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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] For with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and have now become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. And he lodged there that same night, and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother. Two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milch-cammels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she-asses, and ten foals. And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves, and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. And he commanded the foremost, saying, When ye saw my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou, and whither goest thou, and whose are these before thee? Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's. It is a present sent unto my lord Esau, and behold, he is behind us. And so commanded he the second and the third, and all that followed the drove, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau when ye find him. And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face. Peradventure he will accept of me. So he went the present over before him, and himself lodged that night in the company. And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the Ford Jabbok. And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him unto the breaking of the day. When he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me I pray thee thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou just ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Penuel, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penuel, the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. Therefore the trail of Israel eaten out of the sinew would shrink, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh, and the sinew that shrank. Let's pray to the Lord God. Thank you for this church. Thank you for our pastor. Just ask that you would fill in with your Holy Spirit now as he preaches a word unto us. And pray that we be edified by the preaching. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. OK, we're in Genesis chapter 32 this morning. Look down at verse 27. It says, And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And the title of my sermon this morning is No More Jacob, But Israel. No More Jacob, But Israel. This morning I want to do a character analysis on the Bible character Jacob. Now if you're reading through your Bible reading schedules, if you got one last week, you probably already read through this particular story. And of course it spans over a couple of chapters. And it's very interesting to look at the life of Jacob because of the fact that he's played such an important role in the history of Israel, right? I mean, we know him to be Jacob, but he's also named Israel. He's essentially the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. He's often described Old Testament, New Testament, when they talk about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so he's a very important person in the Bible, but he's not without flaw. He's not without error. And we're going to look at that this morning, some of the things that characterize Jacob and how God wanted to change him from Jacob to Israel. Now we're going to look at the story in Genesis 32 in just a bit, but go back to Genesis 25, if you would, Genesis chapter 25. First and foremost, let's talk about his name, Jacob, okay? People in the Bible that were named a specific name or so, it's often because it carries with it a connotation. It has a definition along with it. And it's no different with Jacob. Jacob actually means deceiving, Jacob actually means deceiver and supplanter, okay? Someone who is deceptive, someone who lies, someone who's conniving. This is essentially what Jacob means, okay? And it's fitting for Jacob because of the fact that he is a deceiver. He is a supplanter. He is conniving. He's a plotter. And we're going to see that from the beginning of his life all the way to Genesis chapter 32. Now, before we get into the actual points that characterize Jacob, let me start off by saying by way of introduction that God had actually already intended to bless Jacob from the womb, okay? God already had a plan for Jacob. He wanted to bless him. He wanted to use him greatly. He had a specific plan for Jacob. And the reason I want to say that is because of the fact that it kind of shows you, you know, Jacob didn't have to do all these things. He didn't have to be deceptive. He didn't have to be conniving. He didn't have to plot against his brother, you know, conspire with his mother. Why? Because God had already chosen and already planned to bless him anyways. Look at verse 23, if you would. It says, and the Lord said unto her, two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels. The one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. So right off the bat, God is telling Rebecca here, hey, you're going to have twins, and essentially Jacob is going to rule over Esau. Now, what he's referring to is actually the nations that shall come forth out of Jacob and Esau. Of course, we know that the nation that shall come forth out of Jacob is Israel, and the nation that shall come forth out of Esau is Edom. And he's saying there that Israel will be stronger than Edom, and Israel will rule over Edom, essentially marking the fact that God is going to bless the descendants and the progeny of Jacob. So she's already telling her this, and I'm sure this is something that was communicated unto Jacob as a means to kind of cast vision in his life. So the point that I'm making here is the fact that God was already planning to bless them. He was already planning to bless him, to use him greatly. Therefore, there was no need to be conniving and deceptive and to go through all these actions that he took against his family in order to be blessed of God. So let's look at some of the characteristics of Jacob here. Number one, first and foremost, I want you to notice that he is opportunistic. Jacob was very opportunistic. What do I mean by that? Well, based upon the story, we see that he's known for exploiting people's vulnerabilities for his benefit and gain. Look at verse 29, if you would. Of course, now there Jacob and Esau are older. It says here in verse 29, and Jacob sawed pottage. Of course, earlier we see that Jacob is a plain man dwelling in tents. He's not necessarily an outdoors person. Esau is, he's a hunter. And so Jacob is in his tent. He's making pottage. It says in verse 29, Esau came from the field and he was faint. And Esau said to Jacob, feed me I pray thee with the same red pottage for I am faint, therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, sell me this day thy birthright. So what do we have here? We have Esau. He's out hunting. He's an outdoors person. He's under the Middle Eastern sun all day, just working physically. And he finds himself on a day where maybe he just didn't catch anything at all. He's faint. He's famished. He's probably dehydrated. He needs food. He comes to his brother. He's like, feed me. And his brother's like, well, sell me your birthright or I'll feed you. I mean, that's pretty wicked. I mean, these guys are blood brothers. They're family. And even if they weren't, just common courtesy for any person is to say, oh, yeah, just take some food. Let me help you replenish here. You look like you're at the point to die. But what does Jacob do? He sees this as an opportunity to seize upon the blessing of Esau, to take it for himself, knowing full well that Edom or Esau is very vulnerable in this state. He's faint. He's willing to do anything to get replenished and be fed. And so he tells him there, sell me this day thy birthright. Now, it's my assumption here that Jacob, based upon this statement, Jacob's been wanting the birthright for a long time, kind of just looking for an opportunity to get the birthright. Because as soon as he asks for the pottage, for the soup, he's like, oh, yeah, well, give me your birthright, showing that this is something that's been mulling over in his mind for a while. Now, let me give you the