God's Command, God's Love, God's Promise

We're continuing our series in the book of Genesis.

! Genesis is the very first book in the Bible.

It's the origin story of God's people, Israel.

And this summer we are in the story of Jacob, found in chapters 25 through 36.

Last week we were in chapter 31, and God tells Jacob it is time for him to return home.

But there's a problem.

The reason that Jacob left home is because his brother Esau wants to kill him.

So Esau's threat from 20 years ago is the tension that drives this narrative.

It doesn't just drive the narrative, though.

It also drives Jacob's dependence on God.

And so that's our focus this morning.

We're going to look at Jacob's dependence on his trust in God.

And in that, Jacob is going to provide us with a master class on prayer.

You may remember our overarching question for the book of Genesis is,

what does it look like to follow God in faith?

This week, one specific element of that, how do we rely on God in prayer?

And so with that, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 32, starting at verse 1,

Genesis 32 · chapter mention

which you'll find on page 6 of your worship guide.

Remember that Proverbs chapter 30 tells us that every word of God proves true.

Proverbs 30 · chapter mention

He's a shield to those who take refuge in him.

And so that's why we read now Genesis 32, starting at verse 1.

Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

And when Jacob saw them, he said, this is God's camp.

So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, instructing them,

Thus you shall say to my lord Esau,

Thus says your servant Jacob,

I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now.

I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants.

I have sent to tell my lord in order that I may find favor in your sight.

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.

He divided the people who were with him and the flocks and herds and camels into two camps, thinking,

If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.

Verse 9.

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 that I may do you good.

I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant.

For with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.

Please deliver me from the hand of my brother from the hand of Esau.

For I fear him that he may come and attack me, the mothers, with the children.

But you said,

I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea,

which cannot be numbered for multitude.

Verse 13.

So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him, he took a present for his brother Esau.

Two hundred female goats and twenty male goats,

two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

thirty milking camels and their calves,

forty cows and ten bulls,

twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

These he handed over to his servants,

every drove by itself,

and said to his servants,

Pass on ahead of me,

and put a space between drove and drove.

He instructed the first,

When Esau my brother meets you and asks you,

To whom do you belong?

Where are you going?

And whose are these ahead of you?

Then you shall say,

They belong to your servant Jacob.

They are a present sent to my lord Esau.

And moreover, he is behind us.

He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves.

You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him.

And you shall say,

Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.

For he thought,

I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me,

and afterward I shall see his face.

Perhaps he will accept me.

So the present passed on ahead of him,

and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.

Our Father in heaven, we do praise you and thank you again this morning

for drawing us together as your people to sing to you and to hear from you.

And we ask that you would honor your promise,

your promise in Isaiah 55,

that your word does not return to you void,

but it accomplishes your purposes.

And so do that this morning.

Use your words in Genesis 32 to accomplish great things in our lives.

Most of all, that you would take our eyes and you'd set them on Jesus Christ,

that our love and our affection for him would grow.

We would increase our reverence and our awe for him,

that you'd lead us in obedience to him.

We ask these things knowing that we don't deserve them and we haven't earned them.

And so instead we ask them in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

I want you all to remember where we're at in the story.

All the way back in Genesis chapter 25,

Genesis 25 · chapter mention

we met two brothers, Jacob and Esau,

who were at odds with each other, even in their mother's womb.

That same chapter 25, we see Jacob steals Esau's birthright.

And then in chapter 27, he goes on to steal Esau's blessing.

And at the end of chapter 27, Esau is so upset

that he threatens to kill Jacob.

So Rebecca, Jacob's mom, tells Jacob, flee to Laban,

my brother, your uncle.

Jacob does that.

And that's where we've been for the last number of weeks.

Jacob spends 20 years with Laban.

While he's there, he gets two wives, both of Laban's daughters, Rachel and Leah.

And we saw he had many sheep that he got from Laban, which caused some tension.

That was part of why he had to leave.

Now he is on the way back.

And as far as we know, Esau's threat is still good.

As far as we know, Esau still wants to kill Jacob.

And so that takes us straight into the story.

Verse one, Jacob went on his way.

That is, he's leaving last week's confrontation with Laban straight into a new problem,

the problem of Esau.

