“Jacob is a Man Who REALLY Wanted It”

(Sunday Morning April 14th, 2013)

Passage: Genesis 32:22-32

O.S. I Want to Begin This Sermon This Morning by Asking You a Simple Question

and My Simple Question is This

Q.n = Do You Want “IT?”

Q.n = Do You REALLY Want “IT?”

Q.n = You Might Say, “Well, What is ‘IT’ Pastor?”

-> “IT” is Your Dream; “IT” is That Achievement That You Long for the Most in Life

-> “IT” Could be Your Desire to be a Great Preacher, or a Great Teacher, or a Great
Singer, or a Great Musician or a Great Athlete for the Glory of God

-> “IT” Could be Your Desire to be a Great Husband, or a Great Wife, or a Great
Parent, or Just to be Able to Become a Husband, or a Wife, or a Parent (Healing)

Q.n = Now, Am I Suggesting That You Can Just Choose Whatever You Want in Life,
and That, if You Want “IT” Badly Enough You Can Acquire “IT?”

Q.n = Am I Talking Like a Foolish Word of Faith Preacher Who Says, “If You Can
Conceive ‘IT,’ and if You Can Believe ‘IT,’ That You Can Receive ‘IT?’”

Ans = No

-> Because if “IT” is Not Within the Parameter’s of God’s Will for Your Life,
You Can Want “IT” and Still Not be Able to Achieve “IT,” and It is Always
and Only by the Grace of God That Anyone Will Ever Receive “IT”

-> That is Why the Apostle Paul Said This in 1 Corinthians 15:10; He Said,

“…by the grace of God I am what I am…” (That Referred to Him Being an Apostle)

-> But Then, He Went on in That Same Verse to Say This; He Said…

“…and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all
of them (Referring to Other Apostles) …”

-> This Tells Us That Paul Got “IT” by the Grace of God, But One Reason That
He Got “IT” by the Grace of God Was Because He REALLY Wanted “IT”

Ex = Abraham is One of the First Mentioned in the Bible Who REALLY Wanted “IT”

-> Abraham Not Only Wanted to be a Great Parent; Abraham Wanted First Just
to be a Parent; and He REALLY Wanted “IT”

-> So, He Sought God for “IT”; He Asked God for “IT”, and He Continued to Ask
God for “IT”, and He Waited for “IT” Until God Ultimately Gave “IT” to Him

-> And God Also Gave Him Much More by Promising to Bless Him, and by Promising
to Bless Others Thru Him, and by Promising to Make Him the Father of a Great Nation

Ex = Jabez is Another One Who REALLY Wanted “IT”

-> And He Wanted IT so Much That He Had the Audacity to Ask God for IT;
and So, God Gave IT to Him (Isn’t That Interesting?)

-> “…Jabez called on the God of Israel,” We are Told in 1 Chronicles 4:10 “…Saying

‘Oh’ (That is an Earnest Plea) that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border,
and that Your hand might be with me, …And God granted him what he requested”

Ex = Jacob, of Course, is Another Man Who REALLY Wanted “IT”

-> And “IT” for Jacob Was the Blessing of God

-> Not Just the Status of the First Born, or the Bulk of the Family Inheritance
Which Was Given to the First Born, But the Right to be That One Through
Whom the Blessing of Abraham Would be Perpetuated

-> Jacob Wanted to Fulfill a Spiritual Purpose in Life; He Wanted to Become
a Part of Redemptive History

-> He Wanted “IT”, and He REALLY Wanted “IT”

-> His Brother Esau, by Way of Contrast, Did Not Want “IT”

-> I am Sure That Esau Wanted the Status of the First Born, and the Inheritance
of the First Born, But He Had No Real Interest in Spiritual Things

-> Esau Really Didn’t Care About Becoming a Part of Redemptive History

-> He Didn’t Really Want That Part of the Blessing; in Fact, the Bible Says That
He Despised His Blessing by Selling It to Jacob for a Bowl of Lintel Soup

-> But Jacob Wanted It, He REALLY Wanted It; and So, He Sought God for It,
and That is What This Passage of Scripture is All About

I. Jacob Wanted IT Enough to Reach for IT

-> Jacob Wanted This Blessing Even Before He Was Born

-> We are Told in Genesis Chapter 25 That His Mother Rebekah Was Troubled
by the Fact That the Twins in Her Womb Were Struggling With Each Other