principle of the birthright. Because what is he referring to here? What is the birthright? Well, the birthright is referring to the rights and privileges of the firstborn. You know, in the Old Testament, many times the firstborn will receive certain rights and privileges. They would receive double than the other siblings as far as possessions, property, resources. They would essentially also assume authority over the family if the father passed away, OK? And authority as the father, so to speak. If the father were to pass away, they would receive goods, property. There's a lot of privileges that they would get. And so this is very important to Jacob. But he's a second born, right? He came after. He's the heel catcher who comes after Esau. Esau was born first, even though they're twins. And he's a couple seconds younger, so to speak, than Edom. And so Esau gets that birthright because he's the first born, so to speak. But this is what Jacob wants. He wants the resources. He wants the property. He wants all the privileges. He wants the rights. And he wants Esau to essentially agree and covet it that he's going to give him that birthright if he gives them the pottage. Look at verse 32. And Esau said, behold, I am at the point to die. And what profit shall this birthright do to me? Sounds like Esau is pretty desperate. And obviously, anyone who's in that particular state would be desperate for anything, right? You know, in the desert, if you are famished, if you are dehydrated, you can offer anybody in the desert any amount of money or water. And they'd say, give me the water, right? Because obviously, that's a more valuable resource in that particular situation. So in Esau's mind, he's like, you know, a birthright is not going to, you know, quench my thirst. I need to be fed. And so what does he do? He sells it. Look at verse 33. And Jacob said, swear to me this day. And he's swearing to him. And he sold him his birthright. He sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils. Now let me just stop right there and say that it wasn't even good soup. It's like bean soup. Lentils? Really? You know, it's a lame bowl of soup here. I don't even know if there's meat in it, right? He says he gives him bread, a pottage of lentils, and he did eat and drink and rose up and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright, meaning he didn't esteem his birthright. So Esau sells his birthright for a bowl of soup. And that's how he gives it up. Now in this particular instance, aside from the fact that we see that Jacob is characterized by being an opportunistic fellow, we also see that unfortunately because of this, he also pictures Satan. Because Satan also is an opportunistic being, right? He looks to try to exploit Christians when they are the most vulnerable, when they are the most desperate. What does he do? He brings and he tempts with sin. He tempts with transgressions. He tempts with a season of pleasure through sin, and he sells it to you for a bowl of lentils, something that's not even worth it. But when you are vulnerable, you're desperate, you're discouraged, you're going through a tough time, you're going through a hard situation, Satan comes and he tries to exploit that vulnerability and sell you a bowl of lentils. You know, as Christians, we also have a birthright in Christ, right? We have an inheritance with Christ. We have certain blessings that we inherit with being children of God. And the Bible tells us that Satan comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. How does he do it? He comes when you're most weakest. He comes when you haven't read your Bible. He comes when you haven't been in church. He comes when you've been defrauded. He comes when you're discouraged. He comes when you're depressed. He comes when you're disillusioned. He comes when you're at your lowest, and he comes with a bowl of lentils and he says, sell me your birthright and I will give you a season of pleasure. I will sell you a bowl of pleasure. I will sell you a bowl of sin. You'll have a great time. Just sell me your birthright of God's blessing and I'll give it to you. But hold on a second. What does the Bible say? The Bible says that afterwards, thy mouth shall be filled with gravel. And yeah, to the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet. But you know, after you're done eating that bowl of lentils, you're gonna realize this wasn't even worth it. There's no meat here. It's a bowl of beans. It's lentils. I could have gotten something so much better than this, but in your desperation, in your vulnerability, some people are willing to give that up. You know, they're willing to give up their birthright for something inferior in quality. They're willing to give up God's blessing for a pleasure of sin that only lasts for a season. And here's the thing is that, you know, often when people allow themselves or when they sell their birthright for a bowl of beans, they consume it. They might even enjoy it for a season, but then afterwards, they what? They regret it. And then they realize what they've lost later on, right? And it's like what it says in Proverbs 20 when the buyer says it is not, it is not. But then he goeth his way, and then he boasts, right? And what happens to that person who regrets? What happens to that person who repents? Sometimes they want to get the blessing back. They want to get the privileges back. They want the birthright back. But guess what? It's too late. You've already sold your birthright. And in fact, let me read to you from Hebrew chapter 11 verse 16. Speaking of Esau, you don't have to turn there. It says, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place of repentance. Listen to this. Though he sought it carefully with tears. You know, you can get to a point where you sell your birthright. You sell the blessing. There's certain privileges you get as a Christian that you can forfeit because of sin. And you know what? At the end, when you begin to cry and weep and repent and lament over the lost, guess what? It's too late. There's certain blessings that come. It's only redeemable for one. And if you choose to sell that birthright, you choose to sell that blessing, guess what? You can repent. You can be remorseful. You can cry. You can weep and lament. But it's never going to come back to you because that's just the way the ball bounces. That's the way the cookie crumbles. And that is the way Jacob, the deceiver, the supplanter, the opportunistic fellow operates. He exploits your vulnerability as a Christian. And you know what? This principle applies more so obviously to all of us, but especially to young people. Because young people are often tempted. The Bible talks about the lust of the youth, right? The sins of the youth. And they can be tempted to get involved in fornication. They can be tempted to get involved in things that are not pleasing unto the Lord because they're not willing to wait for marriage. They're not willing to wait for that wedding altar. And what do they do? They sell their birthright for a bowl of lentils and guess what? They regret it later on. Amen. Okay. And so it's important for us to realize that, you know, Satan, just like Jacob, tries to capitalize when you're vulnerable. I hope that you know your vulnerabilities. I hope that you know when you are the most discouraged. I hope you know when you become the most disillusioned. And let me say this. All of us go through those stages. And you need to learn how to manage yourself. Listen to me. You need to learn how to manage yourself when you are discouraged, when you are depressed, when you're disillusioned, when you're going through a tough time. Why? Because Satan is a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. He's looking to take advantage of you. And we're not ignorant of his devices, the Bible says. And so we need to be able to resist Satan in the day of temptation and quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one when we're going through a tough time because we're vulnerable. Okay. We're weak. There's instances when we're strong in the Lord, but there's other seasons when we're not. And it's