Wrestling with God

Introduction

Well, good morning!

If you have a Bible, go ahead and open it with me to Genesis 32…This morning we’re gonna pick up in verse 22.

Now, if you’ve been walking with us through this series, you know we’ve been following Jacob’s story. He’s tricked his brother Esau, he deceived his father Isaac, he ran from his family, he worked for years under his uncle Laban, and somehow — through all the mess we read about — God’s hand, its been steady on Jacob’s life.

We’ve watched God as He’s patiently shaped Jacob. He’s been teaching him to stop living by manipulation and to start living by faith. And now, here in Genesis 32, Jacob’s on the edge of something huge. He’s about to face his past — the brother he wronged, the pain he caused, the fear that’s haunted him for decades…Remember Esau, he’s coming at him with 400 men, right?

But listen, before he can face Esau, he has to face God. Before there’s reconciliation, there has to be transformation.

And this is where we find him — alone in the dark. His family’s across the river. His plan, its set in motion. But something happens here to Jacob that he never expected: God shows up. Not with thunder and lightning. Not with a sermon. But with a struggle.

God literally wrestles Jacob through the night.

Now, I know that sounds strange — why would God wrestle with Jacob? Why not just speak to him like He did with Abraham or Isaac? Why not just bless him and move on?

Here’s why: because Jacob’s not just wrestling a man — he’s wrestling with grace itself. He’s struggling to believe that God could bless him—not because of what he’s done, but in spite of it. We saw a little bit of that last week in his prayer.

He’s not questioning God’s ability (he’s seen it time and time again)…Jacob’s questioning why God would bless him…he’s struggling with grace.

And if we’re honest, that’s not just Jacob’s story — that’s ours too.

We wrestle when God confronts us with grace — whether it’s the grace that saves us or the grace that sanctifies us. We wrestle because grace feels unnatural to us. Everything in us wants to earn, or to control, or to prove we deserve whatever it is we receive.

You see, we say we believe in grace, but most of us, we still live like we have to earn God’s approval. We think, “If I could just pray more… or serve better… clean up this habit… then God’ll bless me.” And so we keep striving, we keep performing, managing the image — like Jacob, still trying to make peace through our own plans.

Let me give you a picture of this: It’s kind of like when someone offers to pay for your meal — and you instinctively say, “Oh no, no, I’ve got this!” or “At least let me leave the tip,” right? It’s that small part of pride that says, I can cover this.

That’s exactly how we treat God’s grace. He says, “I’ve already paid it all.” And we say, “Yeah… but let me do something to make it up to you.”

The truth is this — you can’t wrestle grace into submission. You can’t hold on to self-reliance and experience transformation at the same time.

And that’s what this story’s about. Jacob’s about to learn that blessing doesn’t come from fighting harder — it comes from finally surrendering. God’s gonna confront him, and break him, and rename him — not to destroy him, but to deliver him from himself…Everything we’ve seen up to this point, its been about transformation. It’s been this back and forth with Jacob.

But listen, I think, if we really do some self-evaluating this morning…we’re very much like Jacob, right?

And so, as we walk through this passage together, I wanna challenge you to consider this: Where might God be wrestling with you right now? Where’s He confronting your pride, or your fear, or your need for control — not to shame you, but to set you free by His grace?

Let’s dive into this together — Genesis 32, starting in verse 22. Would you stand with me as we go to God’s Word?

Genesis 32:22–32 ESV

The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok (Jab-hook). 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 has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (Pa-kneel), 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 (Pa-kneel), limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew (sin-you) of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew (sin-you) of the thigh.

Thank you, you can be seated.

[Prayer]

Our three points this morning, if you’re talking notes…Number 1, God Confronts Us…Number 2, God Breaks Us…and then Number 3, God Renames Us. And listen, as we walk through this together, I want you to keep the main idea: In the struggle, God breaks our self-reliance so that He can rebuild our lives around His grace.

And so, if you’re there…you got your notebook, your pen, your Bible open…let’s look at this first thing together.

I. God Confronts Us (vv. 22-24)

Point number 1…God confronts us.

And so, remember Scripture’s not about us, right? We’re not able to just insert ourselves into these stories…but we do learn very valuable lessons about who God is…how He works in the lives of His people…And listen, I think that’s very true this morning.