-> And I Can Only Imagine How Painful That Must Have Been for Her

-> She Was Constantly Being Internally Punched, and Kicked, and Bruised

-> And This Troubled Her so Much That She Asked God Why It Was Happening

-> And This is What God Said to Her; He Said,

“…’Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples will be separated from your
body; and one people shall be stronger than the other; and the older shall serve
the younger.’" (Gen 25:23)

-> This Great Struggle Was Even Evident at the Point of Their Birth

-> Because as the First Born Came Out of the Womb, the Second One Came Out
With a Firm Grip on the First One’s Heel

-> So, Isaac and Rebekah Decided to Name Their Second Child “Jacob” Which Literally
Means “Heel Grabber” or “The Grasping One”

-> It Was Not the Kind of Name That Most People Would Have Wanted in That Day,
Because It Also Referred to One Who Was a “Deceiver” or a “Con Artist” or a “Liar”

-> In Fact, When Jesus Called Nathanael “an Israelite in Whom There is No Guile”
in John 1:47, the Word He Used for “Guile” Was the Same Word That
Was Translated in the Septuagint as the Word “Jacob”

-> He Actually Called Nathanael “an Israelite in whom there is no Jacob”

-> And Jacob Was a Man Who Lived Up to His Name

-> Or Let Me Put It to You This Way

-> If Someone in That Day and Time Had Heard That Jacob Was Coming Over to Their
House, There is Good Chance They Would Have Taken the Family Silver and Locked
It in the Family Safe; and Then, They Would Have Carefully Hidden That Safe

St = For You See, Listen, Jacob Was Not One Who Was Known for Playing by the Rules

-> This is Seen First by the Fact That Jacob Conned His Brother Into Selling His
Birthright to Him for a Bowl of Lintel Soup as I Stated in My Introduction

-> And Later, With the Help of His Mother, He Deceived His Blind Father Into Giving
the Family Blessing to Him

-> He Even Put Lambs Fur on His Hands so That When His Father Felt His Hands
He Would Think That It Was Esau Who Was a Hairy Man Instead of Jacob

-> And When Asked Plainly About This, He Gave His Father a Bold Faced Lie

-> Isaac Said, “’Are you really my son Esau?’ and he (Jacob) Said, ‘I am” (Gen 27:24)

-> And That Was How He Stole His Brother’s Birthright Which Was the Equivalent
in That Day of Stealing the Family Inheritance and the Key to the Safety Deposit Box

-> And His Brother Esau Became so Angry About This That He Essentially Said, “After
Dad Dies and is Buried There is Going to be Another Funeral for Jacob”

-> So, Jacob, Again With His Mother’s Help, Fled to Haran Where Rebekah’s Brother
Laban Was Living

-> And Jacob Still Didn’t Play by the Rules

Ex = We are Told in Genesis 29, for Example, That He Came to a Well and Noticed That
There Were People There With Their Flocks, But They Weren’t Watering Them

-> So, Jacob Asked Them Why, and They Told Him That They Were Not Allowed
to Water Their Sheep There Until All of the Other Flocks Had Arrived

-> Then, He Saw This Beautiful Young Lady Named Rachel Coming With Her Sheep

Q.n = So, do You Know What Jacob Did?
Ans = He Ignored the Red Tape

-> He Just Went Over There and Rolled the Stone Away From the Mouth of the Well,
Rules or No Rules, He Decided That He Wanted to Help That Beautiful Young Lady

Ex = And Then, Listen to This, We are Told in Genesis 29:11 That Jacob Walked Over
to Rachel and Just Laid One on Her; He Kissed Her; and Then, He Wept Aloud

-> Kissing a Girl on the First Date Was Not the Social Norm in That Day, But Jacob
Was Not Interested in Following Social Norms

St = Jacob Was a Man, Listen to Me Now, Who Usually Got Whatever He Wanted One
Way or Another

-> And on at Least One Occasion, This Caused Him to Get More Than He Bargained
For…Literally More Than He Bargained For

-> Because Jacob Went to Live With His Uncle Laban, and as One Bible Commentator
Put It, Two Men Never Deserved Each Other More

-> And Their Relationship Began With Laban Giving Jacob Some of His Own
Medicine

-> For You See, Jacob Was in Love With Rachel, But He Didn’t Have Any Money
or Any Possessions

-> So, He Agreed to Work for Laban for Seven Years to Gain the Right to Marry
Rachel Who’s Name Literally Means “Little Lamb”

-> But After His Honeymoon, Jacob Discovered That His Uncle Laban Had Switched
the Bride

-> And Instead of Waking Up the Next Morning and Seeing Rachel Which Means “Little
Lamb”, He Woke Up and Saw Her Older Sister Leah Which Literally Means “Little Cow”

-> By the Way, if You Know Someone Named “Leah,” You Might Want to Keep That
One Under the Shelf

Q.n = How Shocked do You Think Jacob Was When He Discovered That?

