I'm not preaching Genesis 25 through 50 verse by verse. This is definitely going to be one of those jumping around a bit for part of the sermon, and then we're going to land in Genesis 32. So just so you know where we're headed here, and you're not despairing. You saw the sign out on the highway, Have you wrestled with God? That's kind of the title, but there's a subtitle that completes the thought and it's important. Have you wrestled with God? God wrestles with His people. It's not really a matter of you wrestling with God, it's whether or not God is wrestling with you. And if you are one of the people of God, you are in covenant with God, He will wrestle with you. Believe it. He is not here just to make you happy. He's not here just to give you everything you want. He's here to wrestle with you. He will get what He wants. When God decides that He wants to save a man, He will stop at nothing to do two things. Number one, I'm saying man, men, women, like Pastor said, I think it was last week, don't just, yeah, humanity. So He will stop at nothing to, number one, save him. including violating His free will. God will do that. He will stop at nothing. He doesn't care about your will. He will change your will. He's going to do that. You say, I hate God, whatever. You could be sitting here right now and you could say, I hate God. It doesn't matter. You say, God will never save me. I hate Him. It doesn't matter. If He's after you, you're coming. Secondly, the second thing, you will stop at nothing to sanctify Him. And that includes everything from minor inconveniences to finding out that your spouse has a fatal illness and is not going to recover. He will stop at nothing. Last weekend, I went to a funeral for a dear friend of both Kim and I. She got diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer three years ago. And they told her she only had months to live. And she lived for three years. Glory to God. But during that time, there was a lot of sanctification that went on. I can see it in my friend, my pastor friend, Kali. He's a different person than he was three years ago. Why? God chose to sanctify my brother Kali and my sister Cheryl, his wife, through all of that, preparing her for home. See, God is preparing us all for home. And He's not really interested in our comfort in that process. It's very uncomfortable to get pancreatic cancer. There are no two truths more hated than these. We cling to the idea of a free will that operates solely by the standard of whatever we want, when we want it, and how we want it. Why we want it is irrelevant to anyone else but us, and if we want it, it must be right and good. Regarding sanctification, it's a human right stated in the Declaration of Independence and in the classrooms of hell that we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. How does this inalienable right square with God's absolute right to get out of us what he wants in terms of our holiness? Your inalienable right, God doesn't care about. He has the absolute right to get out of you what he wants. And happiness is not the main theme. It's not the main issue. The main concern is getting this out of my creation, the creation, the people that I have saved. Have you ever considered before how far God will go to make you into who He wants you to be and how He will not stop anything? He is liable to mess up your 10-year plan. He does not care, you didn't consult with him anyway, so why does he care? There is no better biblical example of these two truths than the life of the patriarch of Israel, Jacob. Have you ever thought before, I hadn't really much, how much of the book of Genesis is taken up with his life? About half the book, Genesis 25 through 50. So we're gonna focus on chapter 32, The question, have you wrestled with God? God wrestles with his people. If God has not wrestled with you, and you do not know what it is to have to struggle with God, then you might not be one of his people. He does this with everyone. This is not unusual. Now, it might be unusual to wrestle Jesus face to face. We'll get to that. But it's not unusual that he decides to meet with you and to deal with your issues. and to get them taken care of. That's the whole Christian life. There are periods where it comes and goes where you're wrestling with God. It's not unusual. He has not wrestled with you yet. I suspect that that lonely night of the soul is coming when you will. So there are three lessons from the life of Jacob that you must wrestle with because these are things that you also face. The first lesson from the life of Jacob is that you have to embrace this. You have to embrace this. We just sang about grace of God, how he saves sinners. And yes, you're forgiven through Christ. Yes, all that's been dealt with at the cross, but you better not forget who you were. And you better not forget that you still sin. And you better not forget that you're always in need of that grace that we just sang about. You really aren't any different except for Christ. Christ, yes, He changes you, it's absolutely true, but that's what you would be without Him, right? So face this, the first lesson from the life of Jacob, and it's this, we are deceivers. By nature, by birth, we are deceptive, we are deceivers. That's who we are. His name Jacob means it could be either supplanter or deceiver. Literally the word means he takes the heel and that comes from Genesis 25. So Genesis 25 verse 24 through 26 is the