Jacob here is proactive.

So we see in verse three, he sends these messengers ahead of him to announce his coming

to his brother beforehand.

And the message that he sends mentions his great wealth.

This is verse five.

I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants.

I have sent to tell my Lord in order that I may find favor in your sight.

Which might seem odd at first.

Hey, brother, I haven't seen you in 20 years.

By the way, just so you know, I'm really rich now.

Indirectly, he's communicating this.

Hey, maybe we could solve this problem with money.

My net worth, you know, my net worth is a lot higher.

It's greater than it was 20 years ago when I left.

So I'm thinking maybe you and I, we can work out a solution where you don't kill me.

Maybe that could be kind of what we work towards.

We could come to a compromise where I'm not murdered.

That's exactly what he does, by the way, at the end of this passage, verses 13 through 21.

He sends these droves of animals onto Esau as gifts.

So that's his first overture.

Okay, I'm coming back to Esau.

Let me be proactive.

Let me figure out how we can thread this needle.

Jacob hears back from the messengers and the news is not good.

In fact, that's an understatement.

It is discouraging.

It is frightening.

This is verse 6.

And the messengers returned to Jacob saying,

We came to your brother Esau and he is coming to meet you.

And there are 400 men with him.

Esau doesn't need 400 men to welcome his brother back.

Okay, this is ominous.

It is threatening.

Commentators point out that this is the size of a militia.

He doesn't receive a response back.

Esau has no word for him.

The messengers just come back and say,

Yeah, Esau and his militia, they're on the march.

So Jacob, his worst fears seem to be coming true.

He does two things.

First, this is verses 7 and 8.

He makes himself a harder target.

He makes himself a harder target by dividing his people, his camps, into two groups.

So if you're a tactics nerd, we might say he has dispersed command posts.

Jacob decides he's going to set up a distributed operation.

And he tells us that explicitly in verse 8.

If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it,

then the camp that is left.

Jacob will escape.

Jacob's always got a plan.

And if we were dealing with Jacob 20 years ago,

if we were dealing with the Jacob of chapters 25, 26, 27,

that would be it.

Jacob would rely on his skill, on his strategy, on his tactics,

and nothing else.

But you may have noticed something is different this time.

We met Jacob all the way back in chapter 25.

And now, in chapter 32, we have his very first recorded prayer.

Jacob has finally decided it's time to pray to God.

Jacob has finally decided it's time to pray to God.

And this, by the way, is the longest prayer in the entire book of Genesis.

Yes, Jacob has a plan.

Jacob always has a plan.

And we talked about this at length last week.

Jacob has really changed.

He's changed all the way down to his bones.

Yes, Jacob has always been crafty.

Yes, he always has a good tactic.

And this time, this time, Jacob finally prays.

And if you've been taking the story seriously,

if you've been engaged in it and involved with it,

there's this sense in which we should feel a chill here.

That our hair should stand up a little bit

because we know what a big deal this is.

We know how long it's taken, Jacob, to get to this place.

We know the pain and the hardship and the agony

and the sweat and the blood and the tears

for him to finally say,

God, I need your help.

The lesson that God's been teaching Jacob

has finally made it from his head down to his heart.

So verse 7, when he hears about these 400 men,

it tells us he's greatly afraid and distressed,

which makes sense.

And for the first time,

Jacob takes his fear and his distress to God.

Now the request itself,

the request in his prayer is quite simple.

You'll find it in verse 11.

He says,

His request,

his ask for God's help,

that is not what makes this a master class on prayer.

It's actually the three other elements that surround it.

If you look on page 8 of your worship guide,

these are the three elements,

which also happen to be the title of the sermon,

God's command,

God's love,

and God's promise.

First, let's take a look at God's command,

which is where Jacob appeals in verse 9.

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,

that I may do you good.

So Jacob here is referring to the very beginning of chapter 31

from last week,

where God did not suggest,

but he told,

he commanded Jacob,

return to the land of your fathers

and to your kindred.

And so the idea that he's getting at is this,

hey, Esau,

Esau's coming against me,

and he's coming against me with this militia.

And the reason I'm in this situation,

the reason he's coming at me

and he has his 400 men

is because I'm doing what you told me to do.