Q.n = And Did You Recognize the Divine Justice in All of That?

-> Jacob Deceived His Father in Order to Usurp the Rights of the Firstborn,
and Laban Deceived Jacob in Order to Preserve the Rights of the Firstborn

-> And by the Way, One of the Things I Want to Ask Jacob When I Get to Heaven
is This, “How in the World Does Someone Manage to Marry the Wrong Woman?”

-> Laban Pulled a Fast One, and He Got the Best of Jacob on That Occasion

-> But Ultimately, Jacob Got the Best of Laban by Tricking Him Into Giving Him
a Large Portion of His Flocks and Herds

-> And That is Why Jacob Had to Flee Again, This Time From Laban

-> And This Time God Told Jacob to Go Back to the Land of Canaan

St = Now, This is What I Want You to Understand About Jacob Reaching
for the Blessing of God

Q.n = Are You Listening?

-> Jacob Faced a Lot of Unnecessary Hardships, Because He Made the Mistake
of Reaching for Something That He Already Possessed

-> For You See, Jacob REALLY Wanted the Blessing of God, and He Wanted
IT Enough to Reach for IT

-> But the Truth of the Matter is That He Didn’t Have to Reach for IT, Because He
Already Possessed IT

Q.n = Do You Remember What God Had Said to Rebekah Even While Esau and Jacob
Were Still in the Womb?

Ans = God Had Said the Older Would Serve the Younger

-> The Problem is That Rachel Didn’t Trust God, and Jacob Didn’t Trust God
to Keep His Promise

-> And as a Result of This, They Both Faced a Lot of Unnecessary Turmoil

-> Rebekah, in Fact, Faced the Worst of It, Because She Never Got to See Her
Favorite Son Alive Again on This Side of Heaven

-> By the Time Jacob Returned to the Land of Canaan, Rebekah Was Already Lying
in a Tomb in Machpelah

-> And Jacob Spent Twenty Years in the Land of Nahor Before He Was Ultimately
Able to Claim the Blessing That God Had Intended to Give Him All Along

Pt = We Always Get Into Trouble When We Place Our Trust in Our Own Wisdom

and Our Own Methods Instead of Placing Our Trust is God’s Wisdom and God’s Methods

-> It’s Called “Running Ahead of God,” and Jacob is Not the Only Man Who Has
Ever Been Guilty of Doing This

-> Moses, for Example, Did Exactly the Same Thing

-> He Knew That God Had Called Him to be the Deliverer of Israel, But He Decided
to Take Matters Into His Own Hands Instead of Waiting for God (Elaborate)

-> And as a Result of This, Moses Had to Spend Forty Years on the Backside
of a Desert Learning to Lean on God Instead of His Own Abilities

II. Jacob Wanted IT Enough to Request IT

-> Even at This Point in His Life, Jacob Was Still Struggling With This Concept
of Living by Faith and Trusting in God

-> And I Know That Was the Case, Because We are Told in Verse 7 of This Chapter
That Jacob Became “Greatly Afraid and Distressed” When He Heard That His
Brother Esau Was Coming to Meet Him Along With Four Hundred of His Men

-> Jacob Was Afraid, But He Didn’t Need to be Afraid

-> Because, to Begin With, in Genesis 31:13, God Had Told Him to Return to the Land
of Canaan; So, We Know That He Was Right in the Middle of the Will of God

-> And in Addition to This, We are Told in Verse 1 of This Chapter That God Had
Promised to Give Him an Angelic Escort

-> In Fact, the Word “Mahanaim” Literally Means “Behind and in Front”, and This
Was God’s Way of Saying That He Would Protect Jacob From Laban Who Was
Behind Him and From Esau Who Was in Front of Him

-> But Nevertheless, Jacob Was “Greatly Afraid and Distressed,” Because He Had
Remembered How His Brother Esau Had Promised That He Would Kill Him

-> So, in Typical Jacob Fashion, He Came Up With a Shrewd Plan of Action

* First, He Divided All His Family Members and Servants and Possessions Into
Two Groups
-> This Way, if Esau Attacked One of These Groups, the Other Group Could Escape

-> And Apparently, Jacob Had Decided That It Would be Better to Have Half as Much
as He Had Than to Have Nothing at All

* Second, He Decided to Send Some Presents to Esau in the Hopes That This Might
Appease His Wrath