Some of us, if not most of us, we’ve been where Jacob is…or maybe we’re there right now, wrestling with God.

Look at verse 22 with me again.

“The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok (Jab-hook). He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone.”

Now let’s stop right there — “Jacob was left alone.” No more crowds. No servants. No family. No distractions. Just Jacob.

And right there in the quiet… when the plans are set in motion…the night’s closing in…that’s where God shows up. Not in a vision. Not in a dream. Not even in a gentle whisper…No — God grabs him. Literally. Verse 24 says, “And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.”

That’s wild, right? God doesn’t send an angel to deliver a message. He doesn’t sit Jacob down for a counseling session. He wrestles him.

Now, some of you…you might be wondering — “who exactly is this “man”? Is this just an angel? A vision? Something more? Why do you say it’s God?”

Well, the text itself gives us the answer. If you look down at verse 30, Jacob names the place Peniel (Pa-kneel), saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” That’s not Jacob’s opinion — that’s divine revelation…Jacob realizes he’s been wrestling with God Himself.

And this isn’t the only time in Scripture we see God appear in human form before the incarnation of Christ. Theologians call this a theophany — an appearance of God, oftentimes the pre-incarnate Christ, taking on visible, tangible form to interact with His people.

In fact, Hosea 12:3 and 4 confirms this. It says Jacob “strove with God… he strove with the angel and prevailed.” And so, Hosea ties the two ideas together — the “man” here, He’s both “God” and “the angel.” This isn’t a contradiction — it’s a clue for us. This wasn’t just some ordinary angel. This was God Himself — again most likely the second Person of the Trinity (Jesus - because He’s the One that we see take on this form throughout Scripture…That’s a different sermon altogether), but He’s wrestling Jacob into grace here.

And so, picture this — the God who spoke the universe into existence… He stoops down into the dark and He takes hold of a very stubborn man. That’s not weakness — that’s mercy. He could’ve crushed Jacob with a single word…but instead He meets him with a touch. That’s the gospel, right? The God who has the power to destroy us, He chooses instead to wrestle us into surrender.

Because Jacob’s biggest problem isn’t Esau in this moment — it’s Jacob.

And the only way God can change him… its to confront him.

You see, God isn’t confronting Jacob to destroy him — He’s confronting him to deliver him from himself. Jacob’s spent his whole life trying to control outcomes. Manipulating, scheming, hustling — doing whatever it takes to get the blessing his way. But now, God says, “That’s enough. We’re gonna deal with you, Jacob. Not your brother. Not Laban. You.”

And listen — that’s where God meets a lot of us too. Sometimes the most gracious thing God can do is get you alone and knock the wind out of your pride.

Listen, this isn’t just what God does with Jacob — this is what He’s done with every one of us who’ve come to Christ. Because before salvation ever feels like comfort, it first feels like confrontation.

Think about it — when the Spirit of God opened your eyes to your sin, that wasn’t a gentle nudge. That was God stepping into your darkness and saying, “We need to deal with this.”…That’s what conviction is. It’s not God being cruel — it’s God being kind enough to wake you up before you destroy yourself.

Paul says in Ephesians 2 that we were “dead in our trespasses and sins.” We weren’t just limping along— we were lifeless. But then, verse 4 says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us… made us alive together with Christ.”…Do you see that? He confronted our deadness with His mercy.

And here’s the gospel truth — the same God who wrestled Jacob in the dark, He wrestled your heart to the ground at the cross. He didn’t destroy you; He died for you. He didn’t strike you down; He took on your punishment. That’s the confrontation of grace — it’s the holy God grabbing hold of sinful people and saying, “You’re Mine now.”

John Newton once said, “I’m not what I ought to be, I’m not what I hope to be, but by the grace of God I’m not what I was.”

That’s the testimony of every single believer. Because before God ever saves or blesses you, He confronts you. Before He gives new life, He exposes the old one.

So don’t despise the moments when God corners you with conviction. That’s not judgment — that’s mercy. That’s God doing what He did with Jacob here — pulling you out of self-reliance and into surrender.

Charles Spurgeon, He said this, “God never allows His children to sin successfully.”

And that’s what’s happening here. God’ll let you run…but He’ll never let you win against Him. Because He loves you too much to leave you unchanged.