the seasons when we're not that we need to make sure we keep our guard up and say, you know what, Jacob, that bowl of beans sucks. I don't even like beans anyways. I'll just walk a couple extra miles and go to mom because I know she has a home cooked meal for me anyways. You know, why not just, you know, walk a couple more miles and say, I'm keeping my birthright, by the way. I know what you're trying to do, Jacob. I know what you want, Jacob, but you're not going to have it, Jacob. So I'm going to go get fed a greater meal. I'm going to go get fed venison. I'm going to actually go eat an actual meal that will satiate my hunger, and I don't have to sell my birthright for. It's important. So Jacob, unfortunately, pictured Satan in this particular, you know, area. And so, you know, it's kind of sad when you see certain good people in the Bible make really bad mistakes and they end up becoming a picture of like a really bad person. You know, think of like Aaron, for example, in the Bible. Aaron's really godly. He's kind of a weak leader, but he's really godly. But one mistake made him picture the antichrist. You know, it's just like, be careful because you might become a byword in a proverb by your actions. So Jacob here is opportunistic. Look at verse 26, if you would. Verse 26. So, by the way, Jacob is also characterized as being a heel catcher. That's what literally what Jacob means. Deceiver, supplanter. Well, it doesn't mean heel catcher, but that's what he's characterized by. That's what he's, that's kind of like a label that people have given to him because of verse 26. It says, after that came his brother out and his hand took hold on Esau's heel and his name was called Jacob and Isaac was three score years old when she bare them. So heel catcher has the meaning that he intrinsically has this nature of using people for his advantage, for his benefit. You know, his brother's coming out of the womb and what does he do? He goes, oh, let me get on that train too. He's kind of trying to pull him down to get himself back up. And that's essentially how Jacob operates for the rest of his life. So from the time of his birth, he's already trying to grab a hold of Esau, trying to bring him down, trying to decrease Esau that he may increase. Heel catcher, he is using those around him to exalt himself in order to, you know, succeed and have God's blessing in a superficial manner. Go to chapter 27, if you would, chapter 27. And I'm sorry if your name is Jacob today. I'm not preaching against you. I was talking to Jacob outside. I was like, I'm preaching against you. But, you know, it is what it is. Number two. So what are some characteristics of Jacob? Well, number one, he's opportunistic, but he's also a, number two, schemer. What does this mean? It means he makes underhanded plans. And unfortunately, this is kind of an attribute that he learns from his mom, okay? Because both Jacob and his mother conspire to steal the blessing from Esau, his brother, Esau, her son. I mean, this is pretty wicked to conspire, to get together in order to plot against Esau. Look at chapter 27 and verse number one. It says, and it came to pass that when Isaac was old and his eyes were dimmed so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son and said unto him, my son, and he said unto him, behold, here am I. And he said, behold, now I am old. I know not the day of my death. Now therefore, take I pray thee thy weapons, thy quiver, thy bow, and go out to the field and take me some venison and make me savory meat such as I love and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless thee before I die. So he's basically saying, hey, you know, I'm gonna be dying soon and before I die, I just wanna have a really good meal and I love your venison. I like the way you hunt and so make sure you go get that and then that will be an indication that I can bless you. Verse five says, and Rebecca, the mother, heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son and Esau went to the field to hunt for venison and to bring it and Rebecca spake unto Jacob her son saying, behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother saying, bring me venison and make me savory meat that I may eat and bless thee before the Lord before my death. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. Go now to the flock and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats and I will make them savory meat for thy father such as he love it and now shall bring it to thy father that he may eat and that he may bless thee before his death. Now based upon the story, we obviously see that Isaac loves Esau and Rebecca loves Jacob and so there's obviously favorites being played here, right? And this is a lesson for us that we should not have favorites with our children. We should love them all equally and bless them all equally. Obviously, you know, the older ones have the strength of their parents, so to speak, and therefore, they're gonna be more confident at times. There's certain inherent blessings that come with the firstborn, but in general, the parents should favor both, right? They shouldn't be scheming and plotting against one over the other. And the parents definitely shouldn't help with the plotting and the scheming, right? She's like, you know, I got an idea. This is what you can do. While he's out hunting, I'll just make, I'll whip something up real quick, give it to your dad, give it to your dad and he can bless you. And what he's basically saying is he's gonna agree or make a covenant with you to bless you. Therefore, it's kind of forced upon you. The covenant cannot be broken, okay? Look at verse 11. He says, and Jacob said to Rebecca's mother, behold, Esau, my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. So basically, Esau is like, he's like an Armenian guy and Jacob is like a Filipino, right? He's like an Asian. My father, my father's prayer adventure will fill me and I shall seem to him as a deceiver and shall bring a curse upon me and not a blessing. Now, obviously, this is really funny, the fact that he calls himself a smooth man and his brother's a hairy man, but it's actually symbolic of their character, right? It's symbolic of their attributes because throughout the Bible, being smooth is actually associated with deception, okay? Being a smooth person is actually considered something that false prophets have. And in fact, let me read to you from Isaiah chapter 30 and verse number nine, preaching against the children of Israel, it says that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord, would say to the seers, see not, and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things, speaking to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. So here we see that smooth is synonymous with being deceptive. And you know, it's true back then and it's true today. You know, you think of Joel's thing, he's a smooth preacher, you know? He's very deceptive. He's always nice. He's just always, there's nothing negative about his preaching. It's smooth. Whereas the rough preaching or the hairy preaching is actually the biblical preaching. When describing Elijah, the prophet, he's described as a very hairy man. And we see John the Baptist carries on a girdle, a camel's hair, right? Girded about his loins, indicative of the fact that he's a hard, hairy preacher. It's coarse, it's rough, okay? Now in the story with Jacob, you know, he's physically smooth, but he's also spiritually smooth as well. Meaning that he's very deceptive. He's a liar, et cetera. Genesis 27, look at verse 15. It says that Rebecca took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house and put them upon Jacob, her younger son. And she put the skins of the goats, the kids of the goats upon his hands and upon the smooth of his neck. So here we see that, you know, apparently Esau's just really hairy. When you can put a coat on him and it's just like, yeah, this feels like Esau, okay? Look at verse 18. And he came into his father and said, my father, and he said, here am I, who art thou, my son? And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn. I have done according as thou