The Life of Jacob - Part 2 - Shawn Zybach

Welcome to the official podcast of the Church

of Christ Wheeler area. We're so glad that you've

tuned in for today's message. Whether you're

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every Sunday morning at 1030 a .m. and in the

afternoon at 230 p .m. We meet again on Wednesdays

at 7 p .m. Right now let's open our Bibles together

and dive in to today's sermon. Happy to be with

you this evening. We're going to get right into

the study which will be the second half of a

life and we're going to finish up Jacob. We began

by a passage in the book of Hebrews that Jacob,

while he was dying, worshiped God leaning upon

his staff. And if you'll recall, a brief refresher

perhaps, the name means supplanter, one who takes

something, and it means heel catcher. But Jacob

is very true to his name. He took the birthright

from his brother and... And we talked about a

lot of those things. And I'll just briefly roll

through here. The idea that we're going to talk

about was Jacob. while he was dying, blessed

Joseph's sons in worship, leading on the top

of the staff. He was a twin, as we described

as a planner. He was a deceiver. He tricked his

father into blessing him. He later heard God

at a place he calls Bethel. And we'll talk about

that some tonight. And then he's deceived by

his father -in -law into marrying two different

women. And he tried to take from him all the...

fruits of his labor along the way and at the

end of our study some weeks ago he is gripped

with fear because now he's not only fled from

Laban but he's coming to meet Esau his brother

and he knows Esau has a tremendous amount of

hatred for him and he's got all this family and

flocks and herds and he's very afraid and so

now we really get to the pivotal Point in Jacob's

life. It's the encounter and Truth be told we

all need one we all need one just like this and

Jacob is true to his nature In that he is a person

who goes after what he wants He wanted that birthright

he went after it. He wanted the blessing and

he went after it He wanted Rachel And he went

after it. If he had to work 14, then he worked

14. That's his nature. to be this kind of a man.

The book of Genesis, chapter 32, we'll get in

Genesis 32 · chapter mention

verse 22. He arose that night, took his two wives,

his two female servants, his 11 sons, and crossed

over the fjord Jabbok. He took them and sent

them over the brook and set over what he had.

He has now taken his family. He split them into

two parties. He's put one over this way and one

over that way because he's hopeful that if Esau

attacks, maybe half of them will... live and

it's interesting he sent them over here and he

sent these over there and now he's alone there

he is now I want you to just think for just a

moment the choices that you've made the decisions

you've made in your life bring you to a point

and sometimes that's good and you look at those

decisions and choices and you're happy about

those things and here's Jacob all alone and he's

got the whole night to go, I'm about to lose

half of my family, half my wives, half my sons,

half my possessions, my choices and my decisions

have brought me here. Now you talk about a long

night, that's gonna be a long night. And so there

he is, all alone. And verse 24 says, a man wrestled

with him until the breaking of day. I don't know

if the translators could have give us less. What

man? Where did he come from? Why are they wrestling?

Did he show up and say, I challenge you? No,

I challenge, I mean, how does this happen? We

have none of that information. We just hear that

a man shows up, and for whatever reason, they

wrestle. Now, I've had a lot of questions my

whole life, who is the man? And I will attempt

to answer. I don't know that I can answer, but

I will attempt, I suppose. Now, they're wrestling.

Not for a minute. Not an hour. All night. They

wrestle, and they wrestle, and we don't get a

play -by -play of who got the upper hand or if

somebody got somebody in the figure four of the

half Nelson. We don't know. But we know they

wrestled all night. Now here's a key I want you

to notice right here. You see that word? He.

Well, typically, it's not capitalized. Usually,

it's a little h. He saw that he did not prevail

against him, a little H. So whoever the he is,

whoever's the he, the big H he said, I ain't

gonna win. I'm not gonna beat this guy. We've

been at it all night. And the hym's gotta be

Jacob. He touched the socket of his hip and the

socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as he

wrestled with him. Now, I've not had that. I

only know one person that did and I'll tell you

it took a pretty serious amount of work to get

the hip back in. Your hip just don't pop out

a joint but the he in this instance this man

Took Jacob and he popped his hip out of joints

and he said let me go capital M for the day breaks

But he Jacob said I will not let you capital

Y Go unless you bless me. I think you're probably

figuring it out. I think it's Jesus There's God.