…

Listen, some of us, we’re in that place right now. We feel like life’s got us pinned down — the plans fell apart, the relationship broke, the finances, they’re all dried up, the anxiety won’t fall away — and you’re thinking, “God, what are You doing?”

Guys, He might just be wrestling you. Not to punish you, but to sanctify you. Because before God can bless you, He’s got to break your grip on control.

You see, Jacob’s problem wasn’t a lack of faith — it was misplaced faith. He believed in God, but he still trusted in himself more. And that’s exactly where many of us live this morning.

We’ll say, “Yeah, I trust God…” — but then we still white-knuckle everything else in our lives like it all depends on us. We say, “God’s in control,” but we stress like we are. We talk about grace, but we still live like it’s performance based.

John Calvin, He said it like this: “Our hearts are perpetual factories of idols.” And one of our favorite idols… is control. We cling to it in our jobs, we cling to it in our marriages, in our ministries — we wanna manage the outcome, we wanna shape perception, we keep our image neat and clean. And then we wonder why we’re exhausted at the end of the day.

Guys, maybe the reason you’re tired this morning isn’t because life’s too busy — it’s because you’re fighting God for control of it. You’re wrestling the wrong person. And just like Jacob, God’ll confront that. Because He loves you enough to wound your pride so that He can heal your soul.

Listen, that confrontation, it oftentimes comes in the dark. It comes when you’re finally alone. There’s no more noise. No more image to protect. Its just you… and God. And in that place, you’ll find that what feels like a fight, it’s actually grace in disguise.

And so here’s a question for you:

Where might God be confronting you right now? Like where’s He putting His hand on something in your life and saying, “This right here, it needs to change”?

It might be your pride. It might be your unforgiveness. It might be the way you’ve been managing your image or chasing your desires. But guys, until you stop wrestling for control, you’ll never experience the peace that comes from surrender.

Tim Keller said, “The gospel’s not advice about what you must do. It’s news about what’s been done for you.”

And yet — most of us, we live like we’re trying to earn what’s already been given.

God confronts that. Because He wants more for you than just striving. He wants surrender.

And so again, don’t take God’s confrontation in your life as judgement…take it as mercy because as a believer, you belong to Him. And listen, as someone who might not follow Christ, the confrontation you might be feeling, its the same…the God of the universe, He’s exposing your nature, so that you might be saved.

II. God Breaks Us (vv. 25-26)

Point number 2…God doesn’t just confront us…He breaks us.

Look back at verse 25 with me again:

“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.”

Now, let’s just pause right here — because that line, it might sound a little bit strange: “When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob.”

The question I get a lot of times, is Moses saying that Jacob’s somehow stronger than God here? Of he’s course not. The key here, it’s in understanding that this “struggle,” its not about God’s weakness — it’s about His willingness.

God restrains Himself here. He limits Himself in order to meet Jacob on his level — much like a dad play wrestling with his kid, right? Dad could easily overpower the kid at any moment, but he chooses to engage, to draw something out of him.

That’s what’s happening here. God’s wrestling Jacob not to lose, but to reveal. He’s drawing out Jacob’s resistance, exposing the fight that’s been in his heart all along — that desire to control, that desire to manipulate, to live by his own strength.

This isn’t a contest of equals; it’s a collision between divine mercy and human pride.

Jacob thinks he’s wrestling for survival, but in reality, God’s wrestling for Jacob’s soul.

We just looked at this passage in the previous point, but Hosea 12:3 and 4:

“In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor.”

You see that? Jacob’s “prevailing,” it wasn’t about overpowering God — it was about yielding in repentance.

He “prevailed” not by force, but by faith. He stopped resisting and he started weeping and clinging.

And so, when we read that “God didn’t prevail against Jacob,” it means He allowed the struggle to continue until Jacob’s heart was finally exposed — until Jacob came to the end of himself.

And so, Jacob’s been wrestling all night. He’s strong, he’s stubborn, he’s doing what he’s always done — fighting, striving, controlling, refusing to let go. And in one simple touch, God dislocates his hip.

The Hebrew word here carries the idea of being wrenched or torn apart. And so, in an instant, Jacob goes from fighting in his strength to clinging in his weakness.

And listen, that’s the exact moment transformation begins. Jacob’s been wrestling for blessing — and now he’s clinging for mercy.