batest me, arise I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said unto his son, how is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, because the Lord thy God brought it to me. So what do we see here? We see Jacob is deceptive. He's a liar. And in fact, he's accrediting God with bringing the venison. How'd you do it? God gave it to me. It was God who blessed me with it. Now this is pretty wicked. You know, he's accrediting God with this. He's saying that God is the one who provided this for him. And you know what? People do this today where they try to accredit God or blame God for things that he did not participate in. Right? It's just like, oh man, you know, God told me to divorce my wife. God told me to divorce my husband. God told me to do this. And it's completely contrary to the word of God. God didn't tell you. It came from your own deceptive heart, Jacob. And it came from the imagination of your own heart, from the lust of your own heart. You are prophesying deceits. You're accrediting God with things that he did not say, did not do. But he's obviously trying to lend veracity to his claims of how he got it so quickly so therefore he's blaming God for this and saying that God is the one who provided it for him. Look at verse 30. And it came to pass as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob and Jacob was scarce, gone out of the presence, from the presence of Isaac his father that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. Now by the way, obviously it says that Isaac's eyes were dim, meaning that he's kind of blind. You know, he's having a hard time seeing. But you think to yourself, you know, how did he not discern his voice? Well, they're twins. You know, they're twins. So they probably sound alike, okay? Nick and Mike sound alike. They look different. One's like Esau, one's like Jacob, right? But if you close your eyes, they can sound somewhat similar, right? And so this is why, you know, Isaac could not discern who this was. And obviously when he felt him, he's like, oh yeah, he's pretty hairy, you know? That's like Esau. This guy is Armenian, okay? From the Middle East somewhere, you know? So Isaac does this. Jacob blesses him. And it says that he scares God out from the presence of Isaac and Esau comes in. So it's just like as soon as Jacob leaves, Esau comes in, like right the self-same minute. Verse 31 says, And he also had made savory meat and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? He said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly and said, Who? Where is he that hath taken venison and brought it me, and have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed them? Yea, and he shall be blessed. And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, my father. And he said, Thy brother came with subtlety and hath taken away thy blessing. And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? For he hath supplanted me these two times, he took away my birthright, and behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? Pretty sad story for Esau, right? And obviously, he did wrong by selling his birthright. But, you know, he didn't really do any wrong by obeying his father and going out to catch the venison for his father. He's obeying his dad, right? By the way, this is why I believe that this is why Esau is blessed in his latter end. Because, quite frankly, he did do some things right. He did obey his father. He was not conniving. He was not deceptive as his brother. But we see here that he was defrauded. He was taken advantage of. Why? Because his brother is not only opportunistic in taking his birthright, but he's also a schemer, plotting with his mother against him to steal his blessing. Jacob is getting the right things the wrong way. There's nothing wrong with wanting a blessing. There's nothing wrong with wanting good things from the Lord. But it's wrong to get them in the wrong way, right? Through deception, through scheming. Now, this in turn results in Esau plotting to kill Jacob, which in turn causes Jacob to flee to Haran and to dwell with his uncle Laban. Now, go to Genesis 28, if you would. Genesis chapter 28. So Esau's pretty mad and he's angry and he's thinking to himself, well, once my father dies, then I'm gonna go after Jacob and I'm gonna kill him because he did me wrong. Okay, which, you know, kind of extreme, but hey, you know, this is just how he feels. So Rebecca tells Jacob, hey, you need to flee to my brother's land, Haran. Dwell there till he cools down so he doesn't take your life and just stay there. So he goes, look at Genesis 28. Number one, we said that he's opportunistic. Number two, we said that he's a schemer. But number three, we also see that he was doubtful of God's word. He was doubtful of God's word. Look at verse 10. It says, and Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran and he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was set and he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and laid down in that place to sleep and he dreamed and behold, a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. Now, this isn't the sermon, but verse 12 is a prophetic verse regarding Jesus Christ. We see this in John chapter one that essentially Jesus Christ is the ladder, right? Because he is the way to heaven. He is how people, he's the only ladder to heaven. There's no other way that people can get to eternal life or get to the Father but through Jesus Christ. So this is actually a picture of Jesus himself. Verse 13, and behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father and the God of Isaac, the land where on thou liest to thee will I give it and to thy seed and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth and that shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north to the south and indeed and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Now, read that. It's like, oh, why am I doing all this then? God's already gonna bless me. He's gonna give me all these things. He's already promising to bless my progeny. Verse 15, and behold, I am with thee and I will keep thee in all places whether thou goest and will bring thee again into this land for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. So he's basically saying like, I'm not gonna forsake you. I'm gonna be there with you and partly the reason why is because of the covenant that he made with Abraham. So this is God's plan to establish the nation of Israel from which comes those 12 tribes, from which comes a great nation, from which comes Judah, from which comes Jesus Christ, right? So this is all part of the plan here and he's trying to confirm to Jacob like, hey, I'm gonna bless you. Verse 16, and Jacob awake out of his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not and he was afraid and said, how dreadful is this place? This is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven. Now he should have continued to said, you know what? I'm gonna forsake being so deceptive and manipulative and a schemer and opportunistic and I'm just gonna serve God from here on out. I'm just gonna obey the Lord and be honest and have integrity. Look at verse 20, and Jacob vowed about saying, if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I may come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God. What do you mean then? God already said he's your God. He's like, well, if these things take place and if I get blessed and if he feeds me and if he does all these things, then for sure what he said is true. What he said is true, Jacob. Now what is this? This is him doubting the Bible, doubting the word of God. And obviously we're getting on Jacob here, but quite frankly, you and I are the same exact way because when we are vulnerable, maybe we're weak, maybe we're carnal, we're fleshly, even though we believe the Bible, even though we read the Bible, we can quote the Bible, we know the promises of God, we've heard multiple sermons on all how God's gonna provide for us, how he's gonna protect us. We still in the back of our minds are like Jacob when we say, then, if he does all these things though, then