I don't know why God chose to wrestle, but he

did. And I'll tell you something, Jacob wrestled

all night. And that tells us it's very true to

his nature. He didn't quit. He went after. Even

in the midst of this wrestling match, when he

has a hip out of socket, he says, let me go.

And he says, I ain't letting you go. I'm hanging

on until you bless me. I'm not letting go. That's

very much like Jacob. And so he said the he to

him, what is your name? And he said, I'm the

supplanter. I'm the thief. I'm the deceiver.

That's my name. That's my name. I don't know

what kind of blessing he's expecting. I don't

know what he thought would happen. And it makes

no sense to me that we didn't get names out before

the wrestling match, but we've waited till now.

I'm the supplanner. I'm the one that displaces

and takes the place of, it should be Esau here,

shouldn't it? But Esau's nowhere to be found.

And Jacob's wrestled all night. I want to go

to the book of Hosea. Chapter 12, we get a little

Hosea 12 · chapter mention

bit more information from Hosea and why Moses

didn't have this information, I don't know. But

Hosea provides a little more information to the

account. He says, the Lord also brings a charge

against Judah and will punish Jacob according

to his ways, according to his deeds. He will

recompense him. Now here, in this passage, or

verse two, he's talking about the nation of Israel.

It's what he's describing, and he calls them

Jacob or Judah. That's a national thing. Then

he goes on right here in verse three says, he

took his brother by the heel in the womb. It's

clearly talking about Jacob. And in his strength,

he struggled with God. That's exactly what happened.

Yes, he struggled with the angel and he prevailed.

Was it a man? Was it an angel in the form of

a man? Did he have flesh? Was it just a spirit?

I don't know. And for some reason, God don't

really hardly want us to know, I think, because

we don't have a lot. Notice what it says. He

wept. Jacob didn't just say, bless me. He begged

God. Maybe he was in pain. But I will tell you

he struggled with God with the man with the angel

he prevailed and He wept and he sought favor

from him in the midst of the struggle hip out

a joint Jacob didn't just say bless me. He pleaded

bless me Please bless me. He wept Tears asking

for the blessing and the Bible says and there

he spoke to us That is the Lord God of Hosts.

The Lord is his memorable name. God gave a blessing.

He spoke not only to Jacob, but to you and me

and all those who believed in the promise of

Abraham that went down through Jacob. I'm gonna

go back to Genesis 32 verse 28. He said your

Genesis 32:28

name shall be no longer called Jacob, but Israel.

For you have struggled with God and with men.

have prevailed then Jacob asked saying tell me

your name I pray and he said why is it that you

ask about my name and he blessed him we don't

know the name I suppose is Jesus I will tell

you something this tells us about Jacob he weren't

no quitter he struggled with God and that tells

us you and I something You're going to struggle

in your life. You young folks listen. You're

going to struggle. You're going to have challenges

and some of the challenges that Jacob had were

awful. He was a deceiver. He was a thief. He

was. We have no sense in sugar coating it. And

the truth is there ain't a person here in this

room that ain't bad in some way. We all have

a shortcoming or two or five or ten and we struggle.

He said, you're no longer the supplanter. Your

name is Israel. It's interesting. He was the

hill catcher. You know what the word Israel means?

The wrestler, exactly what it means. It's kind

of like you see somebody and they perform a trick

and you always, you call them after that trick

from then on. God calls him, you're the wrestler.

You're the one who struggled. Wrestler with God.

And the Hebrew behind it literally means to prevail

with the Almighty. And so Jacob has this encounter

with God. And God blesses him. Or maybe it was

Jesus. Jesus blessed him. He calls him a man.

He blessed him and he gave him that blessing

there. And verse 30, Jacob called the name of

the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to

face and my life is preserved. Just as he crossed

over Peniel, the sun rose on him and he limped.

The rest of his days he limped. And the sun's

come up and now it's time to meet Esau. But Jacob's

not meeting Esau. Israel is meeting Esau. In

Genesis 33 and verse 1, now Jacob lifted his

eyes and looked and there Esau was coming. And

with him were four hundred men. So he divided

the children among Leah and Rachel and the two

maidservants. He put the maidservants and their

children in front, Leah and her children behind,

and Rachel and Joseph last. Then he crossed over

before them and bowed himself into the ground

seven times until he came near to his brother.