birth of Jacob and Esau. When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. Afterward, his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them. So here he is, even when he's coming out of the womb, he's trying, he's trying even then to grab his brother by the heel and be the one who comes out first. Not yet, I'm coming with you, you know, or something. I've never been there for the birth of twins, it's got to be something. But when you see something like that, I'm sure it made an impression. But listen, at some point, you must face who you are. Jacob was aptly named. Even from this early stage, and you see it mostly through his entire life, he's always trying to manipulate. He's always trying to supplant. He's always trying to deceive to get what he wants. At some point, you have to face it because the Gospel requires it. At some point, you must understand the depth of your own sin. You must understand your own depravity because you are a sinner by birth and by practice. Romans 3, 10-18 lays it all out for us when we talk about depravity. As it is written, none is righteous, no, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat, now here it is on deception, their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. the venom of asps is under their lips, their mouth is full of curses and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, and their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known, there is no fear of God before their eyes." At some point, you have to face who you are, and the gospel requires it. We have to face this about ourselves and own it, as they say. And it's not just checking a box, but it's realizing the weight of that deception. Revelation 21.8 says, all liars will have their part in the lake of fire. In our culture, it's not a big deal to lie. But with God, it's a very big deal, because He is a God of truth. And when we lie, we attack His character. And so he is concerned about that. This culture is full of lying and deception. From top to bottom, it's how this culture operates. People lie as a matter of course. I'm very frustrated this week because of politicians that I know who are lying. Try calling it out and see what happens. I mean, it's expected that Christian politicians will lie. I don't expect it. I'm dumb that way. I expect that people that are supposed to be doing Christian things will act like Christians. And you can't ever try to manipulate the process. We are deceptive. This is who we are. We are liars. We're deceptive. We're supplanters. This is what we do. In Genesis 27, 18-20, look what he does, what he says. We're deceivers. We're liars. He does it in 27. He goes to his father. Remember, his mother gets him to do this thing. You just act like you're Esau. Just act like you're Esau. We'll just do this thing, right? We're going to do that. So he went into his father and said, my father. And he said, here I am. Who are you? My son. Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, your firstborn. I've done as you told me. Now sit up and eat of my game that your soul may bless me. Isaac said to his son, how is it that you found it so quickly, my son? I mean, it's all straight up lie, but look what he says. He blames God. Because the Lord, your God granted me success. He brings God into his deception. We do this. God told me to do this thing. God told me to do that thing. And it's completely contrary to the Word of God. God did not tell you that. We are thieves. He's stealing the birthright in Genesis 27, verse 34 to 36. Now, I want you to catch the spirit of this. I think this, in terms of capturing human emotion, Genesis 27 might be one of the best examples in Scripture. and catching Esau's emotion. As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, when he found out that he successfully stole his birthright, Jacob stole his birthright, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, bless me, there's gotta be something left. You gave him the blessing, give me something. I deserve this, I was born first. Give me something. Bless me, even me also, O my father. But he said, your brother came deceitfully, and he's taken away your blessing. Esau said, is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing. Then he said, have you not reserved a blessing for me? And this is what I'm talking about with the emotion. You go to Genesis 27, verse 37, and it says there, Isaac answered and said to Esau, behold, I have made him Lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son? I've given him everything. Esau said to his father, have you but one blessing, my father, bless me, even me also, oh my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. Put yourself, and it's not hard, put yourself in the shoes of Esau for a second. You've been robbed. You've lost everything to your conniving, deceitful brother. And you get a little bit of a feeling there. Maybe if you can get into his sandals for just a second, you can get into the feeling of how much he's lost. He's lost everything. This is Jacob. And it's you and it's me. We've stolen things from people. We've been nasty to people. We've attacked people. We're the same. We're thieves. But think about this for just a second. Not many people think about this in Genesis 27. Jacob's deception not only brought the hatred of his own brother, but he's about to be separated from his mother, who is behind all of this and trying to orchestrate all this so that he would get the blessing because he's the favored son. She had received the promise that the older would serve the younger, but the fact is she was manipulating things just like he was, and she's involved with all this manipulation, and when he leaves here at the end of Genesis 27, he's never gonna see her again. All of this that she does to try to help her favorite son and try to help him succeed or whatever, right? And she's thinking she's doing well by her son because look, I'm trying to give him everything that he needs so that he can be successful. And it blows up in her face. She's never gonna see him again. Verse 43. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother in Haran. Stay with him a while until your brother's fury turns away. She's thinking it's just gonna be for a little while. Until your brother's anger turns away from you and he forgets what you have done. Is that really gonna happen? Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day? She was. After all that, she was bereft of both of them in one day. that Rebecca said to Isaac, I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me? Well, she got what she wanted. There is an application. Every parent in the room, do not be so concerned about your children's material wealth. and their success, doing everything you can to connive and plot and plan, to do everything you can to make them successful, doing what's best for them, making sure that they get the American dream, right? To the degree that you end up destroying your own family. Happens all the time. All the time. This is the priority. This school's the priority. This talent or skill or sport is the priority. And that you lose your child, you're doing it for them. And you've got it built up in your mind that if I do this for them, when they end up MVP of the NFL or something, then I'm gonna stand up there on the stage with them and I'll be proud to stand there with my son. Or, yeah, that might happen, but then they could die and go to hell at the end of the day because they don't care about Christ anymore. They never were part of that because you prioritized their success. It happens every day. Don't chase after these idols. You will destroy your family. It happens all the time. I've seen it over 32 years of ministry too many times. I'm begging with you, do not do that to your children. do that, do that to your own family, you might as well take a gun and just put it to everybody's head because you're destroying them by not prioritizing Christ, the church, following Him. Don't do this to your kids. Another lesson to learn here is when it comes to Jacob and the proof of his character is that his pursuits were all wrong. When you watch his life unfold from this point forward with Laban and Haran, what's his pursuit in those chapters? He's pursuing three things. He's pursuing women, he's pursuing work, and he's pursuing wealth. That's what his mom wanted for him. He's pursuing women, he's pursuing work, and he's pursuing wealth. In chapters 29 to 34, these are his pursuits with some interruptions by God. What's he do? He marries two wives. in their insane pursuit of happiness and the blessing of family, both of his wives each hand over their servant girls to Jacob in order to try to win some sort of fertility competition. Well, if children are the sign of God's blessing, then anything goes, right? On Jacob's part, it went like this. When his wife said, take my maid servant, he said, okay, whatever makes you happy. It's like a soap opera reading these chapters. Men, speaking to the men, the standard is not happy wife, happy life. The standard is be holy as I'm holy. So it's not whatever my wife wants, I gotta make that happen. If your wife wants you to sin, don't go there. You're the leader, lead. We have enough passive men to last till Christ comes back. We don't need any more passive men. We need men to act like men and to lead. So lead. You lead. Don't let the culture lie to you. Well, I can't tell her. I don't know how many times I've heard it in front of an abortion clinic. I don't know how many times I've heard it. Well, it's her body. I can't really tell her to do anything. I'm like, you're the man. Be a man. Be a man and tell her that you will take care of this baby no matter what. That you'll lay your life down. That's what men do. Men provide for their families. This is your child. It can start with not letting her murder your baby. Start there, that's a good start. We need men to be men and we need men to lead. So Jacob isn't only interested in those chapters and breeding his own family, but he takes an interest in breeding cattle and becomes very successful at it. Not that that's wrong, but that's what he's pursuing. By the time he leaves Laban, he is a wealthy man. And in the process, his favored wife is given over to idolatry. She's sneaking idols out of the house, stealing them away from her dad so they can take him with. And Jacob doesn't really appear to have a problem with that. In this process, in spite, and he does, he has an encounter with God at Bethel, where the Abrahamic covenant is restated. even though he talked to God at Bethel. He talked to God. It means house of God. He goes to the house of God. He has the Abrahamic promises restated to him. He failed to teach and lead his family rightly. He did not teach them in what he learned. He is a failure as a husband and a father. How many failures as husbands and fathers do