he'll be my God. Then I'll actually obey. Then we'll see if it's true or not. But quite frankly, it's true whether it happens to you or not because whatever God says will come to pass. If God said it, that settles it. So we see that he's doubtful of God's word and he's placing conditions upon the promises of God. But you know what, folks, we're not supposed to put conditions upon the promises of God. If God says to seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and these things shall be added unto you and if the things are not added unto you in your season, do it anyways. If you're not blessed immediately, seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness anyways. Why? Because it's right to do. It's right to do. You know, if you're not blessed this year, if you were not blessed last year, if you felt like you came out losing in 2024 with your relationships and your job and your situation, well, do right anyways. Do right till the stars fall. Do right to the very end. Why? Because it's the right thing to do. But let's just be honest. That is very, that's a very extreme situation and probably won't happen to a lot of us. When we serve God, when we seek the kingdom of God, when we insult to Christ, we obey the Lord, we will be blessed of God. Maybe not the microwave way that we want it or just like two minutes, beep, and just, you know, wait till it comes out. You know, everything's beautiful in his time. And you have to trust in the Lord that when you're serving God and obeying his commandments, you know, the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and he added no sorrow to it. He's not going to, you know, owe you a blessing. He's not gonna defraud you. God will come through and bless you anyways. But I'm just saying if he doesn't, don't place any conditions upon it. Well, I'll serve God as long as, you know, God brings me that special someone. I'll serve God as long as he gives me this promotion. And then we'll see if God is really with me. I'll obey him as long as, fill in the blank or whatever. You know, don't be like Jacob placing conditions upon the blessings of God when he's already set forth. I'm gonna bless you. Just keep serving me. You know, even if it doesn't come in your particular timing, it's gonna come, okay? Go to Genesis chapter 29, if you will, Genesis chapter 29. So what do we see? We see that Jacob, who is the deceiver, he's the supplancer, the heel catcher, he is opportunistic, he is a schemer, he's doubtful of God's word. Number four, he's a cheat. He's a cheater, okay? Now before we look at his manipulating tactics, let's first kind of look at what he reaps, okay? Because he flees to Haran and he joins his uncle Laban and falls in love with his daughter Rachel, which is his cousin. Kind of weird, huh? Whatever, you know? Did this take place in the south? Is this where the south gets the idea from? So he falls in love with Rachel, who's the younger of the two. There's Leah and there's Rachel. And basically Laban says, hey, what do you want to do? What shall the wages be? You know, and basically he's just like, give me one of your daughters and Laban basically says, you know, work seven years for this daughter, and he agrees to do so and give her away in marriage. So he's like laboring for seven years for Rachel. And you know, the Bible seems to imply that Rachel is very good looking, she's beautiful, but her sister is tender-eyed, okay? I think that's just the Bible's way of saying that, you know, I don't know, she's not a 10, I guess, whatever. Wait, wait, what was these Gen Z terms I just heard? She's got a good personality, okay? God is being very crazy, he's like, she's tender-eyed, okay? So he wants Rachel, so he labors for her and it seems unto him but a few days. And so finally the seven years are over and the wedding day comes and, you know, they get married and then they go through the honeymoon, they come together, and in the morning he wakes up and he sees that it's Leah, it's not Rachel. Now people think like, how did you not know? And, you know, there's different speculations, maybe in those days they covered him with a veil and you couldn't see their face and it's dark or whatever, I don't know, okay? You know, it's beyond me how he did not know. But he wakes up and he sees that it's Leah and obviously he's very angry, he's frustrated because he labored seven years for Rachel, not Leah. So then, you know, look what it says in verse 25. It says, and it came to pass that in the morning, behold it was Leah, and he said to Laban, what is this that thou hast done unto me? Did not I serve with thee for Rachel? Wherefore then hast thou beguiled me, lied to me, right, deceived me? And Laban said, it must not be so done in our country to give the younger before the firstborn. Well, you know, you could have mentioned that when I asked for Rachel. You didn't even put that in the terms and services. It was in the fine print. Fulfill her week and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. And Jacob did so and fulfilled her week and he gave him Rachel, his daughter, to wife also. So what happens here? We have this man serving a total of 14 years for basically both, okay? And you think to yourself, well, that was wrong of Laban to do. Yeah, that was wrong, but here's the thing. What goes around comes around, though, okay? What goes around comes around. Whoso digget the pit shall father in. He that rolleth the stone will return unto him again. Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. And Jacob shouldn't be complaining about Laban, his uncle, deceiving him because he's been doing that his whole life, okay? And the principle that we can learn there is that you better take heed to your actions because with judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. We need to make sure that as Christians we treat others how we would want to be treated. We favor others. We follow biblical principles to benefit others, to be a blessing to others, and not to do others wrong because guess what? It'll come back to you again. What goes around comes around. He ended up suffering the consequences because of that. And obviously, Laban is not a good boss either, you know? He is taking advantage of Jacob, and he realizes that Jacob has God with him. You know, later on he talks about the fact that he says, you know, God has blessed me because of you, and he wants to keep Jacob, and he wants him there because he's benefiting from it. His resources are multiplying. You know, God is just touching all that he has, and it's basically residual blessing that comes from having Jacob there, okay? So obviously there's nothing wrong with him wanting to keep him there. What's wrong is how he's doing it through deception. And you know, Laban is a little possessive too because after they leave, and even though they didn't leave in the best of terms, you know, Laban catches up with him, and he's like, these are my daughters. These are my kids. This is my stuff. And it's just like, no, that's his wife. Those are his kids. You know, let him go. He's already served you. Be done with it. So we see here that Jacob ends up getting a taste of his own medicine. He's deceived. He was schemed against. He was plotted against, and that's what happens. Another thing that we see just by way of the same point here regarding the same story is that Jacob was also a polygamist. So obviously he marries two wives, and he ends up having children not just through these two wives but even through their handmaidens. And obviously this is how you get the 12 tribes of Israel, okay? And that's against God's will. You know, God never intended for a man to have more than one wife, okay? They twain shall be one flesh, not they three, not they four, just twain. And he said, then why God allow it? Well, just because God allow it doesn't mean that he permitted it, okay? And you have to read the Old Testament when you read stories like this because there's a ton of polygamists in the Old Testament, and a lot of great men of God. I mean, David had more than one. He was collecting wives like Beanie Babies. He was just like, anywhere he went, he's just