God’s breaking here, its not punishment — it’s preparation.

When God breaks Jacob’s hip, He’s not being cruel — He’s being kind. Because for the first time in Jacob’s life, he can’t run anymore. He can’t manipulate. He can’t fight. He can’t perform. All he can do is hold on.

And that’s what God’s after. He doesn’t want our performance; He wants our dependence. He doesn’t want our strength; He wants our surrender.

Charles Spurgeon, he said, “The Lord gets His best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction.”

That’s so true, isn’t it? Some of the deepest work God does in your life happens when you walk with a limp.

We don’t like that, though.

We like the idea of God strengthening us — not breaking us. We pray for God to use us, but we don’t want Him to undo us first. We want resurrection power without crucifixion pain.

But listen, here’s the truth: Before God can build you up, He has to bring you to the end of yourself.

And if you’ve walked with Jesus for any length of time, you know this — God’s classroom of grace, its so oftentimes paved with pain, right? He’ll touch what you lean on. He’ll wound what you worship. He’ll tear down the idols you trust most.

Why? Because He loves you too much to let you keep walking in your own strength.

…

Let’s be honest for a moment.

Some of us, we’re limping right now, and some of us, we think God’s against us — but guys, listen to me, He’s not. He’s for us. He’s stripping away your strength so that He can replace it with His.

For some of you, God’s touched your career. You built your identity on your success, and now He’s shaking it. For some of you, He’s touched your comfort. You loved your routine more than your Redeemer, and He’s tearing it all away. For others of us, it’s your reputation. You’ve spent years trying to prove yourself, and God’s letting your image just crumble away — not because He hates you, but because He’s setting you free.

A.W. Tozer once said, “It’s doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”

And that’s hard to hear — but it’s true. Every great man or woman of faith has a limp. Moses had the wilderness. David had the cave. Peter had his denial. Paul had his thorn…And Jacob? Jacob had his hip.

When God touches your strength, cling to His grace.

Verse 26 says:

“Then he [God] said, ‘Let me go, for the day has broken.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’”

Don’t miss that.

Jacob’s not wrestling anymore — he’s holding on. He’s no longer fighting to win; he’s holding on to survive. That’s the difference between pride and surrender.

When God breaks you, that’s what He wants — not your perfection, but your persistence. Not “I’ve got this,” but “God, I can’t let You go.”

That’s the moment of spiritual awakening — when the struggle turns into surrender.

Listen, can I ask you something this morning?

What’s God been trying to break in you… what’s that thing that you just keep fighting to protect? Like what area of your life are you still trying to control? What strength are you still leaning on instead of clinging to Him?

Some of us, we’re so determined to “hold it all together” that we’ve actually stopped holding on to God. We’re more concerned with looking strong than being surrendered. We’ve confused competence with dependence.

Guys, you can come to church, you can quote Scripture, you can lead a Bible study…You can do all those things and listen, you can still wrestle God at night because you don’t want to give Him control.

Listen to me, you have to let God break you…you have to let God release sin’s power over you…you have to let Him free you. That’s what real repentance and real surrender looks like.

III. God Renames Us (vv. 27-32)

And so, we’ve seen that God confronts us — He exposes who we really are. We’ve seen that God breaks us — He brings us to the end of our own strength. And now finally, we see that God renames us — He gives us a new identity.

This progression we’re seeing here with Jacob, its same progression we see when God works salvation in each of us today.

Look with me again at verse 27:

“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 have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.’”

Now right there — that question from God, “What is your name?,” it may sound like this isn’t a big deal, but it is. God doesn’t ask questions because He lacks information. He’s omniscient (aam-ni-shnt) — He already knows Jacob’s name.

He asks because He wants Jacob to confess who he really is. He’s forcing Jacob to own it — to admit, “I’m Jacob.”

You have to remember what that name means — supplanter, deceiver, heel-grabber. It’s a name that summed up his entire life story: deceiving his brother, tricking his father, manipulating his uncle, always scheming to get what he wanted.

But listen, this moment, right here, its more than an introduction — it’s confession. Jacob’s been wrestling all night, but now he has to come clean about who he’s been. He’s not just saying his name — he’s admitting his nature.

And that’s where transformation always begins. You can’t be renamed until you first admit who you’ve really been. You can’t experience grace while you’re still pretending you don’t need it.