He's a humble Israel. Isn't he humble? He ain't

sneaking around, is he? He ain't dressing up

in hairy clothes now, is he? He's coming with

humility and he's bowing seven times. Esau ran

to meet him and embraced him and fell on his

neck and kissed him and they wept. And he lifted

his eyes and saw the women and the children and

said, who are these with you? So he said, the

children. whom God has graciously given, your

servant. He didn't say they're mine. He said,

this is what God's given me. See, this is Israel,

a changed man. And he goes on to say the handmaidens

came near and they and their children and bowed

down and Leah came near with her children and

they bowed down afterward Joseph and Rachel came

near and bowed down then Esau said what do you

mean by all this company which I meant and he

said these are defined favor in the sight of

my Lord the man who took and stole said it's

yours they're for you A great herd of cattle

and all these goods and things and presents he's

brought, they're for you. And Esau said, I have

enough, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.

And Jacob said, no. No. I'm not a taker anymore.

I'm a giver. Please if I have now found favor

in your sight then receive my present from my

hand It's as much as I have seen your face as

though I had seen the face of God and you were

pleased with me He said I'm gonna treat you just

like I'd treat God I'm not gonna treat you the

way I did before Please take my blessing that

is brought to you because God has dealt so graciously

with me and because I have enough So he urged

him and he took it. Then Esau said, let us take

our journey. Let us go and I will go before you.

And from this day forward, in most of the instances

that we read about, he's a blessed man. His family

thrives and flourishes. His flocks and herds

thrive and flourish. His family grows and is

the way of families. He has children and grandchildren

and abundance. and he becomes a very blessed

and wealthy man. Chapter 32, verse 9, he said,

oh God of my father Abraham and God of my father

Isaac, the Lord who said to me, return to your

country and to your family and I will deal well

with you. I am not worthy of the least of all

the mercies and all the truth which you have

shown your servant. He's a grateful individual

now. And his outlook has changed tremendously.

Chapter 33 verse 17 says, and Jacob journeyed

to Succoth, built himself a house, made booths

for his livestock there. The name of the place

is called Succoth, or therefore the name of the

place is called Succoth. Then Jacob came safely

to the city of Shechem, which is in the land

of Canaan, when he came from paid anoram, and

he pitched his tent before the city. And he bought

the parcel of land where he had pitched his tent

from the children of Hamor, Shechem's father,

for one hundred pieces of money. Then he erected

an altar there and called it El Elohi Israel.

What do you think? He named his altar, well,

the mighty God of the one who wrestles with God.

That's what he named it. And he worships God

and he prospers and there he lives until he becomes

an old man. In Genesis 37 and verse 31 he has

one more trial that he's got to endure. So his

brothers took Joseph's tunic, killed a kid of

the goats and dipped the tunic in the blood.

You'll recall that Joseph was the dreamer and

He dreamed about the moon and the stars and he

was the moon and the stars bowed to him. He dreamed

about the bales or shocks of hay and all his

brothers and fathers bowed to his shock and his

brothers were very jealous of this and his brothers

sold him into slavery and so they tricked their

father. And they took Joseph's coat, they dipped

it in the blood. And verse 32, they sent the

tunic of many colors and brought it unto their

father and said, we have found this. Do you know

whether it is your son's tunic or not? And he

recognized it and said, it is my son's tunic.

A wild beast has devoured him without doubt.

Joseph is torn into pieces. Now trouble with

this, Joseph was special to him. It was Rachel's

boy. we don't read much at all about Jacob not

really very little after this point we do read

this Jacob tore his clothes put sackcloth on

his waist mourned for his son many days and all

his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort

him but he refused to be comforted and said I

shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning

Thus his father wept for him and so Joseph is

inconsolable for many many days and I suppose

years it's hard to know exact time frame here

because you know Joseph goes down and is sold

as a slave to Potiphar and then eventually he's

thrown in to prison in Egypt and then eventually

he as the dreamer begins to deliver Egypt from

the terrible plague of drought that comes upon

them. And the Pharaoh takes Joseph and pulls

him out of the prison. And all this is intertwined

in God's plan and in God's purpose. And in part

one of this, we talked about these three promises

God made to Abraham. The land promise, the nation

promise, and that all peoples of the earth will

be blessed. And now these promises are hinging

on a famine. And they're hinging on slavery.