we have in the room? All of us have failed in some way or the other to lead rightly in our families. So what do we do with that? Own it. Just own it. Say, I have blown it on this front and repent of that and do differently. He met with God at Bethel. He's part of the covenant people of God. But just because he met with God, heard about the covenant of God that God had with his grandfather Abraham, it did not mean that he had any meaningful relationship to God because his life is a wreck. Everybody's emphasizing covenant, covenant, covenant. Yeah, great. What does it look like? This was covenant. And look at this man's life under covenant. It's a train wreck. Having said that, this is crazy. I haven't even gotten to the craziest part yet. Right now I'm about to. The craziest part of this whole thing is that God chooses wicked, nasty people. People that you wouldn't even like. I don't like Jacob when I'm reading Genesis. I don't think I'd want to hang out with this guy. I wouldn't want to be my neighbor. This guy is going to be a problem. I wouldn't want to be with this guy. I'd probably like Esau better, to tell you the truth. But God has something else going on here. He chooses Jacob rather than Esau. He chooses the supplanter. He chooses the deceiver. And he gives that guy grace. Aren't you thankful? Aren't you thankful? Remember what we said at the beginning, we're all supplanters, we're all deceivers. You're Jacob, I'm Jacob. God chose us for no good reason other than to show grace. There's no reason behind it. He chooses terrible people. That's the reality of the doctrine of election. Romans 9, 10-13 says, not because of works, but because of Him who calls. She was told, the older will serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. Why? No reason other than God decides to love. He just chooses to love. That's the whole explanation. God did not look down through the quarters of time and saw that Jacob was just a smart cookie and he would eventually choose God. That's not what happened here at all, nowhere in the text. It's God choosing him, God coming to him when he's not looking for it. If he looked down the quarters of time, he would see the same thing that we see and would probably choose Esau if it came down to a standard like that. But that's not the standard. God chose to love him. and he chooses to love you, and the response to that is humility? Knowing that, why would he choose me? A supplanter, a deceiver, a manipulator? Why would he do that? He did it because of grace. We always quote Ephesians 2.8 and 9, but we don't really think about it much. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. It's not just saying that you don't get there by works, it's saying that it's all of grace. You are sitting here today, if you've repented, believe the gospel, you're saved, it's only because, not because you're a great person. Not because you be good and do good like Josh Allen was saying when he got the MVP award. That's not it. You got there because God is a gracious God. We know God chose him because God meets with him again in the midst of his plan. He's still manipulating. He's manipulating as he got in the beginning of Genesis 32. So go to Genesis 32, because all that was the introduction. Don't worry, the sermon is not going to be longer than the introduction, I don't think. he's plotting at the beginning of the chapter to go back, he wants to reconcile with Esau. So the idea is I'm gonna split him up into groups, I'm gonna send some gifts on ahead of me, I'm gonna do all this stuff, and then Esau will be less likely to kill me. So he does all this stuff and he makes his plans, he's also praying, and he has a pretty good prayer there at the beginning of Genesis 32, we don't have time to look at it, but he does pray, but he's praying and planning at the same time. Don't we do that a lot? God, I got my plan, but I'm gonna pray and hopefully you bless my plan. I'm gonna come up with a plan. Instead, what we ought to be doing is praying and saying, God, what do you want me to do? And then do that. Not making our plan and then trying to get God to bless the plan. See what I'm saying? And so that's what he's doing. He's doing that thing. And it's typical Jacob. W. H. Griffith Thomas in his commentary, Genesis, a devotional commentary, says instead of gaining Canaan by cleverness, he must receive it as a gift from God. Instead of winning it, he must receive it by divine grace. Now in verses 24 through 32 in Genesis 32, this is where God shows up and he wrestles with Jacob and he wrestles with us because we are manipulators, schemers, and all this stuff. He wrestles with us. Verse 24, I'm just gonna read 24 to 32, I'll bring out the points later. Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, let me go for the day is broken. But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. And he said to him, what is your name? And he said, Jacob. Then he said, your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. Then Jacob asked him, please tell me your name. But he said, why is it that you ask my name? And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, for I've seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered. The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore, to this day, the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh. So some observations here. God wrestles with us. He will wrestle with you when you're alone. Verse 24, first part of verse 24, He was left alone. It's the best time for God to wrestle with you, and we should embrace that. Learn to be alone. Learn to be quiet before God with an open Bible. Learn to read, to meditate, to pray. Be alone with Him. And God will show up. And He'll wrestle through all this garbage in your life. And you know you've got it. Let's stop with the fakeness, the veneer that we put on on Sunday morning. You know you've got it. We all know we've got it. Get along with God in His Word and let Him wrestle. Not let Him. He's going to do it. He's going to wrestle with you. But embrace that. Embrace it. And we need an encounter with Him. And I will put before you that I believe that Jacob is not wrestling with an angel. And I'm not even saying that he's wrestling with God the Father. I'm saying he's wrestling with a pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. And there's reasons for that. It says here in the text, in the next part, verse 24, And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. So the text here in Genesis says it was a man. But if you go over to this other text in the Prophets, in Hosea 12, verses 2-6, it says, The Lord has an indictment against Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways. He will repay him according to his deeds. In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. He strove with God. He strove with, and it says angel in verse four, he strove with the angel and prevailed, but this concept of the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament seems to be something different than just a regular angel. You're talking here about a pre-incarnate, who else is the God-man, right? Who else can possibly be God and Hosea and the man in Genesis? Who is this God-man? He's wrestling with Christ, everyone, If you're a manipulator, a supplanter, a deceiver, you spend your whole life trying to manipulate things to get what you want. And it's all about you. Your whole world revolves around you and has nothing to do with Christ. Wrestle, let Jesus wrestle and pound it into your head who He is. He is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. He's the one who died on the cross for sinners. He rose from the dead. He conquered death. There's no one or no thing that is worth living for other than Him. He is everything. He's everything. Repent and follow him. Abandon your manipulative plans to become whatever it is that you think's gonna make you happy. Reject it all because he's worthy. You can follow a million different things that this world offers you and it'll all end the same place, I promise you. You will die and it will be gone forever. and you'll either be in heaven or in hell. I pray that God is wrestling with you this morning and pressing upon you that if you die in your sins, you're going to hell, you lose it all. Or, like we learned last week, you could come to Christ and have it all. What kind of insanity would it be to turn away from that? We need that encounter with Christ. And maybe this morning, I pray, is your encounter with Him. Have you met him? Have you wrestled with who he is and what he teaches? Christianity, you need to get this, is not just like making a microwave cake. God does this thing in Christianity where it's a battle. Where like you are wrestling with the truth of God's word and following Christ is not easy. Get it out of your head that following Christ is easy. It's not. Jesus said this about it in Luke 13 verse 24. Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter, will not be able. It's a constant battle to follow Christ. I'm not saying you earn your salvation, but I'm saying as you do, as you follow Christ, that there's effort involved in following Christ. It's not that that effort makes you right with God, but because you're right with God, you're willing to engage in that effort, that battle, and to let Him wear you out. My prayer is that God will wear you out. Look at 25 and 26. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, let me go for the day is broken. But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. You say, well, it sounds like Jesus is getting worn out. No, that's not what's happening here. He touches his hip, his hip goes out and Jacob isn't wrestling anymore. He's just holding on. Did you ever see a good boxing match? I'm not talking about that Tyson thing. But have you ever seen a good boxing match, right? Where they're fighting and then the one guy is so worn out he's just like, he's draped over the guy and he's just holding on. That's Jacob right here, he's worn out. His hip's been touched, he's been put out of socket. Florence had her hip go out. It's been hard for the Carters and for her and all that. And I've heard of people having their hips go out, and I never thought much about it. But about two weeks ago, I was laying in bed, and I was laying there funny in bed, and my hip was in a weird spot. And I went to get up out of bed, and I have never felt pain like that in my life. And I went to put my foot on the floor, and I started sweating, and I thought I was going to pass out. When you get your hip, that wasn't put out of socket. It was like a pinched nerve in my hip. He is hurting here at this point. He is just holding on for dear life. And that is what the Lord will do to you. He will wear you out. He will stop at nothing to get you to that point where you're just holding on. That's where you need to be. And if you say, man, I'm