Listen, before God can change your name, He’ll confront you with it. Before He calls you Israel, He’ll make you face the Jacob inside you.

That’s what repentance looks like — not just admitting what you’ve done, but acknowledging who you are apart from grace. Until Jacob said, “I’m Jacob,” he wasn’t ready for a new name. Until we say, “I’m a sinner,” we’re not ready for a Savior.

And so, what’s God do here? He renames him — “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel.”

Now, the name Israel, it literally means “God fights” or “God prevails.” In other words, the blessing Jacob tried to steal his whole life, God now gives it to him freely — through surrender, not striving. Jacob’s spent his entire life fighting to secure his own future, but now, God says, “You’re done fighting for yourself. From here on out, I fight for you.”

That’s grace. That’s the gospel message..

Jacob’s identity changes because of a divine encounter…The deceiver becomes a worshiper. The manipulator becomes a man of mercy. He walked into that night as Jacob the self-reliant; and listen, he walks out as Israel, the God-dependent.

William Phillip, he said this, “God’s goal in every struggle is not to improve the old man, but to create a new one.”

That’s what’s happening here. God’s not reforming Jacob; He’s remaking him. He doesn’t say, “Try harder, Jacob.” He says, “You’re not Jacob anymore.”

…

Listen — that’s the story of every believer in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

When God saves you, He doesn’t just clean you up — He calls you something new. He gives you a new identity, a new nature, a new name written down in glory.

But notice something here — even though Jacob gets a new name, he still walks with a limp, right?

Verse 31 says,

“The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel (Pa-kneel), limping because of his hip.”

Don’t miss that. The limp doesn’t mean God’s curse — it’s a mark of His grace. Jacob’s limp would be a daily reminder to him that he met God and lived. Every step of Jacob’s life would whisper, “You’re not who you used to be.” Every ache in that hip, it would remind him: “God won that fight — and it was mercy.”

Some of you have limps like that. Scars, regrets, seasons of breaking — reminders of where God met you and renamed you. And listen, that’s not something to hide in shame. That’s evidence of God’s grace.

Charles Spurgeon said, “When God writes His name upon a man, He does it with the pen of affliction.”

That limp, or that weakness, that breaking — it’s proof that God’s grace reached you. Because God never blesses you without changing you. You can’t meet Him and stay the same.

Look again at verse 30:

“So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (Pa-Kneel), saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.’”

Jacob walked into that night fearing for his life — and he walked out saying, “My life’s been spared.” He realizes grace. He realizes mercy. He realizes that the God who could’ve killed him met him instead with compassion. And all this happens before he meets Esau, right?

The next verse says, “The sun rose upon him.”

That’s not just a time marker — that’s a symbol of new beginnings. The sun rises on a new man. Jacob’s old life, it’s set (its over); Israel’s day has dawned.

And yet — it’s not without a limp. Because grace never erases the past; it redeems it. God doesn’t undo Jacob’s story — He redefines it.

…

And so, let me say this as clearly as I can this morning: When you come to Christ, He doesn’t rename you because you’ve proven yourself worthy — He renames you because He’s proven Himself merciful.

Your new identity, its not earned; it’s given. Your limp isn’t your shame; it’s your testimony.

That’s what Paul meant in Galatians 6:17 when he said, “I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.”

He wasn’t ashamed of his scars — they were reminders that he had wrestled with grace and he lived.

And so listen — Jacob’s story, its our story as well. God meets us in our sin, He breaks us of our pride, and then He renames us in His mercy.

He takes the liar and He calls him truthful. He takes the addict and He calls her free. He takes the proud and He calls them humble. He takes the orphan and calls them son. He takes the sinner and calls them saint.

Tim Keller said it so beautifully: “In the gospel, you are more sinful than you ever dared believe, and yet more loved and accepted in Christ than you ever dared hope.”

That’s the heart of what’s happening here at the Jabbok (Jab-hook) River. Jacob sees both realities at once — the depth of his sin, and the magnitude of God’s grace. He’s broken, renamed, and blessed — all in one encounter.

And just like Jacob, when God renames you, you’ll never walk the same again. You’ll still limp, but you’ll limp toward grace. You’ll still struggle, but you’ll struggle as one who’s been changed. And listen, you’ll still wrestle, but now it’s from the position of someone who’s already won.