like, I want you, I want you. And then, you know, what he did in moderation, his son did it in excess because Solomon had 700. And, you know, some guys in here might be thinking, oh, man, that's pretty good. You know, more than one wife. I don't know. Well, you might want to read through the stories and see how that ended for them, okay? One is enough, okay? One is sufficient. You know, one drama isn't, I mean, one wife is enough. You know, it's enough drama for one man. But imagine 700, and they all have different personalities. They're all fighting over you. You're like, ah, that's great. No, it's not. Read the testimonies of the Old Testament and see how that came, how that ended up with them. It's not good. So, yeah, God allowed it, but here's the thing. It's of my humble opinion that if Jacob was not a polygamist and he just kept Leah, for example, God could have blessed Leah's womb with all 12 tribes. God could have done it. Fact. You know, but this is just a case where they're kind of taking things into their own hands, and God, you know, all things work together for good to them that love God. And obviously, Jacob does love the Lord. He wants to serve God. He wants to do that, which is right. And God is kind of just like, all right, well, I'm still going to try to use you and bless you and bless your progeny. And so, you know, that's the situation there. So he's a polygamist and has all these kids by various different women. Okay. And he ends up having issues with them and all that. And so you can read that on your own or you probably already have. Okay. Now, look at Genesis 30 here. Now, you would think that after that situation with Laban and how Laban deceived him and, you know, he would come to the conclusion, you know what? I got what I deserved. I did that to Esau, my brother. I did that to my dad. You know, I've done it to people. It was just, I can see what's happening here. I'm reaping what I've sown. I'm going to renounce my ways and just not be that way anymore. And I'm going to turn over a new leaf. I'm going to start being an honest man. No. Okay. Because he continues to cheat his uncle of the good stock. Look at verse 31. He said, what shall I give thee? Jacob said, thou shall not give me anything if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock. He says, I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle and all the brown cattle among the sheep and the spotted and speckled among the goats and of such shall be my hire. So, basically, he's saying, you know what? When it comes to the cattle, I'll pull out the ones with the blemishes, the speckled and spotted, that's what he's referring to, the inferior cattle, and I'll take that as my wage. You know, like, oh, man, what a humble guy. Wow. Look at verse 33. So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come. When it shall come for my hire before thy face, even one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me. He says, look, if you find one that's, like, really good amongst mine, it was probably stolen among me. Just my righteousness shall answer for me. He's basically saying, like, hey, you don't have to worry. I'm going to take the worst of them and it's only by accident or maybe someone's stealing one and they're placing it among my cattle if they look good, if they're, you know, superior cattle. I like what Laban says here in verse 34. Laban said, behold, I would and might be according to thy word. He's like, I hope that that's the case. You know, my will is that that would be the case. You know, because obviously Laban knows Jacob's character. Verse 35 says, and he removed that day the he goats that were ringed straight and spotted and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted and everyone that had some white in it and all the brown among the sheep and gave them into the hands of his sons. And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks and Jacob took him rods of green poplar and of the haze of the chestnut tree and peeled or peeled white streaks in them and made them and made the white appear which was in the rods. And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks in the gutters of the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink that they should conceive when they came to drink and the flocks conceived before the rods and brought forth cattle ringed straight, speckled and spotted. So what is he doing? He's basically manipulating the good cattle to look as though they're inferior by superficially putting the speckled and spots on them. So he's seeing the good cattle and he creates this little system or whatever and with the poplar to make him appear as though they're inferior. So he makes some of the good cattle blemish by superficially adding the spots and the speckles. Look at verse 40. And Jacob did separate the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringed straight and all the brown on the flocks of Laban he put his own flocks by themselves and put them not into Laban's cattle and it came to pass when so ever the stronger cattle did conceive that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters that they might conceive among the rods. But when the cattle were feeble he put them not in so the feebler were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. So he's just like, oh this one's gonna be a strong one. Put spots on that one. Put speckles on that one. So then at the end though he looked so spiritual by taking the inferior cattle he's still being deceptive. He has no integrity. He's still essentially stealing from his boss so to speak, right? Because he's taking all the stronger cattle and he's leaving the feeble with his uncle showing that he lacks integrity. He has no integrity. But you know what the Bible says? Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips and as a fool. It would have been better for Jacob to take the speckled and spotted calves the cattle and you know what? God would have blessed them anyways. Yeah they're inferior but you know what? Your character's not inferior though. You know if you were honest with your uncle far more valuable than the cattle that you inherited is the integrity that you have. The virtues that you have, right? And what is God trying to show us here? He's trying to show us that we should esteem being honest having integrity being truthful being a person of integrity rather than having you know, filthy lucre. Gaining having unjust gain. Doing things through dishonest means, right? You're like oh yeah but I made so much money from it though but did you do it in an honest way? Or did you do it in a dishonest way? Okay. God values you far more if you did it in an honest way and you're broke. You did it in an honest way and you came out losing. And the truth of the matter is yeah you might have come out losing financially but you came out winning in the long run because God will bless you for it. God will bless your resources He'll bless your household He'll bless your possessions and you know the principle that we can learn here is that as employees you should be faithful to your boss. Love your boss be faithful to your boss don't lie to your boss don't steal from your boss yeah but he's a wicked person you know I miss that verse in the Bible that says that you know be faithful and kind and generous and loyal to your boss unless he's wicked then just cheat him. You know the Bible says in Titus 2 9 exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters and to please them well in all things not answering again not purloining but showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 18 says servants referring to employees be subject to your own masters referring to their bosses with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the forward so the Bible says that you should submit yourself as an employee to your boss even if he's not a Christian yeah because a lot of people have especially young people young guys often have this attitude it's like well I can't work there because my boss is just an unsaved person you think you're gonna go work in an Amish community then not that there's any Christians there