just holding on, preacher, I can't, I'm just holding on. I don't, that's where you wanna be. Be wore out as God's trying to do this thing, as He's doing things in your life and sanctifying you. Take it as that. Don't reject the lesson. Don't reject the fight. Embrace the fight. Let God wear you out through the circumstances of life so that you have nothing left but Him, because that's what it looks like to be a Christian. He will... In the process, he's just trying to get you to this point right here, in verse 27. In verse 27, what's he say? He said to him, what is your name? What's he doing there? What's your name? He's got nothing left. He's holding on for dear life. His hip is out of socket. And at that point, the Lord says to him, what is your name? Jacob. As soon as he says it, he's saying, I'm a supplanter. I'm a deceiver. I'm a manipulator. That's what I am. Jacob. Now, at this point, if it was us, you're darn right your name's Jacob. Been reading all this stuff in Genesis, and what a pain you are, right? Something like that. But this is grace. This is grace. God does not give us what we deserve. He gives us something we don't deserve. And look what He says to him. Then He said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel. For you have striven with God with men and have prevailed. The word Israel means prince with God. I've taken you from being a supplanter, you're now a prince. Because you've got nothing left, and I'm giving this to you out of grace. This guy has not acted like a prince anywhere in this text, in the book of Genesis. But it's not based on your works, it's all based on grace. You say, I can't be saved, I'm such a wicked person. I'm a deceiver, I've hurt my family, right? You've been immoral, I've done all these things, you sound a lot like Jacob. Just embrace the reality of who you are, face it, own it, in humility, and Christ will change you, take you to the cross, where you can see justice and mercy meet, You can see grace demonstrated where the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, laid down His life for sinners and poured out His life's blood for us. What we'll recognize tonight when we take the Lord's table, and He will change you. In verse 28, that's what He does. Has He changed you? That's what He's doing. That's why as you continue on from this, when you come to Christ, it's not over. You keep going through stuff. You keep going through difficult things because you're not where He wants you to be yet. And so He's continually seeking you out and wrestling with you. And here's the thing, He walks away, but He walks away with a limp in 31 and 32. He'll never be the same, having your hip put out like that. And from then on, I believe that as he walked up to Esau in chapter 33, he walked up there with a limp. And we're always trying to figure out how to get rid of the limp. Just be happy that there's a limp. Be happy that when you wrestle with God, there's still marks of it on you, right? Be happy because that's a reminder for you. That's a reminder that you are nothing but a recipient of grace. That's a reminder that God wore you out. It's a reminder that he helped you see who you are. And it's a reminder that he is everything. And then when that happens, when that happens and you have come face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ and He has worn you out, then in chapter 33 there could be reconciliation. In chapter 33, He goes and He sees, He saw, and in spite of the impossibility of it, somehow there's reconciliation. This is a quote from a guy named Strahan. He wrote a book called Hebrew Ideals in Genesis. He said, Jacob's experience was not unparalleled. And many a man who tries to give expression to the deepest facts in his life has to use the language of this narrative. Every night, God is changing some Jacob into an Israel. All the time, every night, every day. all the time. God is changing some Jacob into an Israel. My prayer is that God will do this to every one of us in this room. whether you are an unbeliever who has not yet come to Christ and entered in the covenant with God, or whether you are a believer and God is still, you're not there yet, you're not in heaven, so I know that God's still sanctifying you. You're sitting here. So therefore, he will continue to do this. He will wrestle with you. and break you down so that you come to the end of yourself. You face yourself and say, I've got nothing but Christ. That's what he's looking to do in us. And he will stop at nothing, including putting our hip out of joint so that we remember. Let's close in prayer. Lord, we pray that you would, and this is a dangerous prayer. It's scary to even say it. But Lord, I do pray Because it's best for us and it's for Your glory. It's not about us. It's all about You. Lord, we do pray that You would wrestle with us. That You would come in some quiet moment when we're reading the Bible and praying, that You would come and just wrestle with us. And just ask us that question, what's Your name? Who are You? What are You? Really. Now, what do people think about you? What's your reputation? What is your name? Who are you? Lord, help us to face the reality of who we are. Not the veneer that we put up, but the reality of who we are. And Lord, that you would wrestle with us, that you would break us, that we would come to the end of ourselves and see what really matters. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.