I'm following your command.

I'm following you in obedience.

What I'm doing is in line with your will.

You've told me what to do.

You told me to go home.

Now I need your help to do it.

I need you to help me do what you have told me to do.

You've told me to return.

Now I'm asking you to show your power.

And not just to show your power in general,

to show your power specifically

as I'm doing exactly what you told me to do.

It's a way of praying

that is called arguing in prayer.

You'll see this on the very back of your worship guide,

this quote,

speaking of the Puritans.

So the Puritans used to speak rather grandly

about using argument in prayer.

But this they did not mean

pressing God to fall in line

with their own desires.

My will be done.

What they meant was telling God

why what we have asked for

seems to be for the best

in light of what we know

God's own goals to be.

In other words,

God, this is what you said you wanted.

This is what you say is good

and beautiful and true

and I'm pursuing after that.

So hear, hear and answer my prayer.

I'm praying for you to do what has to be done

for your command to be obeyed.

A number of years ago,

when I was in my early 30s,

I had a season of prayer that went like this.

Lord, I know that you have called me

to lead this church.

You've made it clear.

You've made it clear that that's your will

and you've made that clear in a variety of ways.

But there's a problem here, God.

And the problem is that I'm actually

not experienced enough to do that.

I'm not wise enough or old enough.

And I actually don't know what I'm doing.

But you decided this was a good idea.

I need your help.

You're going to have to show up.

You're going to have to show up

in a supernatural way

by your spirit

to give me the wisdom that I need

through mentors and resources

by your work in me.

You've said that you empower

and enable what you command.

Please do it.

You've told me what to do.

Now I need your help

to actually follow through.

I'm not in my early 30s anymore.

I actually still need God's power

and help and wisdom.

We never outgrow our helplessness

before God.

Now I will say this just as an aside.

You know, here we see Jacob grow

in his dependence as he ages.

We also need to be cautious, though,

about the opposite.

There's times when we're young

and inexperienced.

We can be so dependent on God

in prayer, right?

And as we get experience

and accomplishments behind us,

we think, oh, I got this.

I know what to do.

And yet our need for God's help

is just as great as it was before.

Right?

So this can move in both directions.

Now, God has not necessarily

called you to lead a church.

For you, arguing in prayer

could look like this.

Lord, you've told us,

you've told me in Psalm 133,

you've told us in 1 Timothy 2

that the Christian community,

it's supposed to be a place of unity.

And man, we're really having

a hard time getting along.

Help us.

You've said what you want is unity,

so help us do it.

You've said in Colossians 3,

if we're at work with our employer,

that whatever we do,

we work heartily for the Lord

and not for men.

Lord, I can't do that on my own.

I need you to give me

the perseverance and patience

and joy to be an employee like that.

This is your will.

This is what you've said you want.

Come and help us do it.

Lord, you've said in Ephesians 5

that our marriage should be

this picture of the gospel,

of the relationship

between Christ and his church,

and we want our marriage

to be like that.

But outside of your work,

outside of your spirit,

it is so far less.

Help us.

Make it a display

of your gospel for the world.

Arguing with God

could look like this.

Lord, in Malachi 2,

you told us you want

Christian marriages

to lead to godly children.

We don't actually have

the wisdom we need to do that.

We don't have the wisdom

that we need to raise our kids

to know and love God.

And you know what?

Even if we did have the wisdom,

we actually don't have the power.

We're not powerful enough

to change and shape and form

our children's hearts.

We need you to do it.

We need you to show up.

We need your help.

Use us as your instruments.

Christian,

you can pray to God like that.

In fact, I'll put it more strongly.

You should pray to God like that.

Lord, I am praying

for what you have said you want.

Please show up.

By the way, this shapes our prayers

because we have to ask ourselves,

are we actually praying

in line with the Lord's prayer?

Can we say that we're praying

Matthew 6, verse 10?

Matthew 6:10

Your kingdom come,

your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

So Jacob has appealed

to God's commands.

Look, you told me to return.

I need you to show up.

Next, Jacob appeals to God's love.

This is verse 10.

I am not worthy of the least

of all the deeds of steadfast love

and all the faithfulness

that you have shown to your servant.