And so, maybe this morning, the question you need to wrestle with is this:

Are you still living like Jacob when God’s already called you Israel? Are you still walking in shame when God’s already named you redeemed? Are you still striving for what grace has already secured?

Because listen — once God renames you, you don’t have to fight for blessing anymore. You rest in the One who fought for you.

Closing

And so, as we come to the end of this story — and honestly, the end of ourselves — let me ask you again:

Where is God wrestling with you right now?

Because whether you’ve walked with Jesus for decades or you're still figuring out what you believe… the truth is this: we all wrestle with grace.

We wrestle to believe God would love us despite our past. We wrestle to believe He’s at work in our pain. We wrestle to surrender control — to stop striving and start trusting.

And yet here’s the good news of the gospel: God doesn’t wrestle to pay us back. He wrestles to bring us back.

He confronts us — not to crush us, but to call us. He breaks us — not to shame us, but to free us. And guys, He renames us — not because we’ve earned it, but because He’s already paid for it.

And so, to the believer here in the room this morning:

Again, are you still living like Jacob when God’s already called you Israel? Are you still trying to earn what Jesus already secured at the cross?

Look back. Reflect. Where’s God already met you in the dark? Where’s He wrestled you into mercy, or broken you of pride, or reminded you who you truly are in Him?

Where’s He still working, right now? What part of your life still needs surrender? Because listen, the gospel isn’t just the starting point of our faith — it’s the very path in which we walk every single day.

So stop striving. Start clinging. Let your limp remind you that grace is real — and that it’s enough.

But listen, for those of you who wouldn’t call yourselves followers of Christ:

I’m really glad you’re here — and I need you to hear this: This story is yours, too.

You may not be wrestling in a riverbed like Jacob…But maybe you’ve been wrestling in your thoughts…Or in your circumstances…Or in the quiet of your heart, when no one else is around.

And listen — maybe for the first time, you’re starting to realize that the struggle you’ve felt isn’t just life being hard… it’s God, in His mercy, pulling you to Himself.

You see, the gospel, its not just good advice. It’s not just “try harder and do better.”

It’s bad news: You’re a sinner…You deserve death…Everything about you has rebelled against your Creator. It’s worse news: There’s nothing you can do about that…You’re gonna die and you’re experience an eternal punishment because of your nature and choice. But the gospel, its good news: That the holy God, He came to rescue us through His Son Jesus…becoming man, the very thing He created. Living a perfect life…going to the cross, where our sins were imputed to Him, God’s wrath poured out on Him. Experiencing our death, so that His righteousness might be given to us…And after that death, because Jesus wasn’t just some man…because He was the Creator God, He rose from the dead…overcoming everything that we fear today. And the best news: Salvation, its a free gift. Paul said in Romans 10:9 “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

The God who wrestled Jacob in the dark, He went to a cross to be pieced for our transgressions in broad daylight — so that you could be forgiven, and renamed, and never have to walk alone again.

And so, that’s the invitation for you this morning: Stop running? Stop striving? Surrender to grace? Turn to the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Because listen — if you walk away from this moment unchanged, it won’t be because God didn’t show up. It’ll be because you kept trying to win the fight He’s already finished.

Would you bow your head and close your eyes with me?

The praise team’s gonna come back up…I just want you to take a minute and respond to God’s Word.

Some of you — you’ve been walking with Jesus for years, but maybe you’ve forgotten what it cost Him to call you His. Maybe somewhere along the way, you slipped back into striving…Today’s the day to stop wrestling and to start clinging again. Remember the limp. Remember the grace. Let it lead you back to surrender.

And for others… maybe this whole morning’s been a wrestling match. Maybe you've felt that tension — the confrontation of grace. Don’t ignore that. That’s not guilt. That’s not pressure. That’s the mercy of God calling you to Himself.

You don’t have to leave here today still fighting God. You don’t have to leave here still trying to fix yourself. There is a Savior who’s already won the fight you never could.

And so, as we sing… if you need someone to talk to, to pray with — we’ll have men up front. I’ll be in the back…but don’t leave today without responding to what God’s doing in your heart. Let today be the day you stop striving… and let it be the day you start trusting.

You take this time and I’ll close us in just a moment.

[Prayer]