anyways but you know like the world in which you live the vast majority of the people are unsaved yeah but you know he cussed me out you know and he's mean to me but does he pay you though does he sign the checks though you know take an F word every once in a while as long as you're getting paid and you know what I'm not saying it's right for a boss to just you know cuss their employees out and be rude to them but let me just be real honest with you you know this generation is just weak they're so sensitive you know sticks and stones may break their bones and words will too just like you just say anything and they just fold and cripple and crumble okay and so you know and here's the thing like you think I should take that though just above well here's the thing if he is you know if you're not doing a good job and he does that to you and he's still paying you you know then learn from it right just be a better employee but if you truly just can't take it anymore then go find another job don't sue your boss don't adhere to the billboards that says are you experiencing abuse at your job verbal abuse at your job verbal abuse at your job you know sue your boss and that's wicked not as a Christian you know go somewhere else go be an employee somewhere else and if your boss pays good you just put up with it it says to be subject not only to the good and gentle but also to the fraud and I've had bosses who are good and gentle and I've had fraud bosses as well and never once have I ever desired or tried to cheat those who were fraud you know if they yelled at me and humbled me and yelled at me or said whatever against me because they weren't happy with me you know I just kind of took it and I apologized and I tried to do better and so it says verse 19 so why why do you why should I take that well it says in verse 19 for this is thank worthy if a man for conscience toward God endure grief suffering wrongfully for what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults you shall take it patiently but if when you do well and suffer for it you take it patiently this is acceptable with God now obviously if you have a boss who's cussing you out and he's not paying you then obviously go somewhere else and something needs to change about that right but you know if your boss is just kind of hard on you and you know he's yelling at you first of all stop doing things that makes him yell at you that's a good place to start second off you know if he's still giving you paychecks and still giving you raises you know I'll take an F word every single day of my life if that happens if that's his manner you know if he's not a Christian why am I going to try to change his character in that area my job as a Christian is to serve him as unto Christ okay and so that's important but we see here with Jacob is that he feels as though just because Laban maybe has cheated him well I'm going to get him back well you know what that's called vengeance you know as Christians we're not supposed to be vengeful okay give place unto wrath vengeance belongeth unto me say it the Lord I will repay we shouldn't have a vindictive attitude towards people when they do us wrong okay if you have enemies friends family spouses people who have wronged you defrauded you cheated you it doesn't give you permission to kind of reciprocate that same malice and malicious behavior towards them it's against the Bible right you know if you're wrong by someone who's very close to you say Lord forgive them for they know not what to do and bless me in spite of it you know you have someone who has defrauded you cheated you out of money cheated you out of resources cheated you out of possessions people that were close to you people who weren't close to you and you know and they did it just pray Lord I pray that you would not hold it to their account because they're not saved they don't know what they're doing they're just behaving as unsaved people but bless me anyways in spite of it because I want to be vengeful I want to be malicious but I'm not going to because the Bible forbids me to do so okay so we see here that he cheats them of the flocks and the herds and so forth go to chapter 32 chapter 32 so at this point Jacob has matured a little bit he's grown he has two wives a bunch of kids he has tons of resources God has blessed him financially and he decides to leave he decides to leave Laban and go back home but here's the thing there's still some problems at home that he has not resolved yet and he's finally gotten to a point where he realizes you know what I wronged my brother Esau so he sends people before him to go essentially talk to Esau and they come back and they're like Esau's coming with a ton of people he's coming with like an army and you know Jacob is a smooth man he's a plain man he's not a fighting man per se right he's not a hunter and he's thinking oh man Esau's not over it so you know he's afraid because you know it's one thing if Esau's coming to take him but now he's he has like wives and children he has a family that he's responsible for so obviously there's a sense of worry there's a sense of anxiety that he has and what happens here well before he meets Esau he actually meets God right he has this encounter with the Lord and it's this encounter that he has with God that really breaks him and changes him okay before he meets Esau and of course after that when he meets Esau he realizes that Esau has no you know malice towards him they end up reconciling and you know Jacob's trying to give him gifts and Esau says this really just powerful statement when he says I have enough like I have enough you know and everything goes well and then they end up burying their father they're reconciling but prior to that you know he meets with God look at verse 24 and Jacob was left alone by the way that's a good way to meet with the Lord is alone you know reading your Bible alone in your room in your vehicle by yourself you in God's presence alone and there wrestled the man with him until the breaking of the day and when he saw that he prevailed not against him he touched the hollow okay and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him so this is obviously the Lord right the Lord who's wrestling with Jacob I believe it's referring to Jesus it's a pre-incarnate Christ and he's he's physically wrestling with this angel now obviously the Lord can just be like snap you know pick him up and you know just break his back and just destroy him but he's allowing Jacob to put up a fight he's allowing him to wrestle with him for a reason right and obviously the wrestling here pictures that you know that spiritual yearning of just trying to get a hold of God you're trying to get a hold of God and you know there's instances in our life where we read the Bible out of discipline but there's other instances where we just need to get a hold of God reading the Bible we say Lord please help me with this situation give me an answer for this situation I'm gonna keep reading and I'm gonna wrestle through the scriptures I'm gonna wrestle I'm gonna wrestle in prayer I'm gonna wrestle day in and day out week in and week out until I get this answer to prayer and what is that that's like wrestling with God I'm back Lord please give me an answer I need this help me with this I need this resource I need you to pay this bill I need you to help me with my health I need you to help me with my resources I need you to help me with this relationship help me what is that that's wrestling with God and you might open up the Bible one day and read it you read the Bible and you read about just you know something that's completely unrelated to your situation you come back the next day and you wrestle again and you don't let go until you get something out of it and this is what Jacob's doing why is Jacob wrestling with the angel I'll tell you why cause he's afraid cause he's gonna meet with his brother it's a very you know serious meeting here and so he needs he needs to know that God is on his side he needs to know that God is with him and what does the Lord do he touches the hollow of his thigh and the hollow of his thigh is just out of