For with only my staff,

I crossed this Jordan

and now I have become two camps.

This word steadfast love

from verse 10 shows up

in the Old Testament

over and over again

to communicate God's commitment

to his people.

And the best definition I know of

comes from the Children's Storybook Bible,

which describes God's steadfast love

in this way,

his never stopping,

never giving up,

unbreaking,

always and forever love.

God's steadfast love

is his never stopping,

never giving up,

unbreaking,

always and forever love.

Jacob doesn't base his request

on his own worthiness

or merit or skill.

He doesn't say,

God, look how great I've been.

No, in fact, the opposite.

Again, this is verse 10.

He says, I am not worthy.

Remember Jacob

when he shows up to the well

and he meets Rachel

and he moves that stone

single-handedly

that it took a bunch of people

to move,

but he does it by himself

because he's so jacked.

Jacob thought he was

really hot stuff.

And that's probably why

he didn't pray.

He didn't pray.

It has taken Jacob years,

years,

to learn his helplessness

and God's power.

It's taken Jacob years

to finally say,

I am not worthy.

God has had to push him

to the end of himself

where his skills

and his ability

and his tactics

and his strategies

are not enough.

Calling on God's mercy,

that's prayer.

That's why we pray

in Jesus' name.

That's why you'll often

hear me say,

hey, we haven't earned

these things

and we don't deserve them.

But we ask for them

in Jesus' name.

Remember Jesus' words

in Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

Jesus said to them,

those who are well

have no need of a physician,

but those who are sick.

I came not to call

the righteous,

but sinners.

sinners do.

Those who think

that they are righteous

have no need for prayer.

Sinners do.

Those who think

their own tactics

and strategies

and intelligence

are enough

will not turn

to God in prayer.

those who have realized

they are not hot stuff

will.

The Apostle Paul

learned that as well.

He tells us

in 2 Corinthians chapter 12,

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

12,

but he said to me,

that is God said to him,

my grace is sufficient

for you.

My power is made

perfect in weakness.

Therefore,

I will boast

all the more gladly

of my weaknesses

so that the power

of Christ

may rest

upon you.

Do you want

the power

of Christ

to rest

upon you?

Comes in weakness.

Comes in

admitting

your helplessness

and your need.

near the end

of his life,

there was an interview

with the famous

pastor,

Timothy Keller,

about his decades

of ministry,

and the interviewer

asked him this,

looking back

over your nearly

50 years

in Christian ministry,

what's something

you regret?

What's something

you wish

you had done

differently?

And he said,

oh,

that's easy.

I wish

I'd prayed

more.

He's one of the

most successful

pastors in his

generation.

It can take

a lifetime

to learn

how helpless

we are.

It can take

a lifetime

to learn

that everything

comes from

God's

mercy.

God's

God's

God's

love.

It can take

to learn

everything.

It can take

a lifetime

that everything

easier.

Jacob appeals

to God's

command.

He appeals

to God's

love.

And then

finally,

he appeals

to God's

promise.

It is not

only that God

has commanded

Jacob to return,

he's also

promised to

do him

good.

We see this

first in

verse 9.

He says,

you told me

return to

your country

and to

your kindred

that I

may do

you good.

And then

it comes

in a

fuller form

in verse 12.

But you

said,

I will

surely do

you good

and make

your offspring

as the

sand of

the sea

which cannot

be numbered

for multitude.

Okay,

so Lord,

you promised

to do me

good,

and how

are you

going to

do me

good if

these 400

men wipe

me and

my family

out?

I mean,

it doesn't

seem like

that's

very good.

And even

more than

that,

you said

you've

promised

offspring

as the

sand of

the sea.

Now,

how am I

supposed to

have offspring

as the

sand of

the sea

if we're

all killed?

Those two

things don't

really seem

to go

together,

right?

How does

that happen

if Esau

slaughters

us?

So protect

us because

of your

promise.

Your promise

for good,

your promise

for

offspring.

Christian,

you can

plead God's

promises as

well.

Lord, you

told us in

James 1

James 1:5

verse 5

that those

who ask

for wisdom

will receive

it.

Well, we

really need

some wisdom

right now.

So we're

asking you

for it.

Honor your

promise.

