Sermon #8 "The God Who Changes Hearts"

Big Idea: God alone changes hearts. Therefore, have hope in God to change hearts!

 I.       The meeting (vv. 1-11).

A.    A changed Jacob (33:1-3).

“Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him” (32: 6).

“And Jacob said, ‘O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac’” (32:9).

“A man wrestled with him until breaking of the day” (32:24).

“Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me’” (32:26)

“’Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel’…And there he blessed him” (32:28-29).

“The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping” (32:31).

Genesis 28:20-21

“And Jacob looked, and behold, Esau was coming , and four hundred men with him” (33:1).

Genesis 27:41

“So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants…He went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times” (vv. 1, 3).

B.     A changed Esau (33:4-11).

“But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept” (v. 4).

“Esau said, ‘Who are these with you?’ Jacob said, ‘The children whom God has graciously given your servant’” (v. 5).

“Esau said, ‘What do you mean by all this company’? Jacob answered, ‘To find favor in the sight of my lord’” (v. 8).

“Jacob said, ‘No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me’” (v. 10).

“’Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough’” (v. 11).

 Isaiah 53:5

II.       The parting (vv. 12-20).

A.    “Then Esau said, ‘Let us journey…I will go ahead’” (v. 12).

 “Jacob said to him, ‘If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. Let me, lord, pass on ahead…until I come to my lord in Seir’” (vv. 13-14).

“But Jacob journeyed to Succoth” (v. 17).

“And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem” (v. 18).

“He bought for a hundred pieces of money the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel” (vv. 19-20).

B.     God alone changes hearts

Psalm 51:10; Proverbs 21:1; Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah 32:27; Proverbs 16:7

C.    Review

Big Idea: God alone changes hearts. Therefore, have hope in God to change hearts!