joint picturing the fact that the Lord breaks Jacob he changes Jacob physically is what he does but what does Jacob do he continues to wrestle he doesn't even let go as painful as it is he doesn't let go and you know what your situation might get even more painful don't let go your situation might become even harder God might break you even more and what do you do just hold on right as you're wrestling you're just like dang he just he messed me up right now he put me in the leg lock he just put a knee bar you know now you're like limping now it's almost as if now you have you have to hold on to him not because you want to win but just because you don't want to fall and you're just wrestling and that's what he's doing you know what sometimes that's what we have to do when you're going through a difficult time hey if you're going through a trial don't let go of prayer don't let go of the preaching of God's word don't let go of God that's the worst thing you could do look at verse 26 and he said let me go for the day breaketh and he said I will not let thee go except thou bless me now that's powerful you know Jacob as smooth as he was the man actually is pretty strong he's holding on to the Lord and the Lord's like let me go this is over he's like I'm not letting you go until you bless me and you know what some of us need to get on our knees and pray and say I'm not going to get off my knees until you bless me I'm not going to stop reading the Bible until you bless me I'm not going to stop until you show yourself strong on my behalf I'm not going to stop until you show me greatly mighty things which I know not and I'm in pain I'm suffering I'm going through a hard time I'm not going to let you go verse 27 he said it to him what is thy name and he said Jacob and he said thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel for as a prince has thou power with God and with men and has prevailed the last point here is that yeah you know what he was opportunistic yes he was a schemer yeah he was a cheat but you know what he was also a prince he was a prince what did God bless him with a new identity you know Jacob was a deceiver for most of his life and it took God breaking him to change him Jacob had a lot of issues a lot of problems but God gave him a new name and a new nature listen to this that he expected him to live up to you know this is what he's saying he goes I don't want you to be called and later on he tells him again thy name shall be no more called Jacob thou shall be Israel and what is that a picture of it's a picture of the new man right you know you as an individual might be characterized by certain flaws from your past life certain flaws that you grew up with maybe you're deceptive maybe you're a cheat maybe you're a drunkard maybe you were a fornicator maybe you were fill in the blank of whatever sin you can fill it up with but at the end of the day thy name shall be no more called Jacob thou shall be Israel and here's the thing Jacob just didn't pass away he became both Jacob and Israel but God wanted him to live up to being Israel though Israel is not the one who won the battle excuse me Jacob's not the one who won the fight it was Israel who won the fight Jacob's not the one who essentially prevailed it was Israel who prevailed with God and what does the Bible tell us what does it teach us in this regard you know the Bible says therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things have passed away behold all things are become new and you know what one thing that we can learn from Jacob is the fact that you know we might have the old man not we might we do have the old man present with us we have that old nature we have the old way of thinking we have old habits but you know what God expects you and he expects me to live up to that new that new name that new identity thy name shall be no more called Jacob you're Israel now live up to that live up to integrity and honesty and wrestling with God and prevailing and being strong and being a person who loves the Lord live up to that you know live up to that you know that that vocation wherewith ye are called for we are as workmanship created in Christ Jesus that which got it before then that we should walk in them the Bible says that's the Israel part right and so the point here with Jacob is that it took him having this drastic dramatic painful encounter with the Lord that it physically changed him you know you know it could be that he walked with the limp thereafter you know he's walking up to his brother maybe that was what his brother was just like oh I can't I can't beat up this crippled guy you know God has a handicap I'm gonna whoop him with the handicap you know but he's probably he probably walked like that for the rest of his life it's something that marked him for the rest of his life and in fact the people that didn't eat of the sinew because of Jacob right so he's just walking around but you know what that was an indicator that he met God he bore in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ so to speak right and it changed him it changed his disposition he was used greatly of God thereafter he was able to reconcile with his brother so even though he had all these bad attributes and characteristics in times past you know it was one of those things that from here on out though I need to start acting like Israel and stop acting like Jacob and you know what you might be in this situation where you know you're like Jacob you might be kind of like a deceptive person you have character flaws you have issues that you got to work through but just understand you if you're saved you have the new man though right the Bible says what shall we say shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid how should we that are dead to sin live any longer therein knowing that so many of us as we're baptized into Jesus Christ we're baptized into his death and that we should walk in newness of life right we should walk in that life and so what's what is it that we can learn from the life of Jacob well one thing we learn is that God uses imperfect people and he's very merciful and patient with us you know we're reading his story we're like oh Jacob oh man what are you doing but you know what if someone read our story they'd be doing the same thing if they if they put our story in a book they'd be like oh Bruce what are you doing oh man wow God must really like love this man he must be really he wants to use this and then but more so than that people would see man God is gracious if God read your story he'd be like this is a testament to the grace of God this is a testament to God's mercy you know what because God is merciful he is gracious to us he uses us in spite of our flaws in spite of our shortcomings in spite of our doubt in spite of past failings he still wants to continue to use us and bless us but let me say this the blessing comes also when you take on and live up to that new identity when you're that prince amen let's pray Father we thank you so much for your word thank you for the life of Jacob and all that we learned from his life Lord and though we can sit here and criticize him for his actions many of us probably have a story that's similar to this and things that we've done that we're ashamed of and what fruit had we then now and where of we are now ashamed and Lord I pray that you'd help us as your people to realize that our past failings doesn't necessarily have to characterize our future and sometimes we just need to get a hold of you we need to get a hold of God through the Bible through prayer and maybe we're wrestling with a specific situation in our lives it keeps us up at night gives us anxiety makes us worry and maybe what we just need to do is open up the Bible and wrestle with you maybe we need to get on our knees and pray and wrestle with you and when do we close the Bible when do we get up from prayer once you've blessed us and I pray that you'd help us to do so help us to have that endurance and help us to learn from this story Lord to be better Christians and better believers we love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name Amen