prayed.
Hosea verifies this about Jacob
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 Beth-el, and there he spake with us;
All of Jacob’s family, servants, and possessions were gone on ahead. Jacob was all alone. He absolutely nothing and was forced to face God.
How many people today structure their time to be as full as possible and stay busy?
Why do you think this is true?
I believe that when we are alone, we have to come face to face with God.
When we are busy, we can occupy our heart and our mind. When we are alone, it is easier to hear the Lord speak, because their is no distractions.
As a Christian going through this journey of life in faith, you need to have time alone with God. You can either choose to have alone time with God or God will put you alone to make time.
We should never be afraid to be alone with God. We should make arraignments to be with God.
Jesus demonstrated this in His life.
23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.
12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
It is easier when we are doing right or are ready to confess our sins rather than conceal our sins.
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
God wants us to experience peace and rest in his presence.
So, we find Jacob Alone.
Next, we find
Jacob was Alive.
Jacob was Alive.
24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man 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.
What we have in this passage theologically is an appearance of God. No one has ever seen God until He was became flesh in Bethlehem.
The only way we can see God is by looking at Jesus Christ.
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
Therefore, this is a Theophany, a pre-Bethlehem appearance of God in Jesus Christ.
Jacob is wrestling a man. Jacob wrestles this man all night long. The man seeing that Jacob was not going to quit fighting, touched him.
What is happening is an actual event picturing the fleshly nature of man.
At Bethel, we have died to sin and have been delivered spiritually, but at Jabbok, we have to die to self and be delivered physically.
Jacob, the fleshly man is representing our old sinful nature that is constantly fighting with the Lord. The old nature is sinful, stubborn, unyielding, fighting, and self-sufficient. The old man is everything that we as Saints of God should never be.
Many of you sitting out in the sanctuary this morning are constantly fighting God at every turn of your life.
God will tell you something in your life is wrong and you rebel.
God will tell you something in your life right and you rise up in defiance.
The great apostle Paul explains this dilemma in Rom. 7:15-25.
The old nature, the old man, the sinful flesh does not deserve to live. This old nature needs to be put to death or crucified.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Ask yourself right now, don’t wait till the invitation because you will occupy yourself with leaving, but right now while it is just you and God.
Ask yourself?
“Who is alive, sitting in the pew right now, Your self, your old man, or the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Do you find yourself fighting the Lord for control?
Are you stubborn when God shows you the path of your journey?
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
So, Jacob was Alone, Jacob was Alive, and lastly
Jacob was Altered.
Jacob was Altered.
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.
27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.
32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.
Notice, this night came after 20 years of patient activity by the Lord in the life of Jacob.
Instant holiness can not happen instantly!
Holiness is always a result of prayer, sacrifice, and self-denial. God is never in a hurry to bring us to the place of spiritual maturity. it is a journey. This is never more evident then in the life of Jacob.
Notice first,
Jacob was Broken.
Jacob was Broken.
Jacob is Clinging.
Jacob is Clinging.
Jacob has finally come to the place where he quits fighting. Jacob in now simply holding on.
The longer we fight, the quicker we get to a place where our fight is gone.
God knows just the right spot to touch to get your attention.
God wants us to come to a place where we end our journey of power and self-sufficiency and enters the journey of dependance upon him for everything that we need.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Not only was Jacob now clinging to God but
Jacob was Confessing.
Jacob was Confessing.
27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
Jacob was asked his name to make Jacob admit that he was a trickster, cheat, a man of guile. Jacob had to see himself as God sees him.
It is not until we are honest with ourself and honest with God that God can use any of us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Once we confess, then God will bless.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Jacob was not only a Broken man clinging to God and Confessing to God but
Jacob was a Blessed Man.
Jacob was a Blessed Man.
28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
The Jacob that left Canaan 20 years ago was a man that was capable of deceiving his brother, lying to his blind father, and cheating a crooked uncle now gets a new name. and Jacob with a new name, gets a new nature, Israel.
No more trickster but now a prince with God.
There is only one reason and one reason only that God breaks us. That reason is to rebuild us bigger and better.
Just like the potter in Jer 18 doesn’t throw away the bad clay, but he shapes us and molds us until we fit the image He desires for us to have.
God is still working on us.
It will not be until during the tribulation period that God seals that clay with the fire of his eyes as he looks into our hearts to judge our works.
13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
As long as the clay remains pliable it can be made useful. Only once it is hardened will it change no more.
Saul was broken on the road to Damascus but God changed his name to Paul and wound up changing the world for Jesus.
What do you think God could do with me and with you if we came to the place where we are totally broken and yielded before the Lord our potter.
Only when Jacob was broken was he blessed and only after being broken and blessed
Jacob was Branded.
Jacob was Branded.
31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.
32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.
Jacob had a limp.
Everywhere Jacob went, he carried the mark of God upon his body.
Later in life as he stands before Pharoah.
7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?
9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.
Even on his deathbed when he blessed Joseph’s sons.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.
What is your brand?
You should have one.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Paul had one.
17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Walking with the Lord will have you walking out of step with the world. Your life journey should be different from the world.
At Bethel, Jacob called on the Lord.
At Jabbok, Israel cleaved to the Lord.
This morning,
Will you quit fighting?
Will you quit avoiding time alone with God?
Will you Cleave and Surrender to God?