They're hinging on Jacob's little family having

a cocoon in which they could grow into a great

nation. And Egypt is that cocoon. And slavery

is that place. And so, if you're familiar with

all the story, and I know you are, we'll fast

forward a little bit because Joseph makes himself

known to his brothers and eventually he says

you need to bring my father down. Genesis 45

Genesis 45:26

verse 26 they told him saying Joseph is still

alive and he is governor over all the land of

Egypt and Jacob's heart stood still because he

did not believe them. But when they told him

all the words which Joseph had said to them and

when he saw the carts which Joseph sent to carry

him the spirit of Jacob their father revived

and Israel said it is enough Joseph my son is

still alive. I will go and see him before I die

I won't tell you we're talking about a man who

felt like his life was at an end And he says

one phrase it's enough He's alive and I'll go

see him and I'll be ready to die And so of course

the family moves down to Egypt because there's

bread there. There's grain and Joseph Invites

the whole family and of course Jacob moves down

there I believe it's about 70 people that move

in to Egypt where Joseph is the governor now

Genesis 48 beginning in verse 8 then Israel saw

Joseph's sons and said whose are these Joseph

said to his father they are my sons whom God

has given me in this place it seems like the

attitudes of Israel have passed along down a

generation to Joe these are the children God's

give me And he said, Please bring them to me

and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel

were dim with age so that he could not see. Then

Joseph brought them near him and he kissed them

and embraced them. And Israel said to Joseph,

I had not thought to see your face. But in fact,

God has also shown me your offspring. So Joseph

brought them from beside his knees and he bowed

down with his face to the earth And Joseph took

them both Ephraim with his right hand and towards

Israel's left hand Manasseh with his left hand

toward Israel's right hand and he brought them

near him Then Israel stretched out his right

hand and laid it on Ephraim's head who was the

younger, and his left hand on the Manasseh's

head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh

was the firstborn. It's happening just like happened

to him. He's choosing the younger. And he blessed

Joseph and said, God, before whom my fathers

Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed

me all my life, all my life long to this day

the angel who has redeemed me from all evil bless

the lads let my name be named upon them and the

name of my fathers abraham and isaac and let

them grow into a multitude in the midst of the

earth do you ever notice there ain't no tribe

of joseph there's not wonder why right here.

Israel says they're gonna be like mine and these

two will be counted like sons. That's what he

said and they are. They were considered a part

of the 12 tribes all along and always found it

fascinating and so we come full circle to an

old man Who worshiped? Now I gotta ask you a

question. Do you think you'll feel like worshiping

when you're dying? Do you think you could bow

yourself to the earth? On your bad hip? I've

not known a lot of people as they died, and I

can tell you I don't really know what will be

on my mind. But I can tell you this. If you have

faith, your mind will be on God. If you have

struggled your whole life out of the bad. If

you have left the crooked individual like Jacob

did, and if you have turned to the Israel that

he became, at the end, you'll be praising God.

You'll be showing him that you're ready. Israel.

A life. Now you might get out your song book

this evening. I got a couple other things I want

to say to you. You know, most of the time at

a funeral we have an obituary which is a really

short summation of a life. The fact is, you're

living your life right now, and it's just that,

it's a life. Do you know how many lives are being

lived right now? About eight billion. Eight billion

right now. And about every 70 or 80 years, there's

a whole new eight billion. God keeps up with

them. But the truth is, you live your life in

such a way, It's a life. It tells a story. It

has an impact on a lot of people. You know, one

of the most telling things to me about Jacob's

life, to think he started from the scoundrel

that he was, to hear his son say, these are the

children that God's given. It had an impact.

He had an effect. And I don't know how you feel

about your life. Because some of you are pretty

young. Some of you are a little older. And you

start to think about what you're going to leave

behind. What kind of people are going to follow

in your name. Because ultimately all you have

is a life. Maybe tonight, You need to let everybody

else cross on somewhere else and wrestle. Rattle

for your soul. Rattle with God for what you really

are. Rattle for your life. Maybe that's what

needs to happen. Because I want to tell you,

the devil wrestles with you every day. Every

day. And so you ought to wrestle God every once

in a while. Thank you for listening to today's

sermon from the Church of Christ Wheeler area.

We hope this message encouraged you and strengthened

you in your faith this week. Don't forget the

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