Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Jacob prays that God would help and then he goes right out to try and help himself with human power.
Heb 4:16 "Let us be approaching the throne of grace with confidence that we may receive mercy and acquire grace with reference to seasonable help."
Jer 33:3 "Call upon Me and I will show you great and might things which you have not discovered."
PSA 50:15 And call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me."
LUK 11:9 "And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.
LUK 11:10 "For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.
MAT 21:22 "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive."
JOH 14:13-14, "And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."If you ask
Me anything in My name, I will do it.
Joh 15:7 "Ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you."
Phi 4:6‑7 "Stop worrying about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall garrison your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Mar 11:24 "Therefore, I say to you, `All things for which you ask and pray, believe that you shall receive them, and they will be given to you.'"
Instead of trusting God, Jacob again tried to manipulate the situation himself.
He sets aside hundreds of cattle as an opening present designed to soften up his brother Esau.
While Jacob is a believer and back in the will of God, he is still reversionistic in his thinking.
Prin-Any solution you have to your problems apart from doctrine is a manifestation of both arrogance and irrationality.
Second prin-Divine solutions are the only solutions and human solutions are no solutions.
Third prin-Fear sees the problem; a personal sense of destiny sees the solution.
Fourth prin-Since problem solving is a major function of the spiritual life of the Church, all divine solutions are related to the problem solving devices in your soul.
Fifth prin-You were designed to be spiritually independent of human solutions in life.
There's nowhere in scripture that says that Esau was coming to kill him.
After all these plans of fear, beginning with verse 24, we have a subtle and a sneak attack by TLJC.
It's not until Jacob is left alone with the Lord that his named is changed to Israel, a prince with God.
PSA 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me;
Being alone with God is the beginning of becoming spiritually self-sustained.
2CH 32:31, God left Hezekiah "Alone to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart."
In JOH 8:9, it wasn't until the woman caught in adultery was left alone with the Lord that she was set free.
Prin-To be left alone with God is the only true way of arriving at an accurate knowledge of ourselves and our ways.
No matter what we may think about ourselves, or what others may think about us, the real question is what does God think about us?
This is one of the things that David said in PSA 26:2 Examine me, O Lord, and try me; Test my mind and my heart.
In JER 12:3 But Thou knowest me, O Lord; Thou seest me; And Thou dost examine my heart's attitude toward Thee.
2CO 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!
When a believer objectively examines his own life according to doctrine, he is alone with God.
He must be stripped from his own strength, lamed and made to limp.
He has Uncle Laban in back of him who took total advantage of him and he has his brother Esau ahead of him who he thinks is going to kill him.
1. First, an individual wrestles with Jacob and does not prevail. 2. Secondly, Jacob struggles with the individual and does prevail.
The attack begins with this mysterious individual starting a wrestling match with Jacob and not Jacob starting the match with him.
a. Jacob needed to have his "human-strength" beaten out of him.
b. Jacob has been relying on human strength, human power, human viewpoint, human gimmicks, to try and get blessings in life as well as to solve his problems.
ISA 55:8-9 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts."
c. Jacob needed to be made conscious of his standing with God so that he would stop conniving, plotting, scheming, and using human solutions to try and solve his problems.
d. God initiates this wrestling match which ends in the defeat of the sin nature of Jacob.
This means that Yahweh, Jehovah, the God of Israel, is dealing directly and personally with Jacob to change his life and to give him a new name.
They will have what Rev 2:17 calls a new name which is written on a white stone or white pebble.
1. They will be able to eat of the Tree of life which is in the middle of the paradise of God, Rev 2:7.
2. In Rev 2:11, those who receive their new name or new title shall not be hurt by the Second death.
3. In Rev 2:17, the winners are given a new order of knighthood and eternal order of chivalry which will be added to the believer's name in the Lamb's Book of Life forever, Rev 2:17 cf Col 3:4,6.
4. In Rev 2:26, winners who receive a new name are given power and authority to rule nations.
The mature believer will be a king over a Gentile nation and rule during the Millennium.
5. In Rev 3:5, the winners who have their name changed will be clothed with the uniform of glory and presented as winners in the Supreme Court of Heaven.
6. In Rev 3:12, winners have their names in time as well as their new names in eternity written in the historical record section of heaven.
7. In Rev 3:21, winners who receive their new name will sit on the throne with TLJC.
This passage is an illustration God's devotion and dedication to take from us all that hinders our relationship with Him while we resist Him with our human power, human plans and human schemes.
It was not that Jacob wished to obtain something from God but that the Lord had some strife and struggle with this double-dealing crafty child of His.
Prin-Jacob was not wrestling with this Man to obtain a blessing, instead, the Man was wrestling with Jacob to gain some objective from him.
2CO 12:10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
This was TLJC and who argue that if it was God who was wrestling with Jacob for the purpose of bringing him to a sense of his impotency and helplessness then He wouldn't have had to wrestle with him all night.
This wrestling match was not designed to hurt Jacob but to teach him.
Such objections as this lose sight of the tremendous patience that the Lord has toward us and that He exercises toward
His own. He is longsuffering.
Patience and longsuffering is related to the power or omnipotence of God, Nahum 1:3.
Nah 1:3 The Lord is slow to anger [patient And longsuffering] and great in power.
The patience and longsuffering of God is related to the principle of repentance, Rom 2:4, PSA 18:35.
PSA 18:35 Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation, And Thy right hand upholds me; And Thy gentleness makes me great.
Rom 2:4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
1Ti 1:16 And yet for this reason I found mercy, in order that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience, as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.