Sermon #7 "God's Wrestlings With Us"
Big Idea: Wrestle for God’s blessings!
I. Trouble with Esau.
“Jacob went…the angels of God met him…’This is God’s camp!’ So he called the name of that place Mahanaim” (vv. 1-2).
Genesis 27:41; 28:12
“Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau…’I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight’” (vv. 3-5).
“And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, ‘We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him’…Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed” (vv. 6-8).
“And 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… I am not worthy of the least of all deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness… I have become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother…but you said, I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea” (vv. 9-12).
“He took a present for his brother Esau… They belong to your servant Jacob…he thought I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face” (vv. 13-21).
II. Wrestling with God.
“The same night he arose and took his two wives…and his children…sent them across the stream…and Jacob was left alone” (vv. 22-24).
“And a man wrestled with him until 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…he said, ‘Let me go, for the day has not broken’…But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me’…he said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed’…and there he blessed him. Jacob called the name of the place Penuel, 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” (vv. 24-32).
Genesis 18:1-15; Exodus 33:20; Hosea 12:3-4
A. The gospel
Matthew 26:39