Lord, you

told us in

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 10:13

chapter 10

verse 13

that there's

no temptation

that will

come to us

for which you

don't provide

a way out.

Well, I'm

overwhelmed by

temptation right

now and I

need a way

out.

Honor your

promise.

Help.

Show me

the way

to escape.

Lord, you

promised us in

Psalm 34

Psalms 34:18

verse 18

that you

are near to

the broken

hearted and

you save

the crushed

in spirit.

And we're in

the hospital

right now

and we feel

alone and

abandoned.

Honor the

promise.

Be near to

us.

Give us a

sense of your

presence.

Do what you

talk about in

Romans chapter 5

Romans 5 · chapter mention

that the love

of God will

be poured out

into our

hearts by

the Holy

Spirit.

Lord, you

promised us in

Philippians chapter

Philippians 4:6

4 verses 6

and 7 that if

we bring our

anxieties to

you in prayer,

you will give

us the peace

that passes

understanding that

will guard our

hearts and our

minds in Christ

Jesus.

Lord, we're

drowning in

fear and

we're bringing

that to you.

Honor the

promise.

Give us the

peace that

passes

understanding.

Lord, you've

promised us in

Psalm 23

Psalms 23:6

verse 6 that

goodness and

mercy will

follow us all

the days of

our lives.

And it sure

seems like the

darkness is

winning.

Feels like the

lights are

dimming.

Honor your

promise.

Show us your

goodness and

your mercy.

Lord, you've

told us in

James chapter

James 4:7

4 verse 7

that if we

resist the

devil, he

will flee from

us and we

are resisting.

Honor your

promise.

Do what you

said you would

do.

Restrain the

evil one.

Protect your

people.

Lord, you've

told us in

Isaiah 55 that

your word will

not return to

you empty, but

it will accomplish

your purposes.

promises.

We're begging

you.

Use your word in

a powerful way in

our lives.

Honor the

promise.

Do great

things in us

by your word.

Do you want to

really pray?

Plead the

promises of

God.

And why

should God

answer your

prayer?

Paul tells

us in 2

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

Corinthians

chapter 1, he

says, all the

promises of

God find

their yes and

amen in

Jesus Christ.

That is, you're

not pleading on

behalf of your

merit.

You're not

pleading that

you deserve

anything.

No, you're

pleading because

Jesus represents

you before God

the Father and

that you've been

adopted as one

of his sons or

his daughter, as

we talked about in

our confession of

faith, which means

you don't just have

forgiveness of

sins, but you

have access to

the throne room

of God.

And you plead

God's promises

based on what

Jesus has done

for you.

This is in

page 7 of your

worship guide.

Jesus'

sinless life and

sin-bearing

death provide

the meritorious

basis upon

which any

promise is

made good

to us.

Apart from

Christ, we

have no right

to any of

God's promises,

but through

our union

with Christ,

we have access

to all

of them.

Christian,

there is a

difference.

in fact,

there is a

world of

difference

between simply

listing our

requests to

God and

wrestling with

God in

prayer,

naming God's

will, his

commands,

acknowledging our

need, our

helplessness,

claiming God's

mercy through

Jesus Christ,

claiming God's

promises that

are ours because

of Jesus.

It's Jesus who

tells us this in

Matthew chapter

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

7,

ask and it

will be given

to you.

Seek and

you will find.

Knock and

it will be

opened to

you.

For

everyone who

asks,

receives,

and the

one who

seeks,

finds,

and to

the one

who knocks,

it will

be opened.

Or which

one of you,

if his son

asks him for

bread,

will give him

a stone?

Or if he

asks for a

fish,

will give him

a serpent?

If you then,

who are evil,

know how to

give good

gifts to your

children,

how much

more will

your Father

who is in

heaven give

good things

to those

who ask

him?

Let's

pray.

Our

Father in

heaven,

we do

praise you

and thank you

for the

embarrassment

of riches

that are

ours in

Jesus Christ.

We ask

that you

would teach

us to

pray,

that we

pray in

line with

your will,

we come

admitting our

helplessness

and our

need before

you,

and that we

would set

our lives

on your

promises.

promises.

We ask

all of

these

things in

Jesus'

name,

amen.